[pianotech] repeat business

[Ryan Sowers]

Tom,

No offence, but telling people to tune their piano once a year in
my opinion is nuts! You really shoot yourself in the foot, at least in our
climate (Pacific Northwest). When people ask how often they should tune
their piano I let them know that to keep it really nice it will probably
require at least 3 or 4 tunings or more. But I also let them know that we
have a lot of clients who don't get it done that often - its a personal
choice.

I think tuners that see pianos once a year don't realize how bad they sound
at the 6th month interval! When I started out I gave a discount to clients
who had their pianos tuned in 6 months. I pretty quickly learned that I was
making less money for MORE WORK! What's wrong with this picture?? If
anything, give a discount for the once a year, if they schedule the same
month. I've been amazed at how sour tunings can go with a seasonal change,
and how they can magically heal themselves when things return to time of
tuning conditions.

I think we just need to be honest and give accurate information. Tunings
sometimes last a long time, sometimes they are out in a week. It depends on
the conditions. If you tell someone "the piano needs to be tuned once a
year" and they notice it sounds like a tin can after 2 or 3 months, what are
they going to think?

Done ranting! Time for dinner...MMMM chicken enchiladas with homamade corn
tortillas and fresh basil, pine nuts and garlic! Life is grand.

-Ryan

On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 1:58 PM, Tom Dickson <td_tuner at hotmail.com> wrote:

>  Hi, All,
>
> I usually tell my customers that in-home tuning should be done at least
> once a year, around the same time as the last one.
>
> In regards to contacting customers, I see 3 kinds. Those that say, "Will
> you call me when it is time for retuning?" CHECK.
>
> Then there's the, "Thanks, that's interesting.." And the ensuing
> conversation about why the same time of year - yada, yada. Get to know them
> more before CHECK.
>
> And then there's the eyes-glaze-over people who get it done when ever they
> think it needs it and appear to be saying to themselves, "What a scam."
> DON'T check,
>
> With all the input to this topic, it seems that rather than having a
> blanket policy which may alienate some of your first time clients, it's
> better to take time to know them, advise them, and then - if they seem to be
> receptive - contact them for more business.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Tom Dickson,
> Regina, SK, Can.
>
>
>
> > Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:29:51 -0700
> > To: pianotech at ptg.org
> > From: skline at peak.org
>
> > Subject: Re: [pianotech] repeat business
> >
> >
> > >My best results have always been post cards, followed by a phone
> > >call, asking if they received it. The post card breaks the ice, and
> > >it will be much easier to get an appointment. But again, if they say
> > >no, be gracious and say thank you, and go on. Don't take it personally.
> > >Wim
> >
> > When I was just beginning, the first year or two, I put a tiny
> > classified ad in a local paper. It was a weekly in a tiny town, and I
> > bought their minimum ten word ad. Let's see if I can remember -- it
> > was thirty years ago, and time flies. "Good piano tuning, [price].
> > Call Susan Kline at ...-...." -- something like that. The ad was dirt
> > cheap. I got quite a few tunings from that, eventually, because there
> > was something physical to remind people, but no demands to decide
> > right away, which would have been turned down. Several said that
> > they'd clipped out the ad and had it on their kitchen tables for six
> > months. A card would be that way, too. No demands to do something,
> > just a reminder, and there's an action in between buying the tuning
> > versus throwing away the card, in case they are hanging on the fence,
> > feeling like maybe they MIGHT want a tuning, or maybe not, or maybe
> > later, so they keep the card. Eventually all the stars and
> > constellations are in alignment, and then they call. Or not. Some of
> > those cards are probably cleared out when the heirs get the house
> > ready for an estate sale, 35 years later.
> >
> > Another little thing worked well for me, and it was just an accident.
> > When I got to the Corvallis area, I went and put a classified ad in
> > the Corvallis paper (a service directory, they had), like that first
> > newspaper ad when I was up in Canada. But in the Corvallis paper, the
> > minimum ad size was three lines. I wrote out my little spiel just
> > like before, took it to the window with the lady typsetting it into a
> > computer of sorts, and it came up short. I had just a little more
> > room. I thought a second, and then told her to add, "I love pianos."
> > And she took the bull by the horns, and put it in caps with
> > exclamation points. "I LOVE PIANOS!!" I thought that was sort of
> > silly, but didn't have the heart to tell her to tone it down. A lot
> > of people noticed those words and eventually called me because of
> > them. In a way it was kind of a bona fide, because any tuner who
> > really was tired of pianos and didn't want to fuss with their
> > problems wouldn't have dared to put "I love pianos" in the ad.
> >
> > And, "don't take it personally" is always good advice.
> >
> > Susan Kline
> >
> >
> >
>



-- 
Ryan Sowers, RPT
Puget Sound Chapter
Olympia, WA
www.pianova.net
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