[pianotech] age-old question of what to charge for almost nothing andrunning a business as a business

[Clark Sprague]

" But at the heart of any successful
business, especially in a repeat service business such as ours, is your
ability to develop and maintain relationships with your customers."  David 
Love

I know this to be true from personal experience.  When the store I worked 
for  7 years full time) closed in 2006, I received the full clientele list. 
I contacted all those people in that first 6 months of being on my own.  As 
things progressed, I wanted my business to be OUR business (meaning mine and 
my wife's), so I asked her to keep the contacts going for me.
    As time passed, my wife has been overburdened with the care of my 
mother, our kids, playing 2 church jobs , etc, etc.  She doesn't have enough 
time in the day to do it all, and I stubbornly held to the notion that this 
was her part in our business, and she was failing.  STUPID.
    Add to that the recession, and we have a client base that is in three 
distinct parts:  one group that has gone so long since I have seen them that 
they are basically lost; one group that has remained faithful (a small 
group); and another group in the middle that I hear from occasionally.  This 
is the biggest group.  My gross has dropped by about 50% in the 2 1/2 years 
since I was forced to go it on my own.
    The point of this diatribe is that David is soooo right when he says 
what I pasted at the first of this post.  This business is all about the 
relationships we maintain with the people we encounter.  I need to take 
business classes and learn more about how to run my business more 
effectively.  I wonder how many of the people reading this list could tell 
similar tales?

Clark A. Sprague, RPT
csprague4 at woh.rr.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos at comcast.net>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 16, 2010 3:06 PM
Subject: Re: [pianotech]age-old question of what to charge for almost 
nothing andrunning a business as a business


> This isn't aimed at anyone in particular or any specific previous remarks 
> so
> please no one respond as if I'm attacking them or criticizing their
> approach, though of course you're welcome to comment.  I know this has 
> gone
> on too long but the question of what is important for a successful 
> business
> is important especially these days. There's been a bit of sniping in the
> discussion but hey, get over it.  The really germane issue in all of this,
> if I may distill it down, is where the emphasis lies in your business
> approach.  My view is that yes of course it's important to have skills and
> to have self esteem and project confidence and not be afraid to charge and
> do your proper accounting and tax plan and clean your shop and your shoes
> and tuck in your shirt yada yada yada.  But at the heart of any successful
> business, especially in a repeat service business such as ours, is your
> ability to develop and maintain relationships with your customers.
> Ultimately, what sticks with customers are the feelings left behind from
> your interaction with them.  Not specifically what was said, how much they
> paid, whether they got a discount or not, though these things might be
> contributing factors.  That's why often when someone complains about your
> price and you end up conceding and giving them a discount you never hear
> from them again.  The discount isn't what they remember.  What they 
> remember
> is how they felt from the interaction and even though they got a discount
> they leave with the feeling of being ripped off or had they not pressed 
> the
> issue they would have paid more than was necessary.  So in each situation
> you have to make a decision as to how best to develop that interaction so
> that it leads to a positive experience for the customer.  There are no 
> hard
> and fast rules for what that means because each person is different and so
> the criteria will vary.  The smartest business people are not those that
> stick rigidly to a format for everything but those who recognize the 
> nuances
> that make those relationships work and are able to adapt accordingly.  If
> that means extracting a pencil for free (that's where this all started) so
> that you can engage the customer in some dialogue that may mean future 
> work,
> well you have to decide.  It may or may not be the right solution in that
> particular case but you need to go in with an open mind and view the
> situation as an opportunity.
>
> David Love
> www.davidlovepianos.com
>
>
>