I think I'll try to say a little something about unanticipated work sometimes skewing my schedule with subsequent appointments during the course of a day - but that I will call if I'm going to be more than a half-hour off. Good idea. When running behind schedule, clients appreciate a call at the appointed time with a revised ETA. Not a bad idea, even if one is running only 10-15 minutes late. Alan Eder -----Original Message----- From: Terry Farrell <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Tue, Mar 23, 2010 9:08 am Subject: Re: [pianotech] 2nd Bad Client in 10+ Years - Seeking Advice Thanks for your input Larry. A few comments are interspersed below: Terry Farrell On Mar 23, 2010, at 11:13 AM, Larry Fisher RPT wrote: Yes, discounts sometimes opens the door to all kinds of financial abuse. Yup. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!!! Sounds like .......... the teacher is teaching to make extra money and has an extremely tight budget and/or enjoys bargaining with you. the teacher over stepped her bounds as a teacher when she assessed the student's piano the student's piano is in very sad shape and needs hundreds of dollars in basic repairs the student's parents are relying on information from a proudly biased and unqualified source I agree with all the above 100%. giving group discounts on one invoice for numerous households is a bad idea. I may have not stated that clearly. Separate invoices for all clients. I am not billing the teacher for servicing her students pianos. Agree, that would be a very bad idea! you've walked into a log jam and need to protect youself before it all cuts loose and smothers you. I don't feel pressure or threatened from any direction. I just want to help the Funky Case owners, if that is possible. My advice ................... focus on the money making opportunity. Present your case to the student's parents and use concise and clear language when describing the repairs and the need for them in the order of priority. Agree. I did present a clear set of piano service options to them and I'm quite sure they understood. The problem is that since then, the piano teacher has told them the piano is fine and doesn't need any work. And hence my seeking any recommendations to communicate piano reality to these folks. Being that they seemed interested in having their kids play on a functioning piano, it seems to me it is worth presenting something informative to them. Any recommendations on how to "trump" the piano teacher's mis-information? realize that the teacher is most likely not the type of person you'll want on your database, even though she's a possible source of income. She is not longer an active client of mine. I don't need any client like that. Second client I have scratch off my list for being "bad" in ten-plus years. If you're looking for peace and contentment, steer clear of bargain hunters. Boy, you got that right! Lesson learned. Big time. Never again. NEVER!!! if it were me, I'd probably charge a bit more here and there just to cover expenses and if they went for the job, great!! If not, I have other calls to do. Maybe you're thinking that I'm still working this through the teacher? I'm not. No, if they choose to do some minimal work to restore function, I will charge them my standard fair fees (less the ten bucks on the tuning of course - but only because it was previously agreed to). being late to a call is sometimes a major problem for people with inflexable schedules and can set the stage for future hassles. When making appointments with such households, express the uncertain nature of our work, traffic, and other reasons for being unable to keep up with the clock as the day wears on. All of this is learned after the fact I realize and so now we are left with repairing relations as well as a piano. This all consumes more of our time. Scheduling can be an art sometimes. Second guessing all that causes tardiness is a tough game of trial and error. You have numerous tools to use to overcome this. Scheduling language, timing, prior commitments, and quality expectations of yourself all come into play here. Good point. I usually don't discuss punctuality when I set an appointment time. I figure, hey, we set a time, and I'll call if I'm running more than a half-hour off either way. That's way better than the phone company or appliance repair guy who at best might indicate AM or PM. But your point is well taken. I think I'll try to say a little something about unanticipated work sometimes skewing my schedule with subsequent appointments during the course of a day - but that I will call if I'm going to be more than a half-hour off. Good idea. You'll most likely be trafficing this one for a while yet to come. Good luck and I hope you make some money. Thanks! Lar = -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100323/82b17d06/attachment-0001.htm>
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