You are right, Ryan, my site is pretty pathetic, but it is there and has generated me some business. One of my brothers has helped to get me at the top on Google searches and that is definitely getting me some calls. Just this week I started working in earnest on a real site. Thanks for your exhortation. And I know I get calls on the toll free number because I get a list of who used it every month. It amounts to less than $10 per month, dirt cheap. And lots of customers still use old fashioned land lines and psychologically they appreciate a toll free number. I spend 200-300 hours a year interacting with this list and studying piano technology. I understand about investing in the business. And I lead my area on pricing. When people call me price shopping I tell them up front that I am the most expensive. Often I'll still be able to get them to schedule. But I am still $25 behind the Indianapolis market. I am being more aggressive with mailings, doing joint discounts with one brother's carpet cleaning business. That has definitely caused people to schedule now who had told me they were going to put off tuning until next year. I also have a friend in a service business with 5000 customers in a near metro area that includes an ad for me(and my carpet cleaning brother) in his invoices he mails every month. That has been paying off and adds $500 - 800 per month. Dean Dean W May (812) 235-5272 PianoRebuilders.com (888) DEAN-MAY Terre Haute IN 47802 _____ From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Sowers Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 11:57 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] PTG Phone Dean, I agree that having a toll-free number makes one's business seem a little more serious. I think a website is essential these days - at least for those growing a business. (I can understand if you've been in business for 25 years or more and have more business than you need, and don't advertise - why bother?) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20101130/935988b5/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC