Hello, Ed! That's a tough transition for long time loyal customers. I had the opportunity to purchase a retiring RPT's client list many years ago, and I, like your mentoree was not yet an RPT. I think that was a huge mistake on my part since I was still pretty green in the business. On my poor decision, I went through with buying the retiring techs book.(in a large city in the NW) He was confident in my skills and thought I would probably lose 25-30% of his list for various reasons, but I actually lost about 50-60% of the customers! What this comes down to is people get so comfortable with regular service folk like us that they're really weary of change. You probably have become good friends with some of them…that makes it even tougher to try "the new guy". Is there another RPT in that one town you're speaking of? That might be the thing. It could also be a personality of the new guy also…or just the lack of experience and skills needed. It could be a number of things. If there are no RPT's out there, then your customers are going to have to give this guy a try. Any new tech might be scary for some, but they should at least try "Joe Technician" you're working with and let them know once again that you've been working with him. That might set them at ease. 120 miles each way!! Oh My! That sure cuts into the income and time potentials, eh? Talk to them again is my take. Lots of hand holding and kid-gloves will be needed. Best to you. Paul From: Ed Carwithen <edwcarw at yahoo.com<mailto:edwcarw at yahoo.com>> Reply-To: Ed Carwithen <edwcarw at yahoo.com<mailto:edwcarw at yahoo.com>>, <pianotech at ptg.org<mailto:pianotech at ptg.org>> Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2012 14:13:40 -0700 To: Piano List <pianotech at ptg.org<mailto:pianotech at ptg.org>> Subject: [pianotech] transferring clients I live in a very rural area and travel a lot to take care of my clients; often 120 miles one way. As I am now 74 years old I plan on cutting back significantly on the travel and tuning. There are a couple of tuners in this area, but not much in the way of technicians. There is one man working on his training and plans to take the RPT exam as soon as he is ready. He is already tuning and seems to be getting along well. I have been trying to help him as much as I can. He has taken Randy's course, and went to the recent convention in Utah. In any case I need to transfer a number of clients to someone else. I tried to do this once before for clients in a town that was really out of the way for me. I sent a letter to the clients involved, and told the new person to contact them directly. Not one client transferred to the new tuner (an RPT yet). A couple responded that they felt "abandoned." I want my clients served well as I have formed pretty good relationships with most of them. How do I make them comfortable with a new technician? How do I make the transition better? Ed Carwithen Eastern Oregon -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20120415/4f571e21/attachment.htm>
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