[pianotech] transferring clients

[David Renaud]

   I tend towards agreeing with David Loves comments below.

   Furthermore, this apples to more then retiring, it apples to any growing business.
   
    If your good, business will grow, and one person can only handle so much work.
Once full, it is common and normal to look for efficiencies to increase capacity, 
And decrease expenses. One of the easiest ways is to cut travel time. 

   It is a common senerio, is it not, that when we start a business we are hungry for 
Work and willing to travel far to fill the schedule. If and when full, it must be common
To tighten up the travel circle from home base to a smaller area, thus decreasing travel 
Time and expenses, allowing more tunings in a day with the same time on the road.

     My opinion is that if a person wants to slow down, retire, semi retire, pursue other interests, 
Or just increase the efficiency of their time and thus increase their hourly financial reward by cutting down travel time, more power to them. Shrink your circle of service, cut your travel time, 
Save some money. We can't please everyone all the time. I extend my congratulations to anyone
That has the volume of work to shrink their service circle, and to anyone that has persevered in the Business for enough decades to now semi retire; you have earned it.  

                                            Loud cheers
                                             Dave Renaud 




Sent from my iPad

On 2012-04-16, at 9:22 AM, "David Love" <davidlovepianos at comcast.net> wrote:

> I don’t agree with this all.  I have a close colleague who phased himself out slowly handing off clients by referring them to other techs.  He continued to work for select clients for many years and still does.  I know as I have many of his old customers and have known this tech for many years.  The customers that he no longer works for are not upset in the least.  They understand that he chooses various criteria for how to cut back and that might include them. 
>  
> There are several things that can be done.  You can simply pass on customers that you don’t wish to work for explaining that you are cutting back on your workload.  Do that when they call.  A cordial thank you for giving you the opportunity to work with them over the years will be fine.  Explanations about “why them” aren’t and won’t be necessary for most customers but can be ascribed to travel time, giving up certain types of uprights for physical reasons, whatever.  You can then recommend a replacement who you think will serve them well and remain available by phone if there are any problems with your referral. 
>  
> Or, better, you can hire the apprentice, tell your customers that you are sending them for reasons given above and then bill them yourself from which you pay the apprentice and keep a small percentage.  Depending on how your rate compares with the apprentices that might give the customer a slightly reduced rate.  Your referral percentage will keep you in the loop, make the customers more loyal to the apprentice and increase the chances that they will both use and keep the apprentice once you are out completely.   It will give you continued access to the customer to maintain the relationship, smooth the transition and allow you to call to make sure everything went ok etc.  That feedback will help your apprentice as well to develop their customer rapport and skill set.   
>  
> Bottom line is that I strongly disagree that you are forced to either service all your clients or retire completely.  People transition out of service businesses slowly all the time and there’s no reason to fear that people will be upset with you.  They may be disappointed t that they can’t have you come anymore but it won’t result in negative publicity. 
>  
> You are allowed and entitled to work at any level you want.  If cutting back means that some clients can no longer be serviced then that’s fine.  You will likely cut out the clients with whom the relationships are less close,  that live farther away, or who have pianos that you simply don’t care to service anymore.  While brutal honesty is probably not the best approach as to why you are giving them up, a tactful explanation can give you the opportunity to still benefit financially somewhat from the relationship.  Establishing a mentor/apprentice arrangement which still keeps you in the picture will help the customers feel more comfortable with the transition, still give you some income benefit, and keep you accessible if things don’t go quite right.   
>  
> David Love
> www.davidlovepianos.com
>  
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of tnrwim at aol.com
> Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2012 8:47 PM
> To: edwcarw at yahoo.com; pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] transferring clients
>  
> Ed
>  
> The problem is, you're not completely retiring from the business. All you want to do is give some of your clients to someone else, while you're continuing to service the other clients. In a small rural area like yours, word will get around, and some people are going to be upset that you're no longer servicing them.
>  
> That's kind of like a minister semi-retiring, but staying in the same church. The new minister is never going to get the respect of the congregation as long as the semi retired minister is still there. And when there is a wedding or a funeral, the people will want the semi retired minister.
>  
> So you need to make a decision. Either continue to service all your clients, or retire, and not do any of them. The least you can do is not accept any new clients, but give them to the new guy.
>  
> In my book, "The Business of Piano Tuning", is a chapter on how to buy or sell a piano tuning business. (available from Randy). There are some suggestions on not only how to put a value on your business, and but also how to go about informing your clients about the "new guy".
>  
> Good luck
>  
> Wim
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ed Carwithen <edwcarw at yahoo.com>
> To: Piano List <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Sent: Sun, Apr 15, 2012 11:20 am
> Subject: [pianotech] transferring clients
> 
> You chose to allow Ed Carwithen (edwcarw at yahoo.com) even though this message failed authentication 
> Click to disallow
> 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
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