Dear List: It's already getting to be that time of year again when parents are gearing up their kids to go back to school and to resume piano lessons. As always, there is a handful of first-time piano students whose parents have provided them with a piano, or so they think they have. Let me throw in my 2 cents deviation's worth here. Back to the issue of a customer with an old, inadequate piano for the little future pianist to try playing on... My approach to breaking the dirty details to a customer starts with a series of questions. First, try to find out if the piano is steeped in family history in an effort to find out what the emotional attachment to it might be. Next, try to find out how it happened that this piano ended up at this location (garage sale, church rummages, etc.) If indeed this attempt at a piano had been recently purchased, pop the crucial question -- had a technician been consulted to look at this piano before purchase? "Uh, no ... should I have?" That's when to launch into the advantages of having a technician look at it first. Keep it short and sweet in an effort to get the customer thinking about what is most important in a first piano. Sometimes if the customer really doesn't want to hear that after the fact [sale], you might ask them to judge how soon they plan to outgrow the piano. Now is your opportunity to plant the seeds for their eventual purchase of a better piano. That is when to recommend reading Larry Fine's book. But be patient -- those seeds may take a long time to germinate. About the only thing you can do to jump-start those seeds is to express concern for the frustration the little pianist may experience in trying to play the current piano. Things can get a little touchy here. The last thing they would want would be for a technician to call periodically to find out whether or not they have upgraded. Leave that for salespeople. When you call to remind them of service, you might inquire about the little pianist's progress. Sometimes that by itself is enough to get them thinking about a better instrument, if the little pianist is still playing. Sometimes these old "specials" are steeped in family history. This is the piano a grandparent had learned on way-back-when, and that grandparent played in all the community concerts for more than a half century. This can be a very delicate situation. My usual approach is to use the analogy that the piano is like a cross between a car and a pet. Like a car, it needs periodic maintenance, and some but not all models are worth restoring. Like a pet, they do get old to the point where enjoying family life is something of the past. No doubt I can go on and on with the car/pet analogy here, especially since it applies to new pianos too. Whatever happens, the bottom line to my thinking is to get the customers involved with thinking about the piano as a member of the family capable of teaching family values such as patience, practice, perserverence, and so on. Pianos take maintenance, yes, but they should be able to give back love. ZR! RPT Ann Arbor diskladame@provide.net
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC