Consultation Fees

[Lance Lafargue]

Jim,
Thanks for your opinion on this.  I agree wholeheartedly.  Time is what we
have to offer- either service time, consultation time, whatever.  I'm
wondering how you approach the customer and what are the nuts and bolts of
your handling these consultations.  Do you get a fee up front?  Do you send
literature in addition for your phone and appraisal time? Larry Fine
charges I believe $30 per half hour.  He has, I'm sure, EARNED every cent
of that and more over the years.  Thanks again!
Lance Lafargue, RPT
New Orleans Chapter
Covington, LA.
lafargue@iamerica.net

----------
> From: JIMRPT@aol.com
> To: lafargue@iAmerica.net; owner-pianotech@ptg.org; pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re: Consultation Fees
> Date: Saturday, June 28, 1997 9:43 AM
> 
> Lance;
>   I have come late to this discuusion and appologize for that
but...........
> We need to remember that the ONLY thing we have to offer our
> customers/prospective customers is TIME.  All of the other attributes we
> might have to bring along with our time are incidental and vary according
to
> task.  TIME is the only constant and is our stock in trade.
>   I personaly do not accept commisions from dealers but charge "all"
> customers for any time I expend in their behalf, other than just a
cursory,
> short, telephone call. 
> I too have experienced the situation where, after helping a customer
decide
> which instrument to purchase, I have been treated like a pushy interloper
for
> suggesting that service was warranted  on the instrument.
>   To remedy that situation I started charging for "all" actions taken in
> behalf of customers/prospective customers and, strangely enough, I became
a
> member of the "team" and was called for subsequent services and regular
> tunings.
>   People, as a general rule, do not appreciate what they do not pay for,
in
> some manner, and give the giver what the cost was to them, i.e. nothing.
> 
> Jim Bryant (FL)