In a message dated 3/14/99 10:05:18 AM, Arnold wrote: <<"If the dealer is a business person first, the bottom line will ultimately be the most important factor.">> Arnold; "the bottom line" is always the most important factor for not even the best trained, most conscientious, ethical technician/music lover/dealer can stay in business if the "most important" thing is not the "bottom line". That having been said "the bottom line" is not the 'only' important thing. Allow me to put this in perspective, i.e. Last week did you tune a piano that did not turn out exactly as well as you would have liked it to? If so, and I am sure it is, did you offer a discount because it was not up to what you considered 'good results'?, or that it was not your 'best work'? Or did you charge full price and go on to your next tuning? Is there a difference between selling something that is not up to snuff and charging for a tuning that is not up to snuff? I submit that there is no difference if you view both as doing the best you can with what you have to work with, within the budget constraints that you have to follow. (this kinda ties into the thread on "repairs" that is current) <<"This subject has depressed me for years, but the reality is that these people make a lot of money doing what they do, and that is the bottom line to them.">> I agree that tactics used in a lot of salesrooms can be depressing but we can't let it depress us, after all it gives us an opportunity to develop our skills at 'tactfullness' and 'diplomacy' :-) And isn't your "bottom line" money? would you keep working on pianos if you were not being paid? Is everything you do just for the love of music/pianos ? Ours is not a perfect world, though we should strive for it in all the ways we can. Remember even the old clunker, that almost plays, provides some music where there would be a void if it were not there. My view. Jim Bryant (FL)
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