Brian,
I have had a similar experience and I think you'd do well by continuing to
wean yourself as much as is comfortable as soon as it is comfortable. It's
always nice to hold on to that security blanket but sooner or later you just
have to let go. Maybe now's not the time but you do have the luxury of letting
go gradually. Offer them less days to fill and perhaps they will be more
consistent in filling them.
Tunings come in sporadically at times and it's very hard to plan for that
whether your a dealer or striking out on your own. I think you are wise to
charge a for rate and tune less filling your time with other things. It seems
you've had some rebuilding experience. Why not purchase a few dead soldiers and
rebuild and sell them giving you something to do in the off time with the
eventual promise of a budget filler once it sells? Many a tech has made their
start this way but perhaps this is too obvious.
You probably already have a good idea on how to make your clientele grow but
here's a thought on something (no cost) that you can do. I always offer my
customers $5 off their next service for every customer they send me. Some ignore
it, some are just coupon people by nature and jump at the chance to earn money
off. Neither type of person will open their mouth with positive comments unless
they were impressed so work a little faster and do a little more. Vacuum the
insides ( a crowd pleaser) and take the time to explain what you see inside.
The days of "it's broke, it needs fixin, it'll cost $_____ are over in my
opinion. My customers seem to appreciate the added time I take to show and
explain in not too great a detail unless they ask. I've given them credit for
some intelligence which they appreciate and have made them my partner in the
care of their instrument. Good PR.
I'm sure you'll do very well. (Glad you don't live too close to me). It's
always the first few years that are the toughest.
Greg Newell
Brian Trout wrote:
> Hi Wim,
>
> I was hoping that more people would respond to your inquiry, as I am one of
> the people who do some tunings for a local dealer.
>
> I was an employee for a number of years, so there was a semblance of a
> relationship already. Over the last year of my employment, I began making
> plans to begin my own piano business, and as of the last quarter of 1999, I
> am no longer an employee. The dealer is not blessed with a large number of
> tuners. He requested that I do subcontract tunings for him, to help him
> with his service work, and to help me with a regular income.
>
> It has worked with moderate success, but the long term outlook isn't so
> good.
>
> I'll lay out the particulars, just so you can see how it's set up.
>
> 1) His customers (that I've worked for on his behalf) are his, even if they
> call me privately.
> 2) If one of his customers (who I have not worked for before on his behalf)
> calls me, they become my customer. (I would have no way of knowing that
> they had been his customer if I hadn't serviced them previously.)
> 3) I must maintain records of who received service, when, and what they
> received.
> 4) I must bill the customer in the home and collect payment when possible,
> with only a very few exceptions.
> 5) All scheduling is done from their office. I provide appointment dates
> and times for them to fill. If they need times and dates I've not offered,
> they may ask, but I am not obligated to take them.
> 6) All expenses, which includes auto expense, and travel time, are at my
> expense. Parts and supplies needed to complete his customer's job are all
> at his expense, and he makes the profit on parts markup.
> 7) For the above, I receive a flat rate as follows:
> Standard in home tuning $40
> Multiples at same location $35
> Additional time / quarter hr. $9
> 8) The dealer will receive $70 for a standard tuning, and $60/hr for
> additional time. I don't know about multiples.?
>
> That being said, let me tell you a little about what has(n't) worked and my
> overall feelings about such.
>
> Overall, it has been a help to me getting my own business up and running.
> It was steady work at a time when my own work was rather spotty.
>
> But as of late, the appointment slots have gone about half unfilled, and
> many of the little extra jobs (such as Dampp-Chaser installations) where I
> can make a little extra, have pretty much dried up.
>
> All those people for whom I've tuned are not my customers. If I relied upon
> what he offered, I don't have any customers. (I have not. I'm building a
> customer base of my own, thank you very much.)
>
> I've heard both sides of the argument. 1) You're getting screwed, taken
> advantage of, etc., and 2) You've got it good, don't rock the boat. Who's
> right depends upon who you're talking to.
>
> What hasn't worked? The number one thing that hasn't worked is travel
> distance. As you can see from the above, there is no allowance for such.
> Unfortunately, since the schedules have not been getting filled, there have
> been too many instances where I end up spending half a day, and driving 150
> miles to do one tuning for $40. That doesn't work. I have since placed a
> mileage restriction which limits those instances until we can reach a more
> reasonable arrangement.
>
> Scheduling doesn't work when they don't fill the appointments I give them.
> I have no more than about one day's notice if they did not fill my schedule.
> It's very difficult for me (at this point) to fill my schedule on a days
> notice. I am working on developing a more flexible shop schedule so that
> those hours (or days) may not be a total loss.
>
> So where does that leave us? Well, I can assure you that the relationship
> we have now is not building a loyalty to his company that supercedes all
> others. The pay is doable in the short term, but long term, it doesn't
> compare to what I can make on my own. Eventually, I believe we will end up
> pretty much parting company when it comes to the day to day stuff. Why
> would I do 26 tunings at $40 instead of 15 tunings at $70? Is the
> scheduling end of it really worth almost half the gross? Not to me, at
> least not long term.
>
> Please forgive my length of reply. It's a bit convoluted. But if any of
> you have thoughts or input or suggestions to make things better, I would
> certainly be open to hearing them as well, as well as what others are doing.
>
> Have a good day, all.
>
> Brian Trout
> Quarryville, PA
> btrout@desupernet.net
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <Wimblees@aol.com>
> > To: <Pianotech@ptg.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2000 1:45 AM
> > Subject: help wanted
> >
> >
> > > Several months ago I asked about how much floor tuners were getting. Now
> I
> > am
> > > getting to the point in my business where I need some help with my
> tuning
> > > business. I would like to get someone to do tunings for me, but that I
> > keep
> > > the customer.
> > >
> > > For those of you who do tunings for a store, or for another tuner, where
> > you
> > > do not get to keep the customer for your own files, what percentage of
> the
> > > tuning fee do you get? Or to put it another way, do you give the store,
> or
> > > the other tuner, a discount on your own tuning fee? If so, how much of a
> > > discount?
> > >
> > > You can respond privately, if you wish.
> > >
> > > Willem Blees
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
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