Customer Ratio

[Mark Dierauf]

  I encourage my customers to tune their pianos three (or more) times a
year. If they agree to this, I offer them a $10 discount off the regular
tuning price, as well as to guarantee them that I will always leave their
piano at A-440 without ever charging them for a pitch-adjustment (usually an
extra twenty bucks or so). Here in the Northeast, I see many instuments that
are dramatically off pitch and out of tune after as little as 3 or 4 months,
depending on the season, so If they really are using the piano and can
afford it I think it makes sense. If on the other hand they only want one
tuning a year I suggest that they do it around the same time every year to
avoid pitch raises (or lowerings).  A quick check of my database looks like
about 15% of my customers opt for the 3x/year plan.
 I also try to pre-schedule as many customers as possible. Many, if not most
customers seem to appreciate this. I rarely call beforehand to verify an
appointment, usually only if the customer has specifically asked me to do
so - in which case I make a note of it in my schedule book a day or so
before the actual service date.

- Mark

><< I'm curious as to the ratio of customers who have their pianos tuned
> every six
> months, as opposed to once a year.