Voicing M&H BB

[Carl Meyer]

I'm not a gambler.  I didn't lose any money at Reno.  BUTTT. I'm enough of a
gambler to quote a job.  After  inspecting a piano, I'll usually give a
rough quote.  If it is a job that is under one or two thousand dollars, I
just make sure I quote high enough.  If I can do the job in less time, I
give them a discount. They will love you forever.

I have a friend who spends so much time doing estimates in triplicate that
he hasn't had time to do any meaningful work.  That is why he has a three
year backlog ( he hasn't finished the jobs he quoted three years ago.)

If you need an excuse to delay say " I need to check the parts prices" and
let it go at that.  I hate the time it takes to write up a formal quote.
I'd rather eat the excess time to do the job.  There is always ways you can
fudge time to minimize  the loss if you bid too low.  Makes you more
realistic in estimating the time it takes to do the job.

Pretend to be cocky, even if your not.

Carl Meyer  Assoc. PTG
Santa Clara, California
cmpiano@home.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Neuman" <piano@charlesneuman.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2001 4:33 PM
Subject: Re: Voicing M&H BB


> Terry,
>
> I'm curious, from a business point of view, how this situation works:
> What do you tell the customer after inspecting the piano? Do you say
> you'll think about it, consult other people, or research it further?
> I've always been curious how a situation like this is handled, where the
> tech needs time to think or research but doesn't want to come off
> looking like they don't know what they are doing.
>
> Charles Neuman
> PTG Assoc, Long Island - Nassau
>