why sell maintenance the customer won't notice?

[Porritt, David]

Avery:

The piano was really not in bad shape.  Let-off could have been a little
closer, the hammer line tweaked a tiny bit, but it was ok.  This was a
piano owned by a Music Teacher's Association.  No one teacher used it
for teaching.  They all used it for recitals.  Consequently the voicing
had to be pretty medium and not optimized for any one person.  I could
see no real noticeable improvement that they would see for $xxx amount.
If you voiced it, some would think it better while others would think it
worse.  

Whenever I have had to do a "group" piano like that I have insisted on
the designation of one person who would make the voicing call for them.
Sometimes there is one person who has that kind of stature that everyone
respects.  "If it is ok with ___ then it's ok with me."  If there isn't
that one person I usually explain my predicament and decline the work or
tell them that I'll voice etc. to a "medium" value where the goal is at
least not to irritate anyone too badly.  

Here at the school it's kind of the same thing.  In our principal
recital hall I keep one of the pianos voiced for general recital kind of
work, and the other more for concerto work - a bright one and a more
subdued one.  I love to get comments from everyone, but I can't expect
to make everyone supremely happy.  Preferences vary a lot!

dave

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Avery Todd
Sent: Sunday, December 26, 2004 8:34 PM
To: Pianotech
Subject: RE: why sell maintenance the customer won't notice?

Dave,

At 08:30 AM 12/25/04, you wrote:
>Dave:
>
>I've been very aware of this for a long time.  Many years ago a local 
>Music Teachers Association thought their piano might need regulating
and 
>asked me about it.  I was the one who usually tuned their piano.  The 
>regulation needed fell into the category you mention below.  I told
them I 
>thought they could wait as it wasn't that bad.  One teacher was quite 
>insistent that regulation was needed and talked them into getting
another 
>technician to regulate it.  When he was done and they paid the bill,
they 
>were upset that they couldn't tell any difference.

I can't resist. Was the piano "really" not in bad shape or did that
"tech" 
just not
know what he/she was doing. :-)

Avery

>Since that time I've been very careful about how I approach this kind
of 
>work.  If the needed work will prevent future wear I'll liken it to 
>changing the oil on your car.  You won't notice much, but the car will.
>
>dave
>
>__________________________
>David M. Porritt, RPT
>Meadows School of the Arts
>Southern Methodist University
>Dallas, TX 75275
>dporritt@mail.smu.edu

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