---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Thanks. I was wondering how bad a beating I would take for my piece. If others have comments, I'll collect them into a follow-up column. I fully admit to some cynicism with regard to customer satisfaction. The same tuning/service/behavior from a tech at different appointments will generate different customer reactions in a seemingly random manner. Some will be happy; some will not; and I see no way to avoid the unhappy ones. I had a customer suggest that my bass tuning was off as I was performing the tuning. Are we the tuning experts or are we not? I won't alter a tuning to its detriment to please a customer; customers should be willing to play my tuning and give it a chance. Maybe they will like it after a full tryout. The point is if I immediately return to a piano as the result of a callback, when I get there we may still disagree about whether the tuning is good. An optimist would say I might turn the situation around by showing good faith and willingness to serve by returning. A cynic might say, the customer will end up trying somebody different anyway, so an immediate return is pointless. You see, part of my problem (I'm admitting an attitude problem here) is the feeling that I can pick up clear cues from new customers about whether they are desirable customers or not. If a customer doesn't feel it is important enough to be around when the tuning is over, especially if they feel it's OK to question a tuning, may not be the best customer. Another example is a new customer who is a no-show; I have a policy of not rescheduling no-shows, except for fully established customers. I broke my policy once for a customer who happened to live close to me. Never again; she called back after two months and a change of seasons to express her dissatisfaction with the tuning. You can say I should have immediately returned to the piano; I say I never should have gone out in the first place. Ah, the life of the service pro. Kent On Sep 10, 2005, at 10:13 AM, Mike Kurta wrote: > Dear Kent: > In reference to your article in the latest PTG Journal, I have > to take issue with your comments and please allow me to suggest a > better system. > 1. When a customer complains, one should listen with a > sympathetic ear, not an argumentative, defensive one. A "dreaded > callback" is in reality information that requires serious > attention, not excuses or blaming. Like doctors who listen to > patients who know their own body, we need to listen to customer's > concerns about their piano. > 2. The first step should be an immediate return to the job in > question. A client expects the tuning to be right and has paid you > for that expectation, but how complaints are handled are the real > mark of a professional. A suggestion of "guaranteed tuning" might > be better replaced by a desire to achieve customer satisfaction > promptly. > 3. The desire that clients use one technician for all their > instruments is a valid one but can only be achieved by techs > performance and trust earned, not automatically expected after the > first meeting. If one expects to serve this client with "pianos > all over the building," it would make sense to try to please > rather than pre-judge. > > To assume the tuning was fine (which it probably was) and that > the fault lies with the piano or the person complaining, might be > premature. To devote the conversation to boasting about ones > reputation and methods is a turnoff and counterproductive. Allow > the customer to find this out by your performance over time. He/ > she perceives a problem and our job is to respond in a > kindly,helpful way putting other things aside until it is > resolved. This would be my "better system." > Mike Kurta > ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/e6/44/eb/7a/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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