When clients die.

[Alan Barnard]

Awkwardness on the phone? Why?  "Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. And here I
was just calling to remind her of her piano tuning appointment." Then,
depending on how well you knew the family, either talk further (might find
out if the piano will be staying, moving, for sale, etc.) or just say
"Please know that I liked (appreciated, respected, or whatever) your Mom
and will miss her, too."  

If I had any relationship at all with the family, I send a brief personal
letter -- they are cheaper than cards, mean more, will actually be looked
at, and will be remembered. I CERTAINLY don't mean to exploit the
situation, but I can tell you that a personal touch makes a world of
difference. For example, I have a client church where the staff all used to
be kind of indifferent to me, at best. When the office secretary's husband
suddenly died, I sent a short n' sweet personal letter to her home address.
Now, it's "Hey, howyadoin'?" with everyone in the place.

Just my thoughts and experience.

Alan Barnard
Salem, Missouri


> [Original Message]
> From: Carman Gentile <cgpiano at humboldt1.com>
> To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Date: 07/05/2006 4:59:41 PM
> Subject: When clients die.
>
>
> My colleagues,
>
>     On rare occasions when I call a client to schedule a tuning I learn 
> from a family member that the client has passed away since the last 
> appointment.  Once the phone was answered by the daughter of the piano 
> owner who said her mother had just died two days earlier.  (I expressed
my 
> condolences.)  Since then I've made a habit of reviewing the local 
> obituary, but it is impossible to always know if a piano client is
recently 
> deceased.
>
>    Is there an established protocol that RPT's follow when a client 
> dies?  Is it customary to send a card?  How do you minimize the obvious 
> awkwardness of the situation while on the phone?
>
> Carman Gentile RPT
> Redwood Chapter
>