updating client list

[Israel Stein]

At 04:07 PM 3/14/2006, pianotech-request at ptg.org wrote:
>List
>
>I am about to clean house.  I have about 100 clients that I haven't 
>heard from in 3 years or longer.  (I stop sending reminder cards out 
>after two years go by.)  Some of them are one-time clients; they 
>probably didn't like me and have found someone else.  Others perhaps 
>sold their pianos, or their children stopped taking lessons so they 
>ceased keeping the piano in tune.
>
>I'd like to either bring these people back into the fold or delete 
>them from my files.

I would advise you to never delete a client from your file, unless 
you decided that you never ever want to deal with them again :-)

I've had clients call me back after 3, 4, 5 or 6 years. Some of the 
reasons I remember were - nobody played the piano for years and now 
somebody is playing it again. They were out of work and couldn't 
afford "extra expenses". I don't know how you keep your client files, 
but I have 2 files on my computer - active and inactive. Every once 
in a while I cull the active file and move clients that I have not 
heard from in a few years to the inactive file. And every once in a 
while when one of those long-lost clients calls back (and they 
usually tell me and apologize for not having been heard from in 
years) I get to move their record back to the active file - and I 
have all their piano data and service records available.

>
>I plan to send them all a letter, explaining that I was trying to 
>update my 'active customer files' and am writing them because I 
>noticed that their piano hadn't been tuned since --/--/--.  I'd make 
>mention of the fact that pianos should be tuned periodically whether 
>they are being played or not.  Then I'd say I would be calling them 
>in a week or so to see if they would like to get the piano tuned 
>again and hopefully resume a regular maintenance schedule for the instrument.

I would say, don't waste time and postage. If they don't reply to 
reminder cards, they are not likely to reply to a form letter - 
obviously, for whatever reason, either you or their piano are not a 
high priority for them right now...

Israel Stein