What to tell clients

[John Formsma]

Paul,

It is hard for us to think about charging Mrs. Jones when her piano is
dead.  But, my appliance repairman charges me a service call when he
tells me he can't fix my washer and it would be cheaper to buy a new
one.  And, doctors still charge when their patient is terminal.

Hey, it's tough...I know, because it's hard for me to do it, too.
But, I have made it a written policy that my minimum fee to walk in
the door is $XX.00.  (I wrote that policy to myself so I could
strengthen my own resolve. <grin>)  I'm comfortable with that. It
covers basic costs of doing business.  I am short-changing myself if I
don't charge for EVERY service call.

Having said that, I reserve the option (if I'm in the area anyway, and
can stop on my way home to look at a piano), to not charge for a
service call.  Let's say I open the top lid to Grandma's BOU (big old
upright), and see broken hammers and strings, and play down through
the bass break to hear the bass bridge is separated.  I can simply say
something like, "This will cost at least $XXXX.00 to properly repair."
 If I can say that, and be out the door in 10 minutes or less, I
*might* not charge full price,  And I might not charge anything.

On those occasions where I don't charge anything, I've had people want
to give me money anyway.  So they are expecting to pay.  (Which, I
might add, is our expectation when we hire a serviceman.)  And I've
also found that once I'm ready to go, people sometimes get full of
questions.  If I have to stay there 10 minutes telling them what's a
good brand, or a good dealer, I've just ended up losing my time and
getting paid zilch.  Not so good, except for customer relations. :-)

I do try to ascertain on the phone if the piano is a BOU, because I
don't work on them anymore unless they are already in my customer
database, or they are a good name piano like Steinway, M & H, etc.
(Or if they want a rebuild, which rarely has happened with me.)

JF

On 8/11/07, PAULREVENKOJONES <paulrevenkojones at aol.com> wrote:
> When I have to condemn a piano, I tell the customer about the lives of
> pianos, and how this piano has lived it's useful life, but has reached its
> end (barring sentimental restoration). I have found in 30+ years that I have
> never once charged a client for this information. I just can't do it. I know
> it's probably un-business-like, but I can't tell someone that their piano is
> dead in one breath and in the next ask for money, even though it's
> professional information.
>
> Paul