Amen 3,000%. You ARE the man, Ed. All you newbies and lurkers, write this down. Burn it into your circuits. David Andersen On Feb 13, 2008, at 9:46 AM, A440A at aol.com wrote: >> When someone calls to ask you. "What do you charge for a >> tuning" ? > > Do you worry that you will loose them if you ask too much? >> > > Greetings, > No. Fear of losing customers will, in the long run, cost far > more than > actually losing them. > I believe it was John Ruskin that said, "There is nothing that > some man > cannot do or sell cheaper with less quality, and those that > consider price only > are this man's lawful prey". If the first thing they ask is > price, I KNOW > that they will not be happy with me. I have learned that through > experience. > Presently, when asked about tuning fees, I simply tell them that > normal > tunings are $135, first visits are > $160, and if the piano is one of those that hasn't been tuned in > "years", I > tell them that the first visit may be $200. This filters out the > business > that I have learned I don't want and sends them to somebody else > that does. > Win/Win/Win ! > > After being in one place for 30 years, I should be charging as > much as > whatever size market I can find will bear. I am not selling a cure > for cancer, > I am selling a luxury item. There are many other tuners, at all > levels of > developement, so there is a price point for everyone! Far better > that we all find > the right market rather than leaving a trail of unhappy customers. > I still remember (after coming out of the North Bennett > School), the > nighttime tuning of practise room uprights at Peabody college for > $7.00 each. > (1977). Amortizing that across a career means that I MUST continue > climbing the > ladders of quality and price if I want to finish up as a simple > middle-class > worker. > I have said it before, but will do again: Beginners must take > anything > they can, and they will have to compete by price, since there is no > reputation > to help them. However, if they don't push themselves and their > market to > provide and pay for better work, they will remain a beginner all > their career and > their income will reflect that. > Regards, > > Ed Foote RPT > http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html > www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html > <BR><BR><BR>**************<BR>The year's hottest artists on the > red carpet > at the Grammy Awards. Go to AOL Music.<BR> > (http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565)</HTML>
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