Do you sell pianos?

[David Love]

Gregor:

 

My website tells what I do but it’s a combination of regular field
servicing, rebuilding and sales.  I try to keep a balance but slowly
rebuilding work and purchases for resale (with reconditioning or rebuilding
first) has pushed aside the amount of time I have for tuning.  I’ve sent
some of my tuning customers to others, especially where any real travel is
involved or where their service habits are too infrequent.  However, I do
think it’s important to keep a foot in the field as it keeps you in
circulation, gives you opportunities for new projects, potential sales and
purchases plus there is the human side to this business and those types of
interactions keep us from becoming too reclusive and disconnected.  Jon
Page’s post reflects my sentiment.  Quality of life and the human factor are
very important.  At the end of all things I won’t be laying there with a
calculator thinking about how much money I made but whether the work I did
was satisfying, whether I accomplished something, interacted well as a human
being, gave something back and had a quality of life.  With today’s economy
it’s a struggle to keep the pressure for $$$ in balance. 

 

I do replace soundboards and with respect to your other post it makes
economic sense if the piano has enough inherent value and doesn’t if it
doesn’t.  Redesigning an otherwise lesser piano can add value to the
instrument but it’s a harder sell.  Some people are hung up on the fallboard
decal.  I don’t agree that the manufacturers are the only ones who know how
their boards are made and I’m not sentimental about old soundboards.  Either
it’s doing the job it’s supposed to or it’s outlived its usefulness and
needs to be replaced (this topic has been explored and argued extensively on
the list).  Whether you can make it work economically depends on various
factors but it is doable (and fun!).  

 

David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net
www.davidlovepianos.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Gregor _
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 2:39 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Do you sell pianos?

 

I read the postings about valuing ourselves and David Love gave the advise
to expand the repertoire for having a better income. That raises the
question: what is your repertoire? Most of you readers here might be located
in the USA and I would like to know with what you earn your money.
 
The German situation is usually this: the typical piano tech who runs a
1-man-business sells pianos besides from tuning, servicing or rebuilding
them. That does not necessary mean that they run a real shop, but often
there are occasions when you get offered an old piano for little money or
for free. Most of my collegues here in Germany repair and sell such pianos
even if they run no shop with regular opening hours. There is a German
proverb: *Ist der Handel noch so klein, bringt er mehr als Arbeit ein.* That
means: doesn´t matter how small a dealing is, it allways provides more
income than your hands work. I think it´s true (like the most proverbs).
 
So, my situation is typical: 3 days a week I am in field service and 3 days
I am in my store where I sell new and used pianos. And I am happy that I am
not located in a rural areal but in a city with 280.000 inhabitants (50.000
of them university students) so that I have not to drive far to my
customers. But I think even in a rural area it should be possible to sell
some used pianos. What´s about the US situation (or elsewhere, here are some
british list members, too)? And if the techs don´t sell the pianos, who
then? Are the dealers typically no techs, just sales people? Here in Germany
almost every dealer has a background as technician. Concerning the prices: I
charge (converted) 117 US-Dollar and the range in my hometown is from 110 to
147 Dollar. That´s my orientation for my prices. And I don´t feel better or
worse than my competitors. I just try to stay at the lower price level and I
don´t think that I would get more customers if I decided to raise my prices
because customers think: more expensive=better quality. Many people call and
ask for prices at the phone. Then they compare and call again (or not). All
competitors in my area have a good reputation, so for most customers it´s a
question of money. And it´s getting worse year by year: since 6 or 7 years
the German income situation has dramatically changed. People from the middle
income class can´t afford many products or services anymore and money is
getting shorter for many people. An advertising slogan from the biggest
electronic discounter is "closefistedness is cool" and has meanwhile gotten
proverb status. So, it´s the price that counts when range of quality within
the competitors is small.
 
Gregor

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