turning down unwanted biz

[Porritt, David]

Cy:

Thirty years ago I was working at a piano store in Dallas.  A man drove
up and parked his Lincoln Mark IV - or whatever number it was then - and
came in the store.  He said he needed to find a "practice piano" for his
son to use as he started piano lessons.  The store didn't carry any old
beaters then so the salesman (who had nothing to lose) said "you mean
you'll drive up in a top-of-the-line car and ask about a $125 piano for
your son?"  The man was taken aback a bit and the salesman sold him a
pretty decent piano!  

dp

David M. Porritt, RPT
dporritt at smu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Cy Shuster
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 10:19 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: turning down unwanted biz

Andrew,

I think this is an important point to make.

We're faced with declining sales of new pianos.  Children start on old 
beaters, give up in frustration, move to another instrument, and the
parents 
say "Well, I'm glad we didn't waste money on a new piano."

Explain to the parents that any instrument will either lead a student
on, or 
hold them back.  Learning to play piano means acquiring fine motor
skills 
over the hands and fingers.  Bring a stack of nickels and demonstrate
the 
difference in downweight on each key.  Just like going down basement
steps 
where the last step is 1" shorter (or taller), small differences in 
resistance make smooth play impossible. Show the difference in letoff,
note 
to note, and the raggedy dampers.  If the teacher would have trouble 
performing on this piano, how much harder will it be for the student?
The 
student plays on the teacher's piano, comes home and it sounds lousy.
They 
blame themselves, of course, and get frustrated.

Would you let a student driver have grandma's old car, with play in the 
steering, brakes you have to pump, a slipping clutch, and an emergency
brake 
that needs adjustment?  Of course not.

Think the other way.  Think about who invested money in that piano when
it 
was new.  Think about how many years of pleasure have been given to
perhaps 
more than one family during its, say, 25 years of functional life.

I encourage people to at least rent a decent piano, instead of dusting
off a 
free garage sale upright.  I happily give an honest evaluation of work 
needed and cost, separated into "must have" and "nice to have", along
with 
an honest assessment of unknowns.  The possibility of replacing most
bass 
strings at $20+ each is pretty scary to most customers.  Car analogies
help: 
pianos have parts designed to wear out, like tires, belts, and hoses.
If a 
1964 Rambler American was an entry-level car when new, would you spend 
$5,000 to fix it up today?

Does every five-year-old need a concert grand to learn on?  Of course
not. 
But what if they had one at home?  Would it make a difference?  Why not
rent 
a decent piano until both parent and child have a sense of what a good
piano 
is like?

--Cy--
ABQ, NM

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew and Rebeca Anderson" <anrebe at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 8:15 AM
Subject: Re: turning down unwanted biz


>I simply tell the customer I would feel dishonest taking money to try
to do 
>anything to the piano as it is not retrievable for anything near the
cost 
>of a new piano and what I could do would not add to its market value.
They 
>say something about needing it for a child taking lessons (I'm also a 
>teacher) and I say that this PSO is a piano-lesson road-block, not a 
>starter-piano--that they would be wasting money twice over if I worked
on 
>it and then the child had to practice on it while they pay for lessons.
> It does take time for a statement like that to sink in, and they will
try 
> offering money etc. but a lost cause is exactly that and when it gets 
> through they are more then grateful that you had the courage to say it

> clearly without equivocation.
>
> Andrew Anderson