Best approach for acquiring new business.

[David Andersen]

Friends---read and reread the words below. They are a primer, a  
roadmap, for success as a piano tech or anything else. Ed, you need to
write a book, brother. You are a treasure. The last paragraph below  
should be printed on the inside of our eyeballs, etched into our beings.
There are two commodities that are beyond measure and value in my  
business and my life:
1. Trust
2. Authenticity
Ed Foote speaks as clearly as anyone living about these, and how they  
affect our business lives.
David Andersen



On Oct 20, 2008, at 8:16 AM, A440A (Ed Foote) @aol.com wrote:

> Greetings,
>      With the price of postage, and the flood of junk mail that  
> seems to clog
> mailboxes these days, I would question the return on investment of  
> sending
> cold post cards. The cold call is difficult, but if I was a music  
> director at a
> church, and a service person contacted me about giving me more bang  
> for the
> buck, I would listen, at least.  You can warm up these calls a  
> little by having
> a name they know as a reference.
>     You may need to offer a tuning for his/her consideration.  Make  
> it on the
> basis of "If this piano doesn't sound great, you don't need to pay  
> me."  Be
> aware that often the choir director has their own personal tuner  
> doing the
> church pianos, too, and there is little chance you will break that  
> arrangement.
>    The most profitable approach for me was to not only do high  
> quality work,
> but make sure the customer understood the difference between that  
> and mediocre
> work. Bill Garlick always told us that educating the customer was a  
> big part
> of the job.   I was sorta prideful and stupid in the beginning,  
> thinking that
> advertising was just for those whose work wasn't up to snuff.  That  
> is a dumb
> approach for someone early in their career, but what did I know?!   
> A chance
> encounter with Harold Bradley,(a big name in Nashville), broke me  
> into the
> recording studios and a month later, I was swamped.  I have been as  
> busy as I
> wanted to be since.
>    For the long term, putting the customers interest first is the  
> best way to
> guarantee a successful career.  If you do this, customers will talk  
> about you
> to their musical friends. This is the best way to get new  
> business.   There
> will be a few cases where it costs us money, but the investment is  
> a sound one.
>
>     If you are sure of yourself, willing to look out for the  
> customer's
> interest, and have the skills to do quality work for a fair price,  
> the eye contact
> will transmit most of the important information.  Remember also  
> that music
> teachers have far too much authority,(in the eyes of the parents of  
> the kids
> taking lessons), and often have a musical ego to match.  They might  
> be proud of
> that Acrosonic that they have taught lessons on for the last 20  
> years, so be
> careful about telling them it is a worn out piece of junk.
>     Ultimately, we need to remember that 90% of meaningful  
> communication with
> most customers is non-verbal.  They make their decision primarily  
> on how they
> feel about you, personally.  Honesty transmits itself, and  
> sincerity is hard
> to fake.  It helps to not carry the stench of your last cigarette  
> into the
> home,  and to not track mud across their rug....
>
> Ed Foote RPT

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