I disagree wholeheartedly. Taxes are imposed, tuning is not. Technicians should charge what the market will bear. I'm not a high volume tuner. I have a friend who tunes over 1000 pianos a year. I tune around 600. He's out of houses in an hour - I take 1.5 to 2 hours. Steve Brady made an interesting observation at one of our chapter meetings recently. He was speculating that the reason why piano technicians don't charge enough for their work is that they tend to be do-it-yourself types who clean out their own gutters and fix their own toilets. If you want some perspective on what professional service people charge to make house calls, start hiring other people to do these things. Steve told a story about servicing an upright in an upscale home. When he submitted his bill the gentleman commented, "that's a lot for an upright piano". Steve looked him in the eye and said " I pay the guy who cleans out my gutters more than that". The guy ended up giving Steve a tip and had him back soon after to tune their grand. When I started going to PTG conferences in 1992 I heard the mantra "charge more". It used to turn me off. It took well over a decade before I started to get it. Of course if you're going to charge more you should also be able to deliver outstanding service. One of my rules about rates is that if I start feeling like I don't want to push myself at my appointments it probably means I'm due for an increase. The other indicator is if I'm consistently booked out 3 weeks or so. Every technician decides what his/her time is worth. I find if my compensation is better I enjoy my work more and my clients treat me with more respect. The quality of the instruments I work on improves, as does the willingness clients to pay for more extensive service. Even though the media is beatings us over the head with what a "down economy" we are in, keep in mind that our industry exists in a microcosm compared to the overall economy. There are approximately 500,000 people within a 50 mile radius of my home. I only need to find about 550 of those folks to get their pianos serviced. Around half of those are loyal, repeat customers. This year I decided to set my new rate by working backwards: First I decided how many pianos I wanted to service. Then I decided how much money I wanted to earn by servicing pianos. Then I simply did the division. I felt some trepidation since it came to a $20 increase. Other years I'd raised my rates by $5 or $10. Yet, so far work has not dropped off at all. Surprisingly many of our clients are in some of the outlying areas that are the most "depressed". The reality is that even in depressed areas, there are still doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, and successful business people. Many of these folks love to play the piano and are willing to pay for a person who can tune, regulate, and voice. Even people on very limited income will occasionally scrape some money together to get their piano tuned - and some of them have the sense to hire someone good who will to the little extra things that make the piano play better. Don't sell yourself short, unless you really don't have what it takes to be a serious piano technician. On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 8:23 PM, pianolover 88 <pianolover88 at hotmail.com>wrote: > Raising your rates in a down economy is like raising taxes. It's just a > bad idea. > > Terry Peterson > Accurate Piano Service > UniGeezer.com <http://unigeezer.com/> > "Over 50, and not "2" Tired!" > > > > > ------------------------------ > To: pianotech at ptg.org > Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:28:37 -0400 > From: wimblees at aol.com > > Subject: Re: [pianotech] Tuning in a down economy > > Ryan > > First, I have a web site. I just don't mention it here, because you guys > don't need my services. But it is on all my promotional and advertising. > > I need to make this one point, again. Most of you who have been in business > for a long time might not remember what it was like when you first started > out. But if you were like me, when I started out in St. Louis 32 years ago, > I remember many days with no appointments, and I would tune any piano, > anywhere, for almost any amount. Fast forward 32 years, and I am in the same > situation. Only this time, the economy is in a tail spin, especially here in > Hawaii. Tourism, which is the driving force behind Hawaii's economy, is down > 30%. That might not sound like a lot, but just think about your situation, > and what you would do if your business was down 30%. Add to that, that I am > not as well known as the other tuners. I don't' give a (*&^%% what the other > tuner think of me. All I am doing is trying to make a living. And if I have > to drop my rates another 10%, to generate more business, I'll do it. > > Hey, for those of you who have more business than you can handle, even > after raising your rates, more power to you. But until you have been in my > shoes, don't tell me what you think I should be doing. > > Wim > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Ryan Sowers <tunerryan at gmail.com> > To: pianotech at ptg.org > Sent: Tue, 17 Mar 2009 7:29 pm > Subject: Re: [pianotech] Tuning in a down economy > > Don't lower your rates! Don't lower your rates! Should I say it again? > > We raised our rates $20 this year and are continuing to be committed to the > full piano service approach. > > Wim, I notice you don't have a website? This is a no-brainer. Get a > presence on the web as of yesterday! > > I know a gentleman who hired a minimum wage employee to cold call everyone > in his local phone book. This could be one way to generate some clients when > your starting in a new area. > > Do you have a business plan? A marketing plan? > > I think slashing your rates is a big mistake. Not only will it hurt your > reputation, it will also make a negative impression on your professional > peers. You might be better off getting another job on the side, and keeping > your rates up. > > On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 5:04 PM, <wimblees at aol.com> wrote: > > Tuning in a down economy > > A little while ago we discussed our work during this slow economic time. > While some of you are busier than ever, there are quite a few who are > experiencing a significant decline in income. I wrote that I was considering > lowering my tuning fee by 40% in an effort to get more business. > > Some of you stated that I shouldn’t lower my rates, and that I should only > charge what I am worth. That’s fine, but exactly what am I worth? I know > what I should be charging, but I also know what the other piano tuners in > Hawaii are charging. Although my “normal” rates are more than the others, I > wasn’t getting enough business to pay the bills. So I had a choice to make: > starve, or lower my rates. I chose=2 0the latter. > > On Good Morning America last week they interviewed a couple of people who > had been laid off from their high paying corporate jobs. These people were > now flipping hamburgers, walking dogs, and doing yard work to help pay the > bills. The money they were earning didn’t come close=2 0to what they had > been making before, and they were obviously way over qualified to do this > kind of work. But the alternative was not to pay to bills. > > That’s kind of how I feel. My tunings are as good, if not better, than the > other piano tuners on this island. Although I have had some clients tell me > they have never heard their piano sound this good. for the most part, I know > I am way over qualified to work on the majority of pianos. But, I have bills > to pay, and if the only way I can do that is to tune a spinet for less than > I am worth, then that’s what I have to do. > > Two weeks ago I sent out over 550 post cards to customers who hadn’t had > their piano tuned for a year or more, announcing a 30% discount. In two > weeks an ad will appear in several community magazines offering the same > discount, and even free estimates. Although I have had about a dozen call, I > have not had the number of appointments I anticipated. I even had some > clients who asked what the discounted price would be, say thank you, an d > hung up. I guess it wasn’t “low enough”. But if I don’t try to get some > business, it will be a long dry summer. > > This is my way of telling those of you who are seeing a decline in your > business that there is nothing wrong with offering your services at less > than what you are worth. Hopefully the discounts will only be temporary, and > we can all go back to charging what we are worth. > > Wim > > PS: Despite the decline in income, I was able to save up enough money to > book a flight to Grand Rapids. I might wind up sleeping on a park bench, > but going to a PTG Convention is not an option. It’s a requirement. I hope > to see all of you there. > > > Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT > Piano Tuner/Technician > Mililani, Oahu, HI > 808-349-2943 > Author of: > The Business of Piano Tuning > available=2 0from Potter Press > www.pianotuning.com > > ------------------------------ > *The Average US Credit Score is 692. See yours in just 2 easy steps!<http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1219850974x1201371016/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc%3D668072%26hmpgID%3D62%26bcd%3DMarchAvgfooterNO62> > * > > > > > -- > Ryan Sowers, RPT > Puget Sound Chapter > Olympia, WA > www.pianova.net > > ------------------------------ > Great Deals on Dell 15" Laptops - Starting at $479<http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1220433363x1201394532/aol?redir=http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;212935224;34245239;b> > > ------------------------------ > Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. Check it out.<http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_allup_1b_explore_032009> > -- Ryan Sowers, RPT Puget Sound Chapter Olympia, WA www.pianova.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090319/e450eaab/attachment-0001.html>
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