This is an awesome post. Agree 100%. If you think you're a serious and irreplaceable professional, people will start to treat you like one. DA On Mar 19, 2009, at 10:41 PM, Ryan Sowers wrote: > 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 > "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! > > > > -- > Ryan Sowers, RPT > Puget Sound Chapter > Olympia, WA > www.pianova.net > > Great Deals on Dell 15" Laptops - Starting at $479 > > Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. Check it out. > > > > -- > 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/20090320/70e8a6a4/attachment-0001.html>
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