My treasured mentor and colleague T. Servinsky has identified two crucial aspects of a successful small business: 1. Your business' brand ( in this case, Tom) has a general perception in the community as giving, caring good guys. 2. Your business' brand HAS a general perception in the community because you MAKE EFFORT to get your business in front of as many eyes as possible WITH THE SAME LEVEL OF EXCELLENCE AS YOU EMPLOY TO TUNE OR REGULATE. I really can't emphasize this enough. A successful small business REQUIRES a commitment to marketing beyond word of mouth if you want to grow and get better quality work. It's a BITCH to work on pianos all day then try to build a business by doing all the other things you need to do "after work." The soul rebels. That's why you should: 1. STOP being penny-wise and pound-foolish and take one morning a week and do nothing but build relationships and market yourself. Each one of us has a custom business style. Within that style is a set of marketing protocols that you can enjoy and employ. Be creative; don't do something that feels stupid to you; be practical and prudent; but DO IT. This is the time. 2. STOP being penny-wise and pound-foolish and hire some part-time help at $10-15/hour to help you get organized. You can't imagine what a help this can be with the right hire. It restarted my entire career. Be honest with yourself; look at your level of disorganization with a cold and detached eye, then do something about it. In battle, those who hesitate are often soon dead. David Andersen On Mar 21, 2009, at 2:50 AM, Tom Servinsky wrote: > Ryan, > Agree. > Something else needs to be said about finding ways to keep your > business afloat during a down economy. > Many times we ( as small business owners) are so engrossed into > the everyday to day happenings with our businesses, that we fail to > realize that the public knows very little what we do or the latest > happenings in our business. > Sometimes, something as little as sending a announcement to the > local newspapers that you've attended a seminar can add some > interest to the public idea. This can result in more people > responding to those postcards. > Something else which is affective: good gestures to your community. > I happened upon a Yamaha U1 this year which was destined for the > dump as it was dropped and the insurance company deemed it worthless > material. Although it had a serious crack and gouge in the > soundboard, along with some cosmetic issues, the remainder of the > piano was fine. I took the piano in, did some repairs, and then > donated the piano to my daughter's high school band room. The > delight and excitement on the director's and administrator's face > was well worth the effort. > I didn't do for the public attention, but as a good gesture towards > the school who was having serious financial issues and couldn't > afford to add a better piano to the program. The public > acknowledgement which came afterward was overwhelming, which > resulted a lot of new customers finding interest in using my > services. The cost of my time and delivery was far less vs. the > business I received afterwards. > The school acknowledged the gesture in several articles to the > newspapers, plus announcements during school production events. The > word got out and the result was very positive. > I was surprised that some heard of the news were my neighbors, who > never knew what type of work I did. Some even walked their dogs > during the same time that I did and weren't even remotely aware of > what I did. Whose fault is that. Mine. > Bottom line, in a down economy, work harder at keeping your name in > the public eye. There's plenty of business out there. You just have > to find ways to make your services worthwhile and of interest to the > public. As old fisherman usually say, " if you want more worms, turn > over more rocks" > Tom Servinsky > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Ryan Sowers > To: pianotech at ptg.org > Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 9:08 PM > Subject: Re: [pianotech] Tuning in a down economy > > Postage on 250 cards is around 60 bucks if you generated 5 responses > you probably generated around $500 worth of work - That's NOT lousy, > its not bad. You have to keep expectations realistic with this kind > of marketing. Professional sales people know this well don't see it > is 245 negatives but focus on the 5 positives. Think of what those > telemarketers have to put up with. But the reason companies keep > using this method is that it actually can work! > > I also am a believer in making sure you're business stays in the > public consciousness. Even though you only received 5 appointments > you also injected the idea of piano servicing into the public mind. > Keep it up! It will eventually pay off more than you realize. > > On Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Daniel Carlton <carltonpiano at sbcglobal.net > > wrote: > > > sent out about 250 postcards last summer, received maybe 5 > responses. LOUSY! > > Daniel Carlton > > This message was NOT sent from my iPhone, because I don't have one > > > > -- > 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/20090321/284b1e17/attachment-0001.html>
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