[pianotech] Complete piano service, was Workload

[David Andersen]

On Nov 11, 2009, at 6:30 PM, Bruce Dornfeld wrote:

> I agree completely!  This is what’s good for the music and the  
> technician.  I think most techs are afraid to sell it.  How do you  
> go about it?

1) ask great questions:
---"Has this piano ever been serviced? It's a machine, ya know. Have  
you ever seen the action out?
---"How long have you owned it?" How many hours---guesstimated---is it  
played in a week/month?"
---"Wow. So it's been ___hundred/thousand hours since any service  
whatsoever besides tuning has been done.
	That's like driving a car xxxxx miles and just putting gas in it.  
That's kind of brutal...."

2) SHOW them what's wrong---letoff, springs, drop, key travel, string  
cuts---and TELL them how that "wrongness" makes the piano sound and  
feel, and the simple steps you'll take to correct it and make it  
right. If you're accurate, and they're anywhere towards being a decent  
player, they'll immediately sense you know what you're doing, and  
they'll agree to to the work.

3) Be authentic. Be honest. Don't promise the moon unless you've  
delivered it reliably many times before. Underpromise and overdeliver.

4) MOST IMPORTANT: the final question (if they haven't agreed to the  
work already)
	"So. Do you want to do this work?"
			    then
	     SILENCE. DO NOT SPEAK.

The vast majority of times the client will say "yes." Then everybody  
gets excited and happy. Bingo.

Hope this helps.


DA



>
> "I don't know where these guys that claim they do 5 pianos a day  
> find their clients -- all the ones I work on need pitch raises,  
> repairs, regulation, and who knows what ..." D. Nereson
>
>
> “Right on. There's tremendous amounts of piano service money lying  
> around waiting to be picked up by the complete piano service  
> business. I highly recommend that every tuner-technician become a  
> complete piano service; then the days of 5 or 6 a day, 5 or 6 days a  
> week, fade and become a horrific and cautionary memory.”  David  
> Andersen
>
>
> Bruce Dornfeld, RPT
> bdornfeld at earthlink.net
> North Shore Chapter
>

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