Those are good processes; much what I do myself. I think Number 2 is
especially important - If the customer can SEE and/or FEEL the problem for
himself, he will much more readily be convinced.
In terms of building customer relations, and helping to convince the
customer of how able and expert you are, I find that it is always good to
SHOW, even when you are not trying to sell a separate service. Like last
week, when I visited a new customer, a young law student who had taken in
a neighbour's 1920s birdcage upright which the neighbour was throwing
away. Certainly not a great piano, but slavageable to get started back at
learning piano. I let him push a wippen flance back and forth to feel how
stiff it was, then again after applying Protek CLP - easy then for him to
understand why the actionj was sluggish, and to appreciate that I applied
Protek CLP to all the centres as a Free Extra for a new customer with
limited resources.
When you SHOW the customer something, preferably letting him handle the
part himself, if possible, he also comes away feeling a little bit more
"expert" himself, having been given that little bit of secret knowledge by
you, the magician!
Best,
David Boyce
"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".
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC