[pianotech] more on discounts

[Dean May]

This week I was at an elderly housing unit tuning. The piano hadn't been
tuned in 5 years and I gave a reminder call to the director. She relented
and scheduled the tuning. I say this to point out she was not predisposed to
spending money on tuning. While I was there a resident asked if I could also
tune the piano in a different room that he played. He apparently went off to
talk to the director about it because she presently came up to ask how much
money is was going to cost. I gave her the price and she said no thanks. I
then volunteered that I do give a $4 discount per piano if more than one are
tuned. After a brief hesitation she said go ahead. 

 

Points to consider: 

 

It isn't her money she is spending, so she isn't really emotionally attached
to it. She just needs a reason. I gave her one: she was going to "save"
money by having 2 pianos tuned instead of 1.

 

It isn't the amount of the discount, it is that there is a discount. A $10
or $15 discount would not have been any more effective in closing this sale.
This lesson was especially driven home to me when I had a retail store and
sold pianos. People need a reason to buy. My tendency was to discount the
pianos too much thinking this would give people more incentive. But selling
price is not the biggest issue for most customers. It is about comfort. If
their comfort level is high enough, price really is no issue.

 

For most of us, there is a marketing cost for every appointment we book.
This cost is considerably larger for a first time customer. My brother, in
the carpet cleaning business, is willing to spend $50-$75 to get a first
time customer. Offering a discount for multiple pianos is a simple
acknowledgement of this cost and passes on some of the savings to the
customer. Since time is money, whatever time you spend in booking an
appointment (not counting any promotional campaigns, yellow pages, phone
costs, etc.) represents a real cost. If you get two tunings for the same
amount of time spent booking the appointment, your costs are lower. 

 

Dean

Dean W May                (812) 235-5272

PianoRebuilders.com    (888) DEAN-MAY

Terre Haute IN 47802

 

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