[pianotech] Charging by job, or by hour?

[Ed Foote]

Asked:



 
>>Do you quote action regulation jobs over the phone, without ever seeing the piano?
 

Greetings, 

I don't usually do that, for several reasons. It primarily gives a customer a price that they either dread, or worse, to expect, and expectations are just resentments with a plan...
     Without seeing it, can I suggest a $12,000 action job?  No, because the piano could need to be restrung, new block, or whatever. Then I have a customer that begins to suspect I am leading them into a money pit, by switching baits.  They respond better to having the whole picture, as a first consideration, rather than getting a base price and then a line of add-ons, like, "Oh, you will need new strings", and then, "Hmm, need a pinblock to go with them",  finally, "Oh, you want to sit down while you play. we'll need to rebuild that bench".....
       Another reason is that trust depends on them buying "me" first, and face to face is the superior way of establishing a relationship.  And believe me, rebuilding a customer's action is going to create a relationship between us.  I still tune over actions I rebuilt 25 years ago, that have been maintenance-free since the 10 year regulation. The customers are real happy they have had no problems,(I have a life-time guarantee on my work, my life, not theirs), and I have not had to spend any money, at all, on advertising.  
     Yet another reason is that low-ball price shoppers, and the impossible-to-satisfy victims among them, will be in the crowd that wants one figure, over the phone, to compare and perhaps beat down some other hapless "tech's" price. I don't want to be in a relationship with those people. 
   And lastly, if I give an estimate over the phone, where's the beef?  I can't make a cent!   It makes more sense to me, as a business person, and to them, as consumers,  to sell them a tuning, over the phone.  I can even phrase it in the sense of say "$ 200 visit to examine the piano, which includes tuning it. You may not need  as much work as you fear".  This makes it a profitable examination, and lets me know what I am talking about, in detail. Customers like that. 
    A serious customer will understand that a tuning is a small investment in such a large expense, and they will happily pay.  THEN I can decide what is best for the piano  and customer in the situation they are in.   It works for me. 
Regards,
  


 







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