[pianotech] New option for promo subscription - please consider

Carlos Ralon ceralon at comcast.net
Sat Nov 13 21:13:16 MST 2010


Chuck,
I was at sea on our beloved Liberty Ship and missed your offer. Please add me to your list.
Carlos Ralon, RPT
P.S. Still working on that big old Knabe upright for said ship. Maybe.... some day it will get finished.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Chuck Behm 
  To: pianotech at ptg.org 
  Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2010 3:36 AM
  Subject: [pianotech] New option for promo subscription - please consider


  >List,

  I'm writing this post to encourage those who are considering subscribing to Chuck's promo offer to do so sooner rather than later.

  Any of us who have seen Chuck's articles in the journal, on the Schaff website, and in the piano restoration photo archives he's made available to us know that what he's offering us is good stuff.  Other than the cost of Guild memberships (which brings the journal to those of us who are members), none of it has cost us a nickel.

  I'm convinced that what Chuck is offering is of real value to a significant number of us.  I, for one, think my subscription is going to bring me extra income far in excess of what I'm paying to subscribe.  So I want this thing to succeed.  It will take a certain "critical mass" of subscribers to make it possible for Chuck to put aside other work and take the day a week that will be necessary to make this thing fly.

  So if you're intending to subscribe, please recognize that jumping on board early is what will ensure that these tools will be in our hands earning us money.  Please let me encourage you to act now!

  Floyd Gadd
  Manitoba Chapter
  (Who is almost ready to deliver a keyset to a customer thanks in part to Chuck's Schaff article on invisible ivory repair.)<

  Thank you very, very much, Floyd. 

  On the one hand, I do indeed need to reach a certain threshold of income for this project to be workable from a time standpoint. With the number of subscriptions gathered so far, I'm quite a ways from that point.

  On the other hand, I know that these are not the easiest of times financially for a lot of people, especially those technician who I am most interested in helping boost their income with promo materials that I'm convinced will make sales of essential services an easier job for the technician.

  It is with those two factors in mind that I have decided to offer a budget option to the subscription package. If you would like to get in on subscribing to the personalized promotional materials I'm going to be developing, this could quite possibly be your one chance to do so. If an adequate number of subscriptions fail to develop, I simply may not be able to offer this service for you, as much as I would like to do so.

  Under the budget option you will receive a personalized hi-res PDF of every promo I develop for $9.99 (as compared to 19.99 or 29.99 currently offered).  The only catch is that after we have worked out the personalized label for the PDF's to your satisfaction, there will be no time-consuming customization available on my end.  You'll get each PDF as soon as it's ready to go, labeled with your contact information, ready to give to your customer either in hard copy form, or sent as an attachment to an email.

  Where alternate methods for particular procedures are going to be described, I'll send out a notification in advance to all subscribers, so that you may reply with your choice of options (for example, using a rotary tool for filing hammers vs. using hand sanding). Other than that, however, what you see is what you get. 

  Those who have already signed up for either of the original plans are welcome to switch to the budget option, if desired. As Floyd could tell you, there are advantages to being able to customize your package. But if cost is an issue, I simply can't go any lower. For the amount of time I will have to invest in this to make it work, I need to realize enough income to pay my bills. 

  Glancing at the clock on my computer, I see that it's 2:10 in the morning. I spent the entire day working in the shop on a restoration project which is overdue, taking occasional breaks to come in and mail out the complimentary first promo to people who have asked for it. Tomorrow I have 6 pianos to tune.

  I've got to be able to farm out enough of my current load of work to be able to buy the time I need to do this. My wife and I have raised 3 kids, seen them through college and married, and helped out financially really beyond our capability (paying medical and personal expenses for one daughter who is uninsured [and ironically who need her colon removed a year ago]). I've got bills to pay, and can't afford to undertake this project on an on-going basis unless it allows me to find the time to do so. So far, I've been staying up nights (as I'm doing tonight) and getting up early in the mornings, to put together the initial two promotions. I'm getting to be kind of an old guy (which is all relative I realize - my dad tuned pianos until he was 88). Still, I need some sleep!

  So, here's your chance to jump in and get a bargain price. You can upgrade at any point down the road if you would like to have the option of having your PDF customized. But for now, this would get you going with a set of materials that I believe will pay for themselves over and over again.

  Tomorrow is Saturday. Please drop me a note this weekend or by next week at the latest if  you would like to be included. If you wish to sign up for the 9.99 subscription price, make your intentions clear in your email, and you'll be on my list. You'll get the second promo (on hammer filing) immediately. Just let me know if you want the "rotary tool" option, the "hand sanding" option or a "combo" option, and I'll send you back the correct one.

  For your personalized label which appears at the beginning and the end of the promo, please set that up for me in your email so that I can cut and paste. If you have a really slow computer, let me know and I'll send a low-res version. Otherwise the file size of the PDF's I will be sending will range from about 3,000 to 5,000 KB.

  Those of you who have already subscribe do not need to do anything, unless you would wish to revise your subscription to the budget option. Just drop me a note to that effect and I'll be happy to make the switch. Otherwise, I'll assume you prefer to stay with the package you already have. 

  For billing purposes, I may be offering PayPal in the future, but for now, I would like to keep it on a basis that I'm familiar with. I'll send an invoice along with each PDF. Just drop a check in the mail. Of your 9.99 price, you may be interested to know, 3.00 goes to your uncle and mine, 2.00 goes to my daughter (the one with the medical problems), whom I'm hiring to do as much as the computer work as possible that will be involved (and there's a ton), and 4.99 goes to me to buy the time I need to be working on the next installment. 

  If you're undecided as to which plan you would like to subscribe to and would like to consider the other options, ask for me to email you the subscription package sheet, and I'll send that. Make your choice and drop me a second note, and you'll be enrolled with the plan that you chose. 

  Well, I'm going to quit running on now. It's 2:30 and I have to hit the sack. I just closed my eyes for a second and drifted off. You've heard of sleep-walking, of course. I think I'm 'sleep-typing' at this point. Wouldn't be the first time.

   Thanks, and good night. Hope to hear from you soon. Chuck Behm







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