My membership in the PTG is "free". Let me explain. I became an RPT the same reason 95% of the RPT's took the trouble, time and money to become an RPT, in two words. "feel good". We became an RPT to make us feel good about ourselves. Sure, in the process we became a little better at our profession, and there were some benefits, like working hard than to keep the organization running. In addition to feeling good about myself, once in a while I could see the benefits of being an RPT because I would get a phone call from a customer who saw my RPT status in the Yellow Pages, or because they got my name from an other RPT in another part of the country. But that all changed a couple of years ago when the PTG went "public", and we got put towards the top of the Google search engine when customers would look for a piano tuner in a certain location. Because of that, I have probably gotten at least a dozen call every year from customers who saw me on the PTG web site. That's enough new business to not only pay my PTG membership dues, but also registration to the PTG convention. Would I have been able to build up my business without being a member? Probably. But those extra 12 customers every year help my bottom line. The Google search allows a customer to search within 5 miles of your house. It probably helps that I'm only one of three RPT's on Oahu, but there are not that many RPT's in every city in the USA and a lot of people like to get their pianos worked on by "local" tuners. But you won't be on the PTG web site unless you're an RPT. So, for someone like Duaine, who's business is 99% pitch raises on old uprights, and doesn't think needs to be an RPT, I'm sure even he won't turn down and extra 10 - 15 customers every year. Word of mouth is good, but a little "free" advertising never hurt, either. Like I said, becoming an RPT used to be for our own gratification, but now it can make you more money. Wim -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20130115/b022e145/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC