Marketing Your Business

[Arnold]

     I would like to begin a discussion of different ways that have
proved successful in marketing your business.  Some of us aren't
lucky enough to work for a university yet, with its almost
automatic recommendation, so, if you do,  how did you market your
business before you worked for a university?  Have any of you, for
example, had success with any of the following:  including a coupon
in one of the coupon envelopes, doing radio advertising, sending
out press releases on general piano maintenance and asking that, if
people want more information, to send a self-addressed, stamped
envelope to you.  The radio advertising and coupon envelopes, along
with having cards sent to everybody in a given zip code are very
expensive, but I wouldn't mind doing it if I had reason to believe
it would be cost effective.

     I live in an area that seems to be very crowded with tuners.
Yes, the area is growing, but new tuners keep coming here, too.
I realize that the best form of advertising is word-of-mouth, and
it isn't as if I haven't been recommended by my customers, but a
large per centage of the people to whom I am recommended already
have another tuner.

     Supposedly, the best three sources for potential customers,
other than one's own customers, are teachers, churches, and music
stores.  I am going to discuss music stores in a separate post, but
it seems that most of the teachers and churches I contact already
have somebody else, and, naturally, that is the person they
recommend when they are asked for a recommendation.  There is a
tuner in the area who has been around for quite a while that, long
ago, offered to do teachers' pianos for free, if they would give
him access to their lists of students; he has lots of teachers
accounts.

     Finally, when I asked my question a few months ago about
whether those of you who tuned for universities liked it,
everybody, except one, said they did.  Also, everybody recommended
that I get as much concert experience as possible.  Well, there
seems to be very little hope I will get such experience here.  The
area already has several "concert tuners" that have been here for
"ages"; that is who people call when they want a concert tuning
done.  And, these technicians are either young enough that they
plan to be here for quite a while, or, if they are planning to
leave the business in the near future, they already have trained an
apprentice to take over their business.  I have contacted the
schools in the area, but they are "quite happy with their current
tuner."  What is one to do, force them?  Not.  I have even offered
to do some free tuning just to demonstrate my ability, but they
don't seem to be interested.

     Suggestions time.  Thanks.

Arnold Schmidt

     P.S.  If anybody knows of an area where a good
tuner/technician  would be appreciated, please reply privately to
me; I wouldn't want "half the list" to get there first.