older Steinway whippens

[Susan Kline]

At 08:24 AM 8/13/98 EDT, Wim quoted me:
>
><< If
> the old parts can be made to work _well_, or even _as well as the customer
> wishes_, they are definitely the best value for money, and failing to
> explain this and to find out if they will be good enough I feel ignores
> your customer's needs and wishes. 
> 
> Susan >>
>
>
>The problem with this theory, Susan, is the key phrase, "as well as the
>customer wishes".  How do you know what the customer wishes?  It is not until
>you are done with  the action that the customer is going to say "I like it",
>or "it's not what I want". In the former, you're off the hook. But if it is
>the latter, and you've had to work with older parts, and they have been made
>to work as well as they can, then what's the next step?  Either you tell the
>customer, "sorry, this is as good as it gets", or you tell him, "sorry, if
you
>want it better, you'll have to pay for new parts". In either case, it's going
>to cost the customer more money in the long run. And the side effect of that
>is, the customer is not going to be happy with you. That is, unless you told
>him all of this in the beginning, and he understood the consequenses of using
>the older parts. 
>
>Willem Blees
>

Very good points, Wim. I think the answer for me lies in your last
sentence. Tell them the WHOLE THING, every possible drawback as well as
benefit. If possible, do a few samples so he (or she) has something to play
and feel. Tell him (or her) every development as the work proceeds. Given
this approach, I've found people are overwhelmingly reasonable. (New parts
can have drawbacks, too.)

Yours,

Susan


Susan Kline
P.O. Box 1651
Philomath, OR 97370
skline@proaxis.com