I don´t know whether I should tell you this... ahem... here goes... I´m very aware that the customer needs to feel at ease and trust the tuner. That´s why I´m always very polite in any way, (not like that stupid auto mechanic I saw this morning). This includes having impeccable phone manners and using a well chosen section of my vocabulary and also remembering to ask; "Is it alright that I lay this here?", when holding a lid of some sorts. Well, I also feel that the customer needs to feel he´s paying for something. When I tune a piano that needs more than one tuning and I have to come back and finish the job, perhaps the day after, I sometimes leave the unisons in the middle with a little "whang, meow, or what you will" in them... DELIBERATELY...I´m so sorry. Please, I have no flame suit. Sometimes the rough tunings can get pretty good and I just want to be sure that the possibly tone deaf customer definitely hears a difference between the fine and the rough tuning. Am I evil? I don´t know! Please help me. Kristinn the Cruel, Conqueror of Reykjavík, Iceland At 09:03 18.5.2000 -0400, you wrote: > > >> I think this is true, but if it is possible to do the same level of work in >> half the time, then that means mo money (and mo free time). :-) >> >John, it is my suggestion to you that you be careful with this line of >thinking..it is my opinion that you do not want the customer to ever feel >short-changed in any way..even if it takes you 35 minutes to tune the piano, >spend some time with the regulation - clean the keys - touch-up a spot here and >there..NO, I am NOT advocating giving away the farm - I am offering suggestions >to help with the perception that it takes xx amount of time to 'tune'..those that >see you, as a technician, caring for their instrument more than they do(in many >cases) will be the first people who will call you back to service their piano or >will be the first to ok your suggestion to them that it is time to service their >piano again or will be the first people to refer your services to their friends. > >Many times I will spend 3-5 minutes playing on my work - I do this for 2 reasons: >1) I still like to play! and 2) The customer likes to hear what it sounds like >after you're done..yes, it is part of my persona as a piano technician that I can >play what I work on..not very well!, but in most cases, better than the customer >can play - If I know the customer is a player, I offer the bench to them to 'test >drive' my work..again, part of my overall persona. > >This has been my experiences to date...yes - time is money - charge >accordingly..it has taken me a while to figure this out for myself. > >Rook > > >
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