Selling the business

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Greetings,  
    In the last several years,  we have seen posts from a number of 
technicians  that desired to sell their "business", or list of customers.  I 
wonder at the success of this and would like to offer a thought or two about 
it.  (geez, was that a soapbox I just saw go by?   No sermon here, just my 
own opinion!) 

   Successful service people have usually made a major investment in their 
reputation, whether by  biting the bullet when the estimate was too low and 
going ahead with the proper job anyway, always going the extra mile, or 
perhaps being careful enough never to have had a major failure etc.  Looking 
back on a well trusted and tuned(!) career, a conscientious tech may take 
pride in pulling it off, and that pride comes from the thousands of extra 
minutes taken over the years to make this unison a little cleaner, or that 
extra time to level the string, fit the shim, even throw away the pinblock 
and start over, (don't ask.....)
      However, when what we have created is trust among a group of consumers,(
our "business"),  selling it to another can be a problem.    The customers 
may take your word for it that the next tech is as good as you are, so in 
this sense you are selling the trust you have established, and the other tech 
will have some influence about how you are regarded when you are gone.  If 
the customer were to find out that you were paid to recommend the tech, (and 
they do....)  questions of kickbacks or conflicts of interest can arise. ( I 
have seen this happen).  For some, myself included, that is worrisome.  For 
this reason, I agree with Jon,  I would give another tech the list if I was 
going elsewhere, hoping that my customers would continue to be well served.  
        That doesn't sound like much of a "return on investment" for our 
reputation, does it?  Well, it is not, so the return must be found elsewhere. 
 I submit the following : 
    Make your reputation work for you while you are working.  This means 
raising and keeping your prices to the absolute maximum that your reputation 
will bear, and getting your return while you are still doing the work. Often, 
the customers will have a love/hate feeling when they call. Many of mine do.  
One told me before leaving the state, "Ed,  I hope the tech in the next town 
doesn't cost as much as you, but if so, and they do the same kind of work, I 
will be glad that I found them".  This indicates that the maximum return is 
being had.  If you don't have SOME customers going elsewhere because of your 
price, you are not charging enough. (There will always be customers that go 
for the lowest price, and quality is not an issue for them.  These are the 
proper customers for the beginning technician, no?) 
    When we begin our careers, price is often the only way we can compete, 
and by not compromising our quality, we make this investment with the 
expectation that ultimately our good work will allow us to charge more, and 
more, and more.  The skill is in keeping the price hitched to the quality, 
and as time goes on, both should continually go up. The booty is in the 
balance(pun). 
      The time to reap the investment in reputation is while we are working. 

Regards to all, 
Ed Foote RPT