I'm not a gambler. I didn't lose any money at Reno. BUTTT. I'm enough of a gambler to quote a job. After inspecting a piano, I'll usually give a rough quote. If it is a job that is under one or two thousand dollars, I just make sure I quote high enough. If I can do the job in less time, I give them a discount. They will love you forever. I have a friend who spends so much time doing estimates in triplicate that he hasn't had time to do any meaningful work. That is why he has a three year backlog ( he hasn't finished the jobs he quoted three years ago.) If you need an excuse to delay say " I need to check the parts prices" and let it go at that. I hate the time it takes to write up a formal quote. I'd rather eat the excess time to do the job. There is always ways you can fudge time to minimize the loss if you bid too low. Makes you more realistic in estimating the time it takes to do the job. Pretend to be cocky, even if your not. Carl Meyer Assoc. PTG Santa Clara, California cmpiano@home.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Neuman" <piano@charlesneuman.net> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2001 4:33 PM Subject: Re: Voicing M&H BB > Terry, > > I'm curious, from a business point of view, how this situation works: > What do you tell the customer after inspecting the piano? Do you say > you'll think about it, consult other people, or research it further? > I've always been curious how a situation like this is handled, where the > tech needs time to think or research but doesn't want to come off > looking like they don't know what they are doing. > > Charles Neuman > PTG Assoc, Long Island - Nassau >
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