why sell maintenance the customer won't notice?

[Avery Todd]

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Jim,

At 07:51 AM 12/25/04, you wrote:
>Dave
>I wonder if there is a 'car' analogy that might be useful . . .  I have my 
>oil changed regularly, nad ya know, I don't notice a darn bit of 
>difference $100 later . . .??

Wow! If you have to pay $100.00 to have your oil changed, I think we're ALL 
in the ]
wrong business! :-)

Avery

>I have the same dilemma with many customers, and when I am listening to 
>myself talk to the customer, I sometimes think I sound like an 
>encyclopedia salesman . . .!
>Oh well, such are the thrills of the job . . .
>Hope you have a happy Christmas with your family, and know that all those 
>'tuned' pianos will be making your customers christmas's a little bit 
>better . . .
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Jim Kinnear
><http://www.kinnearpiano.com>www.kinnearpiano.com
>Collingwood, ON, Canada
>
>The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress
>  -- Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French Philosopher
>A positive attitude may not solve all your problems,
>but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Dave Nereson" <<mailto:davner@kaosol.net>davner@kaosol.net>
>To: <<mailto:pianotech@ptg.org>pianotech@ptg.org>
>Sent: Saturday, December 25, 2004 3:23 AM
>Subject: why sell maintenance the customer won't notice?
>
> >
> >     Tuned a medium-quality console that was 25 or 30 years old and had had
> > minimal use.  While tuning along, I noticed that it could use vacuuming 
> and
> > a light hammer filing, but not terribly.  There was a bit too much lost
> > motion, but not enough to bother most players.  Several hammers weren't
> > quite aligned to the center of the unisons, but were still striking all
> > three strings.  I'm sure the keys weren't perfectly level, nor the dip
> > nicely uniform, and from its age and length of time without tuning, I'm 
> sure
> > all the flange screws needed tightening, along with plate screws and all
> > other screws.  Oh, and there were a few strings in the treble that maybe
> > needed seating on the bridge or maybe their bridge pins tapped in (false
> > beats).  And I imagine that the let-off was a bit wide.  But it played
> > nicely and had a decent, acceptable tone and sustain.
> >     Nevertheless, I thought I should point out to the owner what work the
> > piano could use in addition to tuning to put it in top shape.  So I
> > explained all the above-mentioned items, that it was 30 years old and no
> > piano goes that long without needing at least some routine 
> maintenance,  and
> > that it would cost a few hundred dollars to do a complete job.
> >     She replied, "What would I notice?"
> >     And you know, in all honesty, I had to reply, "Well, maybe not much."
> > The tone might be a LITTLE rounder after hammer filing, or it might be too
> > bright and need subsequent voicing down.  The tone was pretty nice as it
> > was.  She MIGHT notice that the action was a tiny bit more responsive (no
> > lost motion, closer let-off) IF she was a fairly advanced player, which 
> she
> > was not.  But vacuuming, tightening plate and flange screws, seating 
> strings
> > or bridge pins, de-traveling "wandering" shanks, regulating dip . . . I
> > doubt she or most average casual players would notice any change.  (I
> > already tuned it).
> >     Now, with much older pianos where the hammers are extremely worn 
> and the
> > action is extremely out of regulation, or when the hammers badly need
> > voicing, often the difference after reconditioning is dramatic.  And
> > sometimes the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, that is, they
> > might not notice this or that item, but all together, the reconditioning
> > improves the sound and touch of the instrument.  But in this case, I had a
> > hard time selling the job to even myself.
> >     Whatta ya do in these cases?  Just leave it?  Wait until it's "pretty
> > bad" before you work on it?  Why should they spend $300 or more if the 
> piano
> > will feel and sound about the same as it did before?  It doesn't increase
> > the value all that much.  It does prevent things from getting worse, I
> > guess, but in this case, I think the piano would be about the same,
> > regulation-wise, in 5 or even 10 years from now, with its very casual use,
> > since it's been "about the same"  for the LAST 5 or 10 years.
> >     --David Nereson, RPT
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > pianotech list info: 
> <https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives>https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives 
>

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