Confessions of a "Lookerson"

[A440A at aol.com]

 >     When someone calls to ask you. "What do you charge for a tuning" ?

 Do you worry that you will loose them if you ask too much?  >>

Greetings, 
   No.   Fear of losing customers will, in the long run, cost far more than 
actually losing them. 
   I believe it was John Ruskin that said, "There is nothing that some man 
cannot do or sell cheaper with less quality, and those that consider price only 
are this man's lawful prey".   If the first thing they ask is price, I KNOW 
that they will not be happy with me.    I have learned that through experience.  
Presently, when asked about tuning fees, I simply tell them that normal 
tunings are $135, first visits are 
$160,  and if the piano is one of those that hasn't been tuned in "years", I 
tell them that the first visit may be $200.  This filters out the business 
that I have learned I don't want and sends them to somebody else that does.  
Win/Win/Win !    
      
    After being in one place for 30 years, I should be charging as much as 
whatever size market I can find will bear.  I am not selling a cure for cancer, 
I am selling a luxury item.  There are many other tuners, at all levels of 
developement, so there is a price point for everyone! Far better that we all find 
the right market rather than leaving a trail of unhappy customers. 
      I still remember (after coming out of the North Bennett School), the 
nighttime tuning of practise room uprights at Peabody college for $7.00 each. 
(1977).  Amortizing that across a career means that I MUST continue climbing the 
ladders of quality and price if I want to finish up as a simple middle-class 
worker.  
    I have said it before, but will do again:  Beginners must take anything 
they can, and they will have to compete by price, since there is no reputation 
to help them.  However, if they don't push themselves and their market to 
provide and pay for better work, they will remain a beginner all their career and 
their income will reflect that. 
Regards,

Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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