I agree with James here. A card, followed by a call. The calls gets twice as many appointments as the cards do. Al -------------------------------------------------- From: "Pianoman" <pianoman at accessus.net> Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 10:28 AM To: <pianotech at ptg.org> Subject: Re: [pianotech] discount follow up > I will disagree with Wim on his last point about calling. I have never > sent out postcard reminders and I do spend, some times, more than an hour > calling past clients reminding them it has been more than 6 months since > last tuning. Yesterday , as an example, I had 3 slots open for Monday's > appointments. Within 30 minutes of calling my list I had booked 3 more > appointments for Monday. Some days I have an hour or so of free time and > an open agenda for the week following. I usually can fill those slots and > into the future, or at least have them tell me when to call back in future > months. Many tell me they were meaning to call me. If I get their > answering machine I leave a message and many times about 1/4 of them will > call me back. I leave a note on their listing on when I called to remind > them or when to call back. On clients that it has been several years since > tuning I leave one more message and then delete them from my file. If it > has been more than 2 years and they put me off I delete them. This system > works for me and I do not give tuning discounts of multiple pianos or > repair discounts. > James Grebe > Since 1962 > Piano Tuning & Repair > Creator of Handsome Hardwood Products( > 314) 608-4137 1526 Raspberry Lane Arnold, MO 63010 > Researcher of St. Louis Theatre History > BECOME WHAT YOU BELIEVE! > www.grebepiano.com > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <wimblees at aol.com> > To: <Pianotech at PTG.org> > Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 6:23 PM > Subject: [pianotech] discount follow up > > > > This is a follow up on offering discounts for not only tuning, but also > shop work. Some of these ideas I learned from my recent "sale", but also > as part of a discussion I had with another piano tuner who complained > about customers not appreciating the extra work she did even after doing > it for almost half price. > > When people call to schedule a tuning appointment because they’ve heard of > you, or feel confident that you’ll be able to take care of their piano, > they will pay almost anything to get their piano tuned, within reason. > However, when the first thing they ask is your price, and then say: “I’ll > think about it,” they are price shopping and don’t care about quality. So > unless you’re the lowest priced piano tuner on your area, you won’t get > the appointment. > > > > When you recommend repairs or regulations and they say they can’t afford > it, that means they want to get the work done, but really don’t have the > money. But when they say they have to think about it, or use any other > excuse, then they might consider getting the work done, but for whatever > reason, they don’t want to spend the money. There is a difference between > not being able to afford something and not willing to spend the money. Not > willing to spend the money means the piano is not important enough to them > to get the work done. However, if you lower the price to where they will > eventually let you do the wo > rk, not only will the customer not appreciate what you’ve done, but you’ll > wind up doing the work at a loss, and you might as well have done it for > nothing. > > > > For those of you whocall your customers to schedule appointments, when you > call and they give you all sorts of excuses why they don’t want to, except > “I can’t afford it”, then they want to get the piano tuned, but for > whatever reason, they don’t want you to tune it. But don’t take it > personally. I learned a long time ago that you can’t please everyone. So > accept the fact that for some reason, that customer wasn't satisfied with > your work. However, again, if you try to talk them into it by lowering > your price, they won’t appreciate it, and you’re working at a loss. If > anything, you’ve just given them another reason not to have you tune their > piano in the future. > > > > I send out reminder cards asking my customers to call me. If they don’t > call me, I figure it’s their loss. When I have called them, I find that > for the most part, the people who set up an appointment when you cal them, > probably would have called me anyway, even if it's several months later. > Therefore, it’s just not worth my time to call my customers anymore. I > will send them several postcards, and maybe offer a discount, but I will > not call them on top of that. > > Wim > > > >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC