I have to agree with making phone calls. I rarely send out reminder cards. I only make phone calls to those that I have asked in advance if they would like for me to call them. If them hem or haw, they don't go on the list. If they haven't scheduled in 5 years or more, they go off from the call list and on my final call to them, I often say that "I assume you do not wished to be called any longer as you are not returning my calls and that's fine but, if I do not hear back from you then, I am deleting you from my call back list and will await your phone call to me. Just remember that I am usually scheduling anywhere from 1 month to 3 or more months in advance depending on the time of year so, when you do call, bear that in mind." Often times, I'll get a response back scheduling. If not, oh well... We start our calling by making contact first with our institutional work. I.e., colleges, churches, schools and then other organizations.... I've been calling them for so many years that they have become accustomed to it and prefer it by waiting for me to make the contact to them. (Because they know I will) Unless of course, they have something special that has come up. Then, I'll squeeze them in after hours or during my lunch hour. Either that, or I will sub-contract it done. I set it up in order of importance. I call my college first, churches 2nd, schools third, other organizations 4th, homes last. I usually try and call 1-2 months ahead of time. But, not always, it depends on what my schedule is. The first 4 on my list will schedule 99% of the time according to the preset schedule that I had set up with them in our initial contact whether that be monthly bi-monthly or yearly. I then, set up the dates as far ahead as their schedule will allow to help eliminate pestering them and wasting my time with reminder calls. Usually, I can schedule each one of them from August through December calling again after Christmas to schedule through June if possible. I have always asked them on the job or via the phone what special events they might have this year throughout the fall and into the Easter season so we can schedule according to their needs, not mine. I make them sound important, like I am looking out for their needs and I am. I also try to remember to get their email addresses' so I can send a short email telling them that it is time again. You might be surprised at how many appointments I make from email scheduling. From previous scheduling, I know about what times and dates generally work best for them and then make a suggestion and then wait for a response typing them into my schedule with a notation "CONFIRM" so that I know it is not a firm appointment yet. I almost always get a response via email within a few days thanking me for the reminder and my contact. One more thing that has worked rather well for me, is instead of asking IF they want them tuned, I tell them that it is time to have them tuned and then I ask them what times and days work best for them? I have great success at it. Now, hear this. This is very important. Not all of us are good phone people. We need to realize our weaknesses. This is mine. I love returning phone calls but, quite Frankly, I absolutely HATE doing the reminder calling. In fact, I despise it!!! Consequently, it would never get done. So, I either hire it done by someone with a sweet disposition, or I have my wife do the reminder calling while I sit at the computer pointing at the available dates in my calendar so I'm not flying from one area to another. I type in the information (she's slow as molasses at typing but is excellent with customers) as she schedules them. Works great for me... Sorry for a long email but, this does work great for me and has for 29 years since I started doing it this way. -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Al Guecia/AlliedPianoCraft Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 12:36 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] discount follow up 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 theyve heard of > you, or feel confident that youll 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: Ill > think about it, they are price shopping and dont care about quality. So > unless youre the lowest priced piano tuner on your area, you wont get > the appointment. > > > > When you recommend repairs or regulations and they say they cant afford > it, that means they want to get the work done, but really dont 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 dont 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 youve done, but youll > 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 dont want to, except > I cant afford it, then they want to get the piano tuned, but for > whatever reason, they dont want you to tune it. But dont take it > personally. I learned a long time ago that you cant 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 wont appreciate it, and youre working at a loss. If > anything, youve 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 dont > call me, I figure its 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, its 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 > > > > _____ avast! Antivirus <http://www.avast.com> : Outbound message clean. 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