Kurt, I work for a store and get paid a considerably less price than my standard rate. (About 1/3rd my standard rate, give or take). However, I am also the only technician for the store, so in addition to all the floor work, I also get 99.9% of their referrals for my territory, whether it's for the "free" tunings or just a straight referral. I have never been questioned about my bills when I have to charge more for extra work and the dealer pays me somewhat promptly. I have built a really good rapport with the sales staff and movers, (who also give me referrals), and because of my position as the store technician, I have rather quickly built a successful business and a good reputation as a skilled technician in the community. That said...sure, I have my frustrations doing store work and seeing how little all those pianos add up on my monthly paycheck from the store. But, I feel the trade-off has truly paid off in my best interest. I've been tuning for 6 years and my skills have advanced dramatically because of the workload. Being that my dealer sells Yamaha, I've been able to attend the Little Red Schoolhouse off their ticket, and I have more Disklavier experience in repairs and maintentance than any of my local colleauges...which I guess makes me the best expert in the area for them. My experience may not be pertainable to others where the stores may use more than one technician or aren't so employee-loyal. And I don't intend to work for the store forever, but I hope I answered your question on why I accept a discounted rate. Barb Nobbe, RPT Lexington, KY -----Original message----- From: kurt baxter <fortefile at gmail.com> To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Tue, Jun 29, 2010 17:42:31 GMT+00:00 Subject: [pianotech] Discounted rate for piano stores? Is it common practice to give a piano store a discount for tuning and repair work done on pianos on their showroom floor? If so, why? What about when you go out and do one of the "free" tunings the customer gets after buying a piano? Do you work for less becuase of the value added by the possibility of getting a new client? (No need to disclose dollar amounts, just a percentage of your normal rate.) -kurt -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100629/bfb2e76f/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC