>Do you ever get the "oh the piano isn't played much" routine only to have no repat business from a person? This seems to be my trouble - Marshall< With all the talk back and forth about aural vs. EDT tuning, this might be a relevant point. I spend a little time whenever possible talking up the importance or regular maintainance on a piano. The fact that I use a Veritune makes it extremely easy to show the customer how much pitch the average piano loses over a year's time. With the Veritune on the fine tuning setting, the needle is quite far to the left when the piano is 5 - 10 cents flat, which in this climate is very typical. The point I stress is that if I can tune the piano before it goes any further flat than about 10 cents, usually I can do so without breaking anything. When it goes further than 15, 20 or 25 cents flat, strings are much more prone to breakage. The fact that it's possible for the customer to see the amount to the left that the dial reads makes it much more effective. I then will pull the string up to correct tension, and make the point that to the ear, it may not seem to be that much, but that it really is. Seeing the needle indicator turn 90 degrees on the dial as the string is brought up is much more impressive than just hearing it. I make the point that after a year's time, the piano may not sound bad, but it more than likely has drifted flat and needs to be maintained. A good comparison to make is to changing the oil on a car. A yearly tuning is equivalent to changing the oil every 5,000 miles. You might be able to get by going longer than that, but in the long run, it pays to maintain your equipment. I bring up at this point the fact that I've had customers over the years whom I've tuned for on a yearly basis for 20, 25 or 30 years. All of a sudden one year they'll say, "Oh, the piano sounds okay, so we're going to let it go!" When someone says this to me, instead of arguing with them I bring up my business car. "You know that my Monte Carlo, the one that I pull up in front of your house every year?" I'll ask. Usually they remember it. "Did you know that I have over 250,000 miles on it?" Usually, they're surprised by this. "And did you know that I change the oil religiously every 3,000 miles and that I've never had a major engine problem?" They didn't know this, obviously. "Why do you suppose I've never had an engine problem?" I ask them. "Because you maintain it," is the answer I always get."Would it make sense for me to say, "You know, I've never had a problem with this car, so I'm just going to stop maintaining it for the time being?" No, that wouldn't make any sense. I then change the subject back around to their instrument. "Your piano sounds pretty good? It plays well?" I ask. "And you have had me service it religiously every year for 25 years?" I pause at this point, waiting for the light bulb to go off. "Yes," they'll usually say. "Why does it sound good, do you suppose?" I'll asked. "Because we've had it tuned every year," they'll admit. "And now you think it's a good idea to start letting it go?" I'll ask. Usually, they'll end up having the piano tuned after all. Marshall, the main thing is to believe in yourself and the value of the service you perform. Also, it might be helpful to have a calendar with you for the next year in advance. When you get done tuning the piano, ask if they would prefer to schedule a 6 month tuning, or a year tuning, and get it on both your calendar and their calendar. Don't ask *if* they want to reschedule - ask * when* they want to reschedule. Treat it as matter-of-factly as you can that rescheduling is the standard procedure, and you'll be amazed how your calendar for the upcoming year will start to fill in. I always tell the customer that I will call in advance to remind them, and that I'll be flexible if we need to adjust the date or the time. 95% of my customers love to have the next booking on the calendar. One less thing for them to worry about. Good luck in building your business. Stay positive! Chuck Behm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20110128/5913e607/attachment.htm>
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