<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>FWIW, a number of years ago I bought a technicians small business - the elderly fellow had passed away and his son sold it to me. It was a 3x5 card box with several hundred contacts in it.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What we did was go through the cards and total up the dollar amount that was his gross income from those clients over the past year. I paid 50 cents on the dollar. His son and wife also sent a letter to each of the clients listed on the cards introducing me and stating that I was going to be servicing many of the former tech's clients and would be happy to service their piano. I then also followed up a couple weeks later with my own letter of introduction, bla, bla, bla.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If I remember correctly, at last count I serviced about 60% of those clients - so I basically did a free introductory tuning. I don't know how many of those have remained steady clients - a fair number.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think it was a good deal for me because I needed the work as I was just starting out. I think the family of the tech got a good deal because they really couldn't have done much else with the box of cards anyway.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hope this helps.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tampa, Florida</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>Suppose you're an experienced Technician and you came into a new area. It wasn't easy but over 5 years you built up a practice from the ground up, in this rural/suburban setting, of 500 or so of the usual mix of clients: great, good, and maybe not-so-good. Something has come up, and you've got to leave town.<BR><BR>There are a couple of Technicians in the area, and a couple of tooners. Your 'book' isn't huge, but it would be a boost to any of them.<BR><BR>You want your clients to be well taken care of.<BR><BR>You could use some cash.<BR><BR>What's running through your mind?<BR>What's it worth?<BR>What should you sell it for?<BR>What kind of deal makes sense?<BR><BR>OR<BR><BR>If you were one of the Technicians or tooners:<BR>What should you pay?<BR>How and when should you pay it?<BR><BR>Terry Miller</BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>