<!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 6.00.6000.16587" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Loosing a few customers because your prices are too high for them, is a good sign that you are charging just enough. Also, nothing wrong with offering a discount, but it's awfully hard to take it back on future work.</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr 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> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=wimblees@aol.com href="mailto:wimblees@aol.com">Willem Blees</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, February 06, 2008 10:50 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: how to politely ask for a raise</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><WBR>Next time you give them the bill, just put in the a new amount. Someone might ask about it, but I would venture to guess that they will just pay it. <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 3px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV style="CLEAR: both">Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT<BR>Piano Tuner/Technician<BR>Honolulu, HI<BR>Author of <BR>The Business of Piano Tuning<BR>available from Potter Press<BR><A href="http://www.pianotuning.com">www.pianotuning.com</A></DIV><BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: Brian Doepke <bdoepke@verizon.net><BR>To: Pianotech List <pianotech@ptg.org><BR>Sent: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 4:11 pm<BR>Subject: how to politely ask for a raise<BR><BR> <DIV id=AOLMsgPart_2_61526b0d-1247-482f-b949-c6966f200eea> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have been tuning for a church twice a month for a year+1/2 without even a slight increase in fees.  I don't want to lose this client.  They like my work, we have a good communication and rapport....but I feel a slight increase is warranted with increased advertising costs, travel expenses and so on.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>How would you handle this?   Or...would you just leave the situation as it is?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thank you,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Brian P. Doepke; RPT<BR>A.A.A. Piano Works, LLC<BR>"The after-taste of poor quality<BR>lasts longer than the first bite<BR>of a good deal."</FONT></DIV></DIV> <DIV class=AOLPromoFooter> <HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px"> More new features than ever. Check out the new <A href="http://o.aolcdn.com/cdn.webmail.aol.com/mailtour/aol/en-us/text.htm?ncid=aolcmp00050000000003" target=_blank>AOL Mail</A>!<BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>