<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PostalCode"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PersonName"><div class="Section1"><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; ">In my Microsoft Works flat file database (which could just as easily be done in a spreadsheet like Excel- demo attached) I have three fields relating to service*:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">date tuned</span></b>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">tuning interval</span></b>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">next service due</span></b>. I format them respectively as yyyymmdd, mm, yyyymm. Using this kind of format enables meaningful sorting on these fields. So if I tune a piano today, for example, I would update the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">date tuned</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>field to today: I would enter 20080412. If the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">tuning interval</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>field was 9 for this client, then I would update the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">next service due</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>field to 200901. When I printed out this month’s call back report (demo attached) I chose every record that had a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">next service due</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>value of less than or equal to 200804. I sort that report on zip code and subdivision which groups the clients by neighborhoods.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; ">If I have a client that does not want called back I stick 999999 in the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">next service due</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>field so they will never show up on the callback list.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; ">When generating my post card reminder mail list it is a little more complicated. First I import all the records into Excel- it’s just a copy and paste actually. Excel is a little handier at sorting and selecting. I choose the records that have a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">next service due</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>month equal to the current month, then every record that has a month serviced equal to the current month. I then add every record that has a month serviced equal to 6 months difference from the current month. I also pick some from the 999999 group so that they get a postcard every 12 months.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; ">So for April I would choose those records with a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">next service due</span></b> equal to 200804, then every record that started with the following in the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">date tuned</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>field: 200710dd, 200704dd, 200610dd, 200604dd,… etc. For the 999999 group I’d only pick those with months equal to 04. You, of course, could come up with your own strategy on how often to send reminders.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; ">Picking those months from the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">date tuned</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>field is actually pretty easy to do. I add another field that culls the month serviced from the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">date tuned</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>field**. Then I sort on that field and it groups all the same months serviced together, so I can just pick all the 04 months and all the 10 months. If I was an Excel programmer this could easily be done with a macro, but I’m not.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; ">When I have my post card mailing list all done, I sort on the email field and all those records with emails bubble to the top and presto, I have my email reminder list which I save as a separate file for my email merging.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; ">I use Word to do my post card mail merging and I have a Word template for the email merging which uses Outlook to send them (demo attached. When opening choose the Piano Customer Database-Demo file as the source file and it should work). If anyone wants to do this for themselves and has trouble I’d be happy to help as I’m able.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000080" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; "><o:p>[Files at:]</o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000080" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><a href="http://tinyurl.com/5cdzxg">http://tinyurl.com/5cdzxg</a></span></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><a href="https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/files/2008-April/000303.html">https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/files/2008-April/000303.html</a></span></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; "><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: navy; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div><div><p class="MsoAutoSig" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><b><font size="6" color="navy" face="Bradley Hand ITC"><span style="font-size: 22pt; font-family: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; color: navy; font-weight: bold; ">Dean</span></font></b><font color="navy"><span style="color: navy; "><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><u1:personname u2:st="on"><st1:personname w:st="on"><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; ">Dean May</span></font></st1:personname></u1:personname><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"></font><font color="navy"><span style="color: navy; "> cell 812.239.3359<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; ">PianoRebuilders.com 812.235.5272<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:city u2:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; "><u3:place u4:st="on"><u3:city u4:st="on">Terre Haute</u3:city></u3:place></span></font></st1:city><font color="navy"><span style="color: navy; "></span></font></st1:place></u1:city><font color="navy"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><u1:state u2:st="on"><st1:state u5:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">IN</st1:state></st1:state></u1:state> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><u1:postalcode u2:st="on"><st1:postalcode u6:st="on"><st1:postalcode w:st="on">47802</st1:postalcode></st1:postalcode></u1:postalcode></font></u1:place><font color="navy"><span style="color: navy; "><o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; ">*Here all the fields I use: Name, First Name, Address, Mailing Address, Mailing city/state/zip, City, State, Zip, Home Phone, Email, Work phone, subdivision, Date Tuned, Tuning Interval, Next Service Due, Mail, Note.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; ">The Mail field gets a “y” if they are on the mailing list, an “x” if they aren’t.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; ">The note field is an extra long field for any kind of notes about the customer.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; ">The post office really doesn’t like punctuation marks in addresses so the Mailing City/State/Zip field would look like:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Terre Haute</st1:city><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:state w:st="on">IN</st1:state><st1:postalcode w:st="on">47802</st1:postalcode></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; ">** I actually first create a field with a date that has standard mm/dd/yyyy format for mail merge insertion into the postcard. So if the date<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">tuned field</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of 20061103 is in cell M2 the code looks like this: ==CONCATENATE(MID(M2,5,2),"/",RIGHT(M2,2),"/",LEFT(M2,4)) which yields 11/03/2006. If that is in field Q2 then the code to cull the month looks like, =LEFT(Q2,2), which yields: 11<o:p></o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><font size="3" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: navy; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div></div></div></o:smarttagtype></o:smarttagtype></o:smarttagtype></o:smarttagtype></o:smarttagtype></div></span></body></html>