<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1250"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3268" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><SPAN class=593393718-12042008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>I'm sitting here all afternoon filling out a spreadsheet so that I can pay yet more taxes.  I have no secretary, except my wife answers the phone and takes messages. Having lost about 90 % of my voice, it's a pain to talk on the phone.  I simply don't have time nor energy to call people.  I only have a no show once a year at most.......  If the appointment is set a month or so in advance, I'll call. Otherwise, just can't.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=593393718-12042008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>les bartlett</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Willem Blees<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, April 11, 2008 1:17 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Pianotech@ptg.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> courtesey call<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><WBR>Last night we were talking with our son, Chris,who is a very successful CPA, about courtesy calls. He says his secretary always calls his appointments either the day before, or even the morning of, his appointment, as a courtesy, to let the client know Chris has an appointment with him. And he receives either a phone call or an e-mail confirming appointments. He says it's a profesional thing to do. <BR><BR>I have received a phone call from my doctor and dentist for several years reminding me of my appointments. Quite frankly, my reaction has always been, "Yeah, of course I have an appointment with you, I set it up, so why waste my time to remind me?" I assumed the call was because the doctor had been getting a lot of no-shows, which hurts his insurance claims. <BR>My reason for not contacting customers has been for two reasons. One, as I just said, the customer called me, so why remind him/her of the appointment. To me I look at it as insult. The other reason is "fear" of having the customer cancel the appointment, especially if I called her/him and had to talk her/him into getting the piano tuned. It is more difficult for a customer to send me away when I'm at the front door, than to tell me not to come on the phone before I even get there.<BR><BR>So what are your policies? Do you call the day before, as a courtesy, to remind your customer of your appointment, saying something like "This is a courtesy call to remind you of our appointment tomorrow at 9 o'clock.<BR><BR><BR> <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>www.pianotuning.com</DIV> <DIV class=aol_ad_footer id=u8CA6A176F5BF3E7-C6C-1B73><FONT style="FONT: 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF; COLOR: black"> <HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px"> Get the <A title=http://www.mapquest.com/toolbar?NCID=mpqmap00030000000003 href="http://www.mapquest.com/toolbar?NCID=mpqmap00030000000003" target=_blank>MapQuest Toolbar</A>, Maps, Traffic, Directions & More!</FONT> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>