<!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 6.00.6000.16674" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> <DIV>>I will be going this afternoon to evaluate a piano.  The lady wants to sell it, but it needs work first, so I will be giving >her an estimate.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>>Do you keep these clients in your database, even if you may never see her again?  And if you do, how long before >she, or any customer for that matter, is removed?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>>Matthew</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My policy here may be unusual but, I keep all my clients (if I accepted payment, they are a client) on file. I don't see how it hurts a data base or slows down today's computers to have more records on file. I make notes in comment fields and remove them from mailings, but they stay in there. I've found some of these folks or their friends or kids may contact me later. Also, I'm able to quickly check on pianos that have changed hands and shown up years later by entering serial numbers into search queries.</DIV> <DIV>I also find that making connections with new clients helps to establish a relationship. "I tuned that piano when it belonged to so & so." or "I worked for your neighbor" The computer doesn't care if I have 500 or 10000 records.</DIV> <DIV>Fenton<BR></DIV></FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>