<WBR>David<br> <br> I agree with you that Ed has a lot of business savvy. But please read my book, and you'll find that a lot of what he says is in there. <br> <br> Thanks<br> <br> <div style="CLEAR: both">Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT<br> Piano Tuner/Technician<br> Mililani, Oahu, HI<br> 808-349-2943<br> Author of: <br> The Business of Piano Tuning<br> available from Potter Press<br> www.pianotuning.com</div> <br> <br> -----Original Message-----<br> From: David Andersen <david@davidandersenpianos.com><br> To: Pianotech List <pianotech@ptg.org><br> Sent: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 6:58 am<br> Subject: Re: Best approach for acquiring new business.<br> <br> <div id=AOLMsgPart_2_5e41e9c4-3074-4ace-9cc8-2bdabecabf6d>Friends---read and reread the words below. They are a primer, a roadmap, for success as a piano tech or anything else. Ed, you need to  <div>write a book, brother. You are a treasure. The last paragraph below should be printed on the inside of our eyeballs, etched into our beings.</div> <div>There are two commodities that are beyond measure and value in my business and my life:</div> <div>1. Trust</div> <div>2. Authenticity </div> <div>Ed Foote speaks as clearly as anyone living about these, and how they affect our business lives.</div> <div>David Andersen</div> <div><br> </div> <div><br> </div> <div><br> <div> <div>On Oct 20, 2008, at 8:16 AM, A440A (Ed Foote) @aol.com wrote:</div> <BR class=Apple-interchange-newline> <BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>Greetings,<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>     </SPAN>With the price of postage, and the flood of junk mail that seems to clog<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>mailboxes these days, I would question the return on investment of sending<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>cold post cards. The cold call is difficult, but if I was a music director at a<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>church, and a service person contacted me about giving me more bang for the<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>buck, I would listen, at least.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>You can warm up these calls a little by having<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>a name they know as a reference. <SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>    </SPAN>You may need to offer a tuning for his/her consideration.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>Make it on the<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>basis of "If this piano doesn't sound great, you don't need to pay me."<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>Be<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>aware that often the choir director has their own personal tuner doing the<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>church pianos, too, and there is little chance you will break that arrangement.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>   </SPAN>The most profitable approach for me was to not only do high quality work,<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>but make sure the customer understood the difference between that and mediocre<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>work. Bill Garlick always told us that educating the customer was a big part<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>of the job. <SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>I was sorta prideful and stupid in the beginning, thinking that<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>advertising was just for those whose work wasn't up to snuff.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>That is a dumb<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>approach for someone early in their career, but what did I know?!<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>A chance<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>encounter with Harold Bradley,(a big name in Nashville), broke me into the<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>recording studios and a month later, I was swamped.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>I have been as busy as I<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>wanted to be since. <SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>   </SPAN>For the long term, putting the customers interest first is the best way to<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>guarantee a successful career.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>If you do this, customers will talk about you<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>to their musical friends. This is the best way to get new business. <SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>There<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>will be a few cases where it costs us money, but the investment is a sound one.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 19px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 16px Helvetica"><br> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>    </SPAN>If you are sure of yourself, willing to look out for the customer's<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>interest, and have the skills to do quality work for a fair price, the eye contact<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>will transmit most of the important information.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>Remember also that music<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>teachers have far too much authority,(in the eyes of the parents of the kids<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>taking lessons), and often have a musical ego to match.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>They might be proud of<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>that Acrosonic that they have taught lessons on for the last 20 years, so be<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>careful about telling them it is a worn out piece of junk.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>   </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>    </SPAN><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 20px">Ultimately, we need to remember that 90% of meaningful communication with</SPAN><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space style="FONT-SIZE: 20px"> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="FONT-SIZE: 20px; MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 20px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>most customers is non-verbal.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>They make their decision primarily on how they<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="FONT-SIZE: 20px; MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 20px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>feel about you, personally.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>Honesty transmits itself, and sincerity is hard<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 20px">to fake.</SPAN><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 20px"> </SPAN> </SPAN>It helps to not carry the stench of your last cigarette into the<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>home,<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>  </SPAN>and to not track mud across their rug.... <SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>   </SPAN></FONT></div> <div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 19px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 16px Helvetica"><br> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=5>Ed Foote RPT<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></div> </BLOCKQUOTE></div> <br> </div> = </div> <div id='MAILCIADB016-5bae48fcdc3e34f' class='aol_ad_footer'><BR/><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px"></HR>McCain or Obama? 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