<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>Greetings,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>       About 320 churches,  about 50 area schools, from Reading area phone book, (some churches and schools <EM>outside</EM> our county were listed in there, I called them all) I contacted each one at least twice. When twice, if their answer both times was consistently something like: "We have all electronic pianos." or "We have a member of the church who tunes it." or (annoyed) "We <EM>have</EM> a tuner contract."  I notated it and never re-called them. The remainder I called maybe, twice again, making a total of about 4 times. So total I'd say I called 250 churches, 25 schools, 4 times.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Julia</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 10/22/2008 4:17:13 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, wimblees@aol.com writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Julia<BR><BR>These are some interesting statistics. On the schools and churches, about how many did you contact, and did you do it more than once?<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: KeyKat88@aol.com<BR>To: pianotech@ptg.org<BR>Sent: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 5:34 pm<BR>Subject: Re: Best approach for acquiring new business.<BR><BR> <DIV id=AOLMsgPart_2_dec5cbd0-8c8c-4778-b632-3707e9bd3087><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>Greetings,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>        Just out of tuning school, In my first 2 years of business, I painstakenly notated where <EM><U>every</U></EM> tuning came from...then calculated that I got;</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>19% from dropping off cards at music stores</DIV> <DIV>38% from making phone calls to churches and schools, either leaving a breif message on the machine <STRONG><EM>or </EM></STRONG>if I got an answer, asking if they would like a copy of my resume and a bus. card and then sending them.</DIV> <DIV>13% by passing out cards at local small flea markets and "arts and antique" fairs.</DIV> <DIV>3% from leaving cards at 2 local community schools of music</DIV> <DIV>6% from senior tuners  (who didn't want to tune those spinets which they were referring)</DIV> <DIV>13% from yellow page ad (a lot of bargian hunters)</DIV> <DIV>3% from a piano teacher I was aquainted with</DIV> <DIV>3% from sending small pack of cards to 3 local moving companies</DIV> <DIV>2% from local shoppers'/merchants' paper</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Doing tuning for about 6 years now. <STRONG><EM>Mostly referrals</EM></STRONG>, and repeat business, some yellow page ad. I must admit that I got lazy with the phone calls and dropping off the business cards. I probably could have more business. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hope this helps,</DIV> <DIV>Julia</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 10/20/2008 10:53:39 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, <A title=mailto:shawnbrock@fuse.net href="mailto:shawnbrock@fuse.net">shawnbrock@fuse.net</A> writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm hoping some of you will way in on what you think the best method for soliciting new business is based on your personal experience.  I am considering a few options for getting new church customers.  1: Sending out postcards to most or all of the churches in my area.  2: Good old fashion cold calls.  I have not tried the cold calls method for a few years, but I recall that it didn't work vary well for me previously.  On the other hand I don't want to waste money on sending out maybe 1000 postcards to get one tuning on a old Baldwin 243.  Why we all know nothing is a sure bet when trying to get new business we know some things work better than others.  So what do you think the best and most profitable approach has been for you?  I appreciate your input as always.  </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regards,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Shawn Brock, RPT</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>513-316-0563</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A title=http://www.shawnbrock.com/ href="http://www.shawnbrock.com/" target=_blank>www.shawnbrock.com</A></FONT></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR> <DIV class=aol_ad_footer id=4664260cdb0e4c0f5da07e87ff919eba><FONT style="FONT: 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF; COLOR: black"> <HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px"> New <B>MapQuest Local</B> shows what's happening at your destination. 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