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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:PNHISTIC1@AOL.COM"
title=PNHISTIC1@AOL.COM>PNHISTIC1@AOL.COM</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org"
title=pianotech@ptg.org>pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, May 26, 2002 7:33 =
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Dealer Prep/Lack =
Thereof</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2>List, <BR><BR>I've =
been doing a
fair amount of work for dealers lately, and I've been very frustrated =
by the
lack of prep done on new pianos in the stores. Most of =
them get
tuned once before delivery, then one free tuning in the home. =
Few get
the recommended full-on prep/regulation . It's usually enough to =
get
them out the door, which is what a salesperson is SUPPOSED to do.
<BR><BR>Granted, the SF Bay Area is a very competitive market. =
All the
major brands, and many lesser known brands are available within easy =
driving
distance. School sales abound, close-out sales are rampant. =
I
understand that dealers must keep costs down to sell things at =
competitive
prices. And for the most part, customers want cheap first, =
quality
second. Shiny PSOs. <BR><BR>The problem lies with the dealer =
avoiding
the maintenance issue: frequency of tuning(3-4 times a year for =
the
first 2-3 years according to the manuals) Regulation is seldom, =
if ever,
mentioned in a sales pitch. Repairs are often left for the =
customer to
happen upon after delivery. <BR><BR>I don't want to bite the hand that =
sometimes feeds me by calling the dealers liars, but I don't want the =
pianos
and owners to get sub-par service because the dealer said "tune it =
once a
year, whether it needs it or not." By saying things like =
this, the
dealer is cutting us out of the loop, and doing the piano and its =
owner a
great disservice. <BR><BR>I'm sure many of you have faced or still =
contend
with this issue. How do we, as techs, tell the customer that the =
piano
needs more frequent and more thorough service without heaping the =
blame on
dealers? <BR><BR>Looking forward to a time I'm too busy with private =
tunings
to work for stores....:) <BR><BR>Dave Stahl</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I see nothing has
changed. That's how it was when I worked for a dealer from '79 =
to '87,
and a Yamaha dealer at that. At least the Yamahas came from =
the
factory in pretty good shape, the imports better than the
American-assembled, of course, and most of them just needed =
regulation
touch-up, tuning, and a little voicing. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> One store manager =
told me,
"Don't spend more than an hour on a piano." (At that time I was =
getting
$6/hr. for floor tunings, which usually included aligning several =
hammers to
the strings, easing a few keys, perhaps shimming a keyslip, =
disassembling
trapwork to lube squeaking nylon parts that weren't supposed to =
squeak, and
driving out the long hinge pin of many a fallboard hinge to put a few =
gentle
bends in it so it wouldn't buzz, etc. I usually spent more =
like one and
a half hours on a piano. Then there were the Lowreys, the =
Kincaids, the
Kimballs, which took even more time to put in acceptable =
condition).
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Fortunately, the =
customers
buying new Yamahas got more "prep" in the form of screw-tightening, =
regulation
touch-up, and another tuning, but it happened 6 months after they =
bought the
piano (the service bond). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> It was "make all =
the keys
work, check the pedals, pitch raise, quick tuning, out the =
door".
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> After that, it was =
up to me to
de-propagandize the customer from what the salesperson told him or =
her, and
then try to re-educate them any way I could. Yamaha also had an =
owner's
manual which was quite good and recommended frequent tuning when =
new. At
least they had a maintenance and care manual. Other =
manufacturers did
not. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> People have a hard =
time
accepting the fact that something brand-new needs frequent =
service. At
least now the PTG brochures are more comprehensive, slick, and
professional-looking than they were in the 70's and early 80's, =
and there
is more literature available to use for educating customers, =
e.g., the
Larry Fine book, and others. When I went to do a new piano =
owner's
first tuning in the home, it wasn't always easy telling them that =
the
sales pitch was only partially true, and that some of it was
outright b.s., but I just tried to tread lightly, kind of =
like when
you have to tell kids there's no Santa Claus, at least not as the =
jolly old
guy in the red suit. Just use phrases like, "Well, =
that's only
partially true ... it's recently been shown that blah blah." =
or
"That's what a lot of people think, but to really keep your piano in =
top
condition you'll want to blah blah ..." You just =
have to do
a lot of " 'splainin' " about strings stretching, soundboards =
settling, tuning
pins settling in their holes, wood drying, humidity changes, =
"playing-in" the action, hammer felt getting packed down, etc. =
etc.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> But if you're =
prompt and
consistently do a good job and include a few freebies (tightening =
bench legs,
adjusting pedals, whatever . . . ), they'll have you back and refer =
you to
their friends, relatives, neighbors. Don't alienate the =
dealer
(biting the hand that feeds), since you are, after all, getting work,
referrals, and experience from them. In a way, you pay =
for the
clientele you build up through them by doing reduced-rate tuning and =
service
for a few years. But then the time will come when you can move =
on, or
charge them more for your increased knowledge and =
experience.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I'm not sure =
dealers will ever
change -- they're trying to maximize their profit and minimize =
expenses.
Often the technician gets caught it the middle. When the dealer
questioned my spending too long on some problem, I'd reply with =
something
like, "I can either fix it now at $6/hr, or later in the customer's =
home after
they complain, at $25/ hr." (those were 1979 rates, and at the low end =
for the
time). --David Nereson, RPT,
Denver =
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