<HTML>In a message dated 5/8/01 1:07:36 AM Central Daylight Time, triopts@xs4all.nl writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Hi all! Thought I might throw a "new" argument into the discussion. I have the feeling most of you are WAITING for clients to call you for a tuning, and occasionally calling some yourselves. In Holland tuning CONTRACTS are very common: we persuade our clients of the necessity* to tune a piano at least two or three times a year, and then have them pay in advance for a year. If I don't call them in time for the next tuning, they'll call me, because they want the job done for that money! I know it's a culture shock for everyone, but I wonder why it wouldn't work in the States?! Greetings, Dirk Lindeboom</BLOCKQUOTE> There are some tuners who preschedule tunings 6 months or even a year ahead of time. I tried it for a while, but between my schedule, and the customer's schedule, it was too much of a hassle. I also tried getting customers to prepay tunings. I offered them a 4 for 5 rate. (Pay for 4 tunings ahead of time and get a fifth one free. They also got 10% off any repairs or regulations). I offered this to my customers for about 2 months, and got 2 or 3 to pay. The rest either didn't trust I would be around for a couple of years, or didn't have the money. So I gave up on prescheduling and prepaying. Willem  </HTML>