<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Mark mentioned this term, "guerilla marketing." There is a book with that title that might be helpful. I haven't read it myself, but have been meaning to order it. John Formsma <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pianotune05@comcast.net">pianotune05@comcast.net</a> wrote: <blockquote cite="mid011720061244.2192.43CCE6BD0000C7C5000008902209224627CACF0A029A9B01020E079F@comcast.net" type="cite"> <div>Hi Mark,</div> <div>Thank you for the idea.  My wife did something similar when she sold Avon.  Instead ,she just passed out catelogs rather than seeing if a person was home.  Actually, I helped her out once in a while for the excersize.  An ice breaker which often was helpful for her and the person receive the book if they were home out on their lawn was, "She's the one who sells Avon, I'm just helping her."  ;)  I might j ust try p utting my business card on doors, or perhaps get up the courage to see if a person is home.  </div> <div>Marshall</div> <div> </div> <blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px;">-------------- Original message -------------- From: Mark Schecter <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:schecter@pacbell.net"><schecter@pacbell.net></a> > Marshall, > > I don't know whether this would work for you, but it's a thought I'll > pass along. My first tuning teacher told me how he started his business > when he was new to the area. He got his business cards printed up, and > started canvassing the neighborhood where he lived. He knocked on each > door, and if someone was home, he would introduce himself by name and > profession. He would ask if they had a piano, and say he was available > to tune and repair it whenever they were ready, right now or at a > convenient later time. He also made a point of asking if they had any > friends or neighbors with pianos whom he could contact, or for whom he > could leave a business card. If there was nobod! y home, he would leave > his card on the door and move on to the next door. It worked for him, > got him started immediately. He later teamed up with another technician, > and eventually owned a very successful piano store. These days, this > direct approach might be called guerilla marketing. > > I would guess that in most established neighborhoods, every single block > of homes would have at least a few pianos, and it's likely that most of > those are not regularly serviced by anyone, even the people you think > have the area sewn up. Just the simple act of reaching out to your > neighbors could begin to establish you as the person to call for piano > service, and plant the seed in their minds that piano service is > available for their piano, from you, whose face they now know. It might > be worth a try, yes? > > Hope this helps. > > -Mark > &g! t; <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pianotune05@comcast.net">pianotune05@comcast.net</a> wrote: > > Hi Susan again,;) > > So how does one find these small pockets that are tunerless? Where I > > Live, South Bend IN, which has communities somewhat connected to it has > > about 100k, but at least 9 tuners probably even more. The one store, > > only store we have has all they can handle with the three tuners they > > have IUSB has one tuner already whom I join in order to learn from > > him. He likes to pay for my lunch even though I insist on treating > > hiim. Another college is taken by a tuner I know. Anothe rguy I don't > > know has all of the schools. Another friend of mine has most of the > > churche in town. I feel as if I"m grasping for straws trying to find > > someone out there who needs a tuner. That's whyI'm not too worried > > about putting my name out there and getting calls too soon before I > >! complete my full training. It appears that this area is sooooooooo > > saturated. I"M told there there are plenty of p! ianos, but where are > > they? I need some sort of honing device to find them like a special > > tool like they use on the beach to find metal objects. I wish someone > > here would retire so I could at least get a piece of the pie like George > > Jefferson did when he was mov'n on up! :) > > Marshall > > > > _______________________________________________ > Pianotech list info: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives">https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives</a> </blockquote> </blockquote> </body> </html>