Marketing is in essence creating customer good will. With any service business when you leave the customer will either have a good impression of you as a service person and the quality of your work or a bad impression that will lead the customer to either use you again and reccomend you to others or find another tuner. I have been employing other tuners for years and I have had some excellent technitions that could not keep their own customers and tended to drive my customers away.
Another factor in my business is that pianos unlike air conditioners can have sentimental value to a customer. Customers appreciate honesty to some extent but i had a tuner once who did very good work but told the customer her piano was a piece of junk and she should get rid of it and get a better one. I could not send that tuner back to her and I had to go back and touch up her piano as she was really mad and looking for a reason to criticize his work.
A promotional gift is also appreciated but a little extra time if you have it will go much farther. I try to evaluate the piano and offer at least an estimate for the cost of some further work or do something extra without charge if it is just a little bit of my time.
A big part of what I like about this job is interracting with the customers. My relationship with Christ helps me see each customer as not just a prospect for income but a person just as loved and important to God as myself so I can genuinely care about their welfare. When someone calls and asks if I remember them or thsir piano I usually remember the piano more so than the person. Pianos are very interesting machines and I also enjoy troubleshooting the problems associated with the instrument which also is appreciated by the customer and again usually only involves a little extra time.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Friday, November 2, 2012
The case for maintaining your current piano.
You should invest in maintaining your piano because:
1) Unless a new piano is a Steinway it was made overseas. With cars and a few other things there can be made a case that the foreign made product is better than the American product. This is not the case with pianos. The best foreign brand new is no match in quality of materials or workmanship to a good american brand such as Baldwin or Mason and Hamlin that has been rebuilt by a quality rebuilder.
2) A quality complete rebuild could cost 22 to 24 thousand dollars. A complete rebuild means new strings, pins, pinblock and with the action all new moving parts such as hammers, wipens, shanks, felts and leather parts, and a complete refinish. When this is done the piano is like it came from the factory. A new Steinway medium sized grand might cost 95 or 100 thousand dollars. You tell me which is cheaper. Even if a complete rebuild is not in the budget a couple of thousand in some regulation and repair could greatly improve a great american brand making it again a joy to play.
3) A great American brand of piano was not designed to be thrown away like an electronic instrument. I have worked on many 100 year old pianos but never even a 50 year old electric piano except for a Fender Rhodes which was designed with a parts that can be replaced or repaired. If your piano has a family history it can be preserved.
1) Unless a new piano is a Steinway it was made overseas. With cars and a few other things there can be made a case that the foreign made product is better than the American product. This is not the case with pianos. The best foreign brand new is no match in quality of materials or workmanship to a good american brand such as Baldwin or Mason and Hamlin that has been rebuilt by a quality rebuilder.
2) A quality complete rebuild could cost 22 to 24 thousand dollars. A complete rebuild means new strings, pins, pinblock and with the action all new moving parts such as hammers, wipens, shanks, felts and leather parts, and a complete refinish. When this is done the piano is like it came from the factory. A new Steinway medium sized grand might cost 95 or 100 thousand dollars. You tell me which is cheaper. Even if a complete rebuild is not in the budget a couple of thousand in some regulation and repair could greatly improve a great american brand making it again a joy to play.
3) A great American brand of piano was not designed to be thrown away like an electronic instrument. I have worked on many 100 year old pianos but never even a 50 year old electric piano except for a Fender Rhodes which was designed with a parts that can be replaced or repaired. If your piano has a family history it can be preserved.
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