I think we can all relate to this.

Had my car in the shop yesterday. I have been using the same trusted mechanic for 8 years or so, and have been extremely happy with the way he keeps my car going. I needed a couple of new rear tires, which he doesn't do. I asked him for a referral, which he gave me.

I went to the tire place--a known chain--and got the tires. While I was getting ready to pay the bill, a man suggested that my rear shocks were worn and needed to be replaced or the tires would wear out more quickly. Ok, I said.

"And your struts could use replacement, and your coolant hoses are worn."

At this point, I called my mechanic and told him what was going on. He explained that he checks these things each and every time my car is in the shop (4k miles). "Everyone is looking for extra work right now..." He sounded a bit taken aback.

So I told the tire guy that I would wait on the other stuff and have my regular mechanic do it when necessary.

"C'mon back, we'll beat his price," said tire guy. At that, I got kind of uncomfortable, but kept it to myself. Here's a place that I only found as a direct recommendation from my mechanic, a self-employed sort like me (and most of you).

Later in the day, I called my mechanic back and told him about what the tire guy said about beating his price. I told him I would not be going back to get tires or anything else there any time soon. He will not be recommending that place for tires to any of his clients, he said.

How many times have we been on the other side of this one? I would never try to snake extra work from another tech who had referred me for a tuning because he was not available.

Anyway, the whole encounter left a bad taste in my mouth. I won't diss the entire chain, but will point out that this is why I prefer to do business with people who have a more long-term outlook and a personal stake in the way their business is run. The short term gain of a few hundred dollars of my money will cost them lots of potential clients, and much good will.

Dave:

I am with you 100%. If you don't give business to the local guys, there will be no local guys. Sure you can get the work done cheaper by going to price beaters, that is until someone goes out of business…

Since this Topic is about customer loyalty, I have a situation that I just don’t know what to think of. I was called to tune some pianos at an institution that I assumed someone else was servicing, but was told that they had not been tuned in years. So I tune the first one (I usually tune no more than one a day, after work) and it was up to pitch, and not bad at all. I would have thought that it had been tuned within the past few months. I will tune the others soon.

So I suspect that these pianos are being serviced by someone, but the person that contacted me (that has been at this institution for 4 years), doesn’t realize it.

I think I will tune the other pianos and if it seems that they have also been tuned recently, then call my contact and suggest they ask around to see if someone else has been arranging for these pianos to be serviced.

Any advice?

Are we trying to sort through a bureaucracy? An ethical person may never find any answers that make sense.

Well, I don't want to try to sort through anything. It's really not my business. Neither do I want to even unintentionally undermine what should be a customer's loyalty to another tuner. Maybe I just came across an incredibly stable Baldwin Studio.

Jeff,

Baldwin Studios can be quite stable. They surprise me sometimes at how well they can hold their tune.

A year ago I got a 1950 Baldwin Hamilton studio for free. The person I bought it from said they hadn't had it tuned in a few years.

It was spot on A-440.

At the same time I got one from 1956 that according to the seller hadn't been tuned in about 15 years. That one was only about 20-25¢ flat.

A couple years ago I got one (from 1951) for our sunday worship services, cause the piano that had been there (a Wurlitzer console) was no longer there. The person I bought it from had it several years and he said he had never had it tuned. It was just about right on A-440, as well. (The move from east Poway to Ocean Beach did knock it a little out of tune, as when I tuned it a couple weeks after the move, the bass was around 10-15¢ flat or so, while the rest of the piano was within a couple cents or so.)

For several years I had been going to bible studies on some 2nd sundays in Whittier, CA, at a school there. They had a 1959 Baldwin Hamilton. Sure it was in need of a tuning, but for as long as I remember its state of tuning remained stable. I always remember the A#3 and D#4 unisons being out of tune, and always by the same amount every time I was there over several years.

Speaking of my own two Hamiltons, I suspect I need to get some lessons on achieving stable tunings.

By chance, I talked to my contact yesterday. Now the story is that it certainly hasn’t been tuned since last fall. I am just not going to worry about it.

But on the subject of customer loyalty, got a call for a tuning from a customer that I hadn’t heard from for a while. At the last visit I recommended a better piano for the level it was being played at. I wondered if I had overstepped my bounds when I hadn’t gotten a call for quite a while. It turns out they had bought a new piano and now that the free tunings had run out, they wanted my services again. Nice!

Jeff your concerns remind me of those "too heavy/too light" commercials on TV (Bud Light). It is part of our ethics, or should be for some, to respect other technicians relationships with customers. This can even extend very far in close relationships where techs exchange customers due to scheduling, sickness or vacation. There is also the minimal level of respect that should be maintained
along the lines of showing good will towards others in the profession.

Part of our business is maintaining our customers loyalty with pro active measures like reminder calls/postings and above all excellent service. Some techs do not do this very well or don't bother at all. IMHO that your general respect for other techs and your moral/ethical compass does not bind you to do this work for them. It is their responsibility to maintain contact and good relations with their own customers...you have your own to deal with in the same way.

I think that as technicians we tend to think of things like the quality or possible "uniqueness" of our work as being the major indicator of loyalty. Sure it plays a big part, but some customers like to try a different tech every year, others prefer more personable types, some feel more comfortable with a woman or someone young or someone old ect...

I got a job from a lady who had been serviced in the past by a well respected tech I have known for decades. I found their dated business card under the lid so out of curiosity I asked her if she wasn't happy with their tuning. She shrugged and told me that the tuning was fine and that she just didn't "hit it off with them" for some strange reason. She chose me out of several phone calls because I promptly returned her call and I was polite in dealing with her. Being personable is just as important as doing a good job I figure.

If a techs work is up to snuff technically but their business is struggling to maintain clients they have solutions. Be it a Dale Carnagie session or understanding how to maintain our hard earned relations, there are options. Simply understanding we have 2 ears and one mouth and they are often best used in that ratio is a good base to start with.

Just by chance I found out that the Baldwin Studio had been tuned last year by the tuner that gave my name to the institution this year due to health reasons. The interesting thing for me was that it was last tuned with a SATII, so I had a comparison for my octave stretch.

On the other side of the coin, I had a client who I gave up on a few years back. I had called a couple of times and sent a card, then let her drift. She called me out of the blue and told me she wanted to use me again. She had tried a guy who was 30$ cheaper, but she didn't like the way he tuned (and he did nothing else) so she called me back. Kinda gave me the warm and fuzzies.

Develop proficiency, be straight, polite, and kind to customers, do the best you can, and good things will come your way. People do recognize the difference between a poser and a pro, though it might take them some time to do so.

You should have told her "I will be glad to come back to tune your piano again, but I've raised my prices by $30.00 since the last time".