Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum How to wreck your business..

Believe it or not, these are ACTUAL reasons that customers have given me for why they left their other tuners and now use me.

"How to wreck your business in 16 easy steps"

1. Overcharge by a ridiculous amount.
2. Refuse to work on a piano if there have ever been mice in it.
3. Try to sell them a new piano rather than fix the one they have.
4. Have very bad breath.
5. Post politically divisive bumper stickers on your work car.
6. Don't return phone calls
7. Show up to an appointment drunk
8. Quit tuning pianos, start again, then later quit.
9. Show up late to appointments or don't show up at all.
10. Don't worry about putting in the right bass string when it breaks, just put in whatever you have laying around.
11. Set up a church on a contract for $1700 a year and come tune the piano whenever you feel like it.
12. Bill a customer continually even though they have paid.
13. Try to tune aurally, but be really bad at it.
14. Don't bring the piano up to A-440 even though another keyboard,and guitars will be played with it.
15. Cut corners wherever you can, and brag to others about it.
16. Become arrogant and rude when customers have questions.



...and I thought I was getting so many customers due to my great tunings. LOL!

I've personally heard about other technicians:

1, 4, 6, 9, 13, 15, 16

I'd also like to add to your list:

17. Being arrogant and rude in general
18. Being racist
19. Pissing off people in your PTG chapter
20. People not knowing you exist
21. Charging too low of a rate
22. Not being expedient with your work
23. Having pianos on your showroom floor that are 20-50 cents flat/ bad unisons

24. Tuning using a "box" (sorry folks, but I hear this repeatedly)
25. Making passes at your clients

Regarding mice - if I lived in an area that had a lot of deer mice I would be very cautious around pianos that showed signs of mouse infestation.

Mice the size of a deer? That would make me more than cautious.

I've often heard "His tuning was ok, but he was an idiot. I'd never have him in my house again."

Another way to wreck your business is to chime in in agreement with a customer, or otherwise talk down a competitor. I just usually say something like, I can't speak to other's business practices but my own and leave it at that.

Bad mouthing a competitor is one of the worst things you can do in any business.

Praise your competitors but be better.
If you can't praise them, then be silent.

Also, if your customer is badmouthing the person who was there before you, just reflect on the customer's experience with something like 'I'm sorry you had a bad experience with ---'

One tuner in my area who is very competent always makes it a point to badmouth another tuner, who is also very competent.

He seems petty to me, and life has too many possibilities to have petty people in your life.

Forrest

Never good to badmouth other tuners. Also, if a customer is badmouthing the previous tuner, there's a chance you could be the next tuner he/she badmouthes.

Zeno and wooddog, exactly!

Badmouthing another technician's practices often has the unintended effect of free advertising for them.

On the other hand, it really does make me feel good when I'm able to tell the customer, "Whoever tuned your piano last time did a really good job." They like it too.

One technician criticized my Weber 57 as an "entry level piano" when I asked about the uneven letoff.

26.Don't tell customers the truth about their piano. No matter how bitter it was not

When a customer asks, "Is this a good piano?" the answer is always going to be relative. I ask them what the piano is used for. Is it a good piano for a beginner to take lessons on while we save for an upgrade down the line? Yes. Is it a good piano for a concert pianist to play a concerto on? No.

There is always something good that can be said.

Here's a good answer, to the question is this a good piano? I quite often will often tell people that it is a good piano for the money. Regardless of if it is a bunch of junk.

On the other hand, I will also tell them if or when the piano is no longer worth servicing. That is only being honest with the customer. They all appreciate the honesty. Honesty is very important in all that we do.

+1, Jerry!

How about trying to explain to a well known performing artist that the string noise they are hearing is a false beat and not an out of tune unison.

Remove the wire. Say, there!!!! Now you have NO beats at all! Adding, well, you were trying to get me to skip a beat...haha

Seriously. That would lose my trust for everything if I found out as a customer. If I ask, either say you don't want to tell me, or say the truth. But don't be dishonest.

I provide service in another profession as a freelancer. Being trustworthy is important, especially when giving a professional assessment. Maybe I misunderstood.

I think Max meant to add a reason on how to wreck your business.