Whenever I call my customers to remind them that their piano is already due for service, the usual replies are:

1. "I have your number. We'll call you when the piano needs tuning."

2. "It still sounds ok."

3. "I'll ask the teacher if the piano needs to be tuned."

4. "We're shifting to a new location. I'll call you when we have already settled down."

5. "We'll do it after the holidays."

6. "We're planning to sell the piano"

7. "Call me again next month... after 3 months...after 6 monts... etc."


Techs, how do you respond to these?


JUNMER

Hi,

I'm not a tech but I'll give you my opinion (if you don't mind) as an observer of these things. People buy pianos for lots of strange reasons which include (amoung others)

- A desire to own something "elegant" or
"fancy"
- To impress friends or associates
- For an expensive piece of furniture
- For their kids who don't practice anymore

Obviously it's in a piano owner's best interest to tune their piano but if they aren't using it, they probably don't want to spend the money. Also, some people have a hard time paying for regular maintenance on things. This is just like the people who wait well over 10,000 miles to have an oil change and wonder why their car isn't running as well as it used to...

~pianocliff

Hi, I'm probably one of those "stubborn" customers. I'm sure I'm not one of my tech's favorites. He had called by way of reminders some at first, and usually my response is always money is tight right now. It seems I never have the money to get the piano tuned. But I do have it tuned at least once a year, I would ideally do it every 6 months but don't let it go over once a year. I know it's really bad right now and it's especially embarrassing to be a teacher and have an out of tune piano. I know, very bad!! My students lately have said at lessons a lot more than usual, "is that right?" when playing and I have had to say, "it's probably my piano, it needs tuning really bad" because they ARE playing the right notes. My tuner seems a little disgusted sometimes when I put it off a little and I feel REALLY bad about it. He did quit calling to remind me. I do appreciate the reminders, however, because I do tend to forget until it's too late and it starts sounding bad, mostly when seasons change - humid midwest climate, ugh! Only once did I have to pay a little more due to letting it go too long. He explained it fully and I understood completely. He felt bad charging me the extra, but I really didn't mind and reassured him that it was no problem and I should expect to pay the extra to get it back to snuff. I need it tuned really bad now, sigh! Thanks for the reminder. Sorry for those of us "stubborn" customers. I do know the importance of keeping it tuned regularly, but I think most people you are referring to just need to be educated on the importance. Perhaps send out reminders by way of mail with an article written by yourself about the importance of keeping it tuned and the problems that arise from not. Most people again are just uneducated on the whole thing. Reminders my mail, like postcards might keep you from having to hear the "excuses".

junmer, I think people are generally just a bit tight and maintaining their piano is a low priority. I have 3 good pianos and have them tuned every 6 months. My tech always seems to get booked up so far in advance (or so he tells me) so we book the next appointment each time he comes. He travels some distance to get to me but says he doesn't mind as he has 3 instruments to tune. I always get a phone call a day or two before he comes as a reminder. Once I was extremely embarrassed as I had arranged for him to tune one of my students pianos after he came to me. When he turned up at their house no one was home! That's the last time I'll do that.

I do feel sorry for techs regarding some clients attitudes. As a teacher it is important for me that my students have good well maintained instruments to practice on at home. I've lost count of the amount of times my own clients have moaned at the cost of a piano and having it tuned. So many want to buy digital pianos 'because they don't need tuning'! They make it sound like tuning costs a fortune when it's really very inexpensive compared to most things they fork out for. One student borrowed an old digital piano from me (free of charge!) for over a year while they were 'saving for a piano'. Eventually I asked for it back and told them to call me when they had a piano. I never heard from them again. Funny how they could afford expensive clothes, holidays, cars etc. but would not invest in a piano.

I would be interested to know if you get these problems more from people whose kids learn piano. Is it any different with adults who play themselves? Also I know for a fact that some of my students play on terrible pianos at home despite me nagging their folks about it. Do you often have to work on instruments which are hardly worth tuning and how do you deal with clients who expect you to turn their old 'knacker' into a Steinway replica?

I don't call customers - I mail reminder cards. The customer can put the card on the fridge and call me when they are ready. It takes alot less time to sort my customer list, print mailing labels, put them on post cards and mail them than it does to call people. Some cust save up 3 post cards before they tune the piano.

When you call a customer, you are putting them on the spot, and many cust don't like that (including me).

Yeah, clients don't like to be put on the spot with reminder phone calls. You can lose them that way. A card is much better. The best thing is just to get more customers by word of mouth (if you're good, folks talk) and let them call you. It's important to remember that piano tuning is a 'sellers market' (and with the way things seem to be going, will probably get more so). We tuners choose who we want to work for, clients are lucky to get any one at all. Lets remember that!

I actually remember to tune my piano when the seasons starts changing and we have the 4 obvious seasons here. When the seasons start changing my piano starts sounding awful and that's what reminds me I need it tuned but then I think, well, I am better off waiting now until the season has completely changed than have it done. Then I forget again. For an area with 4 distinct seasons and wanting to have my piano tuned twice a year, what are the best times to do it? I don't think I ever time it right and that's another reason I don't take care of it as I know I should. I read it once but can't remember. And if one's in the middle of a season change is it better to then wait 'till after the season is done changing? Or does it matter that much. It seems like I read about all of that once. Of course, the weather is so crazy anymore and can never make up it's mind, who knows . . .

P.S. I have been thinking about writing up a little mini-article to send home to the parents of my students on the importance of keeping pianos in good working order and how often to tune, etc. with the name and number of my tech., of course. Perhaps a tuner could write such a short article and ask if any teachers one tunes their piano for would be interested to hand them out to parents of students. It's annoying to teachers to have our students practicing on pianos in poor condition and out of tune.

I think some of these people either don't play their piano or don't have the money.

Personally I would love a call when it is time because believe me I know the importance of tuning your piano!! At the beginning of the year I was appointed to this school and the upright piano here had about 30 pens/pencils and paddlepop sticks INSIDE!! there was no lid and the bottom third of the piano plays in sevenths and sixths instead of octaves. One key even hits a semitone belows strings.

Unfortunately the piano tuner isn't in town til next year. I think I'll put in for a complete overhaul.

Let's face it. Most people don't really know when their pianos need tuning, or at least they don't think they can hear that the piano is out of tune. But when it's tuned, they're amazed at how good it sounds.

It often takes a sticky key, or some other non-functioning part, or the child who says, "mommy, the piano doesn't sound like the teacher's!" to get the customer to call.

Junmer, I've heard all the same excuses as you. I used to take it personally, and I lost a few clients because I was overly insistent. The fact is, the piano may need tuning, but the customer doesn't necessarily need a tuned piano (as sad as that is).

I send reminder cards every six months, or year, (depending on the client) telling them that I will be calling them within a few weeks. I normally will call once and leave a message. Sometimes I call more often if the customer tells me to call back.

Fortunately, I'm busy enough now so that I don't HAVE to call anybody. But I do call my good, regular clients.

My advice is to try not to take rejection personally; do good work, be friendly and courteous. If people like you, you'll get repeat business and referrals.

Calling all tuners.....I hear many say " I am busy enough now" etc. Curious minds..How long did it take to get that way. What is population size in your service area. There are only 3 stores in my area. One is his own tuner. The others have used the same guy for 20 years. Its hard to crack. But time and perserverance seem to work, along with good service.

Richard,

I've been a self-employed tech for going on five years. However, I've been in the piano business for 28 years in various capacities: tuner, mover, sales, etc. I made good connections during that time, so when I was forced by life crises to go it on my own, many people were willing to come to my aid. IN other words, I had a good jump start that others might not get. The fact that I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area doesn't hurt. There are probably 3-4 million people in my service area(which makes getting to jobs during rush hour difficult at times:-)). \

What I found is that the more skills I learned, the more work I got. Do things the other guys in your area can't or aren't willing to do.

Being a self-employed tech is by far the best job I've had. I wish you success at it!

Is London, Canada near a city, or is it a smallish community? If it isn't a metro center, then your living costs are probably fairly reasonable. Your income could easily increase faster than the cost of living.

YOu seem determined and conscientious. It's only a matter of time. Most say 5-7 years is what it takes. Hang in there.

It seems to me that pianos are not like teeth, which need a check up every six months with regularity. Some pianos need tuning twice a year, some much more, and those that are not played much ...well you can understand why people don't bother.

Surely the real issue is to educate customers to be able to tell when their piano needs tuning or regulating. How many tuners take the trouble to involve the customer in the work they do, so that the customer can feel and hear the difference you are making to their instrument right in front of them?

I play a lot and I am quite fussy. I have had my piano tuned three times in the last four months (after a move). It has also had some regulation done and will be voiced and tuned again in December.

But there was a time when I was playing hardly at all, and to be chased by a tech every six months would have been annoying. A sure way to get crossed off my Christmas card list as I dislike being hustled for business and told it is in my own good or for the good of my piano.

I happen to think that tuning is incredibly cheap in this country (UK). I have a very good tuner and he is very accommodating. He knows how I like my piano set up now and we have a good relationship because he takes the time to show me what he is doing and explain it. So I learnt to trust him and I buy more of his time now.

If I were a tuner I would put a lot of energy into building a good relationship with my customers. I have seen too many who turn up, tune the thing with barely a word and certainly without asking me what issues I may have with the piano, and then go. I had to actively seek out a good tuner and a good voicer - it was not easy.

Anyway, good luck with developing your business. I hope you mainly get customers who know what they are doing, rather than those who just have piano shaped furniture.

Kind regards

Adrian

I recenty started my own business and i really enjoy it. I am discovering that while customers need to buy food, gas, make car payments and house payments they do not have to have their piano tuned. It is just not a priority. I have a relitive in florida who after buying the piano 20 years ago has never had it tuned. In the near future, I plan to send reminders by mail so I do not have to do any outbound telemarketing.

Before I got into piano service I noticed that there were a lot of pianos that were out of tune. I thought "there must be a lot of work for piano tuners because there are so many pianos that are out of tune". That was pretty faulty logic. Those pianos were out of tune because the average person neglects their piano.

It takes time to build up a piano tuning business. If I were you I would ask the customer if they want a reminder call when you are there to tune their piano. Call the ones who want the call and send cards to the rest. I personally hate being on the receiving end of telephone soliciting so I don't call my customers. I use to send out reminder cards but after 26 years as a piano tech I'm busy enough without the promotion.

The problem that you are facing is that most of these customers are the wrong customers. There is a core of active musicians and piano owners that are really committed to looking after their instruments that exists in any market. In order to tap into this market you have to build a reputation as one of the best in your area. One of the problems with calling customers is that it can give the impression that you aren't all that busy. Though that may be true, it is not the impression that you want to leave with your customer. A good piano technician is one that is in demand.

As piano technicians we tend to work in isolation. The only pianos that we ever hear are the ones that we have just tuned. As a result we have no prespective on our work. I have never met another piano tuner that said that they really weren't very good. We all think we are doing good work.

The best thing anyone can do to promote their piano tuning business is to get their tuning tested and go out to seminars & attend guild meetings. If you are doing excellent work, then promotion gets easy.

You all have sound advice and I could really feel people on the other end of the line being uneasy with their replies. Good enough that none of them (so far) appear to be uneducated as to be rude in their delivery of alibis. However, a remarkable percentage of my calls do yield positive answers such as:

"Thanks for calling, I wouldn't have remembered if you didn't call"

"So it's time to tune my piano? When do you want to come?"

"I had been trying to locate you business card in vain. It's good you called."

These are just some of the answers that really get me going. I can just imagine how life would have been if I just waited for calls rather than me giving out the reminder calls. Comparing the number of job opportunities I got out of being called for, to those that were out of my own initiative, the latter clearly brought forth a lot more activities than the former (about 6 against 1). That's why giving up telephone reminders may result in steep income loss, I fear.

I think categorizing customers will work best for me then. I'll keep calling those who always say yes, and send mails to those who keep me at bay. Well, with the onset of e-mail, the postmen have sat back to watch computers send messages across faster than they do. How about sending text messages from my mobile phone to theirs?


JUNMER

junmer,
You're point about calling people is a good one. Just have to overlook the comments from those who put it off. My tuner actually quit calling me and quit sending me reminders, I'm sure because he has so much business he doesn't need mine.

As far as postcards to, we all get so much mail and junk mail, if you're like me a postcard gets thrown in a heap and forgotten or not even looked at if it resembles junk mail in any way. So you have a good point about calling.

P.S. Actually when my tuner does call, I do tend to put it off but I do usually then get back with him within a month or two of the call vs. probably a longer time I would get around to scheduling without the call. So I guess the calls do get me on it sooner.