Confessions of a "Lookerson"

[David Andersen]

Amen 3,000%. You ARE the man, Ed. All you newbies and lurkers, write  
this down. Burn it into your circuits.
David Andersen



On Feb 13, 2008, at 9:46 AM, A440A at aol.com wrote:

>>     When someone calls to ask you. "What do you charge for a  
>> tuning" ?
>
>  Do you worry that you will loose them if you ask too much?  >>
>
> Greetings,
>    No.   Fear of losing customers will, in the long run, cost far  
> more than
> actually losing them.
>    I believe it was John Ruskin that said, "There is nothing that  
> some man
> cannot do or sell cheaper with less quality, and those that  
> consider price only
> are this man's lawful prey".   If the first thing they ask is  
> price, I KNOW
> that they will not be happy with me.    I have learned that through  
> experience.
> Presently, when asked about tuning fees, I simply tell them that  
> normal
> tunings are $135, first visits are
> $160,  and if the piano is one of those that hasn't been tuned in  
> "years", I
> tell them that the first visit may be $200.  This filters out the  
> business
> that I have learned I don't want and sends them to somebody else  
> that does.
> Win/Win/Win !
>
>     After being in one place for 30 years, I should be charging as  
> much as
> whatever size market I can find will bear.  I am not selling a cure  
> for cancer,
> I am selling a luxury item.  There are many other tuners, at all  
> levels of
> developement, so there is a price point for everyone! Far better  
> that we all find
> the right market rather than leaving a trail of unhappy customers.
>       I still remember (after coming out of the North Bennett  
> School), the
> nighttime tuning of practise room uprights at Peabody college for  
> $7.00 each.
> (1977).  Amortizing that across a career means that I MUST continue  
> climbing the
> ladders of quality and price if I want to finish up as a simple  
> middle-class
> worker.
>     I have said it before, but will do again:  Beginners must take  
> anything
> they can, and they will have to compete by price, since there is no  
> reputation
> to help them.  However, if they don't push themselves and their  
> market to
> provide and pay for better work, they will remain a beginner all  
> their career and
> their income will reflect that.
> Regards,
>
> Ed Foote RPT
> http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
> www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
>  <BR><BR><BR>**************<BR>The year's hottest artists on the  
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