What Pianists Want
A discussion I was having with another technician brought me to an interesting thought. We were talking about what we do for our standard tuning fee and I realized that you can actually separate "tuners" from "technicians" by what they do for their "standard" tuning fee.
We all have a "standard" fee. And while we certainly work on pianos as a way to make a living, if you were take away the monetary side of things, what are we really going to our clients homes to do?
The obvious answer? We are going there to tune.
But I would challenge you to change that thought to something that might just dig down to the core of your professional attitude.
My answer would be that I go to my clients homes to make them happy with their piano. Which means that my standard tuning fee isn't really about "tuning" at all.
Let me give you an example of the actual service call that got me thinking so deeply about this subject.
You could certainly argue that invoicing this kind of service call line by line is the best way to go. If that's what works for you, do it. But too many times in the past I've noticed that as I explain to them what kind of issues their piano has the less enthusiastic they are about repairing it.
By contrast, when I just do what I think is required to make them happy the result is just the opposite. I find that my clients are more excited by the results and more likely to call me repeatedly.
Ultimately, I don't base my standard fee is on specific repairs. I base it on satisfying my clients.
Give it some thought. You might that this kind of shift in attitude is freeing and more satisfying, not just for your clients, but for you too.
On this service call I was asked to tune a Cable spinet from 1957. In the photo on the left I've labeled the items I actually did for my "standard fee".
When I was finished, my client played and was satisfied by the work and I handed them an invoice for my "standard fee".
The critical detail is that I did all of these items in 2 hours. I've set my standard fee so that can do everything I can to satisfy the client in a specific window of time. Rather than itemize, I generalize. If their piano has issues that would require more time I would consult them on additional work time.
You could certainly argue that invoicing this kind of service call line by line is the best way to go. If that's what works for you, do it. But too many times in the past I've noticed that as I explain to them what kind of issues their piano has the less enthusiastic they are about repairing it.
By contrast, when I just do what I think is required to make them happy the result is just the opposite. I find that my clients are more excited by the results and more likely to call me repeatedly.
Ultimately, I don't base my standard fee is on specific repairs. I base it on satisfying my clients.
Give it some thought. You might that this kind of shift in attitude is freeing and more satisfying, not just for your clients, but for you too.