From "Brad Smith, RPT" <staff@smithpiano.com>
Brett,
You can answer many of these questions by starting with a different perspective of the value of your
time.
When you realize that it is your priceless time for sale, you will begin to defend it more now,
while you are still young and good-looking.
OPPORTUNITY COST
On a given day, you have the opportunity of doing 4-6 in home tuning appointments for an average of
your tuning fee plus a pitch raise.
Whatever else you decide to do, for whatever reason, will cost you exactly that amount in lost
opportunity for income.
Anything that pulls you away from that opportunity, ought to pay you accordingly, or be worth the
sacrifice of that loss.
Unfortunately, you won't really feel the loss, until you are about to retire with nothing to show
for the years of giving away your time.
SELLING YOUR TIME
You can view the value of your time in a variety of ways.
Most technicians have the problem of valuing their work based upon the actual physical things
performed. HUGE mistake.
It's as if we exist in a vacuum, with no expense incurred for the readiness, tools, knowledge,
vehicle overhead, and experience required
to be able to do the 'physical thing' that we eventually charge money for.
NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT
I used to play piano at the Ritz hotel in Boston years ago. A janitor once complained about my
hourly rate for piano playing.
I replied that although my rate for piano playing was higher than a janitor, the difference was that
it took 20 years of practice and daily
skill maintenance, in order to be able to earn that higher hourly rate. A working piano technician
is very similar.
EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE
How do other professionals value their expertise and time?
Look in your checkbook, you will find that you have paid some professional person far more than the
physical work that they performed.
You have paid for their time, knowledge, experience, hand skill, industry contacts, patience,
willingness to teach you, etc.
Plus parts, mileage, labor, insurance, and whatever else they had to do to be able to provide you
that service.
PERCEPTION OF VALUE
The sooner you remove the words "tuning fee" and "going rate" from your vocabulary, the sooner you
will begin to be paid closer to your real value.
(I'll spare you my speech about 'tuning fee', but in short...do you bring only a tuning hammer to an
appointment?
How often do you only just tune a piano? I never do, so I don't quote a tuning fee. I quote for my
service, based on what I usually encounter given the
time passed since the last service call. In my area, that means pitch raise, tune, screws, lube,
misc regulation and voicing as time permits.)
The busier you get as a technician, the more you can begin to charge for the value of your time,
based on YOUR perspective.
As an in-demand concert technician, you are likely in that position already.
You have to realize the value of what you do; the cost of giving away your future, and then bring
the future into your present negotiations.
If you decide that giving away this time is worth it for other reasons, so be it. But, don't be
pressured by convention or 'the going rate', or 'what other techs do', etc.
If you are not in a strong enough position to negotiate hard on this, at least begin to document the
real cost to your business.
It will eventually work its way into your thought process and as you negotiate things, you will get
stronger about it.
We all have this issue of wanting to help people, and the emotional mind rules over the logical
business mind. Both are needed, but ultimately
you won't be able to really help people unless you are being paid for what you do.
Best regards,
Brad Smith, RPT
www.SmithPiano.com
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