My Piano Tuner's "Key" to Marketing Success. It could be yours too
Image by:@laurenmancke
My piano tuner is a working musician who plays several instruments. He plays local venues, teaches, tunes and does music recording as well. I met him because my childhood piano returned to my home after being at my brother’s house for many years. It was badly out of tune, but I found out that the husband of a neighbourhood friend did piano tuning and that’s how I met him. When he took the player piano apart, I was fascinated because I’d never really seen the innards of a piano and it was super cool! I took photos and created a blog post that can be found here under my personal photography work.
He’s a quiet and introverted guy. He comes in, tunes the piano and then I love his ‘test’ to ensure all sounds ok - he starts playing. I took lessons as a kid and can play a few tunes, but he’s a seasoned pro and it’s really beautiful.
A hobby business
There is no invoice for my piano tuning, no contract. I etransfer his payment and it’s done. He doesn’t do any marketing that I know of, and obtains clients through word of mouth. He has no website and only has his personal FB page where he indicates he tunes pianos among a few other things. His main profession is as a musician, so that’s what he pursues more seriously and the other work is a side line to that. But did I say that he does no marketing that I know of? That’s not entirely true. Because my piano tuner actually has one brilliant yet very often overlooked marketing technique that hits all the proper marketing notes.
Do you want your piano tuned?
About every 6 months, I get a text from him with 2 lines. Seriously, it’s the exact same text each time, since 2017. “Hi Lucy, it’s Andrew. Do you want the piano tuned?” Now, how many of us sit and struggle with social media captions, trying to come up with non-repetitive ways to say something about our photos? His text is just so simple, and I don’t think he puts one iota of thought into whether I will think he’s just robotic or that he could change it up a bit. He’s basically just asking me a question and because he provides the same service, it’s the same question. I don’t always say yes, since the piano doesn’t get too much use, but 6 months later, the next text comes in.
Staying top of mind
What he’s doing is simple and takes only a few moments, but the principle behind what he is doing is very powerful. And often overlooked. We often are stuck in the endless turn of the hamster wheel trying to eternally bring in new clients, but we do very little in the repeat business area. Many photographers admittedly don’t remain in touch after a client transaction is done. They feel like they are bothering former clients by following up or think that clients will reach out when they want another session. But former clients are the warmest leads of all and as marketing guru Joe Polish of Piranha Marketing suggests: keep drawing from the well until the bucket comes up dry. He calls former clients an untapped goldmine, because of the lost potential that’s forgotten for the ‘new’ client. In his book, he tells a compelling story. Mind you, this book was written in the early 2000’s when we weren’t as connected, but it’s still a good lesson. He had used a therapist of some sort (I believe it was a Chiropractor) and felt he was helped, but after his issue resolved, he didn’t need a follow up appointment. Some time later, the issue returned and he wanted to book again. Problem? He’d forgotten the Chiropractor’s name, and had lost his business card. He searched yellow pages for a vague name from memory, but was never able to find the guy, so ended up seeing someone else. If that Chiropractor had (in that time) mailed out a client newsletter, he wouldn’t have lost a client.
Nowadays, your Chiropractor is accessible via website, email and socials, but how often does life get in the way? What if your Chiro, Osteo, massage therapist etc. simply sent you a reminder once in a while? Would you feel bothered, or would you appreciate that someone else is staying on top of things for a change? And even if one family re-booked with you because you reached out, that’s a huge return on your marketing investment. One simple question.
Marketing can be complicated, but not all of it has to be. You don’t need years of education to send an email or a text every 6 months: Would you like to book a family session?
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