Instrument Repair Technicians Are Vital to Your Business. Here’s How You Can Recruit, Retain and Grow Your Techs

A skilled instrument repair team at your music store often results in your store’s reputation of high-quality repairs, happy customers and repeat business. Repair techs bring a great deal of value through their expertise — they determine an instrument’s problems, communicate the repair needs to your customers and execute the work that’s required to bring the instrument back into playing condition. But when it comes to hiring and retaining repair techs, music store owners are faced with several challenges. The biggest hurdle is everyone wants someone with experience. 

Some owners may have the expectation that when they hire a tech straight out of school, the tech will know how to do everything. The owner may even expect the new tech to jump in at the height of repair season. The reality is, new graduates have the training, but they don’t have the repetitions yet.

For example, maybe the new tech worked on two or three clarinets during repair school. But when they’re hired at a music shop, they may be given 150 clarinets to repair, and in that case, they don’t have the speed and efficiency to accomplish that volume yet. A more seasoned tech or even a tech who has one year of experience will be better equipped for that workload. It’s a good idea to readjust expectations for new techs and give them time to rack up the repetitions before demanding that level of productivity from them.

Music store owners have an important part to play in the success of their repair teams. Here are some things you can do to recruit, retain and build up your repair tech talent.

Actively Recruit Repair Techs From Schools or Other Avenues

The first and foremost way to get a repair tech is to recruit from repair schools. There are a handful of repair schools across the U.S. that teach instrument repair as a technical degree, with well-known schools in Iowa, Washington and Minnesota.

You can reach out to those schools to develop connections and generate awareness around your music store. One challenge music store owners can encounter is getting the repair tech to move to their store’s region. A lot of the time, graduates aren’t looking to relocate; they want to go back home. This doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find a person who wants to relocate, but consider looking at schools close to your area for better recruiting results.

Outside of repair schools, there are other avenues for finding techs. One way is training someone who has a mechanical background whose skills can be transferred to instrument repair. One of our repair techs is a great example of this — she has a master’s degree in clarinet performance but ended up starting her career working in a welding shop. She had the hands-on skills, and with about a year of training, she became a fantastic instrument repair tech.

Another source of talent can be local high schools. Check with schools in your area to learn if they have a CTE (career technical education) program where students are already taking instrument repair classes.

After You Hire a Repair Tech, Focus on Mentorship

If you’ve hired an instrument repair school graduate, the question is, do you have in-house training ability and the willingness to invest in the professional growth of that tech? Continuous training, feedback and mentoring from an experienced tech on your team are crucial for your new hire’s long-term success at your business.

As mentioned earlier, it’s important to match your expectations with the tech’s current abilities. If your tech with five years’ experience gets through 20+ instruments in a day, but your new tech only gets through 2–4 instruments, but they’re well-done, that’s excellent. If your experienced tech provides mentorship and tips and tricks, and if you provide your team with learning opportunities, your entire repair team will become more advanced and add more quality to your repair service.

Some ideas for growth opportunities you can provide is to have your techs attend repair clinics, get them involved in NAPBIRT (National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Techs), or bring in outside repair techs who are at the top of their field to train your people. We hired a trombone repair expert to train our techs on trombone slide adjustments. Some store owners are concerned about the financial investment for this type of training, but the timesaving on the backside saves you money in the long run.

If you’re hiring someone with no formal repair training, they’ll have to do a summer of shadowing/apprenticeship. They can begin with instrument cleaning and other basic tasks, and then gain repair skills through your in-house training. If the person is committed to growing in the craft, you might offer to sponsor their schooling in exchange for a multi-year employment contract. This can be a win-win for both the store owner and the tech-in-training.

Strategies for Retaining Repair Techs

Keeping repair techs onboard is one of the hardest parts of a music store owner’s job. Some owners feel they’re doing everything possible, financially and otherwise, to support their techs. However, it all comes down to whether the techs feel fulfilled.

In discussions with local colleges, we’ve found that roughly 50 to 60% of instrument repair program graduates leave the field within three to five years. The reasons vary, but common factors include overwhelm, stress, burnout or lack of skills and experience to meet job demands. To retain your repair techs, here are some strategies to consider:

Discover what motivates your repair tech

Find the thing that makes your repair tech tick. For example, if you hired a tech to do clarinet repair but they want to work on saxophones, gradually introduce saxophones to keep them engaged. It’s essential to find ways to feed their interests to prevent burnout.

One of our techs loves audiobooks. Allowing her to listen to audiobooks while cleaning brass instruments improved her happiness and performance. Small adjustments like this can make a big difference in retaining your techs.

Recognize that every person works differently

Some techs enjoy focusing on their pile of instruments alone, while others prefer socializing with colleagues and customers. Some techs can handle 20 flutes in a row, while others need to switch instruments to stay engaged. Understanding how your techs prefer to work can help them remain motivated and productive.

Connect repair techs to the customers

Unless the tech prefers to work alone, consider having them interact with customers. Our repair facility is the central hub of our shop, allowing customers to watch repairs and interact with techs. This setup improves customer service and sales, as customers value recommendations directly from the repair technician.

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There is not one formula that is going to resolve the problem of finding and retaining repair techs. The answer will come when, as a music store owner, you meet the repair techs where they’re at. When repair techs understand the needs of the music store owner, the symbiotic nature of all those things will come together. Focusing on continuous education, mentorship and ongoing support is always a good place to start.

About the Author
Linden Lantz is the owner of Bandwagon Music & Repair in Nashville, Tennessee. They have been a proud member of the NAMM community for six years and were named a NAMM Top 100 Dealer four times and Synchrony Financials Small Business of the Year in 2018.