Honesty

I've been collecting bids this week to have my hardwood floors refinished. The parade of hardwood floor guys has been pretty uneventful--they measure the rooms, give me their spiel about the company, hit the road, and email me a price later in the day. 

The prices have been all over the board. 

There's one company I was particularly interested in. They have some impressive clients (Vice President's mansion, among them) and several neighbors have used them and been happy. Their bid came in right about in the middle of the pack.

I emailed the owner. Told him I'd very much like to use his company to do the work, gave him a date the work can start, but then said his price was a little on the high side and asked if he could help me out with that.

He knocked several hundred dollars off. Then, he wrote, "That's the lowest I can go on this job. Please let me know if you're still interested."

I appreciated that, quite frankly. It saved me the back and forth of negotiating with several workers to see who could beat what price. It's what's made Saturn and CarMax so popular--the price is the price is the price. No back office negotiations, no "meetings with the manager," no 'if you take this offer right now" deals (which one floor company actually said to me. Unbelievable. You mean if I wait 24 hours, you won't give me your best price??)

I hired the first guy. He still wasn't the cheapest, but I liked his work and I appreciated his honesty. Integrity gets customers, every time.