Good reputations are built by people with a vision for customer service and a plan to get there.
Last month, we began a chronicle of David and Maureen Francis, owners of David Francis Plumbing, as they made the switch to upfront pricing in their small, tightly knit community. At almost the same time they adopted upfront pricing, they were greeted with a water heater price war in their local newspaper. By sticking to their vision of premium service for a fair price, they not only won the “price war” but ended up gaining new customers from their “budget-priced” competitor.
Even as they conquered the price challenger, a new foe came over the horizon. Here's David's e-mail explaining a weather problem to this Southerner: