I have a new home builder who has hired a VP with a 10% stake in the company....basically its his right hand man....
The VP has a friend who is a plumber and he wants toget competitive bids and give his friend some work...basically get him in and me out.
I have a perfect relationship with the 90% owner...ive taken him and his wife out for a $250 meal, we sent them our family christmas card...they know our kids names, ive given him a $350 toilet for free and installed it all for free as a christmas gift.....Ive always given him perfect service...im the first sub done everytime.
The builder keeps bring it up....the VP says 'his plumber is good', 'his plumber already works with that product', 'his plumber,his plumber,his plumber'.....he says that HE makes the decision and i have nothing to worry about...but he brings it up EVERY time i talk to him in some way....he is my biggest customer (by alittle)....maybe 10% of my business....
my solution to this problem is to become the VP's friend also...i am going to work on his house soon and offered to give him fixtures at my cost AND call all the suppliers and get him a plumber price...basically 30% of list vs the norm 80%....its HUGE!!!....thousands of dollars and now he can afford some top of the line fixtures...he will think of me every time he uses his bathroom... also i need to take him and his wife out to eat....i need to get to know him better, because right now he's not acting like a friend to me!
Sooooo, today i asked for his VP's plumbers name.....its someone i know...and he is bad....possibly the worst plumber i worked with....so i look up this plumber....found him on craigs list....called him up....talked for 15 minutes...small talk, some business.....found out alot of bad stuff about him (no suprise).....
here's what i decided to do!....i called the builder right back up(the call was about some other stuff, not just to rip on his VP's plumber)....told him i know this guy and know what kind of plumber he is and am not worried "if you want a $60 per hour craigs list plumber with no insurance, works out of his pickup truck, is a service plumber who has only done a couple of houses in his career then he's the one for you'....he laughed and said i had nothing to worry about again....
should i have done that?....i like to squash all competition as not legitimate and not comparable....thats what i did....
I keep records of all my competition...i know their weak points
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