Beth Stackpole -- Expert Business Source, 1/4/2007 6:26:00 AM
Homebuilders take pride in their craftsmanship and design skills. But if they don’t put the same emphasis on quality customer service, they risk losing their bread and butter: a steady stream of customer referrals.
“Most builders see their job as building a home – not communicating or hand-holding,” says Bob Mirman, CEO and founder of Eliant Inc., an Irvine, Calif., consulting company that specializes in helping homebuilders boost customer service. “They don’t understand that a home has an emotional quality more so than any other product. A buyer is not going to refer a homebuilder just because they offer a great floor plan or their toilets flush. Customer service and reliability are key.”
Creating a positive experience for buyers involves proactive communication and mapping out processes that consider the customer’s perspective from the time they walk through a model home all the way through the warranty period. Experts recommend following these important steps:
- Make a communications plan.
Just as you schedule the electrician and the plumbing contractor, you also should map out a schedule for touching base with your customers. The Estridge Companies, which builds 350 to 400 homes a year in Indiana, has formalized such a plan for all of its customer touch points, according to Charlie Scott, the company’s executive vice president. Two weeks after purchase, Estridge hosts a customer orientation to deliver an overview of its construction process, followed a couple of weeks later by meetings for color selection and design options. Six weeks into the process, there’s a set face-to-face with the customer and a walkthrough with the builder. “We plan out our touch points like we’re planning out the mason to come put bricks on the house,” Scott says. “We mapped our process to customer emotions.”
The builder should take on the task of calling the buyer to keep them abreast of progress or problems. If the buyer has to call first, the builder will squander any equity in customer service. Eliant’s Mirman recommends checking in with buyers every two weeks, even if it’s just a status update left on voice mail. “It’s not about conversation,” he explains. “It’s about keeping them apprised of the status.”
- Make commitments – and keep them.
If you don’t specify when the foundation will be poured or when sheet rock will be installed, you leave it open to the buyer to create his own timetable. Make sure to set expectations you can beat 95 percent of time, Mirman says. “You don’t want to just satisfy the buyer,” he says. “You want to delight them.”
- Put your money where your mouth is after the sale.
Once the home is built, don’t put the onus on the homebuyer to do quality assurance. Estridge Company has a QA team comb through a home to find problems prior to the customer walkthrough. The company offers a three-year maintenance and warranty period, in which it proactively schedules six- and 12-month home checkups, Scott says. Extending the warranty period gives Estridge more time to cultivate a relationship.
The tactic appears to be paying off: Last quarter, 10 percent of the builder’s sales came from third-time Estridge home buyers.
Beth Stackpole is a freelance writer in Newbury, Mass.
Additional resources:
Angie’s List: A website that compiles independent customer referrals for local contractors. Find out what your customers are saying about you. |
