Watch the video on Customers for Life.
A customer for life is like the fabled goose that lays golden eggs for the builder. A customer for life not only seeks the same builder to construct future homes, but also refers the builder to friends and family.
When customers brag to their friends and family about the exceptional quality and outstanding customer service they received from their builder, they essentially become sales representatives. In competitive markets, satisfied homebuyers generate many leads for builders. These potential buyers will already have confidence that the builder will deliver a high-value, well-built home.
However, builders must do more than provide adequate customer service if they want to create customers for life. Average service usually leads to average enthusiasm. Unless the buyer is really impressed with the builder, chances are they won't help close any new homes. There are steps a builder can take, though, to offer a level of service that will leave such a positive lasting impression that the customer will generate valuable referrals.
The best way to ensure customer satisfaction and referrals is to create a customer service checklist and follow it with every buyer.
Here's the bare minimum a builder should do to create a customer for life:
- Be Proactive with Communications. If the only time a builder talks to buyers is to alert them of problems on the jobsite, they'll send the wrong signal to customers. By communicating early and often about the construction process, the builder can make customers feel more empowered and involved in the construction of their new home. Be sure to explain to the buyer that any changes they make will affect the construction calendar, and be flexible with customers who have specific move-in dates.
- Assign a Point Person. One person should be exclusively responsible for maintaining and improving the relationship between builder and buyer. Make sure this person is someone who can spend sufficient time with the buyer, enjoys talking to people, and knows how to resolve conflict.
- Provide Performance Criteria. Before construction begins, the builder should document performance expectations with the buyer and create a performance scope of work for the home. This document, when managed by the site supervisor, can be a powerful and helpful tool in making sure that the house is built to the proper performance standards.
- Provide Construction Details to Trade Contractors. When your trade partners have full access to details of how systems within the home need to work together, they can become advocates of quality and help you make sure the home meets performance goals. Keeping trade contractors informed reduces callbacks and downtime on the jobsite (For more information, check out Design for Performance).
- Guarantee Your Work. Builders who proactively guarantee the work can create a lot of trust with the customer early in the construction process. Review the warranty and service documents with the buyers during your first construction meetings.
- Be Respectful and Professional at All Times. During the construction process, it's easy to forget that the homebuyer's satisfaction is more important than your immediate needs or problems. The buyer is still the customer and has a large financial and emotional investment in the home. Spend more time listening and working to keep the buyer at ease and comfortable with the home they're buying.
Builders who don't pay enough attention to customer service often employ the "find it and fix it" method with their clients. This approach usually means that the builder constructs the home, gives the customer the keys, and shows up only when there's a problem. For this method to work, the customer has to call the builder every time something goes wrong and then wait for the service team to show up and fix the problem. While the "find it and fix it" method may seem easy for the builder, it isn't doing anything to increase customer satisfaction, and it will probably result in lukewarm praise from the homeowner.
To create customers for life, take an enthusiastic, proactive approach to communication with the homebuyer. It takes planning and effort to create a delighted customer, but you'll likely reap huge benefits in referrals and repeat customers.
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