Many of life’s little annoyances could be eliminated with one simple law requiring that the person who designs a product or service must also use that product or service. Consider the impact of these scenarios:
- The comedian who designed airline seats would have to sit in one for four hours (including an unexplained 40-minute delay).
- The sadist who delivers USA Today to hotel room doors would be required to sleep in the hotel and experience what sounds like a gun going off in the hallway at 4:17 a.m. as the paper is repeatedly dropped from waist height in a silent hotel.
- The genius who designed ink cartridge packaging would be forced to spend a day opening them, without benefit of a power tool.
- The plumber who said he’d come over “Thursday” would be instructed to take one of his vacation days and sit at home waiting for the painter, with no phone call and no painter.
- The design studio consultant who created selections and change order forms would be assigned the task of untangling the details, ordering materials, scheduling trades, and delivering a home complete, correct, and on time.
The surest test of any product or service is in its daily use by real people. For custom home builders this includes procedures, paperwork, floor plans, heat systems, windows, and all other operational details. Short of buying a home from himself or herself every couple of years, how can a builder get in touch with the company’s product and service realities?
Stop and think. Stress can be caused by small details that have become so natural a part of the day that people fail to take conscious note of them. A desk drawer that sticks may affect your mood without you necessarily connecting the two events. Assign yourself and all staff to look specifically for things that annoy or impede productivity. Once identified, many can often be eliminated.
Invest time. Beware of being so busy that you make more work for everyone by not taking time to polish the details. Some improvements can save time; others simply make the day more pleasant. Either type is worth finding and implementing. If you can’t listen to a complaint right at the moment, set an appointment to discuss it at a later date.
Really listen. When an employee or a home buyer complains that something is not working well, stop and hear the message. Feel the frustration beneath the words. The ability to identify with what another person is going through begins with connecting with the details of the experience. Once you understand the problem, fixing it becomes irresistible.
Ask questions. Draw out the nuances. Sometimes people have difficulty articulating exactly why something doesn’t work well. Have you ever surveyed your trades for feedback about your process? The simple act of asking people for input builds rapport and can trigger some terrific ideas.
See the problem. You may need to invest some time inspecting the item in question. When hearing a warranty rep’s description of a front door problem, it did not sound like a big issue; seeing it on two homes made the significance clear and new doors were chosen. A superintendent resorted to insisting his design consultant and IT manager spend a morning in the field. He demonstrated the problems of digging through 41 pages of potential selections to locate assignments for each trade. IT reconfigured the customer’s final order to list only those items the home buyer ordered.
Look for hidden messages. Sometimes the worst result of a failing product or procedure is that the person using it feels unimportant, unappreciated, and invisible. Did you make the decision based on what was convenient for one party without thinking of what others needed? Policies and procedures are best created with all points of view in mind. Insisting that the front line give home buyers their cell phone numbers can destroy productivity with constant interruptions. At the same time, all customer contacts should be acknowledged within one business day.
Ask a friend. Get someone outside of the industry to read your form letters and comment on them. Sometimes another pair of eyes with a fresh perspective can help you see what needs to change. Friends from other professions may offer suggestions from their world that can be applied to improving yours. Techniques used in car rental, restaurants, or department stores may have an application in your business.
Get over yourself. Just because you were the one who came up with the design decision, form, letter, or procedure does not make it perfect or practical. Be open to suggestions. If you hear yourself saying “That’s how we’ve always done it,” add “and I’m wiling to hear new ideas.”
Most of the time, builders get the big things right: the correct floor plan on the correct home site. The little things offer unlimited opportunity for improvement. Find them and fix them.
Carol Smith offers customer service assessment, consulting, and training programs for home builders. She can be reached at csmithhomeaddress@att.net.
