Well-meaning custom builders often unwittingly make customer service mistakes, doing the opposite of what they should. Should you really answer your cell phone each time it rings? Is a quick answer always the best one? Do customers expect you to know it all? Keep these examples in mind the next time a service decision needs to be made.
Cell Phone Slavery. When a builder’s cell phone rings repeatedly all day, he or she is unable to concentrate on any task long enough to complete it efficiently. One study concluded that if you interrupt someone every 20 minutes, productivity drops to zero. Another found that re-establishing concentration on an interrupted task can take as much as 11 minutes.
Commitments made “on the fly” are easily forgotten. Even if the promised action is remembered, the next call will make completing it take longer. If a staff member is with one buyer and another calls, who gets attention? What message is sent to the first customer if conversation is interrupted by a call?
While service apostles suggest it’s good service to be accessible to customers all day every day, the resulting mistakes, inefficiencies, and delays turn what seemed like a good idea into a cause of frustration for staff and buyers alike. Consider the hospital emergency room: Patients do not crawl in through the windows. A system exists for orderly input and processing, which allows prioritizing when necessary, permits suitable documentation, and fosters effective follow-through.
Establish standards for customer communications and adhere to them. For example, set an expectation with customers that contacts will be acknowledged within one business day. Then set a performance standard of four hours. Acknowledgment means you confirm that you got the message. You may need to conduct some research to provide a final answer; meanwhile, the customer knows you are working on it.
Knowing It All. It seems as if knowing the answer to every customer question would be great. In fact, sometimes the best way to build customer confidence is to take the time and trouble to investigate—even when you “know” the answer.
When a homeowner contacted her builder about the adequacy of insulation in her attic, the too-quick response was, “Oh, the building department inspected and passed it; you’ve got nothing to worry about.” Building department inspectors are as fallible as the rest of us. They can be misinformed, tired, distracted, in a hurry, or simply having a bad day.
Rather than trying to ease the customer’s mind immediately (not to mention avoiding extra work) a more comforting response would have been a plan that would include an inspection, a conversation with the inspector confirming requirements, and perhaps a call to the insulation company. While this might have taken more time, the resulting customer peace of mind makes the effort worthwhile.
At orientation, when buyers questioned the size of their AC compressor as compared to that of their neighbor’s—one serving a significantly smaller home—the builder rep quickly brushed the issue aside with “Oh, our construction people double-check such things as part of our quality control procedure.”
Five minutes later, the buyer raised the subject again. Again the response came across as disinterested. The builder rep assumed the company could not have made a mistake. With some time invested, the rep would have discovered that both AC units were correct. The larger one (on the smaller home) had been special ordered because the buyers of that home had twin sons who suffered from asthma. This explanation would have required some time to produce, but again would have resulted in a satisfied customer. Invest time and attention when customers express concerns. Assumptions and cavalier attitudes have no place in genuine service.
