This archaic approach continues to be followed in spite of mountains of evidence of the benefits to builders of a proactive method. “Builder-initiated” warranty contact does not mean mailing a postcard reminding homeowners they can schedule a 60-day warranty inspection and hoping they ignore it. “Builder-initiated” warranty contact means setting a (tentative) 60-day appointment with the home buyer at the end of the orientation.
When the builder calls to confirm this appointment a few days prior, the homeowner may change it. So what? The benefits have accrued nonetheless:
- The customer can see that the company will continue to serve them even after they pay for the home.
- Phone calls to the warranty desk are reduced. Homeowners don’t need to call in about items they notice because an appointment to address them already exists.
- By arriving for the visit with a prescribed checklist in hand, the warranty rep establishes himself as the expert on the company’s standards.
- The warranty rep tours the entire home with the customer, reviewing key maintenance points and inspecting all components. The consistency and attention to detail impress homeowners. The company learns how products they use hold up.
- Homeowner errors in caring for the home are caught and pointed out for correction, possibly forestalling issues later.
Pushing customers away fails to produce referrals. Hiding behind cumbersome procedures is out of style. “We’ve always done it this way” is seldom a sufficient reason for mindlessly following old methods. Give yourself the freedom to change, to commit to serving customers and translate that commitment into tangible action. This means moving to the exploration stage.
The exploration stage of responding to change appears when people give something a try. With a twist here and there, a new procedure is eventually customized for an individual company’s circumstances. Reviewing initial results and tweaking are part of the natural evolution. When builders welcome this evolution into their business, growth and progress can result.
After the new method is polished and fine-tuned, the commitment stage of responding to change is reached. At that point, the company expounds upon the benefits of their updated methods, actively promoting them to others and receiving referrals from happy customers.
