Among the challenges small-volume builders face is that of the appearance of their company’s paperwork. While on the surface this may seem to be a tiny detail, the quality of documents contributes to the home buyers’ impression of the organization’s professionalism. Just as important, the quality of paperwork influences how seriously clients take the information contained in that paperwork.
Reflect for a moment on an episode of the TV classic “Candid Camera.” The crew went to the border of the state of Delaware and barricaded a road with a sign declaring “Delaware Closed.” Cameras waited to film the results as drivers approached and read the sign. The first car stopped, turned around, and left. The next driver was a bit more aggressive. He parked his car, got out, and walked toward the sign. As the driver approached the sign, an actor dressed as a highway worker (orange cone under one arm, hard hat, and clipboard) came over and offered assistance.
“Yes, sir. Can I help you?”
“Yeah,” the driver responded, “what’s going on in Delaware? When’s it going to re-open?”
Now clearly this information, that the state of Delaware was taking a day off, was absurd. Nonetheless, people believed it because the sign looked official. It was substantial, well-painted, metal, and had all words spelled correctly. Imagine the results if the show had been short of funds, and instead of this official-looking sign they’d hired a homeless-looking man to stand at the side of the road holding up the bottom of a cardboard box. Imagine further that someone had written on the box with a black magic marker, Delaware Closed.
In all likelihood, drivers seeing this scene would lock their car doors and speed right past him or pay him no attention at all. His sign would hold no authority; it would command no respect.
What does this have to do with your paperwork? Gather one copy of each document or form that your home buyers encounter as they go through your process. How authoritative do they look? Are you using copies of copies of copies? The liver spots, crooked text, and splotchy print that result when we use the last copy of a form to make the next 25, all say to customers, “You needn’t pay much attention to this.” Worse still is if the information contains misspelled words, punctuation errors, or grammatical mistakes. Add a sprinkling of these, and you are likely to lose the customer’s respect to an even greater degree.
Consider next the sales materials most builders use to capture the attention of potential buyers. Four-color brochures with a tissue-paper inlay may cost $8 a copy, but seldom do we hesitate to use them. Once the deal is locked up, a different mentality sets in. Because the customer has already selected us to build his home, the once-urgent need to make a good impression subsides.
The further we progress into the relationship, the less likely the customer is to receive high-quality forms or documents. Yet it is the home buyer who is still awed even after move-in who sends you referrals. Doesn’t the goal of making a good impression persist until you are finished hoping to sell homes to this buyer’s friends and colleagues? This means high-quality documents all the way through and past the warranty period. From homeowner manuals to selection sheets, from work orders to correspondence, the appearance influences your customers’ impression and opinion of you.
The good news is that in today’s world good quality copies do not need to cost a fortune. Color is even within reason nowadays, as are carbonless (NCR) forms. The attention that is needed first is to the details of spelling and mechanics.
