Arbor Homes is setting out to put customer satisfaction at the top of its list of priorities. The Indianapolis, Ind.-based builder recently promoted its Director of Marketing and Research, Ben Watkins, to Vice President of Customer Satisfaction, Marketing and Research.
The promotion isn’t just a pat on the back, but a reflection of the changing strategy for Arbor Homes. Curtis Rector, the company’s president, mentioned the newly created position was to set the company up to strive better and provide top-notch customer service.
In an interview with BUILDER, the newly promoted Ben Watkins shared his thoughts on devoting resources to customer satisfaction and how little things can go a long way.
Why is now the time to really hone in on customer satisfaction?
BW: Even though we’re the largest builder in our market, we continue to grow and have aggressive goals. To meet those goals, it’s important we’re always striving to improve. Additionally, in our industry we feel the buyer experience is changing and we want to be proactive and ahead of that change.
Which part of the home buying process do you want to focus on improving right now?
BW: For us it’s learning what we don’t know. We have suppositions about opportunities for improvements during the course of our customer road map but without data it’s hard to make important business decisions. A more focused effort on customer satisfaction will help us shine a light on those areas.
What are some of the small gestures builders tend to overlook but that go a long way for the customer?
BW: It comes down to the little details. It’s amazing what simply returning a phone call will do for an upset customer or changing something out even if it wasn’t necessarily faulty.
What is the best way you’ve found for Arbor Homes to learn about their customer’s satisfaction?
BW: Listening and talking to our customers at different stages throughout the building process and beyond, for example, attending different meetings with customers to confirm they’re hearing the same messages throughout the process. Surveying customers is also very important but it’s just one data point. There is no magic bullet, you have to be intentional.
