Scenario: Bob always thought he provided excellent customer service. Sure, buyers would have an occasional panic attack when they got the bill for a new change order, but they liked the work he did. So Bob was shocked when he heard third-hand that one of his recent clients had expressed a less-than-glowing review of his new home. Was the quality of his work slipping? Were his superintendents getting lazy or indifferent? And how widespread was the problem? While he was building their house, he had been unaware of any significant problems.
Bob decided that the best way to find answers was to ask questions. First, he talked to his superintendents to find out if they were aware of any recent problems with customer satisfaction. The answer was what he had expected—that there were minor problems that were quickly resolved. He then phoned some of his more recent clients.
They all seemed satisfied with their homes, including the family who had voiced their displeasure.
Puzzled that the family who had complained about their house had seemed so nice over the phone, Bob wondered if they were the type of people who hated confrontation, keeping their complaints to themselves, while venting to their neighbors?
Bob knew that the bigger builders would often hire an outside agency, such as J.D. Power and Associates, to conduct independent surveys to quantify customer satisfaction. They would then use that outside verification in their advertising. But Bob Gardner Homes was, he thought, too small to warrant such a formal approach even though he wanted a systematic method of pinpointing customer satisfaction issues.
Solution: There are two aspects to this problem. The first aspect is information gathering to determine the extent of the problem and to find out what specific areas are creating dissatisfaction. The second aspect is implementing a system that proactively deals with and minimizes dissatisfaction as it occurs. What Bob wants is a proactive communication process that detects problems early on, and then fixes them to everyone’s satisfaction.
Small builders live and die by reputation. So when there is negative word of mouth, the builder should do everything he can to both counter it and prevent it in the future. A good quality control system that eliminates mistakes and a good communication system that keeps buyers informed about the progress of their home go a long way toward maximizing satisfaction. Strangely enough, studies have shown that the most satisfied customers are not those who never had problems with the product or service, but those who had a problem and had it resolved to their satisfaction.
Paradoxically, simply addressing the fact that problems arise goes a long way to resolving them. A call from someone other than the superintendent at various stages of construction serves as a check on undetected problems and provides concrete evidence of your company’s dedication to its clients. If the person calling is an officer of the company, it has an even greater impact.
To deal with the first part of the problem, Bob developed a questionnaire that probed the various elements of the construction process. He then had one of the newer members of the staff call his clients of the past five years to determine if there had been any shift in perceived satisfaction.
To deal with the second aspect, Bob instituted a program of personally calling each client midway through the job and then following up with a call after the house was completed. They would discuss the progress of the job and examine any issues that had arisen. This personal contact not only serves as a sounding board for grievances, but also provides a framework for the resolution of future difficulties.
