When a homeowner makes a warranty claim, all the work you did to create a delighted customer is at risk. In fact, how quickly you respond to a warranty call is directly related to the home buyers long-term satisfaction.

To expedite service calls, many builders have taken advantage of the Internet by allowing customers to submit warranty claims online. As efficient as this may seem, however, it doesn’t always lead to a satisfying customer experience. Consider the home buyer who submits a warranty request via a web portal, only to see “we’ll get back to you” displayed on the computer screen.

Is that the best way to endear customers to your company? Even though we know human interaction is the best way to foster meaningful relationships, we keep turning to automation to make our operations more efficient. Yet, in this day of phone trees, touch-tone systems, and endless voicemail, don’t you think your customers would like to speak to an actual person? We know the answer: Yes!

How about this for a strategy: Make sure all calls during business hours get answered by a live person. You may already have a dedicated person — such as a customer service coordinator — assigned to this job, but does that person always answer every call? Do customers feel confident that they will always get a live person when they call your company?

If you are certain you have that issue covered, the next step is to create a rapid response program that aims to have warranty issues resolved within hours of a call. Several years ago a colleague and I created such a program. To emphasize the immediacy of the response, we came up with the slogan, “Are You Home Now?”

The program enables builders to transition from a system whereby customer requests are submitted only through the Internet to a system that adds a call-in option that enables customers to get a live person, who attempts to dispatch a service representative immediately. This quick response system reduces the average number of days it takes to resolve a warranty request and sends customer satisfaction scores for warranty service through the roof.

Here’s how it works. When a homeowner calls to submit a warranty request, the customer service coordinator asks, “Are You Home Now?” If the person answers “yes” the coordinator asks, “If we can get one of our service representatives to your house within the next 30 to 45 minutes, would that be OK?” If the customer answers “yes” the coordinator replies, “I’m going to contact one of our representatives to confirm that he can come over now, and I will call you back in the next five minutes to confirm.”

The benefits of this program are great. The most obvious is that the customer feels that the builder backs up its reputation with superior responsive service. Even if the customer is not calling from home, he or she is pleased to see that the builder is ready to respond, increasing customer loyalty with no real investment other than asking the question.

The program also reinforces with staff the importance of being more responsive than the traditional warranty request process. This cultural shift reduces the average service request completion time.

Plus, the customer service coordinator will be able to better diagnoses a warranty issue to make sure it is assigned to the proper trade. Sometimes a call may just require the coordinator to provide information, thereby negating the need for a service call. Directing a warranty call to the correct person or providing immediate information is a level of customer service that can be provided only by a actual person.

However, this rapid response program also has some pitfalls. For example, if you are not ready to respond when the customer says “yes” you have raised the hopes of the customer only to leave him or her frustrated.

Also, this program might require an additional field staff person to be “on call” and dispatched at a moment’s notice. Because the program makes it easier for customers to submit warranty issues, it could result in many more one- and two-item lists. The increased volume may overwhelm the service department, many of which have been severely reduced during the recession.

Despite these potential problems, the program could lay the foundation for a centralized call center in the future. This is a key step as the industry moves to measure open warranty requests in hours instead of days. You may be thinking this would require a much larger staff. However, the biggest hurdle is getting your staff to make the paradigm shift to looking for ways to respond quickly.

In practice, you will find that many of customers are not ready for a service rep to come now. But all will be amazed that you are willing to respond so quickly.

Bill Frey is an AVID Advisor with AVID Ratings, the leading provider of customer loyalty research and consulting to the home-building industry. Through the AVID system, homebuilders improve referrals, reduce warranty costs, and strengthen their brands. He can be reached at bill.frey@avidratings.com