Customer Care
How you handle customer disappointments determines long-term loyalty.
Leading home builders invest considerable resources into developing products and processes that delight customers with consistently great homes and custom experiences. However, mistakes will happen, and that is why having a clearly defined “service recovery strategy” can be a builder’s best investment.
Home builders can improve the customer experience simply by making sure employees are engaged and empowered.
A good test of customer loyalty is asking, “How likely are you to refer this product or service to a friend?” All prudent home builders want a favorable response to that question, but they can probably predict the answer by looking at their own company cultures.
A new online service, powered by smartphone apps, makes it easier than ever for consumers to air their complaints about businesses.
Increasingly, consumers are taking their grievances about businesses online, and home builders aren’t immune to the onslaught of criticisms being shared at cyber speed via social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. And sharing complaints with friends has recently gotten a lot easier thanks to new online service called Gripe.
New book — Wired and Dangerous — helps builders partner with customers online, where reputations can be ruined with a mouse click.
In today’s socially networked and wired world, anyone can communicate with millions of people with a simple click of a mouse. This incredible power was a dream of those who created the Internet, but today it is a reality — evidenced by the political revolutions throughout the Middle East being credited to the likes of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Customer satisfaction ratings firm suspends studies in Toronto and Ottawa.
For the past several months, the rumor mill on the streets of Toronto — the largest homebuilding market in North America — has been buzzing about J.D. Power and Associates pulling out. Well, it’s official. The world’s largest customer satisfaction research firm has decided to forgo its Home Builder Satisfaction Study in both Toronto and Ottawa this year. In its letter to the industry, the company stated,
Avid Ratings announces the 2010 AVID Award winners, the best in America.
Sitterle Homes – San Antonio has won the 2010 AVID Diamond Award – Best Customer Experience in the U.S., with 100 percent of its homeowners responding that they would recommend their builder to others. Since 1964, Sitterle Homes has built more than 4,000 homes in the Greater San Antonio area. Among Sitterle’s numerous awards, the Greater San Antonio Builders Association awarded the company 2010 Best Product Design...
Home buyers expect ‘musts’ and express their desire for ‘wants,’ but it’s the strategically delivered ‘wows’ that lock in customer loyalty.
One of the best ways to solidify your relationship with customers is to “wow” them through a strategy of surprise and delight. This is not a new idea. Back in 1912, the makers of Cracker Jack enjoyed a dramatic increase in sales when they began to include a surprise toy in every package of the popcorn treat. Today’s consumers still have an insatiable desire for the unique and amazing, and home builders that successfully deliver a “wow factor”
Service Recovery are the actions that take place when a mistake or error in service or product has been brought to the attention of an employee of a company. How the employee reacts can make or break a customer’s opinion of the organization. If done well Service Recovery can strengthen the company’s brand. When done poorly it can alienate the customer from the company and its products. [Vlog, HD]
How quickly and effectively you respond to a warranty service call is directly related to a buyer's long-term satisfaction. Although the Internet has changed the way many builders handle service requests, by itself it is not an effective tool for fielding buyers' concerns. Here, Bill Frey shares his recommendation for what he calls a successful "rapid response program." And yes, it integrates an online component. [Vlog, HD]