Someone in charge of the “Customer Experience” or “Customer Loyalty” at corporate and division levels Cross-departmental teams to create “The Promise List”: What will we promise our customers about quality? Move-In date? Service response, etc. Structured ‘Management of Customers’ Expectations’ training to ensure compliance within each department (i.e. How & when to make promises) Consistent […]
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” -Ken Blanchard No one knows more about your sales and service process than your customers. Asking for customers’ feedback provides an incredible opportunity to highlight the good, the bad, and – all too often – the downright ugly side of our homebuyer interactions. These evaluations and comments are your […]
On a recent golf trip, to Kohler, Wisconsin, Martha and I stopped at a local saloon. Sat at the fairly empty bar for dinner. The bartender finally came over to take our drink order. Slow to bring drinks. Finally brought the drinks and took our food order. Food arrived relatively soon but both our requests […]
Over the past 41-years of measuring the new-home purchase and ownership experience for thousands of home builders, an interesting pattern in the home buying experience has been repeatedly and predictably confirmed in Eliant’s data. Here it is: There is an inverse relationship between new-home sales volume and homebuyers’ satisfaction. And though it doesn’t have quite […]
That title should have said “35+%”, but most of you would have dismissed that as an unrealistic tease. So, in the spirit of caution, I lowered the target to be closer to our builder clients’ national average of 25%. My logic behind this more reasonable target emanated from the behavior modification research with which I […]
The Greater Sales & Marketing Council, one of BIA Southern California’s longest running organizations, rounded up three influential leaders for its Annual Women in Leadership Breakfast, held at Whittier College Chapel in November. Eliant President Fernanda Luick was invited as a panelist, alongside Brooke Doi from Shea Homes and Lindsay Hezmalhalch of WHA. The event […]
Last month, Eliant kicked off the summer by joining the Building Industry Association of Southern California, Orange County Chapter (BIA/OC) at their highly anticipated Women’s Leadership Conference, “Building Your Own Journey.” ). Many Eliant team members were excited to participate; for some this was their first year attending this conference! The 8th annual event, which […]
Since starting this consumer research company on my dining room table in 1984, I have gathered an incredible database of strategies used by over 1,800 homebuilders to delight their customers. Here’s one of the best ideas: Turn each new-home purchase into an extraordinary experience by planning a series of memorable surprises for each buyer […]
I am a keen observer of consumers’ behavior during the home purchase experience. And I know enough to be dangerous about regression analysis to understand that some things are just more important than others when it comes to creating a customer who is willing to refer their builder to a friend or acquaintance. What does […]
Homebuyer satisfaction is determined by the gap between buyers’ expectations and the builder’s performance. Therefore, there are only two ways to increase homebuyer satisfaction: Improve the performance of your employees and trade partners Lower the expectations of your buyers. While much attention is given to the latter of the two strategies, it is the […]