So things are looking up on the production front…

NHBC: Latest figures from NHBC detailing new home volumes across the UK have revealed a 19% increase in the number of new homes registered in Q3 compared to the same period in 2012.

In total 33,573 new homes were registered between July and September, compared to 28,151 over the same period last year.

The private sector fuelled the growth in new homes in Q3 with a 23% increase, rising from 20,328 registrations in 2012 to almost 25,000. Meanwhile, the public sector experienced a 10% rise over the same period to 8,589 registrations from 7,823 in 2012.

“Customer Care.” In the eyes of most of your customers, is a vastly misused (if not oxymoronic) phrase. The disconnect between what your business say you will do and what you actually deliver can be key to the customer experience we spend thousands to evoke pre-purchase.

I have a good deal of experience in the Sales and Marketing of new homes from various roles with regional house builders and a large PLC.

It always struck me that as a team we would focus our energy (and our marketing budget) on aspirational advertising campaigns that would convince the potential purchasers that this new home purchase would improve theirs and their families lifestyle.

Post completion Exit surveys carried out by Market Research specialists In-house Research, would provide verbatim responses which proved that this is where we stopped marketing to these purchasers. All our good work would sadly start to unravel as we continued to under perform on our Customer Care duties.

Responses to questions such as ‘did you feel special on moving-in day?’ and ‘would you recommend a friend to purchase a new home from X builder?’ would provide damning evidence that something had gone wrong since the handover day.

In my experience the importance of Customer Care post-handover is massively undervalued. One or two members of your team will be tasked with ‘managing’ the process with in many cases archaic systems and tools  in place like excel and outlook with little support from Senior Management. Its extremely disappointing for a Sales Executive to have a conversation with a purchaser who they have had a very good rapport with throughout the sales process to leave the Sales centre in floods of tears

OK ,I take the point they can’t return the house if they become exasperated with the Customer service, but word of mouth marketing can be very damaging to your business if a new home owner is left to stew on the poor experience that your company has helped shape…

In a world that’s gone mobile where the consumer has limitless boundaries, can connect from anywhere at any time and interact on their own time frame, maybe its time to start looking at how you are communicating with them on their defects and repairs.

Word of mouth has a new meaning in this new world, companies reputations can take a hammering ,whether justified or not, as consumers seek solutions to their own problems via their Social Networks. Consumers are much more confident at complaining and using trending social networks to create campaigns to highlight poor service.

I am sure you would prefer your purchasers to talk to you and your business regarding their frustrations.

Take control of your Customer Care today, empower your purchasers to collaborate with you on their defects and repairs. clixifix will provide your business with a platform for your purchasers to sign in and report their issues regarding their new home in real time from anywhere that has an internet connection.

Our demo site is fully loaded with your common defect and repair scenarios. Come in and browse our features, see how the application handles your everyday Customer Care issues with ease through simple ticket creation.

https://www.clixifix.com/demo