Do you see what I see?

Buyers were asked to reflect on their experience and rate each particular point in the process. The findings (shown on page 44) show the vast majority of home builders do a good job satisfying customers during the sales process. What happens during the design, production, loan and closing phases is a different story, particularly when you compare builders ranking high in overall customers satisfaction to those with lower scores.

According to the study, homebuyers that went with builders ranking in the top 2.5 percent for overall customer satisfaction had little satisfaction decay compared to homebuyers who bought from builders ranking in the bottom 2.5 percent for overall customer satisfaction. The Table on page 44 graphically depicts the differences in the rate of satisfaction decay between these two groups of homebuyers. The performance values displayed are the median scores for each group, based on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best score possible.

Homebuyers who bought from builders in the top 2.5 percent experienced satisfaction decay of 4 percent, from 9.06 when the sales contract was signed to 8.704 today.

Those who purchased from builders in the bottom 2.5 percent, however, experienced a 46 percent satisfaction decay, from 8.426 to 4.517.

The study reveals significant conclusions about buyer satisfaction. While most builders are excelling at customer satisfaction during the sales process, something appears to happen during the design stage that sends customer satisfaction plummeting. There's a disconnect causing many homebuyers to quickly become dissatisfied with their home builder.

The data shows that a builder's ability to influence customer satisfaction is strongest at the point of initial contact (see figure on right). As time passes, it becomes increasingly difficult to affect the satisfaction experience because the homebuyer's impression of the builder is more solidified.

What does that mean for builders? Any customer satisfaction or service recovery efforts you make will have a higher return on investment the earlier they're conducted in the building process.

What's not clear from the data is whether a builder is given a second, third or even a fourth chance to win back a dissatisfied customer.

Ideally, every department should work together for the best interest of the homebuyer. There should not be any lags in service. Transition points are critical to make sure customer expectations are realistic and satisfaction remains high. Industry leaders focus heavily on smooth transitions from one department to the next.

The following list highlights how some builders have maintained high levels of customer satisfaction during transition points:

• Assign individual employees to each homebuyer or set of homebuyers as a continuous point of contact throughout the process, from contract signing and design to construction and closing.
• Provide a single number homebuyers can call whenever they have questions at anytime throughout the building process.
• Involve representatives from each department in the process of other departments. For example, a project supervisor might be involved in the sales meetings. This ensures that information is clearly communicated and understood from department to department
• Establish a project management system, whereby the project manager is, in effect, the builder for a particular community. With this system, homebuyers deal with one senior level management person. Smooth transitions are more likely with fewer people communicating with the homebuyers.