You can make six simple improvements that will increase your productivity, shorten work order cycle times, and strengthen your customer relationships. Do you know what they are?
- Standardize your Processes - How do you currently receive warranty repair requests? Email? Webform? Phone call? Managing requests when they come in through different channels is complex. Creating standard processes that are efficient and easily repeatable has enormous advantages - if you stick with it. Train your employees and customers to follow the new standards, and you will see both employee productivity & homeowner satisfaction soar!
- Centralize Information - Handing your new homeowner a binder of manuals and warranties during orientation is nice, but what will they do when something goes wrong? They aren't going to flip through 500+ pages. They are going to send an email or call with their questions. Invest in a secure platform that will keep all essential documents electronically. Look for a solution that can be easily customized and scaled to meet your business needs.
- Automate Customer Service - Today's homebuyers want customer service on their terms through the most convenient channels. They want to submit work requests digitally, and they want responses immediately. They don't expect the job to get done overnight, but 70% are looking for self-service options. Implement a system that can send automatic notifications before they can pick up the phone and call you.
- Document Everything - Mitigate risk by documenting all requests and processes. Once a work order is assigned to a trade, it begins to age. What happens if the trade does not respond within a set period? How do you follow up? How are you notified when the work is complete? Some work orders have to be reissued multiple times and eventually escalated. Every action taken by the builder representative, homeowner, and trade should be documented, dated, and timestamped to avoid finger-pointing and prevent frustration.
- Review Reports Regularly - Whether managing 25 homes or 40,000 homes, having access to real-time data is critical. Build custom reports to track aging, total open work orders, costs per lot, or costs per project. You will start to see trends and be able to identify common, costly occurrences that can be corrected in future construction.
- Simplify Warranty Registration – Provide searchable digital manuals and clear performance guidelines to set their expectations upfront. Make it easy for homeowners to register limited warranties for the product used to build and installed in their home. Notify homeowners of maintenance requirements monthly with DYI videos.
