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How to Make Salespeople Part of the Warranty Service Team
By Tracey Gundersen, Warranty Management Technologies, and Carol Smith, Home Address
No one wants to be a lightning rod for warranty service, especially not salespeople.
But real estate salespeople often find themselves unpleasantly in this position when fielding home owner complaints and concerns. It cuts into their selling time, erodes their confidence and may even cause them to quit.
Salespeople in this position and who have a minimal understanding of warranty service also might put the company in an unpleasant position by inadvertently changing customers’ expectations when making promises their builder can’t keep. This can turn home buyers unhappy, stress the staff and even lead to a trip to the attorney’s office.
The following are 10 easy steps to help salespeople work more effectively with warranty issues:
- Help them know the material. Expertise builds confidence.
Salespeople will not carry a warranty torch and manage buyer expectations properly if they don’t know the material.
Put processes in place that will give them a better understanding about warranties and warranty service to help them communicate more effectively with home owners.
For instance, provide your salespeople with a one-paragraph synopsis of the warranty contract and a copy of the limited warranty agreement.
HOMsoft, a warranty management firm based in Burnsville, Minn., enables salespeople to stay informed by putting warranty information — including service requests and work orders — online for its builder subscribers and their home owners. These subscriptions give salespeople access to the latest warranty information as well.
Builders also can keep their salespeople regularly informed by sending them quarterly maintenance hints or newsletters that will give them the tools they need to answers customer questions. These communication tools can be easily automated using warranty management software and a subscription-based Web log so that home buyers and salespeople can stay informed with the latest information and communicate with each other more effectively.
- Commit to long-term grooming.
Salespeople are your buyers’ first point of contact so make them an integral part of your warranty program through training and regular reviews.
- Take a cooperative, non-threatening approach.
To make salespeople part of the team — while acknowledging that their job and goal is to sell homes — show them how being warranty savvy will help generate referrals, build sales and eliminate potential service headaches.
No salesperson wants a late-night call from a service-stressed customer, so show your salespeople how to effectively manage warranty issues.
Show them how to teach home buyers how to use Internet-enabled warranty software to check service progress — and keep their phones from ringing.
- Provide regular updates about work, including facts and statistics.
Keep them up-to-date about your company’s efforts to improve product quality and service. This transparency will build their confidence in your product and service —which will keep them motivated and give them additional selling points.
- Put it in writing.
Don’t fall victim to the “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome. Don’t expect your salespeople to rely on memory.
Keep salespeople stocked with current handouts, company documents, reports and survey summaries — all the warranty-related information they need.
If going paperless is more effective and efficient, convert your documents to a PDF or other electronic format and attach them to E-mails. Also, post them on a password-protected company intranet Web log or Web site.
Finally, when you make changes to a warranty service procedure, let your salespeople know — and send them the documentation — to prevent buyer expectation miscues.
- Attend sales meetings and present short updates.
Communication is important for good customer service, so personally attend sales meetings and present short updates about warranties and warranty service.
Meeting discussions can include such topics as:
- Show how to effectively use the home owner manual to answer buyer concerns and questions.
- Role play specific service questions or issues.
- Provide overviews of trade performance and what’s being done to improve it. Teach your salespeople that trades are part of the team.
- Review reports or survey summaries.
- Present guidelines on how to handle off-hour emergencies. This step creates appreciative salespeople.
- Demonstrate warranty software and how customers can access their account via the Internet.
- Be active in team meetings.
Attend weekly meetings between your sales and construction teams to stay informed about new buyers and their homes, as well as to share feedback from warranty work. This is also an opportune time to measure the pulse of a community and gather ideas.
- Invite sales counselors to observe warranty inspections.
Observing warranty inspections first-hand will help your salespeople understand the issues better. They’ll come away from the inspections with two perspectives, one from the customer and the other from the production team.
- Improve the quality of service materials.
Make certain all your sales sites have accurate, current service information. If your customers cannot find the information they need easily, they will go to another builder who has it on hand.
- Conduct an office tour and demonstrate how warranty requests are processed.
This step builds service confidence. When customer questions arise, salespeople will know how to explain the service process.
Better yet, automate the service process and put it online so your salespeople can guide home owners through it.
Implement these 10 steps to make your warranty service program transparent and get your salespeople informed, involved and part of the team.
Tracey Gundersen is the founder and CEO of Warranty Management Technologies, LLC, of Burnsville, Minn. The firm provides warranty process management software, consulting services and fully-outsourced customer service to new home builders. For more information, e-mail Gundersen, call her at 952-707-0725, or visit www.homsoft.com.
Carol Smith is a customer relations expert with 30 years of experience in the home building, customer relations, real estate and mortgage industries. Her company, Home Address, provides customer relations consulting, assessments, training and information. For more information, call Smith at 719- 481-6247, or visit her Web site at www.cjsmithhomeaddress.com.
 Enhance Customer Service With Publications From BuilderBooks.com
In trying economic times, strong customer service can be one of the best business-building strategies. BuilderBooks.com offers several publications on customer service so builders can start building strong relationships before breaking ground and turn customers into enthusiastic sales people.
Titles are available from authors such as Carol Smith, who intimately knows the industry and is a major participant in educational programs at the International Builders’ Show every year.
To view or purchase these publications online, click here, or call 800-223-2665.
 NAHB Has Nearly 300 Resources to Help You Run Your Business More Profitably
Go to NAHB's Business Management Tools Web pages (available to members only) for instant access to nearly 300 timesaving, moneymaking and cost-cutting business resources to help you run your business more profitably. Get guidance on accounting and financial management, business strategy, computers and information technology, customer service, human resources and more.
Resources are added weekly, so bookmark www.nahb.org/biztools to go directly to these vital business management resources.
Local and state home builders associations can link directly to www.nahb.org/biztools from their Web site and give their members instant access to these resources. It will make your HBA's Web site the place to go for the information and guidance that members need to succeed.
 Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown
What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn.
To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here.
To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar.
For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Center at 800-368-5242.
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