Ralph Baja, National Vice President of Customer Engagement + Safety, Century Communities
With nearly 18 years of experience in the homebuilding industry, Ralph Baja, National Vice President of Customer Engagement and Safety for Century Communities and one of our 2019 Innovation Summit presenters, shared his exploration into and philosophy behind “Redefining the Customer Experience”.
Key Takeaways
“The Business Case for Delivering Outstanding Customer Experiences”
- Clean = Quality = Safe
Think first from the perspective of the buyers, and then as a business. For a buyer, a clean jobsite is not only perceived as being safer, but also as being of higher quality. From the business perspective, the data supports that when you operate a clean—and thus safer—jobsite, your risk decreases.
- Don’t Steal Your Reveal…
Look at “Fixer Upper” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and their big reveals at the end. The handoff is key in delighting and surprising the customer and making it something for everyone to look forward to.
- Get Bigger by Acting Smaller
Your goal at the point of delivery should not be to get a good score, your goal should be to get a love letter. “Satisfied people will refer you, but loyal people will forgive you.” Give your customer a genuine, personal, and authentic experience worth sharing because if you make it personal to you, you’ll make it personal to them.
The Alliance Takeaway
Deliver, deliver, deliver! Deliver on time, deliver what was promised, and if you cannot meet those requirements, communicate! The difference between a satisfied customer and a loyal one is forgiveness, and with a clear correlation between home readiness and customer’s overall satisfaction, communicating with your customer when you cannot deliver could be the difference between resentment and forgiveness.
Further Reading
Redefining the Customer Experience Part I | Driving Housing Design through Innovation | 05.14.19
Redefining the Customer Experience Part III | Designing a Better Customer Experience using Data-Driven Personalization | 05.14.19
“From Apple to Zillow: The Human Factor in Self-Disruptive Business Transformation” | Builder | 04.03.19
“The Home Building Innovator’s Dilamma” | Builder | 04.16.19
“IBS 2019: Customers Increasingly Expect Disruption of the Normal Experience” | Builder 02.20.19