Technology has revolutionised the way we do so many things and the pace at which it evolves is gaining momentum almost by the hour!
But people will always need people when they have a problem – not a talkative onscreen robot. Clever as this is (and it is clever), nothing beats the involvement of a well-trained human being – and in my eyes, never will.
Empathy is a characteristic that a chat-bot is incapable of providing. After care can gain so much from the application of clever IT – and we do exactly that, but to a point, and then we rely on the human element.
Here’s a quick run-down of some of the key issues we consider important in providing great after care:
1. Chat-bots – use them if you must, but never as an alternative to a warm, feeling human being – only ever as a convenience to those who are short on time and may wish to do other things while also resolving their aftercare problem.
2. Rigid scripts – forget it, we have a structure of questions we must ask, but we will adapt to whoever we’re speaking to, everyone is different.
3. Language frustration – our entire team is UK based and all speak good clear English. We do recognise that sometimes those wishing to glean information from our website may not speak English, so we provide our content in many different languages.
4. Lack of knowledge – nothing more frustrating than explaining a problem to someone who hasn’t a clue what you’re talking about – our Aftercare Warranty Controllers are trained and familiar with all relevant aspects of those properties we’re responsible for.
5. Surveys – we invest a great deal of time asking questions of all parties we deal with to establish how well we’re performing in the delivery of our service.
It is incumbent on every business owner to review how they support their customer before and especially after the sale. The new homes market is especially challenged as the build warranty requires the developer to provide a professional and reliable after care service for 2 years following the purchase of a new home. That requires trained resource, systems, processes, and a ‘can-do’ approach to every problem reported. Not easy to structure, particularly for small and medium sized new home builders. This is why we established After Build: Outsourced, fixed price after care for new homes.
Want to know more? Contact Mark Fawcitt (07342 037810/markf@afterbuild.com).