Oops. OK sports fans, if you've met me, you've likely heard me say, "We may not make fewer mistakes than other builders, but we promise to handle our mistakes with class." Here was a chance to show off our philosophy.
1. Apologize - The least we can be is sorry! Some people think this step can be skipped, we believe it is essential. "Wow, I'm really sorry. I blew that."
2. Don't Make Excuses - The customer doesn't care who exactly messed it up...the customer doesn't care to hear how tough our job is...the customer doesn't need a play-by-play of what went wrong.
3. Don't Try to Talk the Customer Out of it - Here's what I didn't say, "Mike, hey man. Do you really need this tray? Seriously, you're not that tall. It would probably be fine, right?" No way. Don't even think about it. And worse, "What if we knocked $1,000 off the price of the home." Absolutely not. We're not going to buy our way out of mistakes. And we are not going to make our customer settle for something less than the house we promised to build.
4. Say, "No problem, I'm going to get this fixed" - That's it. Nothing more. No need to go into all the ugly details about LVL's and point loads, and custom trusses, and coordinating framers, and holding off the mechanical trades...etc. You may be doing all those things and you may feel like telling the customer about it because it sounds really impressive, but please bite your tongue. Life is too short. And there are no medals for fixing a mistake, just fix it.
5. Get it Done - Quickly and efficiently.
6. Ring the Bell - Shoot the customer a picture or text...let them know you got it done. They can now check this off their list of worries and you have regained their confidence.
Here' the picture I sent when the new trusses arrived...
Thanks Mike & Emily for believing in us. And thank you Garman Homes team for believing in such an unusual approach to customer service.
