Carol Smith Presents: New Home Warranty Service

Service Excellence in Occupied Homes

Once viewed as a necessary evil, warranty service is now understood to be a powerful factor in earning referrals. A business practice this significant requires careful planning. This begins with accurate customer expectations, followed by warranty inspections that include decisions based on good judgment and common-sense exceptions.

Next, working in front of homeowners in their furnished homes carries special challenges. Effective follow up achieves closure, followed by accurate reports analyzing the number, nature, and completion of items which can lead to quality improvement.

At the end of this class, successful participants will be able to—

• Discuss the impact of warranty service on customer loyalty and future sales.
• Outline the four processing steps typical in consumer complaint handling.
• Establish an appropriate structure for managing emergency and routine warranty requests for your homeowners.
• Define vocabulary used in conjunction with home warranty.
• Explain the Magnuson-Moss Act and its impact on US home builders’ warranty documents.
• List the documents involved in home warranty coverage and the role played by each.
• List terms & conditions that are desirable to include in your home warranty document.
• Describe effective use of company documents with home buyers to ensure home buyers’ understanding of warranty coverage, processes, and standards.
• Discuss the purposes of warranty inspections.
• Outline protocols for conducting
• Define three levels of judgment calls when gray areas arise.
• Implement a repertoire of methods for scheduling warranty repair appointments.
• Create repair protocols for performing warranty work in occupied homes.
• Describe methods to ensure trade contractor response fulfills your company’s service commitment.
• Outline steps to take if a homeowner is dissatisfied with a repair.
• Define closure as it applies to warranty items and design follow up steps to ensure closure is documented.
• Establish prioritized monitoring and administrative practices that minimize the need for secondary attention.
• Design follow up steps to ensure closure is documented.
• Develop a library of courteous service denial letters, offering assistance by way of information when possible.
• Describe the benefits you can receive from regular warranty report tracking the number, nature, and completion of approved warranty items.

This class is a thorough start for newcomers to the industry and an excellent review for veterans who want to fine tune their practices and stay in touch with the latest developments.