I am, by all accounts, a baseball fan. Growing up in upstate
New York, only a couple of back-road hours from – gulp-
the “baseball Hall of Fame” at Cooperstown, I had my bat and
glove out of the closet way before the spring snows had
fully melted. Every night from June through August, I had to
be dragged off our sandlot diamond long after the summer sun
had disappeared behind Joey Harris’s house in left field.
Since we usually only had one ball between us, it had to
last a long time: we often resorted to using black
electrical tape to hold our single baseball together. Broken
bats were screwed together by the unofficial “equipment
manager” – my dad.
And, late at night, in the darkness of my room, Vin Scully
would magically talk to me though the static of an
atmospheric-skip all the way from Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Or Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
When my two boys became old enough to play ball, I managed
their Little League teams for seven years so I could pass
along my love of the game and relive the excitement of
hitting a single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the
last inning.
Declining Consumer Interest
So, I was saddened to see recent reports of the country’s
declining interest in baseball. It bothered me to read a
survey which found that more people were fans of figure
skating than baseball. Now, I love a good double-axle or a
triple-lutz just as much as the next guy...but once every
four years in enough.
I was, however, heartened by the avoidance of yet another
baseball strike. (I can only wonder whether Lou Gehrig would
have walked a picket line?) I certainly didn’t want the
strike to force me to miss any games at Angel Stadium, er
“Edison Field”…I mean, where else can I get four beers for
only $32?
The Stadium Experience
Perhaps you read the recent article in the LA Times which
described how some sports teams are attempting to upgrade
the “Stadium Experience” in order to attract new fans and
keep the ones they already have. Since “…owners cannot even
count on winning teams to attract crowds,” there is renewed
interest in improved customer service at sports venues.
The LA Times article went on to note that the (NFL) Florida
Panthers and Cleveland Browns recently surveyed
ticket-holders and sent workers posing as fans into their
facilities. Washington Capital owner Ted Leonsis publicized
his email address and asked fans to tell him “all the
reasons you don’t love this team.” To date, he had responded
to over 22,000 emailed messages. Dallas Maverick owner Mark
Cuban “…wears a t-shirt to the games, cheering wildly in the
stands.”
The bottom line here is that research by the Sports
Management Institute has verified that “…customer service,
while no quick fix, eventually translates into ticket
sales.” Those teams that are investing in a fan-friendly
“stadium experience” are having an impact on ticket sales
and loyalty.
The New Home Purchase Experience
This obviously is not an article about baseball; it’s about
customer loyalty. Fortunately, the principles of consumer
behavior are consistent across industries; customers behave
in the same predictable manner regardless of whether they
are making decisions about going to a baseball game or
buying a new house.
The lessons learned by major league sports teams can be applied
directly to the new home sales process.
At Eliant, our consumer psychologists have been tracking home
buyer behavior since 1986. During those 15 years, working with
several hundred medium to large residential builders, we have
seen the emergence of many significant trends in the building
industry. But, far and away, the most impactful of these shifts
has been the growth of the home buying and ownership experience
as the determining factor in the development of buyer loyalty.
When we started surveying home buyers in the 1980’s, the product
(“home”) was the focal point, the primary driver of loyalty and
referrals. Today, however, after years of contact with FedEx,
Alaska Airlines, Ritz-Carlton, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, Nordstrom,
Dell Computer and other service-oriented businesses, consumer
absolutely expect service excellence from the home builder’s
sales, escrow, design, lending, options and service personnel.
Buyers look at today’s home builder as a service provider. Do it
well and you will earn your buyers’ loyalty; do it poorly and
you will be on the receiving end of their wrath and indignation.
The major shift has been to de-emphasize product and accentuate
the service experience as the key driver of home buyer loyalty
and referrals. In fact, our home buyer survey reports now
identify and list the name of buyers who are the most likely to
refer their friends; these are called “Evangelical Buyers”, a
term given to us by Les Thomas, Southern California Division
President for Shea Homes, These “Evangelicals” are buyers who
gave their builder perfect scores on several of the key
“experiential” referral drivers on the survey. For our clients,
28 percent of their buyers in 2002 are now identified as
“Evangelicals”, up from 22 percent just 18 months ago.
Evangelical Growth
This remarkable increase in the proportion of “Evangelical”
buyers can be easily traced to home builders who have taken
proactive steps to improve their buyers’ overall “experience.”
Many of our clients, including William Lyon Homes, Lennar Homes,
John Laing Homes, Shea Homes, Greenbriar Homes, Ponderosa Homes,
Wathen Castanos and U.S. Home Corp., have introduced various
combinations of service training, goal setting, performance
feedback and bonus compensation – all tied into the purposeful
enhancement of the buyer’s entire purchase and ownership
experienced. For these leading-edge home builders, the
generation of additional referral is not just a necessity; it is
a passion.
For more information on the specific steps taken by these
customer-driven organization to generate higher levels of home
buyer referrals and loyalty, please see the second article in
this series appearing in the very next issue of Builder Digest
of California.
And now, if you will excuse me, I need to go put some mink oil
on my glove, stick a baseball in the pocket, wrap it with thick
rubber bands, and stick it under my mattress. If I’m lucky, one
of my kids will ask me to play catch tomorrow and I want my
glove to be ready.
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