3 Tips to Build Brands - After The Sale

With few exceptions, what occurs after a sale is as important to Brand sales and reputation as what happens pre-sale. Post-sale experiences have huge implications on customer satisfaction, repurchase, word-of-mouth, and brand equity – across a wide range of products and services.

In June 2022, I purchased a new-build snow-bird condo in Naples, Florida. I liked the location, floor plan, amenities, and color scheme. Having just moved-in, I don’t have buyer’s remorse. But my post-purchase experience was disappointing. The builder missed low-hanging-fruit opportunities to delight me and build the brand after the sale.

Below are 3 tips for delighting customers after the sale -- based on simple things my builder could have done, but didn’t:

1.?Understand Customers' Post Purchase Job-To-Be-Done (JTBD).

"The JTBD is what an individual really seeks to accomplish in a given circumstance." -- Professor Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School

Professor Christensen asserts that people hire and fire Brands based on a Brands ability to help them do their JTBD better than alternatives. The four-minute milkshake video below is a great refresher on JTBD.

Post-purchase, my JTBD was purchasing furnishings, electronics, linens, and artwork - from Ohio. To accomplish my JTBD, my top need was physical samples of floor tile, counters, carpet, etc.

The highly reputable builder missed the mark because they didn’t understand my JTBD. The Construction Manager sent me detailed updates of the build process - example below:

"We got electric meters! Lanai cages are starting today, water heaters installed. Electricians doing final trim and hot checks. A/C start up next week - install thermostats and start air handlers. Garage floors get paint Monday. Shower glass and mirrors getting installed today. Drywall punch in progress..."

But when I requested samples of tile, carpet, etc., all they offered was a jpeg document. The jpeg looked different from printer to printer and screen to screen. The designers needed physical samples. I was unable to get samples directly from the manufacturers - because I’m not a builder. Ultimately, I got samples via a work around requiring help from both my realtor in FLA and a contractor friend in Ohio.

Application Question:

• What are your customers’ priority JTBDs after purchase? ?

2.?Innovate based on the customers' JTBD.

It would have been easy and inexpensive for the builder to provide a physical “kit” with everything I’d need to accomplish my “furnishing” JTBD. The kit could have included:

a.???Physical samples of carpet, tile, etc.

b.???Larger, more readable floor plans (ones I had were small - hard to read dimensions)

c.????Surprise and Delight Bonus - A “shopping list” of the things a new snow-bird home might need. After countless trips to Target and Amazon orders, I now have one if helpful to anyone ;-)

This kit would have cost the builder about .005% (point 005 percent, not 5 percent!) of the purchase price -- rounding error, but huge driver of delight.

Application Questions:

• How does your innovation pipeline reflect understanding customers’ post-purchase JTBDs?
• What “sweet spot” innovation ideas would materially impact customer satisfaction and be easy / inexpensive to deliver?
• What are you doing post-purchase to create positive word of mouth, leading to new buyers?

3.?Make a delightful post-purchase experience an integral part of your offering and marketing.

When I did my real estate shopping, mostly looking at new builds, it was all about location, layout, amenities, and cost. No builder differentiated with a superior move-in experience promise. That wasn’t on my radar as a driver of choice because nobody talked about it, but if one builder had a “White Glove Move-In Promise”, that would have been meaningful to me. It could have included: ??

a.???White-glove inspection by builder prior to my walk through – there were lots of cosmetic glitches on my walk through - sloppy paint, sloppy grout. These could have been corrected by the builder before my inspection. Instead I was left with a feeling of sloppiness and concern that they rushed the build to hit a target date – despite Hurricane Ian related labor and supply challenges.

b.???One To Do List with all post-purchase tasks, timing, and contact information. I got bits info from various people at various points in the process. One list with things like:

• order garbage and recycling bins
• transfer utilities
• register appliances
• turn on wifi – must use xyz supplier included in HOA
• change lock codes, etc.

Each of these had to be done within a certain time window. Again, this would have cost the builder next to nothing and been a huge help to me. ?

c.????A List of Recommended Contractors such as Home Watch / Property Management, etc. The list could have had all the right legal disclaimers, but knowing who in the area has good reputation would have been helpful.

Application Question:

• What do you do to surprise and delight customers post-purchase? How do your Brands compare to the standards-of-excellence in post purchase delight?
• Nordstrom's “no questions asked” return policy
• Weber's 800# for 24x7 help with anything and everything grill related
• Complementary 1:1s with Apple Genius when you buy a new product
• Hotel concierge handing runner a cold bottle of water after their run

Closing / Call to Action

It all starts with a well-understood JTBD and customer empathy... walking in our customers' shoes. To support you on this journey, LPA offers 1/2 day Job Shops to help brand teams discover and articulate their customers’ JTBDs and create new innovation and marketing opportunities.

Welcome your thoughts on this – what have your best post-purchase experiences been?