My story begins with Hurricane Milton, one of two tragic hurricanes to hit the west coast of Florida last year. Milton went right over Sarasota, where I live part of the year. It was a devastating storm; tree and plant debris still remain on the sides of many roads. Big root balls are still upended and not yet cleared, despite massive cleanup efforts. According to the municipal government, as of mid-December 2024, 445,766 tons of debris had been removed.

Fortunately for my wife and me, we were in Maryland at the time and we had only very minor damage. That’s partially because our house is equipped with hurricane-proof shutters. They do need to be installed and removed before and after a hurricane. As we have done on a few occasions before, we hired a contractor to do the job. Unfortunately, our previous contractor had retired, so we used one that our neighbors have used.

The experience with my hurricane shutters provided another lesson in the importance and value of treating your customers well and its effects on organizational and employee productivity.

An emphasis on customer engagement and satisfaction

Since the Baldrige Program’s beginning in 1987, it has emphasized the importance of customer satisfaction and exceeding customer expectations. One of the Baldrige core values is customer-focused excellence. It states:

“Your organization must consider all product and/or service features and characteristics, all modes of customer access and support, and all organizational values and behaviors that contribute to value for customers.”

Employee engagement is closely aligned with customer engagement. It involves valuing the “internal customer,” who will, in turn, value the external customer and deliver excellent customer service. Thus, another Baldrige core value is valuing people.

Yet it still surprises me that so many organizations suffer from a toxic employee environment and poor customer service. These issues harm the organization’s reputation, culture, and financial success.

Now, back to my hurricane shutters and a lesson in challenges to achieving organizational excellence.

Removing the shutters: A customer satisfaction story

The shutters are fastened in place with a rail and stainless-steel screws. When we arrived in Sarasota about a week after the hurricane, the rail on our sliding glass door was still installed and held in place by three of the 16 screws. When I tried to remove the screws, I discovered that the slots in the screwheads had been stripped, so I couldn’t remove the screws easily. The problem must have occurred when the shutters were either being installed or removed, because I had replaced all the screws last year.

The stuck rail, a tripping hazard, was one of two surprises. The other was the contractor’s invoice, which was for three times more than I had paid in the past and more than twice as much as my neighbor was billed.

Oh, and the bottom of the invoice stated that the company prided itself on 100% customer satisfaction.

I called the company to ask for someone to come and remove the rail and replace the screws. They apologized and told me the service technician had not told them there was a problem. I also commented on the bill. They said they bill by the hour and our technician was slower than our neighbor’s. They told me one of their senior technicians would come to remove the rail in about a week.

Two weeks later, I called again a few more times and got voice mail twice, over several days, before they returned the call. I was told the senior technician would come on Thursday at 1 p.m. to take care of the rail. Thursday morning, I was cleaning pavers on my lanai and came into the house for a drink of water. I was shocked to see a stranger running water in my kitchen sink. I jumped back, though I assumed it wasn’t a robbery (unless the thief was very thirsty) and asked the man who he was. He identified himself, by name, as the senior technician. I asked why he was running water in my kitchen. He told me he was here to do a house check. I asked how he got in the house and why he was doing a house check when I needed a rail removed. He told me he had been instructed to do a house check and knew nothing about the rail. He hadn’t rung the doorbell because, doing a house check, he assumed the client (me) was away. He had let himself in through the garage, where the hurricane shutters are stored.

The technician tried but was unable to remove any of the screws. He told me he had the tool to remove the screws at home and would be back the next day. He never showed up. When I called the office, I was told they would be sending the initial installer/shutter remover sometime during the following week. The following week, they sent a different senior technician with a tool I never heard of (a hammer-through screwdriver) and it was done in 10 minutes. Of course, he had no spare screws to replace the destroyed screws.

Satisfaction guarantee

On Monday I called the company again and told the person who answered the phone that I was far from 100% satisfied and didn’t know what I should do about their invoice. I was asked to put it in writing, which I did.

A few days later (mid-November), I got a message that the boss would be back in a few days and would contact me.

I didn’t hear back until January, when I got a past-due notice from the company, saying it would waive the late fee since the invoice “fell through the cracks.” I re-sent the email I sent in November, saying I had never heard a response to the company’s claim of 100% satisfaction (which they reiterated in the January past-due invoice).

Research

I did some research on the meaning of a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Here’s the best definition I found:

“A satisfaction guarantee is a promise a brand makes to assure a buyer that a refund will be issued if the buyer is not satisfied with a product or service within a certain time frame. The promise of a refund can win the confidence of the buyer before their purchase, and for that reason, helps brands convert more prospects into buyers.”

I also decided to look at the company’s website. Its website claims a commitment to exceptional service and attention to detail. It also said their services offer excellent value to the customer, and again offered 100% customer satisfaction.

Pretty simple. Yet I’m waiting to see if I hear from the contractor before another two months pass.

What would Baldrige say and ask?

This company obviously has many opportunities to improve. It would appear it lacks processes (i.e., linked activities with the purpose of producing a service for a customer), even though it offers a limited set of services. Internal communication appears to be poor. And there appears to be no customer focus, despite the company’s claims otherwise.

Let me share a few basic questions from the Baldrige Excellence Builder for leaders of the shutter service company—and maybe your organization—to consider:
• How do senior leaders communicate with and engage the entire workforce?
• How do senior leaders create an environment for success now and in the future?
• How do you listen to, interact with, and observe customers to obtain actionable information?
• How do you manage customer complaints?
• How do you organize and manage your workforce?
• How do you foster an organizational culture that is characterized by open communication, high performance, and an engaged workforce?
• How do you determine your key service requirements? How do you design your services to meet these requirements?

What customer guarantees does your organization offer? When was the last time you checked to see how well you lived up to your promises? Is this an opportunity for some process improvement or innovation?

Published Feb. 18, 2025, in the Official Baldrige Blog.