By Scott Westerman
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
One of my proudest small contributions during my three year Comcast adventure has been my relationship with Frank Eliason. Frank and I were kindred spirits from the start, passionate about improving the customer experience and laser focused on finding root causes, broken processes, and areas for improvement. We often talked late into the night on our Instant Messengers about how to take our care efforts to the next level.
And that’s how our Twitter initiative began.
I had been an early Twitter adopter, and when Summize developed a search function, it was only a nano-second before I started following the tweets about our company. Being a geek a heart and a believer in servant-leadership, I started proactively helping customers in my Division, regardless of whether or not they were in my Area of responsibility.
The focus was on being as transparent and as authentic as possible. Communicate clearly, be yourself, apologize for errors and work hard to fix it.
The results followed a unique and ultimately predictable pattern. What would start as a 140 character vitriolic blow torch could quickly turn a company hater into a fanatic fan.
And it was energizing to be solving problems and changing attitudes.
It was during one post-midnight IM session that I told Frank, “you oughta be doing this at headquarters. Just think of what you could learn. And how we could change the world!”
Frank is one of the smartest customer care guys I know and he did just that. The @comcastcares team he built literally transformed the company’s image in a palpable, measurable way, he raised the customer service bar big time, and he became a social media icon in the process.
It’s hard for large companies to be authentic and transparent. Size and scale are, by their very nature impersonal. You seek to distill the success formula to it’s essence and replicate it as fast and as profitably as possible. As you become more successful, the risk of failure is greater and the natural tendency is to hunker down and let someone else carefully do the talking for you.
Traditional public relations methodology is all about message management and reactive damage control. But in the Internet age, a new paradigm is emerging. The carefully crafted circular PR speak we all get from politicians, chief executives and their handlers, doesn’t work in the lightning fast, viral pace of the social media culture.
We want straight talk from real people. We want them to talk with us, not to us. We want them to listen. And we expect them to respond… fast.
And we’re starting to demand that they “relate” to us.
In the end, our ability to build a strong and personal relationship with our customers and business partners is the ONLY competitive advantage.
Just watch what goes on at Whole Foods, Disney World or Southwest Airlines and you’ll see that people will accept other inconveniences and sometimes will pay higher prices to enjoy a better customer experience.
And what distinguishes these guys from the rest of the pack?
You get the sense that these are real people who genuinely care about you. They use your name often. The ask questions and listen. Sometimes they guide you to another store, knowing that by getting you what you want somewhere else, you’re likely to come back. And they have personality.
Some of the best, have the courage to be vulnerable. Frank certainly is. We all know and love his family, especially the angel he and Carolyn lost, but still love.
Frank also call you out, gently but firmly, if you’re perceptions of the company are incorrect. Some real emotion is ok if it’s authentic and focused on moving things forward.
Earlier this fall, I had the singular experience of spending an hour and a half with the President of Michigan State University. Dr. Lou Anna K. Simon is running a major academic institution in a State with a significantly troubled economy. The funding model for higher education is evolving right before our eyes and Universities are having to re-invent themselves on the fly.
Lou Anna is everything Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” Level 5 Leader should be. She is candid, she is transparent – answering our straight questions with equally straight answers, she is genuine in expressing the joys and frustrations that face her every day. And she lives the famous Stockdale Paradox, directly confronting the unpleasant current realities, without losing faith that the Institution will ultimately prevail.
She won’t remember this, but I asked her during Homecoming weekend how she kept her attitude. “It’s something you choose to do,” she said. “I don’t like the alternative.”
Those are powerful words worth remembering.
As you enter your week, there’s a lot to get done, a lot to worry about, and a lot of people depending on you to contribute to the forward movement of your organization.
Choose your attitude.
Talk straight.
Be transparent.
Listen and respond.
Have the courage to be who you really are.
And appreciate others for who they really are.
And never lose faith that “keeping it real” will ultimately get you to where you want to be.
Got feedback? Let me hear from you – scott@scottwesterman.com
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