I had other plans for posts this week, but things do get hectic at times.  Wednesday night I did a panel discussion and I was reminded of one of my favorite videos on You Tube, so I decided to share it here.  It cracks me up that it was created my Microsoft.  Enjoy!

This is a post I wrote for the Comcast corporate blog, Comcast Voices. It was originally posted on August 3, 2009.  I am posting here because I will be doing a follow up post based on the same leadership program.

This year I’ve had the privilege to be a part of a leadership training program at Comcast called the Fundamentals of Leadership. The training brings in both internal and external thought leaders to help educate the future leaders within the company. I am one of about 45 others that were selected to be part of the 2009 class.

A large part of the culture of Comcast is giving back to communities, and it is important for leaders within the organization to demonstrate this. The training was a lot of work but I loved the intimate conversations with people like Steve Burke, COO of Comcast. One of the speakers that had the greatest impact on me was Colonel Robert L. Gordon III from City Year. I didn’t know much about this organization but now I am so proud of what they have accomplished. They even have 2 members of their organization going through the training. During the next session I will ask them if I can feature them on the blog.

We also did our own little community project during the initial 3 days of training. We went to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and learned about their “Reach Out and Read” program. From there we went into the hospital, met with families and read to the children. This was more personal to me based on prior time in the hospital. I loved seeing the kids light up simply because we were taking the time to read with them. There was one little boy where a bunch of us sat on the floor and played cars for the longest time. The mother and son had a lot of fun and were able to forget, for a little while at least, some of what they were going through.

As the first session of training concluded, we were assigned our first project: create, manage and implement a project for Comcast Cares Day which was happening a little over a month away. This was difficult because many of us, including myself, had already planned to participate in that day in other ways. I wanted to find a way to teach non-profits about using social media. We decided this would need to be a stand alone project from the Comcast Cares Day event. While I was at the Comcast Cares Day I was so jealous of the great work done by so many people in the class. They were doing everything from beautifying neighborhoods to providing a piece of home to our troops.

Now the little project I had in mind has grown tremendously, thanks to the efforts of Jorge Alberni, Scott McNulty and many others. We recently launched the website for the Comcast New Media Exchange, which will be held on August 4th and 5th. It includes great speakers like Josh Bernoff, best selling co-author of Groundswell and Andrew Bleeker, the New Media Director for President Barrack Obama’s Inaugural Committee. It also includes friends like Pete Blackshaw, Scott McNulty and Chris Krewson. Special to my heart is Jay Scott from Alex’s Lemonade Stand. I’m also really looking forward to hearing Colonel Gordon again. If you have time make sure you log on to hear him speak, he is amazing.

The event in Philadelphia is by invitation only (really due to space), but it all will be broadcast live on the net for free. Check it out at www.comcastnewmediaexchange.com.

In today’s Wall Street Journal there are 2 interesting articles about Twitter. The first is one that really emphasizes what I have said for a long time, Twitter is the early warning system and it is important for companies to watch what is being said. The article features friends Scott Monty from Ford and Bonin Bough from Pepsi. It also features Southwest’s Linda Rutherford and Coke’s Adam Brown. I have a lot of respect for what Linda has done at Southwest. I am not as familiar with Adam’s work, but I will keep a look out. If you have the opportunity check it out the article “For Companies, a Tweet in Time Can Avert a PR Mess.”

The second article is what is driving me to write this post.  It does not feature anyone I know, but it emphasizes the information available via Twitter.  Twitter has changed the world and made it much more flat.  News and information is flying faster than ever before.  The article, titled “For Traders, Twitter is One More Trading Tool” (requires online subscription), emphasizes the story of a trader that found information via Twitter.  The first paragraph states:

“When Thomas Grisafi read a “tweet” the afternoon of July 22 complaining that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had “goofed again,” the president and chief executive of Indiana Grain Co. wondered what prompted the message.”

This prompted Mr. Grisafi to research what the tweet was about and to trade based on the findings.  My fear is this will drive many to start searching Twitter to make riches.  Remember investing is a long term commitment and short term riches are highly unlikely and involve a lot of risk.  Mr. Grisafi obviously knew who this person was, and had trust in the tweets.  He also did a lot of research off of Twitter before committing money.  This is a key aspect to this story and the reason I am writing this.  Twitter search will not lead to quick riches, and research still must be done.  Unfortunately Twitter has many spammers, similar to the junk mail that you find in your inbox each day.  If you are not buying securities based on spam email, be just as cautious about buying them based on a tweet or perceived information.  I am not saying Twitter is not a useful tool, but like anything else be careful of how your react based on the information.  Even if the person may be a trusted source, such as a known CEO, most will be very careful of what they say.  It is also possible that a twitter account can be hacked or just completely false.  Think of the Exxon Twitter example.

This is just a simple Twitter warning, please go about your day!

I saw this video and had to share it. What is the right blank for you?

I have tried to write this post numerous times and continue to get lost for words.  I will apologize ahead of time but I have been wanting to write this for a long time, but post it today.  With all the attempts to start it, I am just getting to the third sentence at 12:02 on Friday, 7/24.  Those that know me, they know July is an emotional time for me.  In fact I even snapped at one of my favorite leaders at work (I should call her today and have her read this).   Twitter has been a wild ride for me, and, for the most part, it has been an amazingly positive experience.  I can not believe all the friends I have made and all the people that have written about our work.  But that is such a small part of the overall story.  I am hoping this will show everyone the true power of social media and Twitter.

So as everyone knows I work for Comcast, a company that has been very good to me.  Since I started on Twitter there are many people who have started to understand the company a little better and may have an improved feeling toward the brand.  I want to take everyone back a little bit to last year.  I started on Twitter back in April, 2008.  With all the discussion of my help, I was working day and night.  I did not have others on Twitter until September or October.  Needless to say it was tough, but on July 26, 2008 I realized what all this hard work was all about.

It was not about PR or marketing, as some believed.  For me it was about helping people that needed assistance, but even I was proven wrong.  Late July is a unique time for me.  My soon to be 3 year old daughter, Lily, was born on July 25.  Last year we had a variety of different things going on, so the only day we could have a party was July 26.  I still can not believe that we had a party on the day, but we would have felt guilty if she did not have a party, which we did think about.  This is because our other daughter, Gia, passed away on July 26, 2004.  In many ways the party turned out to be a good thing, because we were so busy and focused on creating a good day for Lily that it made it much easier on us.  I will never forget the day for so many reasons, from the running around in the morning picking up cakes, balloons, beer, soda at all different places (having it all piled in the Prius must have been a funny thing to see) to the waiting when everyone arrives late after rushing to have it all prepared.  Anyway, the day went well and we were hanging with some neighbors after everyone left.  I swore I would not even look at Twitter that day.  We were sitting in the family room drinking and talking.  My Mac sits on the counter, and I was sitting on the bar stool, so I could not help myself.  I started glancing through my search and I started to notice some interesting tweets.  People responded to others that tweeted me.  Some told Twitter users to let me have my day, others offered suggestions to help, while others simply offered to help.  All I can say is I was touched, and to be honest amazed to see it.  This is when I realized what Twitter is really about.

I hear experts on social media talk about ways to market or how to build up your reputation, these types of thoughts are all wrong.  This is not about going out and posting all kind of links or driving people to other sites.  Twitter is about community and relationships, pure and simple!

I will probably not be around much this weekend, but now I have a team out there who are eager to help.  In fact they have asked me to turn it off this weekend (they even threatened to turn off my internet access).  I do want to take the time to thank them, but also the community of Twitter who over the past 15 months have been so good to me.  Thank you!

Forrester’s Dr. Natalie Petouhoff has a great post over at Forrester called Who Should Lead the Customer Social Media Interaction?.  This is a question I have thought about often.  All of us contemplate our future and what we want to be when we grow up.  I am the same way.  I always wondered which direction I should follow, social media or Customer Service.  As everyone knows my passion is Customer Service but social media brings a whole new realm into my career path decisions.  So I want to thank Natalie for helping shed some light on this for me.

I agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Natalie that Customer Service should lead the Customer social media interaction, but this does not mean I think that Customer Service should lead all interactions in social media.   Judging by some tweets, I think some took it that way.  It is my opinion that PR has a specific role regarding corporate messaging and policy, which may be on a corporate blog or on blogs throughout the internet.  Similar to discussions they may have with the press.  I do not run the corporate blog at Comcast, that is done by a great person, Scott McNulty.  He is part of the communications team.  Marketing has their own role in social media, specifically tying together marketing messaging through other channels to the ones used on the web.  They should also create unique messages for the web that relate to the spaces in which implemented.

But after all that, the social web is really about a conversations and relationships.  The best place for these conversations with Customers are the people that do it best, Customer Service.  They know how to help people in need and they also are trained in listening.  So in this world where companies are looking for leadership in the social media world, try first looking in the area that has been helping Customers for a long time.  They will know what to do.

The challenge is Customer Service departments everywhere are stretched thin and do not have the resources or the will to take on additional tasks.  This is something I think companies need to work on, because as we know the social web will hold companies accountable for poor service.  It is now time to really look upon good service as the right marketing for a company.  It can do so much more than ads.

It is funny, but as I was writing this, Pete Blackshaw sent me a link to an article he wrote for Ad Age about Zappos.  The article, titled “Is Customer Service a Media Channel? Ask Zappos,” fits so well into this post.  It is a look at the cult like following of Zappos, and specifically Tony Hsieh.  The reason for this is their slightly (okay a lot more than slightly) wacky culture, but more importantly their belief in the Customer experience.  That is what it is all about.

I do not expect companies to change overnight to create a culture like Zappos, although it would really be cool if they did.  I also do not expect Customer Service departments to gain the budgets they need to create these great experiences or build out new contact channels as the social web.  But I do have an easy way they can start.  Customer Service departments everywhere should consider removing some of the “web sense” blocks on social media websites.  Teach your employees how to use them.  Encourage them to assist Customers if they come across someone in need.  Provide the agents tools that allow them to forward social media links to other areas when they are unable to assist.  This could be a simple email address.  What will be fascinating is the employees will love it, they will help Customer (that is what service people like to do), and it will help start the social media efforts.  Zappos is the perfect example of that.  They teach and encourage all their employees to participate.  Look at the near billion dollar brand they created just by being powered by service.

In the past year I have built many friendships at Zappos, and I am proud to have learned from them.  One of the greatest experiences from a business perspective was the opportunity to tour Zappos in Las Vegas.  It was the most Customer centered place I have ever been.  During the visit I received their famous culture book and a bag.  I keep both on the top shelf in my office to remind me that it is all powered by service.  So when I heard the news that Amazon was purchasing Zappos and making it a subsidiary of Amazon, I will admit that initially I was concerned.  It is not that I have had a bad experience with Amazon, because the exact opposite is true.  Every interaction I have had there was very good.  One minor service concern was rectified really fast.  I knew the purchase was the best thing for the Zappos shareholders, but what about the culture that I have grown to love?

Tony addressed this in his letter to employees:

“Q: Will the Zappos culture change?

Our culture at Zappos is unique and always evolving and changing, because one of our core values is to Embrace and Drive Change. What happens to our culture is up to us, which has always been true. Just like before, we are in control of our destiny and how our culture evolves.

A big part of the reason why Amazon is interested in us is because they recognize the value of our culture, our people, and our brand. Their desire is for us to continue to grow and develop our culture (and perhaps even a little bit of our culture may rub off on them).

They are not looking to have their folks come in and run Zappos unless we ask them to. That being said, they have a lot of experience and expertise in a lot of areas, so we’re very excited about the opportunities to tap into their knowledge, expertise, and resources, especially on the technology side. This is about making the Zappos brand, culture, and business even stronger than it is today.”

I was still not convinced, but again not due to experience with Amazon, but rather seeing acquisitions in the past with other companies.  As I went down the letter, there was a video with Jeff Bezzos, CEO of Amazon.  I have heard good things about Jeff, but mainly due to investment performance and driving the results of the company.  The video shows a much different side, and one that I felt the need to share:

Maybe this will be a marriage made in heaven.  I wish all involved great success.

Most of my readers know of Jeff Jarvis but for those that do not, he is author (latest is “What Would Google Do“), journalist, and a Customer evangelist (at least based on his Dell Hell example).  You can learn more about Jeff on Wikipedia.  I tend to agree with Jeff Jarvis on many things, and this will be another point that he and I will agree.  Yesterday on Twitter Jeff shared an experience he was having with his local cable provider (not Comcast!).  He followed it up with a post on his Buzz Machine blog.  During his experience with the cable company call center, a representative responded “I don’t see you listed as a VIP.”  Now I am not going to say something like companies do not have VIP Customer lists, because most I have ever worked for did.  When I worked for Vanguard investments I was a supervisor in their Voyager service, which was for household with $250,000 to $1 million invested (those levels may have changed today).  Since starting my work helping people in social media, someone inevitably steps in and says “you only helped them because they are an influencer.”  Even within Jeff’s comments Cody Brown stated the following:

“If I did this on my twitter, I don’t think I would have gotten any response from Verizon or Comcast.

A big problem with going after corporate customer service with Twitter is that if you don’t have the follower count, it often goes no where.

It’s nepotism when you get better service because you are friends with the VP but what is it when you get better service for having 20K twitter followers?”

Well Cody, my belief is you are just as much an influencer as Jeff Jarvis, and so is every Customer a company interacts with.  I responded to Jeff, not because he is a VIP  Customer, in fact he is not a Customer of Comcast at all.  I responded because he directed a comment specifically to me, and it is only polite to respond.

Social media is making the world a smaller place and it is also providing a lot more control to Customers.  People are sharing their experiences to their new world within places like Facebook and Twitter.  Customers have always communicated bad experiences to others, but the scale is shifting.  The rule of thumb used to be a Customer with a bad experience will tell 10 others, but as Pete Blackshaw points out in the title of his book “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000,”  the scale is getting much larger for everyone.  This is a new world order and the Customer is gaining the upper hand.

Now think of it from your own perspective, what happens when you have a bad experience?  You tell as many as you can.  How many of us are influenced about a product by reading a review on Amazon.com?  I know I have been.  Today there are many influential websites serving Customers, such as the Consumerist, Planet Feedback, Get Satisfaction and many more.  Any person can influence things like search results or the perception of the brand.  You can even look at your Facebook page as having dramatic influence.  Updating your status goes out to all your friends, then others start to comment on it opening it up the influence to their friends and so on.

This is why, in this new world, companies are going to have to improve the Customer experience through all communication channels.  If they do not, they may not have Jeff Jarvis going on a rampage, but it could be someone as simple as “John Smith.”  The person who brings it to light on the internet may not even be the Customer at all.  Instead “John Smith” may share his story and a friend decides to tell so many others.

I have reviewed numerous software for managing social media and discussions on the web.  A feature I always see is “influencer” ratings or rankings.  I believe any company that focuses on the highest rankings is really going the wrong direction.  They are usually working from a PR or marketing perspective and not really striving to listen or help their Customers.  I am not going to say I have not helped people that would be ranked as “influencers,” because I have.  I strive to help all Customers in the same manner.  If you have not seen the ABC story, check out the video on this link.  One of my favorite stories was when I help Michael Arrington, many said it was because of who he was, but within the comments there were comments like these:

Siobhan said “Actually, they monitor a lot of blogging tools and sites. I have a friend who uses LiveJournal who got an email within about 24 hours of complaining about her Comcast service from a legitimate customer service rep, and they sent a tech out to help within a day. So they’re doing it whether you’re Michael Arrington or the average Joe on the street.”

Even Michael added a comment “based on twitter messages I’m receiving, they are monitoring services in general, not specific influencers. http://twitter.com/angelcitybl…../784144918“

Since the Michael Arrington story, I am sure many others will recognize that my team and I strive to assist everyone to the best of our ability.  Some will say that service is not the same through other communications channels with my company, but I will let everyone know that we are working hard to change that.  In fact the cool part about our efforts is we can learn so much that can then be utilized in other communications channels.  It took us time to get to the level we are at, and it will take time to show these improvements.  I look forward to getting to that point.

I think all of this is why Forrester’s Dr. Natalie Petouhoff wrote a post that I will be discussing later this week about Customer Service leading the way for companies in social media.  Check it out.

I will end this note with a tweet I sent to Jeff Jarvis last night:

Everyone has a brand that they trust fully.  For me, one of those brands is Crest.  In fact I trust all products by Proctor and Gamble.  So much that we bought stock in the company.  Over the years the performance of their products has gained a large trust equity for me.

The benefits of trust equity is I would never hesitate purchasing one of their products.  This can be such a big boost to a company.  It makes it much easier to introduce new products and develop interest.  In many ways it also allows you to price your products at a premium to the market.  But how easy is it to lose this equity?

Well yesterday Carolyn went to the dentist.  During the appointment she discussed some brown spots on her teeth.  They easily cleaned but there was a discussion about different teeth cleaning products.  The hygienist asked about Crest Pro Health Rinse.  We did have that recently.  My wife asked about Crest Pro Health toothpaste.  The hygienist did not hear of any trouble with the toothpaste but she did mention how they were no longer providing the samples of the rinse due to brown spots.

So today my wife immediately started searching the web regarding this issue.  She was surprised at what Google brought to her attention.  Here is a news report on the topic:

I strive to read the Consumerist everyday, and I missed some of their stories on the topic.  Here are a few of them:

• I woke Up With Brown Spots on My Teeth
• Crest Refunds Teeth-Staining Mouthwash
• Crest Pays For Your Cleaning

A standard Google search reveals many more. It also revealed to me that there is a warning on the toothpaste that states “products containing stannous flouride may produce surface staining of the teeth.” I should clarify this is a “whitening” toothpaste that my produce surface staining? I never noticed that until this Google exercise. I think that has to do with the trust equity that this product has with me. I would have never even thought to look for a legal disclaimer. I also think we have all become immune to the legal mumbo jumbo that exists out there.

By the way here are the other warnings on the Crest Pro-Health toothpaste:

• When using this product do not use for sensitivity longer than four weeks unless recommended by a dentist
• Stop us and as a dentist if the sensitivity problem persists or worsens
• Sensitive teeth may indicate a serious problem that may need prompt care
• Keep out of reach of children
• If more than used for brushing is accidently swallowed, get medical help or contact a poison control center right away

The actual warning is under “other information” and it does state adequate brushing may prevent these stains which are not harmful or permanent and may be removed by your dentist. The next bullet is “this Crest is specially formulated to help prevent staining.”  This brings about the question of why the warning?

For many products, before buying, I usually search Google, read review or discuss with friends, but some have a trust equity that do no require that.  This equity does build up, but can easily come down.  Now I will probably still buy standard Crest products because I have a strong experience with them, but it will take a long time to build the equity when it comes to trying new products for this company.  Do you have companies or products that have built such a large trust equity?

I am probably not too different from most men, I really enjoy grilling.  But like most of my life there seems to be a story behind it.  So a number of years ago I purchased a grill.  It never really worked right.  When I noticed the trouble I played around with it but it never cooked properly.  I did not replace it because I did not feel like spending the money.  Believe it or not, the grill just sat unused for a a few years.  As we were doing some spring spruce up of the shrubs my wife noticed something.  There were a number of birds chirping.  After looking everywhere, she finally realized they were in the grill.  Yes a family of birds somehow set up their own condo inside the grill.  Needless to say we were not going to be cooking on that grill again.

When Father’s Day arrived I received some new grill equipment and I was told to go pick out my grill.  I really wanted to go out and buy a cool grill.  I love some of those big ones with stone side (I wish, as you read that, I could add sound effects from the show Home Improvement).  At the same time I could never justify the expense for a really cool grill.  Any chance to justify that was blown since I have not cooked on the grill for 5 or 6 years.   Last week one of my team members, George , told me about a grill that had charcoal and gas as part of the same grill.  I had to look into that.  Well on July 4 (yes I know a very strange day to buy a grill), I decided it was time to have a cookout.

I immediately went to the computer and read numerous reviews on the Char-Griller Duo, starting with Amazon and then shifting to many other review sites on the net.  I think I tend to shop like many people, first finding out what others think on a product.  I then started to compare prices.  I found Lowes had the grill for $299.  I was all set.  I then had to decide how to get it home.  So I drove over to Lowes and started to decide the best way to do it.  I decided not to take advantage of the free assembly, and I just picked up the grill.  Hey the box said easy assembly, I can do that.  Actually the assembly was easy, but time consuming for 1 person.  So that night we ate on the grill.  Now I did not pick up  a new gas tank because I had the one from the last grill, and it still had gas.  So I hooked it up and started to cook.  Just like the last grill it was taking a long time.  Based on this the next day I went to get a new tank.  What I did not realize was there was free tank exchange when you bought the grill.  Lowes was great about it and swapped a new tank.  While I was there I picked up the smoker attachment to add to my grill (insert Home Improvement noises here).  When I went home I attached the smoker attachment.  This was a little harder than the grill assembly and should have been done with multiple people.  Anyway once that was done I tried the new propane tank.  Wow now that is the way a gas grill should light up!  So that night I cooked on the charcoal side.  It was a first for me and I love the fact that I have the option.  Gas for ease and charcoal for taste.  What a fun concept for a grill.

The only trouble I had with this grill experience was the knob for the side burner was cracked.  It still worked, more of just a nuisance.  I shot off an email to Char-Griller, truthfully expecting them to ask for all kinds of info or refer me to call in.  I realized today I did not hear back, and I was wondering if I would have to call or something else to obtain the part.  Instead I came home to Fed-Ex package at the door.  I am always so appreciative of companies that make it easy.  Email is my preferred method to communicate and I had the part in a timely manner with no questions or verifications.  Very pleased Customer.  The grill is one of the best purchases I have had in the past few years.