Frank Eliason (Mr. ComcastCares)
I can’t say that it comes as unexpected, but at the same time…WOW! Frank Eliason, better known as “Mr. ComcastCares”, has resigned his post as Director of Digital Care in Comcast’s Customer Service organization. Frank was responsible for leveraging social media, primarily Twitter, in attempting to improve Comcast’s abysmal reputation in the area of customer service. Frank built an extensive machinery of tracking and analysis using tools like WebTrends and Radian6 in order to evaluate things like how many people are talking about you online vs. a competitor and the relative “influence” of those people. The success of Franks efforts have been highlighted in BusinessWeek and countless blogs.
The timing of the announcement coincidentally corresponds with a response to a comment that Frank submitted on the ‘Worst Company in America’ post. I’m not going to be so bold as to say that I am responsible for Franks decision, but if CTC had any influence at all, then I’m glad to know I was able to help in whatever little way. You can follow Frank on his personal blog at http://www.frankeliason.com.
Customer Service & Corporate America
Unfortunately, Comcast is not the only company that has customer service issues. There are a dwindling few companies left out there that have real customer service anymore. Most times you’ll pick up the phone to call customer service for any company and the first thing you get is ‘press 1 for English’ followed by a half hour worth of questions before you actually speak to a live human who barely speaks English and then asks you all of the same questions that you just spent a half hour answering to the computer. One hour later when you actually get to voice your concern, you get transferred into thin air and have to start over.
Why is this? Do companies really hate their customers that much? No, the real reason is that there is a disconnect between the company’s cost of providing quality customer service and the customers expectation that it should be provided for free. So then just add the cost of customer service to the product, right? No, because the consumer will select like products by price and customer service quality is not considered a ‘value’ at the time of purchase. So how do we get past this disconnect? That my friends is the million dollar question that has plagued all of these companies for at least a decade. They tried outsourcing to India and the consumers complained even harder. Social media is the new frontier and it is too early in the game to call in the jury for their verdict, but there are some positive signs.
Message to Frank
Despite the public and private back-and-forth we’ve had over the past year, it is my opinion that you have pioneered some important work in the customer service arena. Frank has demonstrated to me and to many other Twitter denizens that Frank Eliason personally cares. Now whether or not ComcastCares is a different question of which we all know the answer. Frank being the consummate professional is not going to leave with any negative comments toward his lame-duck employer (especially if he is being paid off to sign a non-compete for an extended period). Yet as we all know, actions speak louder than words and by Frank leaving Comcast we know two things: 1) Comcast was not willing to compensate Frank according to his market value (which is less than his accrued value within Comcast), and 2) Comcast doesn’t care about providing real customer service…just the illusion thereof. We hope that your new employer actually does care about improving the customer experience although I’m not holding my breath. Only time will tell if they back your efforts with policy changes because that is the only way real change occurs.
Best of Luck!