Be engaged and aware

Two personal oberservations of mine, brought together to define what good service should be all about:

Be engaged:
In the car the other day, I heard NPR's Terry Gross interviewing Jerry Lewis. Not something I would have planned to do, but there it was. Jerry explained two things about how he works:
1. He has an internal critic that evaluates each performance.
2. In his live shows his adrenaline (to overcome performance anxiety) overtakes all else.

In each case, he said if don't have these, you aren't going to be successful as a performer. He told these not as motivational mantras, but simple facts about what keeps him going at his age and health. In other words, he is fully engaged in what he is doing when he performs, and so should a customer service rep or salesperson.

Know what your customer really wants:
In a separate event, a friend of mine who is a wedding DJ, said that what he provides to his clients is not music...he provides someone they can bug for six to nine months during the planning process. A sharp guy, he knows that the product he provides is not the benefit that the customer is buying. And I'm sure he plays the part, sucking up to future mother-in-laws micromanaging a wedding.

Now bring the two together:
We need to be fully engaged with our prospects and customers, which includes listening. But we need be aware of what that person really wants that isn't said and include that in our performance.

Sounds simple? It is, but engagement takes energy, and awareness takes keen observation.

Case example: When I was traveling the other day, eating a lousy breakfast-burrito at McD's, my head snapped up as I heard a hearty "Goood morning" to a new customer at the counter. The young man was engaging the client, giving friendly service (not just food). Fantastic! Compare that to the normal cashier who believes there job is to ring up orders--there is no engagement with the customer, partly because they don't see that as their job. They end up just 'going thru the motions'.

Maybe the problem with powerpoint presentations is that the presenter becomes focused on the job of running thru the slides, and not on engaging the audience and giving them the real info they are there for.

Where do you see engagement and awareness lacking? I'm starting to see it repeatedly.