Be engaged and aware

Posted on October 28, 2005 by Dave J.

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.

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  • Foreman

    IT’s the difference between short term and long term success. You can fufill the basic need and be ok in the short term but for long term success you need to provide the experience that the person is seeking (even when they don’t know what they want).

  • Foreman

    IT’s the difference between short term and long term success. You can fufill the basic need and be ok in the short term but for long term success you need to provide the experience that the person is seeking (even when they don’t know what they want).

  • Dylan

    A friend at lunch mentioned a small independent bicycle shop that she took her bike to. Instead of keeping the bike a week, he looked at it right away, found the issue was a broken link, too a new chain off the shelf and fixed the bike for her. Then when she offered to pay he turned it down. She’s now a convert, and we’ll no doubt think of this place next time the bike needs mending or replacing, all for the price of a $3 chain. Then another friend mentioned Discount Tires policy of mending punctures for free even if you didn’t buy your tire from them. Now he goes there constantly instead of Costco which is 30% less but won’t touch anyone else’s tires. I know this policy has cost them at least $500 from me.

  • Dylan

    A friend at lunch mentioned a small independent bicycle shop that she took her bike to. Instead of keeping the bike a week, he looked at it right away, found the issue was a broken link, too a new chain off the shelf and fixed the bike for her. Then when she offered to pay he turned it down. She’s now a convert, and we’ll no doubt think of this place next time the bike needs mending or replacing, all for the price of a $3 chain. Then another friend mentioned Discount Tires policy of mending punctures for free even if you didn’t buy your tire from them. Now he goes there constantly instead of Costco which is 30% less but won’t touch anyone else’s tires. I know this policy has cost them at least $500 from me.

  • Cubigirl

    Your post reminds me of the classic pep talk quiz given to employees:What’s the company’s most important asset? What do we have that none of our competitors can boast of?”In the scramble to find the right feature, or come up with superlative-laden corporate gobbledegook, the answer is often overlooked. And here it is: YOU, the employess.As cheesy and overdone as this ploy is, you get to the truth behind it. Employees who make connections with customers create not only repeat customers, but stellar referrals. The last thing a customer needs is to feel like another number in another line, and personalizing service in a genuine way makes all the difference.As a recent grad new to the world of business (a topic explored on my own blog, http://www.cubigirl.com), I’m still learning, but tips like this sure help!

  • Cubigirl

    Your post reminds me of the classic pep talk quiz given to employees:What’s the company’s most important asset? What do we have that none of our competitors can boast of?”In the scramble to find the right feature, or come up with superlative-laden corporate gobbledegook, the answer is often overlooked. And here it is: YOU, the employess.As cheesy and overdone as this ploy is, you get to the truth behind it. Employees who make connections with customers create not only repeat customers, but stellar referrals. The last thing a customer needs is to feel like another number in another line, and personalizing service in a genuine way makes all the difference.As a recent grad new to the world of business (a topic explored on my own blog, http://www.cubigirl.com), I’m still learning, but tips like this sure help!