Over the past 15 months I’ve been on Twitter, I have contacted dozens of businesses for a variety of reasons.

In some cases I’ve had feedback on a product or service. In other cases I was interested in buying a product or service. A majority of the time, however, I was simply trying to engage.

The accounts I contacted varied from restaurant chains and coffee and wine retailers, to independent authors and consultants. When providing feedback on an experience I had with a product or service, whether positive or critical, I seldom received a response.

On one occasion, I ordered three pounds of coffee from a Washington-based retailer I met on Twitter. After the coffee was three days late in arriving, I sent an @reply to the account. The coffee arrived the next day but I never heard back regarding my comment. That was the last time I ordered coffee from that retailer.

Another time, my family and I had a negative experience at an area location of an Italian restaurant chain. After blogging about it, I forwarded the blog link to the chain’s Twitter account in an @reply. Instead of following up, they ignored the message. We haven’t returned to that restaurant chain.

And since posting this blog regarding obtaining signed books from two well-known Twitter personalities, I have had another request for ten signed books ignored by another Twitter celebrity. That’s okay, there’s no shortage of competing books for me to buy.

And before anyone attempts to rationalize this lack of engagement and poor customer service due to these organizations or people being busy, understand that we’re all busy.

If you and I are too busy to clean our homes, we hire a maid. If we don’t have time to cook, we eat out. And if we’re too busy to follow up on customer feedback and sales inquiries, we hire an assistant. No one is above responding to customers or making a sale.

Speaking of busy people, two who took the time to respond to me and to ensure that I received ten signed copies of their latest books were bestselling authors John Miller (@QBQGuy) and Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee).

These guys are not too busy to respond—or make a sale. They are busy professionals with a lot on their plates who not only preach about the importance of customer service, they deliver it.

In summary, here’s a list of Do’s and Don’ts:

Do:

• Engage
• Respond to others
• Capitalize on opportunities

Don’t:

• Be indifferent
• Ignore others
• Miss opportunities

Bottom line: If you don’t like to engage, you’ll like irrelevance even less.

Conveying authentic enthusiasm that adds a bit of a spark to an otherwise predictable transaction is an effective way for employees to express their uniqueness while making it memorable for customers.

Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, says that, “Any job is twenty percent knowledge and eighty percent interpersonal skills.” Consider how one’s authentic enthusiasm for serving customers influences his or her interpersonal skills.

Customers can easily detect whether or not someone is genuinely interested in serving them. The well-known UCLA communications study suggests that 55 percent of one’s trust and believability comes from the visual effect—her body language. According to the study, 38 percent comes from the vocal effect (i.e., vocal tone, inflection), and only 7 percent is attributed to the verbal effect (i.e., chosen words of speech).

The best illustration of conveying authentic enthusiasm that I’ve come across lately comes from the book, Flipping The Switch by John G. Miller, an expert in Personal Accountability and also author of the best selling book, QBQ! As you read the story below, ask yourself, “How does Larry’s authentic enthusiasm for serving customers influence his interpersonal skills—the way he interacts and communicates with travelers?”

It was 10 P.M. in Albuquerque, and my flight home to Tucson through Phoenix had been delayed due to bad weather. My new estimated time of arrival was 2 A.M. But things quickly improved, thanks to an airport security officer named Larry. He will forever raise the bar for TSA officers at airports everywhere!

Larry was directing passengers to several lines for baggage X-ray and security checks. What was totally surprising, however, was his enthusiastic approach to the job. Instead of mechanically pointing travelers to line number one or two, Larry proudly introduced himself to thirty or so exhausted passengers by shouting, “Good evening, everyone, my name is Larry. I’ll be helping you through security tonight. And just so you all know, it’s my birthday!”

Well, I couldn’t contain myself after seeing and feeling his enthusiasm, so I shouted back, “Happy birthday, Larry!” He giggled and said, “It’s not really my birthday, I just love the attention!” Then, like a maître d’ in a fine restaurant, he asked the folks next in line, “How many in your party?”

They replied, “Three.”

He responded, “Smoking or non?”

Meanwhile, a new line had been opened. As he waved several people into it, he quoted the movie Finding Nemo by chanting, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!” Everyone cracked up! By now, I couldn’t help but be amazed at how Larry’s attitude buoyed so many weary travelers. Then to the group behind me he declared, “Hi, everyone! I’m Larry!” And like a group attending a self-help seminar, the crowd enthusiastically replied in unison, “Hi, Larry!” As they moved toward the scanners, he joyfully delivered their instructions. I continued on to my gate as Larry’s cheerful voice faded into the background.

And the best part was watching the other TSA officers working nearby. They were smiling from a distance, wanting to have as much fun as Larry—but not knowing how. What a shame that the only thing holding any of us back from being more like Larry is…ourselves!

Larry is genuinely filled with enthusiasm and authentically conveys this enthusiasm to travelers in a way that is unique, perhaps even singular, and matches his style and personality. Authentic enthusiasm may be animated or may be reserved, but it will be real.

How do you express your enthusiasm for serving others?