That was the mantra uncovered with each of the hotel concierge interviews we conducted a couple years back. Anticipating need is an excellent model for the customer relationship. It inherently means that the service provider – account manager, waiter, concierge, project manager – has a deep understanding of their service. Deep enough to know what clients need when by instinct or the subtlest clues.

I remember the story of a concierge-in-training responding to a guest’s request for coffee. He delivered the coffee and a single cup to the room – containing 2 guests. In this case, the lack of a second cup is more irritating than its inclusion.

Kevin Salwen from Worthwhile relays an interesting, unintrusive model for signalling need. Though it feels like training wheels for waiters, it supports a far better experience than multiple staff members continually interupting conversation.