Category Archives: Guest Services

Making a WOW! First Impression

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Several years ago I experienced a WOW! First Impression while eating out. It came from great guest experiences over consecutive days from two establishments at opposite ends of the dining spectrum: Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and Taco Bell. In both instances, the staff went beyond the expectations to deliver exemplary service. You expect it at one, but are surprised at the other, right?

Why should price be any indicator of the level of service delivered? What about a place with no “price” at all – the church?

When was the last time you had a WOW! experience – at church or anywhere else?

  • WOW! is great service
  • WOW! separates the EXTRAordinary from the ordinary
  • WOW! separates the sincere from the insincere
  • WOW! separates the yes’s from the no’s
  • WOW! is doing what others can’t (or won’t)
  • WOW! is what you do for others in an exceptional way
  • WOW! is communicating you care
  • WOW! is creating a memorable experience

Remember some WOW! moments

Recall a couple of times you’ve been wowed. Who blew you away with excellent service? Who surprised you with remarkably good quality? Who impressed you with a product’s value? What did the people involved in these experiences do? How did the actions and behavior affect you?

Did those experiences want to make you return to that place?

My guess is a definite yes! The same is true of guests in our churches. The churches delivering experiences which exceed guests’ expectations are those to which people return, again and again, until they’re no longer guests but full-fledged members of the church community.

Now that’s a WOW!

The Consumer in Your Mirror

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Does the word “consumer” bother you when used in the context of ChurchWorld?

If you view a consumer strictly in the language of business, it can be offensive when used in the context of church. Who wants to be a part of consumer mentality where the object is to satisfy the wants (both stated and unstated) of individuals? Who wants to focus on telling people what they want to hear? Who really enjoys enabling a selfish, me-first attitude. Not you, right?

Go look in the mirror.

Standing before you is a consumer – whether you like it or not. You are a consumer: you have daily or weekly food needs that are satisfied by the grocery store or a restaurant. You need clothing – provided by a variety of stores. You have cash coming in and going out, so you need the financial services of a bank. The house or apartment you live in requires maintenance and upkeep, so it’s off to the local home improvement store. When you have leisure time, it’s off to the movie theaters, or downloading the latest movie, or maybe taking in a concert. For birthdays and certain holidays, there are gifts to buy for your loved ones. Parents with kids in school have multiple occasions to buy this book or that resource in order to meet the requirements. And on and on and on… The fact is, we consume. (too much, but that’s another story altogether)

Guess what? The people coming to your church – for the first time or the fifteenth time – are consumers too.

Ignore that fact, and your guests will come once – and never return.

Recognize that fact, take appropriate actions, and you will soon have guests who become regular attenders who become involved members.

Are you ready for the journey to WOW?

You’ve Planned the Music and the Sermon Well…

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…but will your guests even notice?

The Power of a First Impression

Seven minutes is all you get to make a positive First Impression. In the first seven minutes of contact with your church, your first-time guests will know whether or not they are coming back.

That’s before a single worship song is sung and before a single word of the message is uttered.

Nelson Searcy, pastor of Journey Church in New York City, wrote the above words in his book “Fusion.” They’re a timely reminder that we only get to make a first impression once.

Obviously, the First Impression isn’t a logical decision based on theological integrity or staff character or doctrinal character. The power of a First Impression comes from a more rudimentary level – our subconscious.

What is the subconscious of your Guests finding at your place?

Guest Services the Jesus Way…

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…demonstrated so simply – and so powerfully – with a basin and a towel.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

John 13:3-5

Talk about a lasting impression! Jesus knew his time on Earth with his disciples was rapidly drawing to a close. What powerful teaching could he give them to help prepare them for the days ahead, and for a lifetime of discipleship? Only to serve them. Jesus is the most active one at the table. He is not portrayed as one who reclines and receives, but as one who stands and gives.

How will you serve your Guests this Easter Sunday?

Model Jesus.

 

Out of Site, Out of Mind

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It only takes a few seconds for a guest to your website to decide to leave – or stay.

Guest Services in your church is more than just a friendly face greeting everyone who comes onto your property – because increasingly, your Guests have “visited” your website before coming to your church facility. Mark MacDonald, a close friend and founder and Creative Director of Pinpoint Creative Group, recently had this to say: 

 85% of people visit a website before visiting a church. If your church doesn’t “feel” like your web; most of them will never return.

You can read the full article here, but note the close relationship between the digital and the physical: your digital “doorway” must match your physical doorway – at least in “feel.”

While you’re pondering that nugget, add this to the mix:  Evidence points to information from trusted sources getting a better hold on our brains than the noise from everything else.

Martin Lindstrom, consumer advocate consultant and best-selling author, recently elaborated on this topic in a Fast Company online column:

Let’s say that not that long ago you came across a fascinating article. But when you later try to verify some of the facts, you just can’t pinpoint exactly where you first read it. What you do recall is that the source was reliable and you trusted the message. This is a situation I find myself in quite regularly. So much so, that I’ve pondered the conundrum and come up with a theory: we store information according to how trustworthy we deem the source of the message to be.

I make no claims to being a marketing expert (see Mark if you need one) or to being a student of what consumers – including church consumers – are looking for (read more of Lindstrom’s work here).

But when I connect all of the above, it boggles my mind. If you are a leader in ChurchWorld, it ought to do the same to you.

Here’s the summary:

  • An overwhelming majority of Guests coming to your church have visited your website first
  • Your digital doorway must match the physical doorway or your Guests will feel a major disconnect
  • Brands (and that includes your church) that are trusted have a better chance of staying top-of-mind

What are you going to do about it?

 

 

Beyond Customer Service

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Do you give up, clean up, or follow up?

The following comments were originally adapted from Zig Ziglar on Selling and Jeffrey Gitomer’s The Sales Bible for a business development audience. In terms of what churches need to do to think about the “customer” they are trying to reach, I think they are very appropriate for church leaders to consider. Remember, guests to your church are measuring the experience they receive from you not to other churches, but to other customer-oriented businesses. The days of “customer service” as the standard of excellence are long gone.

Today, everybody talks about the importance of “customer satisfaction.” In this competitive market the only way to get ahead (and sometimes the only way to survive) is to go beyond customer service to customer satisfaction. The best way to prevent a prospect or client from becoming unhappy is to provide excellent service before the problems are allowed to arise. The Norwegian word for “sell” is selje, which literally means “to serve.” Isn’t that a great sales strategy? Here are some ways you can “serve” your prospect or client:

  • Satisfactory customer service is no longer acceptable
  • Customer service begins at 100%
  • The customer’s perception is reality
  • A mistake is a chance to improve the company
  • Problems can create beneficial rearrangements
  • Make the customer feel important
  • Learn how to ask questions
  • The most important art – the art of listening

Customer satisfaction in the never-ending pursuit of excellence to keep clients so satisfied that they tell others of the way they were treated by your organization.

Is your church raising the bar on “customer satisfaction”? Or is it just the same old, same old?

 

Understanding Guests

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Disney doesn’t have visitors, or customers – they have Guests.

One word, powerful difference.

It’s always capitalized and treated as a formal noun.

What’s the difference between treating someone like a visitor, and treating someone like a Guest?

The obvious reason is in our mindset: we do things differently when we bring Guests into our homes. We clean up, fix up, and straighten up our house. We clean up and dress up. We prepare something special to eat – something we know our Guests will like. We host them. We take care of their real needs.

According to J. Jeff Kober, former Disney Institute instructor, Guests have five underlying needs:

  1. Be Heard and Understood
  2. Belong and Contribute
  3. Feel Stable and In Control
  4. Feel Significant and Special
  5. Grow and Reach Potential

I’ll break these down in future posts – now it’s time to head out to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and be treated like a Guest!

By the way – how are you going to treat those coming your way for worship this weekend? Like Guests?

Or …?

The Secret of Disney World…

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There’s undoubtably a lot of secrets to Disney World, but for me, it is simple:

Disney expects guests

I’ll be breaking this down over the next few days (and probably beyond), but a quick observation tells it all:

My wife, 23 year-old daughter, and I are visiting Disney World for the first time. Our daughter graduated from college in 3 years, so this trip is our gift to her (we’re having a lot of fun too!). Our first day at Disney World has been a blast: spending a lot of time in the Magic Kingdom, hopping on the monorail over to Epcot for a wonderful relaxing supper at the San Angel Inn at the Mexico pavilion, then back to our wonderful room at the Port Orleans Resort – Riverside.

It’s a typical Florida day – sun, clouds, and a few rain showers in-between. During one of those rainstorms, my wife and daughter were riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while I was waiting on them outside. A sudden rainstorm came up, pouring down rain. In a few minutes, it stopped. Within 1 minute of that, a Disney cast member walked by my vantage post, using a squeegee to wipe the rain off of the trash cans.

That simple action speaks to the lengths Disney goes because they expect guests.

What do you do in your church to expect guests?