Great Church Hospitality Starts Here

by: Annette Franz

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Editor’s Note: During our August focus on Guest Experiences, we are honored to have some of the best voices in the world of Customer Experience provide guest posts for the Vision Room. As you read the content below, simply think “Guest” in terms of the “customer” the author is talking about – and you will benefit from the knowledge and expertise of these great minds.

If you don’t know by now, customer understanding is the cornerstone of customer-centricity.

Customer-centricity means putting the customer at the center; customer understanding is how you’ll achieve that.

What is customer-centricity?

A lot of people talk about being customer-centric, but it’s one thing to say that and another to be it! Customer-centricity is about putting the customer at the center of all you do.

Customer-centric companies ensure that they make no decisions, design no products and services, and implement no processes without first thinking of the customer and the impact that the decision or the design has on the customer. They ask, “How will this impact the customer? How will it make her feel? Does it add value, or does it create pain?”

In customer-centric companies, decisions are always made with the customer’s best interests in mind. The customer’s voice is brought into meetings and into conversations; the customer is always represented. Jeff Bezos’ empty chair concept is a great example of this and has been widely adopted by other brands.

It’s important to note that a customer experience transformation can only happen when there is a commitment to change the culture to one that is customer-centric, even customer-obsessed.

Being customer-centric happens by design. Customer-centric companies do the following to ensure the organization knows its reason for being, i.e., the customer, and to embed the customer into the DNA of the organization. They…

• Have visible (and visibly) customer-centric leadership, demonstrating a customer commitment from the top down
• Develop and socialize customer personas
• Speak and think in the customer’s language
• Use customer feedback and data to better understand their customers
• Are engaged in continuous improvement as a result of the customer understanding efforts
• Focus on products and services that deliver value for their customers, i.e., solving their problems and helping them with jobs to be done
• Have a commitment to customer success
• Engage with customers from the beginning
• Walk in the customer’s shoes to understand today’s experience in order to design a better experience for tomorrow
• Foster a customer-centric culture
• Empower the frontline to do what’s right for the customer
• Ensure all employees (front line and back office) understand how they impact the customer and her experience
• Recognize the customer across all channels
• Design processes and policies from the customer’s point of view
• Measure what matters to customers
• Encourage customer innovation
• Include customer-driven values in their core values
• Recruit and hire employees passionate about customers and about helping customers
• Incorporate the customer and the customer experience into their onboarding processes
• Train employees on how to deliver the experience that customers expect
• Establish a customer room that is open to employees 24/7 so that they can learn more about their customers and the customer experience
• Rewards and recognition reinforce employee behaviors that align with customer-centricity
• Have a C-suite executive who champions the customer across the entire organization
• Customers before metrics, i.e., every meeting begins with and includes customer stories
• Invest in the latest technology to support and deliver the experience customers expect

As you can see, becoming a customer-centric organization is a commitment that requires a mindset shift and a behavior shift. And, especially, some investments – financial, human, time, resources, technology, and more.

What is customer understanding?

Customer understanding is all about learning everything you need to know about your customers, i.e., their needs, their painpoints, the jobs they are trying to do, etc., and their current experiences in order to deliver the experience they expect going forward.

There are really three ways to achieve that understanding. The problem with these approaches is that, if not done correctly, you’ll be no further ahead in terms of understanding than if you hadn’t done them.

The three approaches are:

1. Listen. Don’t just ask customers about the experience, listen, as well. There are a lot of different channels and ways for customers to tell you about their needs and desired outcomes and how well you are performing against their expectations. Understanding these expectations and identifying key drivers of a great customer experience are important outcomes of this exercise.
2. Characterize. Research your customers. Identify the jobs they are trying to do. Compile key personas that represent the various types of prospects and customers that (might) buy from you or that use your products or services.
3. Empathize. Walk in your customers’ shoes to get a clear understanding of the steps they take to do whatever job it is they are trying to do with your organization.  Map their journeys to understand the current state of the experience.

These are all learning exercises. We walk away from them with a lot of knowledge about customers, but we need to make sure we truly understand what we’ve heard about customers, their needs, and their expectations. Without that understanding, the exercises have failed. Make sure they’re done right.

And then make sure you do something with what you learn! This is where customer understanding manifests into customer-centricity and becomes the cornerstone for it. Make sure to put the customer front and center.
Here are just a  few things you can do to infuse the customer into everything the organization does. Key to this is to start at the beginning, i.e., start with the first day an employee starts working for your company. (Even better: start with the first day you start your company.)

• Onboarding: Showcase your customer-centric culture during the onboarding process so that new employees know what that means. This is a great time for them to learn what it means to be a part of your organization, i.e., knowing your brand promise, values and commitment, what it means to live the brand, where the priorities lie, and how to deliver a great customer experience. This is a great time to set the tone for employees.
• Ongoing training: You can’t expect that, as both the business and customer expectations evolve, employees will automatically know what to do and adapt/evolve, too. You need to train employees regularly to ensure they are kept abreast of new customer insights and new approaches to delivering a great experience. Be sure to provide updates on anything you’ve learned about customers, the jobs they are trying to do, and their expectations.
• Communication: What gets shared and communicated regularly is viewed as important to your employees. Not only does communication lend clarity, it is critical to a clear line of sight to the goal. Communication needs to be open and ongoing. Share customer feedback with employees; don’t keep it from them. Tell customer stories and stories of great experiences to teach and to inspire employees to deliver the experience they need to deliver.
• Rewards and recognition: When you recognize and reward those who consistently delight customers, you are reinforcing the behavior you expect from your employees, further confirming and solidifying the importance of putting the customer at the center of all you do.

Other ways to ensure the customer is always front and center, include:

• Personas on every wall: these help to remind employees who the customer is, what she’s trying to do, her pain points, what delights her, etc. – again, keeping her front and center in all you do
• Customer cut-outs: place these around the office – and especially in meeting rooms –  to keep the attention on who really matters; they should include details of who the customer is and what she thinks and feels about the current experience
• CCO/CX professionals: in key decision-making meetings, especially, there needs to be a representative from the CX team present to represent the customer voice and perspective
• A real customer: imagine that! ask a customer (or multiple customers) to attend a meeting in which you’ll be making decisions critical to the customer experience
• Customer feedback: have you gotten feedback about the product or the touchpoint you’ll be discussing; share it with meeting attendees so they understand how customers feel about the current experience
• Journey maps: this might seem like a stretch, but if you can show executives/employees how the changes they plan to make impact the experience through truly walking in customers’ shoes, then that’s a powerful tool to have at your disposal, too

As you can see, all of the tools to facilitate and drive customer-centricity are rooted in customer understanding. In case there was any doubt, customer understanding really is the cornerstone of customer-centricity!

> Read more from Annette.

Want to know more about Guest Experiences at your church? Let’s talk! Connect with an Auxano Navigator here.

Tags: Annette Franz, Church Guest Experience, Guest Experiences, church hospitality

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What a Baseball Game Can Teach Us About Church Welcoming

by: Bob Adams

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I dare you to read about the Savannah Banana success story and not smile…

…and by the way, you will learn some EXCELLENT Guest Experience tips along the way.

Recently, I turned to the Donald Miller “Building a Storybrand” podcast, and it only took about 20 seconds into the interview until I was captivated by the story of Jesse Cole and the Savannah Bananas.

In that short interview, and after about 1 minute on the website, I was hooked.

The story of Jesse Cole and the Savannah Bananas is only marginally about a baseball team. It’s really about the SHOW that goes on before, during, and after every game. Which has lead to a long sellout streak in the past, a waitlist in the thousands, and for the 2019 season – (at the time, six months away), a sellout.

I checked with some friends who live in Savannah, and it was true – the ENTIRE 2019 season is already sold out. That’s a 4,000 seat ball park for a summer college ball league. If you don’t know anything about baseball, that is literally the bottom of the totem pole. Fans aren’t coming to see a baseball game…

…they’re coming for the experience.

How can you translate that into the Guest Experience at your location?

A few articles from Jesse to pump you up:

• A Win at Every Touchpoint
• Why Every Business Needs a Script
• Why Every Company Needs to Break the Rules

His book, Find Your Yellow Tux, has amazing stories about the experience at a Savanna Bananas game. You  go to the website, scroll down, and download a free copy of “Secrets of the Yellow Tux Playbook.”

Better yet, watch this video.

You’ll be hooked, too, and want to learn more about how you can make your Guest Experience STAND OUT.

> Read more from Bob.

Want to know more about Guest Experiences at your church? Let’s talk! Connect with an Auxano Navigator here.

Tags: Church Guest Experience, Guest Experience, Jesse Cole, Savannah Bananas

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Giving Your Guests Your Best

by: Chip Bell

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Editor’s Note: During our August focus on Guest Experiences, we are honored to have some of the best voices in the world of Customer Experience provide guest posts for the Vision Room. As you read the content below, simply think “Guest” in terms of the “customer” the author is talking about – and you will benefit from the knowledge and expertise of these great minds.

When I was a young boy, I imagined I was Wild Bill Hickock a lot of the time…or sometimes I was Hopalong Cassidy.  We watched the great cowboys on black and white television and then rushed to the back yard to replicate their antics.  I now live on the 13^th hole of a PGA golf course designed by Jack Nicholas about an hour from the Augusta National golf course.  My golf-playing buddies would watch golfing greats at the Master’s on color television and then rush to the nearby links to replicate their moves.  The mimicking behavior looks the same to me.

So, what if you watched great service in action and then rushed to the marketplace to replicate what you experienced.  I have a friend who is the CEO of a company.  She gives her new hires a night at the nearby Ritz-Carlton hotel followed by lunch at a nearby Chick-fil-A.  All she asks is that they come back and catalog actions they observed in the two establishments and how they could use those same actions at the company she leads.

But, here is one for those of you who lead a customer-facing unit or organization.  What would it take to deliver a customer experience so profound your customers would be moved to serve others in the way they are served by your employees?  What would it require for your service to be a poignant role model of greatness to everyone?

Touch-your-heart service has a magnetic impact on customers.  It attracts them because it conveys to a customer the kind of unconditional positive regard that characterizes a relationship at its best.  Customers like the way they feel when dealing with service providers who have such a greatness orientation.  They feel valued, not used.  They enjoy relationships with value and substance far more than encounters that are functional but hollow.  Give to your customers the best that you have and the best will come back to you and to others.

> Read more from Chip.

Want to know more about Guest Experiences at your church? Let’s talk! Connect with an Auxano Navigator here.

Tags: Chip Bell, Church Guest Experience, Guest Experience, Guest Experiences

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The Gospel Lives in “Good Morning”

by: VRcurator

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It’s fairly easy for volunteers on your team to state what they do. It’s also pretty easy for most volunteers to talk about how they do what they do. However, few volunteers can actually articulate WHY they do what they do.

The reason? Stating WHY goes to values, and values are often talked about but more often misunderstood.

A church without values is like a river without banks – just a large puddle.

Values are the shared convictions that guide the actions and reveal the strength of the church. They are the values that represent the conscious and collective soul of your church because they express your most deeply held ideals. They define your ministry’s ethos.

Values are filters for decision-making and springboards for daily action. They are the constant reminder of what is most important to your church.

As with any organization, your church has a set of shared values underneath the surface of everyday activity. The problem is that they stay weak because they are unidentified and unharnessed in guiding the future.

The role of the leader is to identify the most important values and pull them above the waterline of people’s perception. Once they are in clear view, the leader can nurture their development, enabling the church to do more of what it does best.

What is true of your church as a whole is also true of individual ministries in your church.

THE QUICK SUMMARY – People Are The Mission by Danny Franks

Danny Franks, Guest Services Pastor at Summit Church, shows church leaders how to take a more balanced approach to the design and implementation of a guest services ministry. He introduces a new model for welcoming people to your church that is both guest-friendly and gospel-centric.

Your church’s preaching and worship styles may draw a crowd, but to keep a crowd, people must sense that you love them, that you expected them, and that you can’t wait for them to return. Finally, here is a book that tells you how to make that happen.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

It’s easy to give a volunteer a job description and then point them in the right direction. Anyone can assign a task. And for the most part, just about anyone can execute most tasks.

However, a good leader does not just assign a task. A good leader starts with creating a compelling vision for the task. A great leader continually casts this compelling vision so there is no doubt why a ministry exists.

The main thing of the church – our why for existing – should be defined by God’s Word. And the primary message of Scripture is Jesus and that Jesus changes everything.

The good news that Jesus brought – real forgiveness of our sins and reconciliation with our Creator – does indeed change everything. It changes the way we live, work, and play. And it changes the way we structure our worship services and our annual budgets. When the gospel is the main thing, it will change everything. It will renovate our curriculum and reengineer our business meetings.

So rather than adapt to a formula, cut and paste a few principles, or tackle a list of action steps, take just one action step: imitate Jesus. Let’s remember that the one who sought us is still seeking others. Let’s keep in mind that the one who sought us is still seeking others. Let’s keep in mind that the Great Commission doesn’t just challenge us to make disciples at the ends of the earth but in our backyards. Let’s be salt and light, love people well, and set our weekend services up for great hospitality.

We need to keep reminding people that though we pour coffee, we are not there primarily to pour coffee. We direct traffic, but we are not traffic cops. We want a smooth, error-free service, but we don’t show up so that the weekend service will run more smoothly.

We do all that we do as a living, breathing, example of the grace of God, our small acts of service serving as a witness to God’s goodness in the life of an unbeliever.

Danny Franks, People Are The Mission

A NEXT STEP

People Are The Mission author Danny Franks writes, “We need to remind our teams that hospitality is a catalyst.” He continues, “That’s why it’s important to push the vision for serving guests at every opportunity.”

One of the best ways to communicate vision is through stories. As a leader, you should build up and maintain a “story repository” of at least ten great stories that relate volunteer heroics, ministry wins, and life change in action.

If you don’t currently do this, here’s a way to start. At your next team meeting, conduct this exercise:

You are in charge of a space expedition. Your purpose is to establish a colony on a distant planet. This colony must replicate the very best characteristics of your church’s hospitality ministry – but your spaceship only has ten seats. Uncover the heart of your hospitality ministry by selecting volunteers who will fill these seats.

Discuss among your team individuals to go on the journey. Who represents the “best of” your hospitality ministry? Use these questions to help you with your decision:

1. What values do they live by, regardless of recognition?
2. How do they demonstrate the values?
3. Will their values be valid 100 years from now?
4. What’s their “story” of serving on the hospitality ministry?

The resulting ten people and their “stories” should be the start of helping people connect the dots between the way the people served and how Jesus saved. They can demonstrate how the work they did helped pave the road toward a gospel awakening that a guest experienced.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix #99-1, released August 2018.

This is part of a weekly series posting excerpts from one of the most innovative content sources in the church world: SUMS Remix book excerpts for church leaders.

Each issue SUMS Remix takes a practical problem in the church and looks at it with three solutions; each solution is taken from a different book. Additionally, a practical action step is included with each solution.

As a church leader you get to scan relevant books based on practical tools and solutions to real ministry problems, not just by the cover of the book. Each post will have the edition number which shows the year and what number it is in the overall sequence. (SUMS Remix provides 26 issues per year, delivered every other week to your inbox). 

> > Subscribe to SUMS Remix <<

Tags: Church Guest Experience, Danny Franks, Guest Experiences, People Are The Mission, SUMS Remix, Summit Church

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Carrot vs Stick: It’s More About You than Them

by: Scott McKain

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Editor’s Note: During our August focus on Guest Experiences, we are honored to have some of the best voices in the world of Customer Experience provide guest posts for the Vision Room. As you read the content below, simply think “Guest” in terms of the “customer” the author is talking about – and you will benefit from the knowledge and expertise of these great minds.

In almost every book I’ve ever written — and there have been quite a few at this point — I quote the best business advice I have ever heard.  It’s from my friend, Dr. Michael LeBoeuf, from his work that was originally titled, “The Greatest Management Principle in the World.”  Here it is:

“Behavior rewarded is behavior repeated.”

The problem — and wisdom — in this phrase is that it’s so much more profound than it originally appears.  Of course, it means that our customers and employees will repeat the activities that we compensate them for executing.

However, more subtle is that it also challenges us to question: What actions are we rewarding?

For example — we want sales professionals to establish relationships with customers rather than pressuring them into a solitary closing. Yet, when we examine their compensation structure, we find there’s no additional incentives for future purchases.

In other words, we give lip service to how important that on-going loyalty is from our customers. However, when we examine what we reward, it appears our focus is on closing (through any means available and ethical) a single transaction.

My friend, former Chief Customer Officer at Microsoft and Lands End, Jeanne Bliss, often mentions in her presentations the story of the hospital that posted every physician’s evaluation from patients and their families. The result was that malpractice suits dropped by 43%. When receiving high marks from patients and families was rewarded, doctors responded — to the benefit of hospital, physician, and (most importantly) customers that are called “patients.”

That’s the challenge that I make to you. Take a bit to re-evaluate what you’re rewarding and examine if it’s congruent with your goals and aspirations for the future.  My guess is that you’ll find some disconnection.

If you resolve it, you’ll be rewarding the behavior and activity that your desire.  It’s an important step to creating distinction!

> Read more from Scott.

Want to know more about Guest Experiences at your church? Let’s talk! Connect with an Auxano Navigator here.

Tags: Church Guest Experience, Guest Experience, Rewarding behavior, Scott McKain

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Why “Friendly” and “Welcoming” are NOT the Same Thing

by: Bryan Rose

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The goal of excellent church hospitality teams should be to communicate “we are expecting Guests” every Sunday morning. 

However, this does not happen without intentionality. Every congregation, both healthy and unhealthy, tends to drift inward relationally over time. A strong Sunday morning welcome reminds everyone at the church of the presence of first-time Guests.

Remember, there is a difference between a friendly church and a welcoming church.

Without trained leadership and developed systems, a church welcome moves from the healthy expectation of Guests to one of three accidental mindsets. We know this because the team of Navigators at Auxano have experienced these non-verbal communications  in our 15+ years of performing Guest Perspective Evaluations:

“We think you can figure out where to go and sit because we are only tolerating your presence until we approve your theology.”

“We desperately want you to come back again because we need you to help us survive another week around here.”

“We are surprised you actually showed up because most of us have been looking for a good reason to leave for years.”

None of the three will result in a second time Guest visit.

> Read more from Bryan.

Want to know more about Guest Experiences at your church? Let’s talk! Connect with an Auxano Navigator here.

Interested in bringing your team (up to 5 people) to Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp coming to West Palm Beach, FL on February 26-27? Find out more here.

Tags: Bryan Rose, Church Guest Experience, Guest Experience, Hospitality

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How to Design an Exceptional Guest Experience

by: Bob Adams

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Did you know that a first time guest will typically decide to come back in the first 11 minutes of visiting your church? And yet, we spend very little time thinking about how to shape those first few minutes in a powerful way, much less the rest of their time with us.

The fact of the matter is that defining moments shape our lives, but we don’t have to wait for them to happen.

We can be the author of them.

In today’s increasingly fast-paced and unpredictable environment, church leaders need to be involved in design thinking more than ever. Design is all about action, and churches too often get stuck at the talking stage.

Face it – despite all our planning and analyzing and controlling, the typical church’s track record at translating its rhetoric into results is not impressive.

Moments matter. And what an opportunity we miss when we leave them to chance!

• All it takes is a bit of insight and forethought.
• All it takes is for you to think like a designer.

Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp will help you and your team do just that.

Here’s what some past participants have said:

• I loved all the content.  It was made even more meaningful as we spent a chunk of time working on a personal plan for our church. Thank you for building that time in.

• The content was killer. Can’t wait to process it all when I go back home. I loved how you gave us time to design it in the moment with our team.

• My team used the information we learned to actually plan out the improvements of our church’s guest experience.

• We loved the process of learning some new principles and paradigms and the opportunity to apply them to our context in teams.

The Guest Experience Boot Camp will introduce your team to developing powerful moments through design thinking…

…because Designing Guest Experiences is more important than delivering guest services.

Check out Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp in Cincinnati, OH on August 7-8.

> Register for the Guest Experience Boot Camp here.

Tags: Boot Camp, Church Guest Experience, Guest Experience, Guest Experience Boot Camp

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Breakthrough Guest Experience Ideas with Danny Franks

by: Bryan Rose

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On a recent episode of the My Ministry Breakthrough podcast, Danny Franks tells the incredible story of a parking lot volunteer that eventually became a church planter in China. It all started with a conversation with some visiting exchange students and a leader taking the time to do more than only help someone park their car. This ordained moment fuels Danny’s calling as Pastor of Guest Services at the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. And it also challenges him to ensure that, each weekend, there is always at least one more volunteer than he actually needs. You can listen to the whole conversation here.

Here are some key breakthrough ideas with Danny:

• When God says “I am doing something…” words begin to create worlds.
• Learn why nobody wants to give their life away to show up and help somebody find a parking space.
• Why serving on a hospitality team is a lot of fun for about three weeks but becomes a lousy hobby if there is no substance.
• If all we are calling people to do is show up to check off a box, they will only be excited for a short time. Train for this instead.
• How vital is a welcoming ministry in a church where there is so much emphasis on the gospel and missions?
• Is a First Impressions ministry essential? Answering this question with the Gospel is critical, here’s why.
• Could it be that there roles in the church that we are presenting as family chores? Serving should never feel like taking out the garbage.
• There are plenty of opportunities to offend people and make them uncomfortable when you see with first-time guest eyes.
• We can do everything possible to make 60-75 minutes inside the worship service flawless, but if we are not thinking through what somebody sees first, it may not matter.
• Do we need to ask – what do they see first?
• Make sure that the messages from the stage hold up to the messages on the sidewalk.
• The gospel is offensive but nothing else should be, especially your welcome.
• Guests far from God may disagree with points of your sermon, but they cannot argue with the love of your people.
• There are all kinds of offenses on a Sunday that we can fix… the gospel is one offense we shouldn’t try to fix.
• If we make it feel like we love people, we planned for them, and we cannot wait for them to come back, people hostile to the gospel will eventually take hold.
• Helping people understand the purpose behind needed changes is critical to keeping volunteer hearts engaged.
• The why behind The Summit’s hospitality begins and ends with the gospel.
• The big win of the weekend is that everyone hears the gospel communicated.
• The Summit First Impressions Plumbline: The gospel is offensive, nothing else should be
• The Summit First Impressions Plumbline: The why is more important than the what.
• The Summit First Impressions Plumbline: Everything speaks.
• The Summit First Impressions Plumbline: The first visit should set up the second visit
• The Summit First Impressions Plumbline: Make it personal – every weekend is someone’s first weekend, meet people where they are
• The why has to be more caught than taught. People should understand what matters most beyond just hearing words at a training meeting.
• Leaders must be present and in conversation to ensure that culture is stewarded well from campus to campus.
• Stories are the most significant indicator of cultural health.
• Asking guests about their experience is a way to hear from guests and listen for systemic issues in your hospitality experience.
• The first time guest experience is a health indicator for the entire church.
• Stats don’t grab people’s hearts the way stories do… tell stories to motivate and to cultivate the results you want to see.
• Gospel discipleship in every ministry means that people can move from parking cars to planting churches.
• The majority of guest services conversations are transactional, but are your people available to connect beyond the welcome and into the relational?
• The bare minimum number of volunteers result in the bare minimum number of gospel experiences.
• You always need more volunteers – more people engaged in the mission creates more opportunities to engage people.
• There has to be a passion for the guest experience… your volunteers need to see welcoming people as more than just family chores.
• Nobody dreams of being a guest services pastor, but the reality is that Biblical hospitality is a critical component of following Jesus.
• Guest Services are a biblical virtue expressed on an organizational level.
• Essential Qualities of a Great Hospitality Leader: People person, Attention to detail, Dreamer not afraid to take measured risks
• We don’t always need to learn something new; we need to revisit the truth over and over again.
• Leaders sharpen their tools by reading – and not just leadership books.
• You can engineer EPIC moments to engage First Time Guests.
• Relax… let go of the perfect plan and the ideal event. Outside of salvation, there are very few things in ministry that are as life and death as we think they are.
• We can sacrifice people on the altar of our idol the plan.
• We are not here for the plans we are here for the people.

Listen to the whole podcast here.

If you want to learn how to create an exceptional Guest Experience at your church, check out Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp coming up January 29-30 in Newport Beach, CA

Click here for more information and registration.

Tags: Bryan Rose, Church Guest Experience, Danny Franks, Guest Experience, Guest Experience Boot Camp, My Ministry Breakthrough

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This Matters to Every Guest You See

by: Rick Warren

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There are a lot of reasons a church might grow. Sometimes people come because of the preaching. Sometimes people come because of the music. Some people like the great programs for kids and youth.

But I’m convinced that amid all of our emphasis in the last few decades on building weekend services that are more attractive to outsiders, there’s an often overlooked factor in church growth . . .

Growing churches are friendly to guests.

All churches think they’re friendly, but when you take a good look at them, you often discover they’re friendly to people who have been attending for 15 years or more—not to new people.

A guest’s experience in the first 12 minutes dramatically influences whether they’re coming back or not. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

When non-Christians come to your church for the first time, their number one emotion is fear. What will people think? What are they going to do? Am I going to have to sign something, sing something, sacrifice something, or say something?

They don’t know what’s going on, and they’re scared to death.

Your first goal with guests (and by the way, I never call them visitors) is to get them to relax. Then you can communicate with them. When people are afraid, their barriers are up and it becomes a case of, “I dare you to teach me something!” No matter how good your sermon is, they won’t listen to the Good News about Jesus until they get past those fears.

You need to put guests at ease.

How do you do that? Here are some ideas:

• Reserve your best parking spots for guests. It just shows you’re thinking about them. If you had guests for dinner at your house, you’d probably do whatever it took to make them feel more comfortable. You’d use your best silverware and your best dishes. You might ask them about food preferences before you plan the meal. You should show similar courtesies to guests at your church.
• Station greeters outside your building. You need people strategically placed around your campus to greet guests. At Saddleback, we used to play a game. I would dare people to get into the building without having their hand shaken at least three times. We place greeters way out in the parking lot. Why? We’ve found that some people hate to be greeted publicly during the service, but they love to be greeted personally.
• Set up an information table. Put all sorts of information on the table that might help people find their way around. Put maps out with classrooms and restrooms easily marked. Put out brochures about the church that give people information they can take home and read at their convenience. Most importantly, have hosts stationed there to help people find their way around. Make sure your hosts know where the restrooms are and where the children should go!
• Have music playing when people enter. In America almost every public building has music playing. Even in the elevator, music is playing. You go into the restroom and music is playing. You go into a restaurant and music is playing. People expect to hear music. If you walked into a church right now and everyone was dead silent, you’d probably be uncomfortable. On the other hand, if you heard fairly loud praise music playing, you’d probably feel much more comfortable. Here’s something interesting I’ve found: If you play soft music, people talk softly. But if you play loud music, people talk louder. When non-Christians come into your church, they want it to be noisy.
• Allow guests to remain anonymous in the service. Please don’t make guests stand up. The three greatest fears people have are going to a party with strangers, having to speak before a crowd, and being asked personal questions in public. So when we ask our guests to tell us their name and where they are from in front of everyone, we subject them to all three of their greatest fears at one time. Bad idea. How do you identify guests if you don’t have them stand up? Have them fill out a welcome card. Then someone from the church can connect with them later.
• Offer a warm, casual public welcome that relaxes people. If you want to make guests feel welcome, you’ve got to be at ease yourself. That’s what most people expect—just watch the late-night TV shows. Like it or not, how the pastor and the worship leader interact with each other sets the tone for good or for bad in a service.
• Use technology to break down the barrier. Have an app or web-based connection card. Allow people to send a text to a short number to get more information. Ask people to check in on Facebook. And help people know where to go online for more information if they skip the information desk (because most of them will).

In the early years at Saddleback we used to say, “If this is your first time at Saddleback, we’re glad you’re here. We want you take a deep breath, sit back, relax, and enjoy the service.” You know where I got that? I heard someone say it on an airline once! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight. All we’re trying to do is help people relax and then make them feel comfortable.

You have to break down the fear barriers before people will ever open up to your message and consider coming back to your church. Try these guest-friendly tips in the coming weeks, and help your church grow this year.

> Read more from Rick.

Learn more about your how you can become a friendlier church – start a conversation with Guest Experience Navigator Bob Adams.

Want to learn how to create an EXCEPTIONAL Guest Experience at your church? Check out Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp, coming to Cincinnati, OH on August 7-8.

Tags: Church Guest Experience, Friendly Churches, Guest Experiences, Rick Warren

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The Timeless Call of Guest Engagement

by: Bob Adams

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Epiphany at the Gas Pump

In a recent conversation with a friend, I was asked the question, “Where does your passion for Guest Experiences come from?”

Regular readers of this website know of my borderline fanaticism in the area of Guest Experiences related to ChurchWorld, and how much we can learn from the world of “Customer Experience.” Some leaders cringe at those words, but the fact is people who come to church are consumers, and leaders in ChurchWorld can learn a lot from good customer experience practices wherever they find them – even in a 1946 training manual for Gulf Dealers.

The answer to my friend’s question became a little clearer several years ago.

My father.

After my father was discharged from the Army Air Corps following WWII, he worked at several jobs before he and his brother built a Gulf Service Station outside of Nashville TN. My father operated it for 44 years, closing it when he retired in 1993. Growing up in that gas station (literally – our house was about 100 feet away) I learned a lot about how to deal with people by watching my father interact with his “customers.” What I didn’t realize until recently was that his natural, easygoing style was augmented by customer service training materials supplied by the Gulf Oil Company.

It seems that good customer experience is never out of date.

My father passed away in 2012, and changes in my mother’s health required that she move out of the house in which she and my father had started their family in 1954. As my brother and I were going through the process of moving her from her home of 61 years, I took great delight in looking through some of the items my dad had saved and stored over his life. When I found the manual pictured below, I knew it would become a special part of my Guest Experience resources.

Notice the orange dotted line around the vehicle – that’s the suggested travel path for the service man – or two – to take when a customer pulled up to the gas pumps to have gasoline put into his tank (I realize many readers have no clue nor experience of this, but it did happen!). Starting by engaging the driver, here are a few of the suggestions for engaging the customer:

• Always be prompt – the service plan starts when you see a customer driving into your station. Whenever possible, be alert and at his side when his car stops, ready to greet him.
• Greet the customer – your greeting is your first important step in showing courtesy to the customer, and it should be friendly, cheerful, and always in your own words.
• Acknowledge the other customer – when a second car drives in, you should immediately recognize the other customer and saying you’ll be right with him. This kind of greeting pays off because you not only please the customer who is waiting but you also please the customer you are waiting on, who notices that you are courteous to others.
• Improve the rear view – while you are at the rear of the vehicle putting gas in, wipe the rear window and tail lights. Should a light be out, call it to the attention to your customer at the proper time.
• Look at those tires – while you are back there, take a look at both rear tires for cuts, blisters under inflation, etc. and make a mental note to tell your customer before he leaves your station.
• Work to the front end – walk around the right side, cleaning the right windshield, checking the wiper blades, and inspecting the front tires.
• Under the hood – check the oil and water levels; it’s your responsibility to protect your customer’s car. If any is needed, ask him if you may bring the levels up to the correct level.
• Keep alert under the hood – while you have the hood open, keep alert for other service needs. Train yourself to quickly observe all needs, informing the customer as appropriate.
• Collect for the sale – it is important to give the customer the right change, so count the change back into his hand. If he is using a credit card (yes, they had those in 1946!), learn to fill out the invoice quickly and accurately.
• Courtesy is pleasant – before your customer leaves the station thank him and ask him to come in again. By this time you should have learned his name, so make it personal.
• Help him safely on his way – if your station is on a busy street where it’s difficult to get into traffic, give your customer a hand. Guide him into the moving traffic safely. He may not expect this added courtesy, but he’ll be glad to get it and remember it. Every courteous act will be appreciated by your customers, and make them regular patrons of your station.

And a closing reminder:

With the Gulf Service Plan, every time you do some little service for the customer, it makes him realize that you know your business, and that you’re looking after his welfare. These services keep your customer coming back again and again. Good will – the tendency of the motorist to return to a place where he has been well-treated – is being created every time you give him not only what he wants, but what he needs. He remembers you are the man who looks after his best interests by taking good care of one of his most prized possessions – his car.

To all of us who live in a 24/7, always-connected world, the actions above probably seem like a throwback or an anachronism of the good old days.

I happen to think they are a timeless reminder that experience still matters – especially in ChurchWorld, where there is no “product” per se, but the outcome of the interactions with our Guests may be eternal.

Thanks Dad, for the lessons you taught me even when I didn’t realize it, and for the lessons you still teach me after you’re gone.

> Read more from Bob.

Learn more about your engaging your Guests – start a conversation with Guest Experience Navigator Bob Adams.

Want to learn how to create an EXCEPTIONAL Guest Experience at your church? Check out Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp, coming to Cincinnati, OH on August 7-8.

Tags: Bob Adams, Church Guest Experience, Guest Engagement, Guest Experience

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