Your First Chance at a Great First Impression

by: Bob Adams

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While onsite with a church near Orlando this week during a Guest Experience consultation, I emphasized the importance of a Parking Team in the church parking lot. After completing the consultation, I stopped by Walt Disney World for a field trip to observe the real pros at parking: the Cast Members who work on the parking teams at Walt Disney World.

The two cast members pictured above are working in the lot at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. What the picture doesn’t show is that the Cast Member on the right had just completed walking down the entire row of parking spaces, personally directing each car to a space and then engaging most of the Guests (especially those with children) along the way. The kids were laughing, the parents were smiling, and a successful trip was well under way – before the family even set foot in the park.

What a powerful first impression!

The first face of your church is in the parking lot. Guests and members coming to your church should see an energetic, welcoming, smiling group of people helping you pull into the parking lot and getting safely to the buildings. But they are much more than that – they are setting the tone for the whole experience – before your Guests even enter the building.

I was reminded of this one night during the course of the small group I lead. We were talking about the “connections” of groups, and I asked our group to share a quick story of how they became connected to Elevation. One of our members recounted the story of how his wife had been encouraging him to come with her for weeks, and he finally did. He didn’t want to indicate he was a first-time Guest, but he did. He didn’t want to engage in a conversation with a parking team member in the Guest Parking lot, but he did. He didn’t want to talk with our VIP team, but he did. He was reluctant to go into the auditorium, but he did. He didn’t want to be seated by our ushers but he did. During the worship experience, he became convicted by all he had seen and heard, and gave his life to Christ that day. Today he leads a men’s eGroup dealing with recovery issues, participates in my couples group, serves on a security team, and by his wife’s admission, is a totally different husband and dad.

That’s why the Guest Experience is so important. I believe the Holy Spirit will work on individual’s lives no matter what we do. But as my friend Sam attests, the journey from skeptic to believer began with the repeated welcome and kindness he received every step of the way.

Full disclosure: I love parking teams. I’ve served on parking teams at two different campuses for Elevation Church since 2009. I’ve written about those experiences here and here. I think every church needs to have a parking team whose primary job is not to park cars, but to welcome all who drive onto the campus with the love of Christ.

Is your church’s team creating an amazing first impression to Guests coming to your campus this weekend?

> Read more from Bob.

Parking is just one of seven Checkpoints covered in Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp. Check out Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp in Cincinnati, OH on August 7-8.

Tags: Bob Adams, Church Guest Experience, Church Parking Team, First Impression, Guest Experience, Guest Experience Boot Camp

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The 11-Minute Difference: 7 Checkpoints to a Great Guest Experience at Your Church

by: Will Mancini

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When a first time guest drives onto your campus, they will decide within 11 minutes whether or not they are coming back.

Yes, the decision is made before your guests experience worship and the content of the sermon- the two elements that demand most, if not all, of our time and attention in preparation.

What would it look like if you extended the same level of intention to the 11 minutes prior to walking in the sanctuary or worship center? Maybe the better question is “What would it feel like for your guests?” 

It’s hard to overstate the wow factor a church body creates by serve generously through a system of hospitality. For the last 14 years our team has observed and analyzed over 500 churches while conducting a “secret worshipper” experience.  It is a service at Auxano we call the “Guest Perspective Evaluation” and an essential part of our vision clarity consulting practice. One of my greatest thrills in ministry is tasting the variety of size, location, and spiritual heritage of these churches. But the most important observation is that any church can take small steps to make a dramatic difference in welcoming guests.

The first place to start is to imagine seven checkpoints for your guest. Think of the checkpoints as “gates” or even “hurdles” that any first time guest must navigate to get from their comfy family room to your worship service. With every gate comes a simple question: Has the church removed the inherent difficulty of navigating the gate for the first time, without “insider” knowledge of your church or church attendance in general?

More specifically I look for every opportunity to make each gate simple, easy and obvious to navigate.  Any particular difficulties created by your location or facility should be viewed as hospitality opportunities. By providing a great solution to an obvious barrier, you enhance the wow-factor of the hospitality.

THE SEVEN CHECKPOINTS

#1 Before Departure: Are directions and service times immediately accessible to guests from your church website, phone recording and yellow pages?

#2 Travel to Location: Do guests know where to turn into your church location from the street?

#3 Parking Lot: Do guests know where to park?

#4 Building Entrance: Do guests know which exterior door to enter?

#5 Children’s Ministry: Do guests know where to take their kids?

#6 Welcome Center: Do guest know where to go for more information?

#7 Worship: Do guests know which interior door to enter?

Want to have a conversation with your team around the concept of the Seven Checkpoints? Here’s a tool that will help you!

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

If you are interested in how vision clarity impacts every aspect of your church – especially your Guest Welcoming systems and processes – start a conversation with the team at Auxano, and see how break-thru clarity can help you realize vision.

Tags: 7 Checkpoints, Church Guest Experience, Guest Experience, Guest Experience Boot Camp, The 11 Minute Difference, Will Mancini

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4 Habits Behind a Successful Guest Experience

by: Bob Adams

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The most important 2 feet can be found on the front lines of your church’s Guest Services or Hospitality teams:

1. They belong to the team members who are the “first face” of your church – parking lot crews, greeters, ushers – anyone who is making the first impression with your Guests.
2. They also represent the space and distance where the words you use and the actions you take make the most powerful impact with your Guest.

The interactions that take place in that space (two feet) by your team member (two feet) are rich with expectations – and can also be filled with missed opportunities. In that space your front-line team members have become the face and voice of your organization. Creating an Exceptional Guest Experience comes down to having great people on your front line teams and training them well. Many churches struggle with Guest services. Often the primary barrier is translating the organization’s vision into action at the front line. An article in HBR.org outlined four activities that your church can learn from when it comes to your front line teams. 

1. Listen to team members. Want your team to take great care of your Guest? Start by taking great care of them.
2. Hire for attitude, not aptitude — and then reinforce attitude. To get friendly service, enlist friendly people. Having selected people with the right attitudes, leaders need to ensure they reinforce the behaviors they want to see.
3. Give people purpose, not rules. Rules have their place, but they go only so far. When people are given clear expectations and trusted to do their jobs, they feel valued and empowered. They choose to go that extra mile through passion, not compliance.
4. Tap into the creativity of your front line. Giving frontline team members responsibility and autonomy inspires them to do whatever they can to improve the Guest experience. When they see a problem, they fix it without waiting to be asked.

Engaging with Guests is primarily through personal contact, and that starts on the front lines with your team. The care and energy your teams use to connect with Guests reflect the care and energy you as a leader use to connect with your team.

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

How your front line teams represent your church – what they do (or don’t do), what they say (or don’t say) – that’s the powerful human “first impression” your Guest is experiencing – and will remember.

Tags: Assimilation, Bob Adams, Church Guest Experience, Church Guest Services, Guest Experience, Guest Services, Hospitality Team, Judgement on the Front Line, sums

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8 Tools to Help Get Everyone on the Same Guest Experience Page

by: Annette Franz

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– a note from the Vision Room Curator: During August we are focusing on Guest Experience in churches, but some of the most powerful learning for churches can occur by reading about customer service – all you have to do is substitute the word “Guest” every time you see “customer.” The following content was graciously supplied by Annette Franz, a customer experience expert. Enjoy!

How do we ensure that everyone in the organization is on the same page when it comes to customer experience? 

My latest post has me thinking about a quote I stumbled upon the other day from Edmund Wilson:  

No two persons ever read the same book.

Wow! Isn’t that the truth.

Think about books you’ve read; think about books you’ve discussed, either back in school or with friends or colleagues. I’m pretty sure you all came away with different lessons, interpretations, and favorite characters. You probably loved it, while someone else hated it. You might have been bored with it after two chapters, while others totally related to it. Never mind books… think about conversations you’ve had. Were they all interpreted the same way by every party involved?

How does this apply to customer experience?

It got me thinking about customer-centricity and getting the organization focused on the customer. How do we get everyone on the same page? How do we ensure that everyone is reading the same book?

A few tools you can use within your organization include:

Employee CX Assessment: I wrote about this last month. Use it to find out what employees know about the customer and the customer experience? Then use the results to better frame our training efforts and to provide other (the right) tools needed to ensure employees have a clear line of sight to customers and are equipped to deliver the experience we need (and customers want) them to deliver.

CX Vision: Your customer experience vision will be inspirational and aspirational; it will outline what you see as the future state of the customer experience. It will briefly describe the experience you plan to deliver. And it will serve as a guide to help choose future courses of action. It should align with your corporate vision.

Corporate Vision: An inspirational and aspirational statement, your vision not only outlines what the company is trying to achieve near-term and long-term but also guides decision-making processes and your subsequent, resultant course of action. Presumably, your vision will (a) draw the line between what you’re doing and for whom you’re doing it and (b) create alignment within the organization.

Brand Promise: A brand promise is the expectation you set with your customers; it’s a promise you make to your customers. Everything you and your employees do should reflect this promise. Consistently. It’s a combination of the brand purpose and the reality of what the brand can deliver. In most cases, defines the benefits a customer can expect to receive when experiencing your brand at every touch point.

Core Values: Your core values are guiding principles for your employees; they outline which behaviors and actions are right and which are wrong, both for your employees and toward your customers. Everything you do must be aligned with your values, and they should be integrated into everything you do.

Purpose: It’s your reason for being, your Why. Customers buy from brands with which they align; similarly, employees want to work for companies with which they are aligned. Make sure everyone in the organization understands your Why.

Journey Maps: A journey map is the ultimate tool to help everyone understand the customer and his experience, to walk in his shoes. Journey maps also connect employees to how they contribute to – and impact – the customer experience.

Personas: Personas help put the experience in the customer’s perspective and make you think about the customer as a “real human.” They help everyone understand the customer and keep people from forming their own opinions about who the customer really is.

What other tools have you used to get everyone on the same page when it comes to customer experience?

If you feel like you’re not on the same page as me, maybe it’s time to change the story. – Unknown

> Read more from Annette.

Want to know more about Guest Experiences in your church? Start a conversation with our team. We’re glad to offer our input. Your vision is at stake, so let’s talk.

Tags: Annette Franz, CX Journey, Church Guest Experience, Church Guest Services, Guest Experience, Guest Services, Journey Maps, Personas

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Use These 3 Ps to Deliver Guest Experience Magic

by: Bob Adams

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Guest Experience Magic may be defined as:

• An unexpected experience with a touch of style, grace, and imagination the Guest remembers with fondness and a smile.
• Creating an unexpected, unpredictable, and valuable experience that is both memorable and reproducible.

Today’s Guests are often surrounded by lackluster, mediocre service in every industry. How can you win their attention, admiration, and loyalty?

By using the magic of amazement, delight, and enchantment to create a Guest experience that soars far beyond their highest expectations.

Customer Service wizards Ron Zemke and Chip Bell share their powerful bag of tricks in their book Service Magic. Subtitled “The Art of Amazing Your Customers,” it delivers a powerful bag of tricks to help you add zest, memorability, and value to your customers’ experience in ways they would never expect.

For leaders in ChurchWorld, the translation from customer experience to Guest Experience is an important one – starting with your mindset. You may not think you have “customers” in the traditional mindset – and you don’t. But you do have Guests coming to your church (hopefully!) and they, like you, live in consumer-driven world.

Why not study and learn from some of the best minds and practitioners from the customer experience world, and translate them into Guest Experience practices for your church?

Take Service Magic, for instance.

There is a feeling of awe, wonder, pleasure and delight in Service Magic. When it is present, the customer perceives that something special and unique has been done to, for, or with him or her. It can come from a word spoken, an experience observed, a process experienced, or the context in which the service occurred.

There is magic in Place, Process, and Performance – and all three are available to the skilled service magician and the organization determined to create consistent Service Magic for its Guests.

• Place Magic: a venue – natural or manmade – with physical attributes that attracts and pleases, and that are subtly enhanced by human endeavor. We vacation at national parks to enjoy the great out-of-doors and visit theme parks for fun and thrills. We remember most of the great views and the rides, but without a little Service Magic, those pleasures would be greatly diminished.

ChurchWorld Application

You meet in a facility – owned or rented – that conveys a powerful impression to your Guests. What does your facility “say”? What are you doing on a regular basis to evaluate your place? What plan do you follow to make sure your place is the best it can be? Does your place invite people to come in – or does it turn people off, or even away? Do you have a plan of constant evaluation and upkeep? How “fresh” are your interiors and exteriors? Does your place fit into your community or does it stand out?

• Process Magic: the often thankless, almost always invisible effort that makes the difference between policies, procedures, and routines that are difficult, confusing, maddening, and frustrating – and those we experience as surprisingly easy, positive, and memorable. No waiting where once lines were long; sign-ins, sign-ups, and renewals that are hassle-free and even interesting – if not fun – are the result of a little well placed Process Magic.

ChurchWorld Application

Your Guests should experience an invisible, seamless flow of actions from their first contact with you all the way through a worship experience and back again. The processes behind that invisible, seamless flow are probably complicated and maybe even confusing. What are you doing to regularly evaluate and change the process behind the curtains? Do you know what Guests experience when they come to your church? Are you using and speaking with a “churchy” language or do you make things simple to understand and follow?

• Performance Magic: the surprisingly positive interaction with someone from an organization during the acquisition of a service or a product – or even when a problem with a product or service is being resolved. The wait staff who makes the dining experience “work” for you by correctly reading your mood and engaging you in light-hearted banter or by leaving you alone to your solitude are card-carrying, practicing, professional service magicians.

ChurchWorld Application

When it comes down to it, your front-line teams: parking, greeters, ushers, etc. – make the first and most powerful impact on your Guests. Their actions often dictate whether or not a Guest will return – even before, and often no matter what, the worship experience. When was the last time you ventured out to the front lines to observe? How often do your teams receive training – and encouragement? How high are the expectations for your front-line teams?

Each of these three “magics” is powered by a set of principles – which you can learn more about here.

Want to learn how to Place, Process, and Performance work together to create an EXCEPTIONAL Guest Experience at your church? Check out Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp in Cincinnati, OH on August 7-8.

> Read more from Bob.

Want to know more about Guest Experiences in your church? Start a conversation with our team. We’re glad to offer our input. Your vision is at stake, so let’s talk.

Tags: Chip Bell, Church Guest Experience, Church Guest Services, Guest Experience, Guest Experience Boot Camp, Guest Services, Service Magic

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Make Your Guest’s Experience Purposeful

by: Shep Hyken

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– a note from the Vision Room Curator: During August we are focusing on Guest Experience in churches, but some of the most powerful learning for churches can occur by reading about customer service – all you have to do is substitute the word “Guest” every time you see “customer.” The following content was graciously supplied by Shep Hyken, a customer service and experience expert. Enjoy!

The customer experience shouldn’t happen by accident. It should be planned and thought out well in advance of the success you hope to have with your customers.

I recently had a conversation with someone who helped focus my long term strategic plans. We talked about the success I had in the past and what I hoped would be continued success in the future. I am very goal-oriented and shared my goals for the upcoming quarter, for the year, and even for ten years. These included the number of speaking engagements I wanted to do, the number of training dates our trainers would book, the growth in our online university and more. While she seemed impressed, she asked me how I planned to make those goals a reality. I told her what had been successful in the past, and how it should continue to take me into the future. 

Her response took me by surprise. She informed me that I had been successful by accident. While I had my goals, the detail about how I planned to achieve these goals was minimal. 



That made me think about how many organizations go about delivering great customer service. In effect, they do it by accident.

They hire good people and hope they will deliver based on their past experience. Some companies take it a step further and have some training. Still they are just hoping to achieve what the customer would consider to be a great customer service experience.

Customer service doesn’t happen by accident. It starts with hiring the right people and training them, but that still may not be enough. The best companies don’t take a chance. They actually design the experience. So here are a few steps in the process to help you move from accidental to purposeful amazing customer service.

1. Already mentioned is hiring and training. By the way, training should be ongoing – not a one-time thing. Training isn’t something you did. It’s something you do. It doesn’t always have to be a big training session. If you have a weekly meeting, take several minutes to highlight customer service and share a tip.
2. Create the customer journey map. This is plotting out all of the touch-pointsthat the customer has with your organization. This shows the obvious places where the customer can form an impression, and where the opportunities are to make that impression a Moment of Magic®.
3. When you are looking at the journey map, determine what goes on behind the scenes that drives the experience at any particular touch-point. For example, a server at a restaurant may take the customer’s order and five minutes later come back with the food. There is a lot that happens behind the scenes to ensure that food comes out in a timely manner and is prepared the way it is meant to be. What are the friction points that could hurt the front line touch-point? How can they be mitigated or even eliminated? What can you do to enhance or make the frontline touch-point better?
4. Train people on how to deal with mistakes and complaints. It’s not a matter of if you will ever have one of these Moments of Misery™, it’s when. The best companies make mistakes and have complaints, but they have trained their people and have a system that turns that Moment of Misery™ into a Moment of Magic®.

Don’t rely on chance or luck to make you successful. Be purposeful. Plan with detail.

A long term successful customer service initiative doesn’t happen by accident. 


Copyright ©MMXIV, Shep Hyken – www.Hyken.com

> Read more from Shep.

Want to know more about Guest Experiences in your church? Start a conversation with our team. We’re glad to offer our input. Your vision is at stake, so let’s talk.

Tags: Church Guest Experience, Church Guest Services, Customer Service, Guest Experience, Guest Services, Shep Hyken

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Seven Checkpoints: The Critical First Eleven Minutes at Your Church

by: Eric Geiger

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If you ever check out multiple churches in a short period of time, you will likely be surprised by the differences in hospitality expressed to first-time guests. In some churches a guest knows exactly where to park, is graciously welcomed, escorted to the children’s area to drop off kids, and introduced to several helpful people. In other churches, a guest has no idea where to go and is not welcomed by anyone.

While some churches have become so guest-driven that they lose focus on Christ in a hyper-attractional attempt to draw a crowd, others almost ignore guests as a badge of their spirituality or a sign of their apathy. Both miss the mark, as hospitality is deeply biblical. For example, hospitality is included in the necessary qualifications for an elder (1 Timothy 3:2) because hospitality is a direct and tangible link to how Christ has received us. We were all strangers to the family of God and the household of faith. We were enemies, but God in His great mercy welcomed us. He has practiced hospitality toward us and challenges us to accept others as He has accepted us (Romans 15:7).

I am honored to work alongside Auxano in consulting churches on mission, strategy, and values. When we guide a church through a process, we also help them evaluate the hospitality that is expressed to a first-time guest. We know that the first 11 minutes at your church are really important. My friend and colleague Will Mancini believes, based on consultations with hundreds of churches, that a first-time guest will decide if he/she is returning in those first 11 minutes.

To get really practical and helpful, Will encourages church leaders to think about the following “seven checkpoints” in expressing hospitality:

1. Before Departure: Are directions and service times immediately accessible to guests from your church website?
2. Travel to Location: Do guests know where to turn into your church location?
3. Parking Lot: Do guests know where to park?
4. Building Entrance: Do guests know which door to enter?
5. Children’s Ministry: Do guests know where to take their kids?
6. Guest Center (or some other name): Do guests know where to go for more information?
7. Worship: Do guests know which door to enter?

It is helpful to look at these checkpoints through the eyes of a first-time guest. When a guest pulls into the parking lot, does he/she know where to park? Are there signs that direct where to go next? Clear and visible signs that direct people to the next point are helpful, but it takes people to express hospitality. Signs can direct a guest, but only a person can shepherd a guest.

You may find it helpful to divide the first few minutes of a guest coming to the service into waves or sections and then staff with people appropriately: parking, outside greeters, inside greeters/ushers, etc. Sometimes churches view these roles as “anyone can do them,” and thus, they merely fill slots. For strategic hospitality, the right relationally savvy people with grace-filled hearts must serve in these critical roles. These roles are more important than we often realize.

Be sure you have a plan for expressing hospitality to first-time guests. Having no plan sends the signal that “the message we preach has not impacted how we welcome you.”

> Read more from Eric.

Start a conversation with our team. We’re glad to offer our input. Your vision is at stake, so let’s talk.

Tags: 11 Minute Difference, 7 Checkpoints, Church Guest Experience, Eric Geiger, Guest Experience

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Set HIGH Expectations for Your Guests This Weekend

by: Scott McKain

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A Note from the VisionRoom Curator: My friend Scott McKain is an internationally known authority who helps organizations create distinction in every phase of business and teaches the “Ultimate Customer Experience.” During our special August emphasis on Guest Experiences, Scott graciously agreed to let us use a blog post on customer experience. But don’t worry – when you hear “customer” just insert the word “Guest” and you will come away with a powerful lesson to share with your Guest Experience teams.

What are the FIRST WORDS that a Guest hears when they make contact with you or your organization?

If you haven’t planned it — or, if you’re satisfied with a generic, “Can I help you?” — then those professionals who deliver an enthusiastic welcome…and set a high expectation for the Guest of what’s about to happen…will leave you behind!

This 1 1/2 minute video suggests the importance of setting HIGH Guest expectations — and why it is so important. Click on the image to launch the video.

> Read more from Scott.

> Read more about the “Taxi Terry” story Scott mentioned in the video.

Start a conversation with our team. We’re glad to offer our input. Your vision is at stake, so let’s talk.

Want to learn how to create an EXCEPTIONAL Guest Experience at your church? Check out Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp, coming to Orlando, FL on April 3-4.

Tags: Church Guest Experience, Guest Experience, High Expectation, Scott McKain, Taxi Terry

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What is the Value of Your Guest Experience?

by: Bob Adams

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What is the value of your Guest Experience?

Go back and read the previous sentence again, this time attaching the mathematical meaning to the word “value.” That’s value, as in a numerical quantity that is assigned or is determined by calculation or measurement.

Dr. Len Berry, Distinguished Professor in Retailing and Marketing at Texas A&M, has developed a form of “experiential math” that was originally designed to focus on the specifics of service delivery. In the ongoing quest to translate customer service practices from the corporate world to Guest Experiences in ChurchWorld, I have modified Dr. Berry’s math just a little.

In order to demonstrate the intricacy and complexity of a Guest Experience in your church, consider the following three variables to be mastered and managed:

• Guests’ expectations of what is about to happen
• The outcome that actually does happen
• Guests’ observations of everything that goes on in-between

The critical part of this formula is in the way you do the math. The three separate variables above don’t add up to a cumulative total. They are multiplied. That difference is crucial.

When you add 6 + 4 + 0, you get 10, no matter which way you arrange the order of the numbers. On the other hand, when you multiply 6 x 4 x 0, you get zero, regardless of the numerical sequence. When you’re adding, the presence of zero doesn’t change the total.

However, the complexity of your Guest Experience is like multiplication, not addition.

When one of the numbers (variables) is zero, it wipes out everything else, regardless of the other numbers involved. All three variables have to be positives for anything significant to be produced.

If you are going to manage the total Guest experience in such a way as to obtain a positive outcome, each variable must be positive in the eyes of your Guests. If just one significant variable leaves the Guest with a “zero,” guess what – the entire value of the experience is a zero.

Take a look around at your Guest Experience variables – and you do the math.

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

> Read more from Bob.

Start a conversation with our team. We’re glad to offer our input. Your vision is at stake, so let’s talk.

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

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If Guest Experience Were a Hymn

by: Chip Bell

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Hymn singing is a ritual in just about every religion on the planet.  It helps a collection of people share a common expression of belief in a manner that is joyful or celebrative.

John Wesley, with his brother Charles, founded what is now the Methodist Church.  In his 1761 book, Select Hymns, he wrote the “Directions for Singing” currently found in the front of most Methodist hymnals. If you substituted the word “Guest Experience” for “singing,” Wesley’s directions would also provide powerful tenants for delivering a remarkable Guest Experience.  And, while churches may refer to their constituents as parishioners, members, or “the congregation,” always remember on the other side of the worshiper’s eyes is the perspective of a customer.

“Sing lustily and with good courage.  Beware of singing as if you were half dead or half asleep.”  Guests abhor handing their hard-earned funds or limited time to a team member who acts completely indifferent.  When they witness front line members “taking their own sweet time” to respond to a request, it makes them search for other service providers (including churches) who serve “lustily and with good courage.”

“Sing modestly…that you may not destroy the harmony but unite your voices together.”  Remarkable Guest Experiences require teamwork.  If the housekeeper is slow getting hotel rooms ready, the front desk clerks continues to disappoint the guest with “Your room is not quite ready.”  The waiter looks foolish if the chef failed to prepare the meal as described.  In the same way, if the minister makes a promise the staff cannot keep, the disharmony leaves customers disappointed.

“Sing all…let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you.”  Great Guest Experiences are about good closure.  It means ensuring theGuests’ real need is met, not just their request.  It involves ensuring the Guest is pleased with the outcome, not just satisfied with the effort.  And, it takes going the extra mile even when we are tired and ready to go home.

“Above all, sing spiritually.  Aim at pleasing God more than yourself…so the Lord will approve and reward you…” While a religious song has a spiritual goal, the end game for Guest Experience is somewhat similar.  It is not about pleasing yourself; it is about pleasing your those you serve.  Service processes should be designed for the Guest, not for internal convenience.   And, making Guests happy yields the rewards of growth and the pleasure of knowing your team made a difference.

If your Guest Experience were a hymn, would it elevate the spirits of your Guests?  Would it unite the passions of those who “sing” with you?

> Read more from Chip.

Tags: Chip Bell, Church Guest Experience, Guest Experience as a Hymn, Guest Experiences

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