Tag: guest experience

Daylight Saving: Tips & Tweets to Be On-Time

Daylight Saving Time is so weird. The clocks “fall back” an hour and everybody gets confused. If people forget, they’ll show up to your Sunday morning worship service an hour early. Awkward. So we’ve got some tips and social media posts that can help you remind your congregation.

Daylight Saving Time Tips & Tweets for Your ChurchDownload our free Daylight Saving Tips & Tweets resource that explores why it’s necessary, how to communicate with your congregation, and shares some ready-made social media posts.

Some folks have shrugged off the fall reminder by saying it’s not a bad thing if once a year people show up for church early.

That’s a pretty funny joke. We can all appreciate that some church services have a constant stream of people showing up after things have started.

But in practice, not caring if people show up an hour early (or 45 minutes, for the late-comers) is an awful way to treat people.

I’ve attended church all my life, and I can tell you if I forgot about Daylight Saving Time and showed up an hour early, my family would go out to breakfast and probably not make it back to the service. I can only imagine what a first-time guest would do. They’d probably never come back.

Responding to Daylight Saving Time is about creating a welcoming environment.

Article taken from ChurchMarketingSucks.com and written by Kevin Hendricks. When Kevin isn’t busy as the editor of Church Marketing Sucks, he runs his own writing and editing company, Monkey Outta Nowhere. Kevin has been blogging since 1998, runs the hyperlocal site West St. Paul Reader, and has published several books, including 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading, The Stephanies and all of our church communication books.

Top 10 Ways Churches Drive Away First-time Guests

If you attend a church regularly, you’ve probably noticed the phenomenon. A guest shows up for a worship service, but he or she never returns. It is, unfortunately, a common issue in many churches.

I did a Twitter poll to ask these first-time guests why they chose not to return to a particular church. While some of the responses were anticipated, I admit being a bit surprised with some of them.

Though my poll is not scientific, it is nevertheless fascinating. Here are the top 10 responses in order of frequency.

  1. Having a stand up and greet one another time in the worship service. 

    This response was my greatest surprise for two reasons. First, I was surprised how much guests are really uncomfortable during this time. Second, I was really surprised that it was the most frequent response.

  2. Unfriendly church members. 

    This response was anticipated. But the surprise was the number of respondents who included non-genuine friendliness in their answers. In other words, the guests perceived some of the church members were faking it.

  3. Unsafe and unclean children’s area. 

    This response generated the greatest emotional reactions. If your church does not give a high priority to children, don’t expect young families to attend.

  4. No place to get information. 

    If your church does not have a clear and obvious place to get information, you probably have lowered the chances of a return visit by half. There should also be someone to greet and assist guests at that information center as well.

  5. Bad church website. 

    Most of the church guests went to the church website before they attended a worship service. Even if they attended the service after visiting a bad website, they attended with a prejudicial perspective. The two indispensable items guests want on a website are address and times of service. It’s just that basic.

  6. Poor signage. 

    If you have been attending a church for a few weeks, you forget all about the signage. You don’t need it any more. But guests do. And they are frustrated when it’s not there.

  7. Insider church language. 

    Most of the respondents were not referring to theological language as much as language that only the members know. My favorite example was: “The WMU will meet in the CLC in the room where the GAs usually meet.”

  8. Boring or bad service. 

    My surprise was not the presence of this item. The surprise was that it was not ranked higher.

  9. Members telling guests that they’re in their seat. 

    Yes, this obviously still takes place in some churches.

  10. Dirty facilities. 

    Some of the comments: “Didn’t look like it had been cleaned in a week.” “No trash cans anywhere.” Restrooms were worse than a bad truck stop.” “Pews had more stains than a Tide commercial.”

There you have it. The top 10 reasons first-time guests said they did not return to a church. I can’t wait to hear from you readers. You always have such good additions and insights.  

Article written for Christian Leaders Thom Rainer. Thom S. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources (LifeWay.com). http://www.thomrainer.com

You Can Ask, We Can Help

My youngest daughter just moved out of our house and into an apartment. Usually when kids move out their parents are close by to help them with setting things up and everything that comes with it, but not us, we moved 8 hours away! My daughter decided she needed blackout curtains for her room because she can only sleep if the room is pitch black. She called us for advice on how to install curtain rods and as we were telling her she said; “I think I’ll just go to Home Depot and ask somebody there. I’ll just say “hey, can you put curtain rods on a wall?” and when they say yes I’ll tell them to follow me to my apartment.” Where did we go wrong!?!!

Her train of thought was that she would go to the place that should have all the answers and they would help her. How many people do you think you interact with at church that have that same train of thought? You helped them find a parking spot so you must know how to help them get connected into a small group, or what day and time the student ministry meets, right? I am a big fan of cross training all of the first impression team members, but there’s no way anyone can have all the answers!! So what can you do?

We have thought about this and here are a couple of steps we take;

1. Help Center – we changed our “info desk” to “help center” because we want people to know where they can go for help, not just information. We push all information to our website and have iPads at the help center for the team members to not only help people with their request, but to also show them where they can find the answers in the future! We also have 4×5 pieces of paper with “Name,” “Phone,” “Email,” “I would like information on,” and then blank lines for those requests the team members are not able to answer and the staff tackles those on Monday. The iPads also allow guests to sign up for special events. They can pull up the registration form and fill it out right there at the help center.

2. Communication – we do our best to inform all team members of the basic information that can help a guest when they ask questions. We send a weekly email with information about special events happening like the next date for baptism, or membership, or kids camp, student camp, etc. Our coaches do an excellent job communicating the non-weekly activities during their preservice huddles as well as reminding all team members that if they aren’t sure how to answer a guests request, they can walk them to the help center!

Here’s what our Help Center Note looks like!

I hope our first impressions team has an incredible reputation for helping people like Home Depot does in my daughters mind!

PS – she didn’t bring a stranger into her house, she found a friend to help her hang her curtains! Whew!!

Written by Stacey Windover. Stacey is the Guest Experience Consultant for Froot Group, a worship staffing and consulting company.

My Pleasure!

I’ve been hanging out at an event this week and I have seen the best and the worst customer service!! I am working with the company that does all of the parking for the event and they have an amazing vision that says they are in the customer service business, and they happen to park cars!! I love that!! Maybe some of you are wondering; “why the emphasis on customer service, it’s just parking cars,” well let me share something with you… it’s your customer service that will always set you apart!! (Hello!!! Just look at Chick-Fil-A!! Aren’t they just selling a chicken sandwich?!?) There’s a lot of strategy and a ton of hours that go into making a parking plan for each lot. Some lots are paved, but most are grass lots where strategy and creativity rule!! Each lot that is run by this company has guests walking away smiling and excited to attend the event!! There’s one lot though that is located at a nearby airport and guests have to interact with the airport parking staff before arriving at the lot where our team is located. Let’s just say the airport parking employees do not have the same vision or philosophy! Like I said above, I have seen the best and the worst!! The airport staff would benefit greatly from first impression training!! No smile, no clear signage, and not speaking clearly or kindly, I drove away from that interaction feeling frustrated and irritated – not a good combo!

As you think about the guest experience at your church, is there an area that leaves your guests feeling frustrated and irritated? Here are a few questions to ask yourself and your key leaders:

  • Do you have a clear vision?
  • Is everyone on the same page with your philosophy on how and why you do what you do?
  • Are you and your key leaders consistently evaluating the weekly guest experience to identify areas that could be better?
    • What’s working?
    • What’s not working?
    • What’s confusing?

As a team, we try to never lose the guest mentality! I even encourage my key leaders to attend other churches in the area so they can know first hand what it feels like to visit a church for the first time! There’s always room for improvement, right?

If you would like a fresh set of eyes that can help you identify growth opportunities, contact us today! We would love to help you create a strategic plan to make your guest experience unforgettable!!

Cheering you on as you create the best guest experience for your church or organization!!

Written by: Stacey Windover

Stacey is the Guest Experience Consultant at Froot Group, a worship staffing & consulting company.

So…you’re looking to build a greeting team? Here’s how to get started!

Your greeting team is one of the most influential parts of church growth. These are the first people that your guests will get to interact with. Some guests will even base their overall experience off the first impression of your church.

Growing up in the church, the greeting team or guest experience team was never something that our church did. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to do it, we just didn’t know where to start or how to get people on board with the idea. Here are a couple things to think about when starting your greeting team!

What will you call this ministry?

There are many of great names out there like greeting team, guest experience, first impressions, and hospitality team. There is no right or wrong answer, choose one and let your church know!

Who will lead this ministry?

Is this a paid position, or is this a volunteer spot? Sometimes the best answer as to who should lead this ministry is the one person who is asking for it!

How will you get people to join, and who should join?

Asking people to join is one of the easiest and most effective ways when building a team. A simple email, sign-up sheet, or face to face invite are just a few ways you can gather a team. It’s always a good idea to find people that are outgoing. Greeting complete strangers is very intimidating, especially for the introvert.

Do you have team expectations?

Most people enjoy getting involved, but sometimes we forget to explain to them what they will be doing and what is expected of them. We can communicate this through team training.  Finding a night that works best for all team members is ideal. There you can share the vision and ideas they will need when greeting someone for the first time!

What are a few items needed to get started?

Find the funds to purchase nametags for all your greeters. Nametags are a great way to personalize your greeters and the team.

Here are a few simple tips for your greeting team:

  • Before church, say things like, “Hi, Good Morning, Welcome to Church!”
  • And after church saying things like, “Hope you have a fantastic day! See you next week! Thanks for coming!”

Church should be the most fun, joy-filled place on earth! Don’t forget to smile.

Written by Derek Harsch

Derek is the Marketing Director at Froot Group, a worship staffing company.

 

Getting Ready For The Big Dance

March Madness is one of my favorite times of the year. I love basketball, I love Nate (my husband), and I love watching basketball with Nate! It can’t get any better than this! There’s just something about this time…these few weeks. The Selection Show is just the beginning. We sit on the edge of our seats as the teams are picked. We fill out our brackets together and most times he takes my advice. Not to brag but I’ve done pretty good with my brackets in years past. I love the challenge of it all. I love breaking out my two colors of highlighters to mark the W’s and L’s. Nate laughs at my traditions but I must confess something. After the tournament is over, my brackets look like a work of art! Anyway, another reason why I love this time is because you get to find out about these kids…these players. They’re not just talented basketball players. They’re actual people with a story. A testimony. I was just watching Dwayne Wade’s story today and it showed clips of when he went to Marquette and what his “story” was at that time. I have to admit…it got me. Choked me up a bit. That’s what I love! I love the stories behind these people…where they’ve been and what they’ve experienced.

Think about the people who are on your ministry team. Your team is just like the basketball teams playing in the “Big Dance”. Just think though…your team is helping to get people ready for the biggest dance of all time! Have you invested in them? Do you know their story? Do you know what makes them tick and know their sweet spot? Do you know their family and where they’ve come from? Your team shouldn’t be people who just fill a spot on your schedule. Your team shouldn’t be people who make up a teacher quota for a classroom. They shouldn’t be people who just hold a door open for visitors or play an instrument up on stage. They should be people who you rally around. They should be people who you celebrate with. They should be people who you do life with. Invest in them and they will invest in you! Invest in them and they will invest in the church! Invest in them and they will invest in their community! Invest in them and they will invest in the Kingdom! Who’s ready for the BIG DANCE?!

Written by: Meggan Jacobus

Meggan is the staffing manager at Froot Group, a worship staffing & consulting company.