Guest Services

What Are Your Combustion Points?

By Casey Ross / Director of Ministry Services / Browns Bridge Community Church We have a problem at our Browns Bridge church. It’s the kind of problem that can turn a guest’s great experience into a bad experience. Mom and dad can love our worship service. Little Johnny can love UpStreet. Little Suzy can love Waumba Land. And that positive feeling can go away by what happens next. Traffic. When we built Browns Bridge, we only built one exit off the campus. Trying to move guests off the campus in a safe and timely manner is not easy. We have had traffic engineers, traffic experts, Parking Team volunteers, and many others give us feedback and ideas. The bottom line is we’re doing the best we can with what we have. Traffic is a “combustion point” we deal with every Sunday. Combustion point is a term Disney uses to define… “spots where even a finely tuned process can break down and, instead of contributing to a positive customer experience, begin to turn a guest’s good day into a bad one. It’s impossible to completely eliminate combustion points, but the goal is to stop them from turning into explosion points.” (*page 24) Can you guess Disney’s combustion points? One are the long lines guests stand in waiting for a ride or attraction. Another is a guest remembering where they parked their vehicle at the end of a long day. Good experiences can turn bad at these points. It is important that your church identifies your combustion points. Disney says look for those places where guests… complain consistently get stuck in your systems have common issues and problems Traffic is not Browns Bridge’s only combustion point. Another example is the time it takes to join a small group. We officially only have four times each year when people can join a small group (two GroupLinks and two Access Group seasons.) This means people often have to wait to get into a small group. Combustion point. If you’re still having trouble determining what your church’s combustion points are, Disney has found that combustion points are commonly found in four areas: guest flow staff/volunteer-to-guest communication guests with special needs poor process design A combustion point in your church could be how guests register for your kid’s environments or how you communicate with guests who want to volunteer. It could be any number of things. It’s important that you identify them. Maybe you can eliminate the problem. Maybe you can soften the combustion point by making the experience less painful. People lead your church. And people attend your church. It will never be perfect. There are systems and processes that frustrate your guests. Your guests are aware of them. Are you? What can you do to create a better experience for them? * For more information and discussion on combustion points and other Guest Services topics, see the Disney Institute’s book Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service.

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When People Leave Your Service Early

By Casey Ross / Director of Ministry Services / Browns Bridge Community Church In the last post, we talked about what to do with guests who arrive late to your worship service. It is more of a tension to manage than a problem to solve. In response to that post, Deni from LCBC in Pennsylvania asked, “Our question is why do we have the crowd that leaves early, during the last song or after the message? It is such a distraction to many and can really break an individual’s personal connection to the moment.” We wrestle with the same issue. Guests leave early for a variety of reasons: They want to beat the traffic. They want to get to lunch. They need to get somewhere by a certain time. They are not engaged during the end of the service. We don’t do a closing song every Sunday. Oftentimes, the communicator will end the sermon with a prayer and dismiss everyone. At times, someone will add a brief announcement after the prayer then dismiss everyone. On these Sundays, we may have a very small number of guests leave the service early. But on the Sundays we do have a closing song, we do have an issue with guests leaving early. From time to time, our communicator will simply ask people to not leave early. Even when we do that, we still have some guests who leave. It can be frustrating. Those guests are missing out on the complete worship experience that was created for them. They may be distracting other guests as they leave. They may even be distracting or discouraging the musicians. From a Guest Services perspective, there may not be much you can do to prevent them from leaving early. It’s important that you treat them like you would all other guests who stay for the entire service. Give them the same good-bye you give all of your guests. Don’t assume they know they are being a distraction. They may have a very good reason to leave early that particular Sunday. Most likely, the team that can do the most about this tension is the team in charge of planning the worship service. While it may not be a solvable problem for them, they may have the most influence in trying to keep the guests at their seats. They are doing all they can to make sure the end of the service is so engaging that guests do not want to miss it. The reality, though, is there will always be some guests who leave early. Guests don’t always behave exactly like we want them to. It can be irritating. It can cause challenges. But when you make your guests feel valued regardless of what time they arrive or leave, everyone wins! You are accomplishing your church’s mission in the lives of more people. People tell their friends about the places that make them feel valued. As a result, others will come to experience your church and its mission.

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What Do You Do With Late People?

By Casey Ross / Director of Ministry Services / Browns Bridge Community Church I recently had the opportunity to talk with some leaders from different states about Guest Services in their churches. During the conversation, I learned something very interesting. We’re not the only church to which people come very late. Apparently, people all over the United States arrive late to church every Sunday. Do you have this “problem” in your church? We do. How do you handle the people who arrive late to your church? Before we answer that question, maybe we should ask ourselves a different question. Anytime you are trying to determine if there is a problem to solve or a tension to manage, it’s important you see the big picture. There is a question that can help you see the situation through the eyes of the guest: Why are they late? This is an important question to ask because it helps you see each latecomer as a story and not just a person who walked in late. Maybe they were late because… it was their first time coming to your church. They didn’t know there would be traffic or that it would take so long to check-in to your children’s environments. they are always late. Some people just naturally run late. something specific made them late that morning. Maybe their car wouldn’t start or one of their kids didn’t cooperate. they wanted to be late. They were intentionally late because they don’t love your music, but they do love your preaching. they didn’t know what time you started. You don’t communicate your service times as well as you think you do. The truth is you don’t know why they were late. But it’s important we see them as a story and not as a problem. So, this Sunday when the service has already started and in walk the latecomers, what are you going to do? Admit it. A little part of you wants to drop a hint what time the service started and make them feel a little guilty for not being on time. But when you remember they are a story and not a problem, you will respond differently. No matter what time a guest walks into your church on Sunday, treat them the same way you treated every guest who came before them. Welcome them as if they arrived 10 minutes before the service started. Help them feel valued by assisting them. If they mention they were late, respond, “You’re not late. You’re right on time.” Treat them as a story not a problem.

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What Do Our Guests Want From Us?

By Casey Ross / Director of Ministry Services / Browns Bridge Community Church Every Sunday, every guest who comes into our church wants something from us. If we're lucky, they will walk up to us and ask for it. Most Sundays, though, they don't even give us a hint. We just have to guess. Guest Services volunteers are on the front line of giving each guest what they want. What a privilege! And what a responsibility! To make matters even more challenging, each guest wants something different from us at different times. What a specific guest wants before the service may be different after the service. What another guest wants one Sunday is different the following Sunday. What could they want from us? Here are just some of the possibilities: Leave me alone. Where is _____? I'm hurting. Help me. Tell me you’re glad I’m here. Give me a handshake or a pat on the shoulder. Smile at me. Ask me how I'm doing. Make me feel like you're glad I'm here. How do I _____? How do we do all these things and more when there is no way to know what each guest wants? We can go to one extreme of approaching every guest and asking them what we can do for them. We can go to another extreme of sitting back and waiting for them to come to us. We have decided to land somewhere in the middle. Our way is not necessarily the right way, but it is how our Guest Services volunteers give our guests what they need. We have decided to do three things for our guests: Welcome Inform Serve Our Guest Services volunteers lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ (our church's mission) by welcoming, informing, and serving our guests. Every Guest Services volunteer is empowered to do these three things with every guest they encounter. We want to make sure every guest is welcomed and feels like we are glad they are at church. We want to make sure we have the information they need when they want it. And we want to serve them in the ways they need to be served. We hope we give our guests what they want from us by doing these three things every Sunday. The reality is we miss some of our guests. Regardless of how many people attend your church, you cannot get this right every Sunday with every guest. The goal is to connect with as many guests as possible and be available to them all. How do you give your guests what they want from you? Have you answered this question for your church? It is vital that you have a strategy to connect with every guest.

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Anyone Can Serve In Guest Services And That Can Cause Tension

By Casey Ross / Director of Ministry Services / Browns Bridge Community Church "I can't believe you let him greet people at the front door of your church! Do you know what he does on Friday nights?" Family Ministry requires a background check. Group Life requires an application. Care Network requires an interview. Not just anyone can volunteer in these areas. It's no secret, however, that Guest Services makes it easy for people to volunteer. Just about anyone can be a Guest Services volunteer, and that can cause tension. Not every volunteer role should be open to just anyone, but we believe there should be some entry level roles for those new to church or new to volunteering. Why do we believe Guest Services is a good team on which to have entry level volunteer roles? Volunteers are not relating to or directly working with kids. Volunteers are not leading others spiritually. Volunteers are not leading other volunteers. Our Guest Services Captains, however, are volunteers who lead other volunteers. They go through apprenticing and an interview and have specific qualifications (i.e. experience, church membership) to serve in that role. Not every Guest Services role is an entry level role. By allowing almost anyone to serve within Guest Services, it creates a tension we have to manage. What if a volunteer, who represents our church, is living a lifestyle during the week that does not line up with the values of our church? It's a tension we're okay with. Why do we see this as a tension to manage instead of a problem to solve? If he is actively volunteering,... he's not at the lake, playing golf, watching TV, etc. on Sunday morning. We want church to be irresistible and his choice to be here is one indication that we're accomplishing that goal. he's identified himself with our church and our Guest Services team. There is something appealing, engaging, and helpful about the church and this team that makes him want to be here! we can influence him. If he's on the team, he's giving us permission to speak into his life. If we become aware of a lifestyle concern, we can have a conversation with him. we can invest in him. If he's on the team, he is building relationships with others who can pour into his life. we can lead him into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. That is, after all, our mission with every person who walk through our doors. Let's be honest, he's not the only volunteer in the church making poor decisions and representing our church poorly. People are messy. No one is as clean as they appear. Instead of communicating to him that he cannot be a part of what is happening at our church, we want to give him appropriate opportunities to take a step into our church. Some Guests Services volunteer roles give him that opportunity.

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