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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How We Ask For Personal Information From Our Guests

By Casey Ross / Director of Ministry Services / Browns Bridge Community Church In the church world, a person's name and address can be highly sought-after information. With that information, a church can... mail the person a welcome letter. mail the person a handwritten note. send the person promotional material for months to come. drop by unannounced on a Tuesday night with a plant, cake, book, coffee mug, gift card, bag of brochures, etc. to give as a gift. count them on a first time guest report. Of course, before you can do any of this, you have to actually collect the person's name and address. And that can get a little tricky. The last thing a church wants to do is come across desperate or rude. People often inquire about how we ask for personal information from our guests. Our answer is simple. We don't. Well, we don't until they come to us and are ready to give it to us. We believe if a guest wants us to have their personal information, they will give it to us when they're ready to take a step. Honestly, it's a risk. If they choose to self-identify, then we hopefully give them clear and easy ways to do so. If they choose to remain anonymous, they can easily do so. So how do we receive people's personal information? After all, we do have a database. One primary way we collect this information is in our Family Ministry environments when someone registers their child. Another way is when someone takes a step...Starting Point Orientation, NEXT, baptism, membership, volunteer, financial giving, etc. Collecting people's personal information is important and strategic. But you may not have to collect it as aggressively as you think. Be patient and let people come to you. Their information will probably be more valuable this way.

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Our Guests Are The Most Important Part Of Drive

By Casey Ross / Director of Ministry Services / Browns Bridge Community Church Our Drive Conference starts next week! It's one of my favorite times of the year! It’s so humbling to have leaders from around the world come to our North Point campus. And it’s such an honor to talk with them and learn from them. When you attend a conference, there are certain expectations you have. You expect the content to be helpful. You expect the quality to be excellent. You expect the systems you have to go through to be efficient. You expect the group putting on the conference to wow you. Those who attend Drive will experience these things! But my goal for next week is that each person who attends Drive will feel like they were the priority of the conference. Yes, we paid attention to content, quality, systems, etc. But we paid the most attention to them. One thing we take very seriously…in a really fun way…at Drive is how we welcome, inform, and serve those who attend. Every person who attends is our special guest for these few days. And every one of our staff members is a part of Guest Services for these few days. This year, however, we have six specific teams whose jobs are to pay special attention to our guests: Information Center Team Parking Team Inside the Auditorium Host Team Outside the Auditorium Host Team Rest Stop Team Wish Granting Team You can’t just say people are the most important thing to you. You have to act like it. I am praying we act like it next week. If you are coming to Drive, we cannot wait for you to get here! Thank you for giving up a few days so we can learn from you! If you are here looking for help with Guest Services, the same can be said about your church. The people who walk through your doors have expectations. And you hopefully meet these expectations through your content, quality, systems, etc. Make sure, though, you prove people are the most important part of everything you do on Sundays. [This is a re-post with some tweaks.]

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