Kids

How’s your first impression?

Have you ever wondered what guests actually think when they walk through your doors? You know, did they have to search through several layers of your website trying to find out what will happen with their kids? Were they frustrated by where they had to park? Did someone invite them and bring them or did they just show up on their own?

If you’re like us, your whole reason for doing church in the first place is to reach those around you. You’ve invested a significant amount of leadership, time, and money to create the best empty seats possible in your auditoriums, theaters, and classrooms to bring your unsaved friends and neighbors.

What if you found out there were a few things, a few frustrations, a few obstacles that your guests bumped into every time they walked in your doors? What if you found out that some of them were significant enough to keep them from coming back?

How to evaluate and improve your “Guest Experience:”

1. If you really want to know how you’re doing with guests, ASK THEM!

We were unsure how big some of the obstacles, like parking and traffic flow, were in the eyes of our guests. So, we decided to survey every guest from each campus, who had attended less them five times and ask them some very specific questions.When we surveyed them, we were surprised to find out that some of the things we thought were deal breakers, weren’t as frustrating to our guests as we thought.

It’s important to take the time to find out how your guests feel about their experience. You will learn some very valuable information.

2. Take a look at the current systems you have in place to connect with guests.

Are they helpful? Are they clear? Are they simple? One great way to get a view of your current systems is to escort a guest family from the front door, through all of your family ministry environment check-in processes all the way until they are seated in the auditorium.

Another great way to find out what may need improvement is to ask the volunteers who work at critical places in your guest process. They are usually quick to point out small things that when improved add up to a big difference.

3. Create new and refine existing experiences to enhance your guests experience.

Get away with your team and take the information that you’ve learned from doing step 1 and step 2 and brainstorm some new solutions to some of your problems. We found there were definitely some things that added little value so we could STOP doing them. We also found that there were some gaps. Some creative new solutions needed to be added.

4. Remove EVERY obstacle that would hinder a guest from having a great experience.

This is a great way to think about guests as they come to your church. What are the potential obstacles that would be in their way? How can I remove them? This will really give your volunteers and staff clear direction as they create that first impression for your guests. Their primary charge is to remove obstacles!

Several of our teams have read the book by Disney entitled, “Be Our Guest.” This is an easy-read full of great ideas. It will definitely get you thinking as you create the best environments possible for your guests.

When was the last time you looked at your environments through the eyes of a guest?