I have to give credit where credit is due, the photo above is a Van Gogh painting entitled “Shoes” — isn’t it cool? Now on to my topic….

I’ve been reading David Zimmerman’s A Visitor’s Perspective series and I totally agree. One of the biggest ways that we fail, both as individuals and churches, is by forgetting to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes, namely first-time visitors to our church. With David’s posts fresh in my mind, I received my email issue of Customer Think and quickly noticed an article about engaging customers emotionally. It stuck out to me because it lines up exactly with what David has been talking about in regards to the first-time visitor’s experience.

In the article, Colin Shaw of Beyond Philosophy, points out that many organizations think their job is to process customers, stating that 67% of organizations are transactional and view their customers as something to be processed. By looking only at the physical or rational aspects of the customer experience, they fail to appreciate that 50% of a customer experience is about how a customer feels. If one-half of a customer’s experience in a transactional setting, i.e. grocery store, bank, retail outlet, is based solely on emotion – how much higher is that percentage within the church where the whole experience is based around emotion and spiritual experience? Going to church for the first time or visiting a new church is an intensely emotional and spiritual experience. What strikes me when I consider this is how often we get busy and hurried and fail to consider our visitor’s feelings as we focus on getting our “process” right… I know I’ve been guilty.

I especially liked Colin’s recommendation to map the customer’s journey so that you can allow for an emotionally engaging customer experience. He uses an example of how, using this technique, they redesigned a bank branch loan experience by mapping the “as is” experience of customers. Using this strategy, various first-time visitor “as is” experiences can be mapped out and considered. The following list is not meant to be exhaustive, but to simply provoke thought – I’m sure there are many other experiences that can be added to this list.

The Last Line.
These guests are coming to church because their life has reached rock bottom and they, literally, have nowhere to turn. They will experience church with a sense of desperation, looking fervently for the answers from the only place left to turn. What can we do to impact their experience and lead them gently past their fears and to the only answer, Jesus?

The Anxious.
These guests are there because they’ve been invited, seen your newspaper ad, billboard or heard the radio spot. They’ve been interested in church for a while, but haven’t found the time. Today, finally, they’ve gotten themselves out of the house and to church. They will experience church with a since of expectation, either from what their friends have told them or what your advertising has told them about the church. You can bet they’re anxious about this whole church thing and, really, they just want to get in, get seated and check it out. What can we do to ease their anxiety, help them quickly and easily to their seat and impact their experience so that they will not only open their hearts to the message, but possibly become a vital part of the church?

The Reluctant
These guests are there because someone made them come – a parent, a spouse, a rehab program, etc. They’ve either never had an interest in church or had a negative experience that turned them off of church for good as far as they were concerned. Regardless, they’re there now. They will experience church through a negative lens, looking for the worst and expecting every stereotypical thing to happen… the preacher’s gonna beg for money, I’m going to have to stand in front of everyone… you get the point. What can we do to ease their discomfort and create a positive experience that will open their hearts to see the good in Jesus and His church?

I know I get caught up in the trap many, many times of not stopping to consider what our first-time guests are experiencing in their lives before they come through our doors. How differently would we think of our processes when we consider it through the lens of the other person’s emotions? I know I have some re-thinking to do.

Using a Different Lens,

Funny title, I know, but I couldn’t think of anything else, it’s too early in the morning. But, as I was doing my early morning blog hustle, I ran across an older post over at 1to1 about companies who take proactive steps to help the customer. It’s certainly not an earth shattering revelation, but it is one that more often than not, we’re tempted to claim “we’re doing great” on when, in reality, our customers might say differently.

I love to take concepts and directly apply them to my own life, church experience, team experience, etc. As I contemplated this one, I realized that more than anything it applies to my Marketing Team. Our team is extremely talented and creative. We also care very deeply about the job we do and want our final product to be excellent. Of course, we make mistakes, sometimes big, sometimes small – but we make ‘em. But, I’d have to say that if we struggle anywhere – it’s definitely in this area – being consistently proactive.

We certainly have the best intentions and many, many times we start out on a proactive note only to have 15 projects come in that are needed within four weeks…..so there we go again into reactivity. I can’t tell you how many times this has happened and then we find ourselves behind the eight ball reacting to things we tried to be proactive about a month ago. *sigh*

Honestly, I don’t know the answer, but as a service-based organization to all ministries within our church, it’s up to me to start looking harder for one. So, today’s entry is a personal challenge to myself; but, I’ll end with a question for you, Where in your job, ministry, family and life would a more proactive way of thinking have the most impact? Find it and make it happen – I know you can.

Be Proactive!

 

I ran across a quote today that I thought was rather poignant, I don’t know the year it was said, but I like what it says…

A recent government publication on the marketing of cabbage contains, according to one report, 26,941 words. It is noteworthy in this regard that the Gettysburg Address contains a mere 279 words while the Lord’s Prayer comprises but 67.
- Norman R. Augustine

There’s not much more that I can say except that maybe sometimes, especially as communicators and marketers, we use way too many words. In saying that, I’m not necessarily talking about using images rather than words, or using media, or simplifying or any other thing you can think of…

Rather, it actually brings to mind the Crave Factor session that I recently heard. We were all challenged to focus on creating a “craving” in people rather than simply communicating the “need”…

But, really, how can you create a craving… well, it starts with knowing what the need is. This is hard work, because what people generally need is not always what we think they need. This is hard work because we have to get to know our community, the people who visit our church, people as individual and we have to get outside our church walls (boxes) and get into the hearts and minds of people.

To use fewer words, you must have greater understanding… we have to learn to ask and answer the hard questions:

• What are the people in our local community struggling with?
• What is it that they are looking for?
• What are their primary influences and how can we tap into them?
• When they come through our doors, do we really know what they’re looking for? If so, do we know what we need to do to make them comfortable and provide ways to meet their needs?

Of course, we can’t be all things to all people, but by seeking understanding, we can be more relevant, approachable and really, really care about people. We can be Christ-like.

Caring About Others,