Making Your First Impression a Lasting Impression

Mark Waltz, author of "First Impressions," suggests the following word-association exercise:

Look at the following list, and jot down your first thought about each place. Don't spend a lot of time on this - just write the first thought that comes to mind.

• McDonald's
• Your last hotel stay (not the name of the hotel, but your impression of it)
• Your last airline experience (again, not the name of the company)
• Your bank
• Your local church
• Starbucks

Now take a moment to evaluate the impressions you jotted down. Which reflect your feelings from initial encounter, and which ones describe your thoughts at the end of your experience with that organization? What does this tell you about the impressions we retain?

Organizations that understand the lasting nature of first impressions also understand that people matter. When people matter, guests are wowed. And when guests are wowed, they know they matter.

What kind of lasting impression is your first impression making?


Friday Resource Wrap up

This week kicks off a 40 Day Journey of Guest Services, leading up to Easter Sunday, followed 2 weeks later by Mother's Day - which just happen to be 2 of the 3 largest attended church services in America's typical church.

I hope the posts this week will serve as an appetizer for you to dive into the main course - found in some of the following resources:

This week I've drawn heavily on the single best resource for Guest Services available today: the book "First Impressions" by Mark Waltz, Connections Pastor at Granger Community Church near South Bend, IN, and campus pastor of their Elkhart campus. If you want to know about Guest Services, get a copy of this book today!

I've also utilized "Customer Satisfaction is Worthless; Customer Loyalty is Priceless" by Jeffrey Gitomer, a sales and customer service expert. His primary market is the business world, but I've found dozens of applications to ChurchWorld in his writings.


What's Ahead:

Saturday - Who is your competiton?
Sunday - Turn the Ordinary into EXTRAORDINARY!