The theme all week long has been "People." Next week, it will be time for "Process" and the final week of our journey will be "Place." Just keeping you on track!
The single most important part of your Guest Services Team is the people that serve on it. During this week, we have taken a look at the various types of teams that comprise the typical Guest Services in a church; been treated to the people secrets of one of NYC's most famous restaurant owners; and gone backstage at Disney to learn the foundational principles their cast members use to deliver the magic.
Now it's time for a cup of coffee - and a great lesson in creating an extraordinary experience out of an ordinary event.
I'm talking about Starbucks.
Love it or hate it (and it seems there's not much middle ground) Starbucks began a revolution of "the third place," creating an experience (with a price to match!) that consumers flocked to in droves. Even over the past few years with rising prices, store closings, and increased competition, Starbucks has some great lessons on Guest Services that the church can learn.
Central to the experience at Starbucks is the barista, the smiling face that greets you when you come into the store and takes your order. I frequent Starbucks across the country (it's a favorite meeting place for church leaders), and I am amazed at the knowledge, uniformity of service, and general attitude displayed - from Phoenix to New York City. Being naturally curious, several years ago I began a research project to see how the experience of Starbucks could be transferred to the church.
It turns out it could - and it all begins with The Green Apron Book...
Tomorrow: Learning About Guest Services over a Caffe Mocha
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Performance Tips from the Mouse
Walt Disney is perhaps the greatest practitioner of Guest Services around today. Books have been written about what the "cast" at Disney does to make people feel welcome (I know - I've read all of them, and own most of them).
So I'm sure you won't mind if we go backstage at Disney to learn about their Performance Tips - a list of actions which every Disney employee learns during their orientation.
Performance Tips are a set of generic behaviors that ensure that cast members know how to act courteously and respect the individuality of each guest. These tips have been translated into a set of behavioral actions called Guidelines for Guest Services:
These seven sentences serve a variety of purposes. First, the define behavior in terms of guests. They also communicate employee responsibilities. Finally, they showcase ways to customize service to individual guests.
Your church won't have tens of thousands of people coming through your doors every day - but the principles Disney uses as a baseline starting point for training its cast members are appropriate in the context of your church.
Why don't you put these Perfomance Tips into practice for your Guest Team?
So I'm sure you won't mind if we go backstage at Disney to learn about their Performance Tips - a list of actions which every Disney employee learns during their orientation.
Performance Tips are a set of generic behaviors that ensure that cast members know how to act courteously and respect the individuality of each guest. These tips have been translated into a set of behavioral actions called Guidelines for Guest Services:
- Make eye contact and smile!
- Greet and welcome each and every guest
- Seek out guest contact
- Provide immediate service recovery
- Display appropriate body language at all times
- Preserve the "magical" guest experience
- Thank each and every guest
These seven sentences serve a variety of purposes. First, the define behavior in terms of guests. They also communicate employee responsibilities. Finally, they showcase ways to customize service to individual guests.
Your church won't have tens of thousands of people coming through your doors every day - but the principles Disney uses as a baseline starting point for training its cast members are appropriate in the context of your church.
Why don't you put these Perfomance Tips into practice for your Guest Team?
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
The 51 Percent Solution
What kind of person serves on a Guest Services team?
Danny Meyer, founder and co-owner of eleven successful restaurants in New Youk City, writes the following about his staff:
The idea of someone giving 110 percent is about as realistic as working to achieve the twenty-six hour day. At our restaurants, we are hoping to develop 100 percent employees whose skills are divided 51-49 between emotional hospitality and technical excellence. These are 51 percenters.
A 51 percenter has five core emotional skills. If your team has these skills, you can be champions at the team sport of hospitality. They are:
Hospitality is a dialogue. How's the conversation coming at your church?
Danny Meyer, founder and co-owner of eleven successful restaurants in New Youk City, writes the following about his staff:
The idea of someone giving 110 percent is about as realistic as working to achieve the twenty-six hour day. At our restaurants, we are hoping to develop 100 percent employees whose skills are divided 51-49 between emotional hospitality and technical excellence. These are 51 percenters.
A 51 percenter has five core emotional skills. If your team has these skills, you can be champions at the team sport of hospitality. They are:
- Optimistic warmth - genuine kindness, thoughtfulness, and a sense that the glass is always at least half full
- Intelligence - not just "smarts", but rather an insatiable curiosity to lean for the sake of learning
- Work ethic - a natural tendency to do something as well as it can possibly be done
- Empathy - an awareness of, care for, and connection to how others feel and how your actions make others feel
- Self-awareness and integrity - an understanding of what makes you tick and a natural inclination to be accountable for doing the right thing with honesty and superb judgement
Hospitality is a dialogue. How's the conversation coming at your church?
Monday, April 4, 2011
Guest Services Begins with ...
People
Two kinds, actually - the people who provide the Guest Services, and the people who are the recipients of your Guest Services. Let's start with the people who provide Guest Services at your church.
Greeting guests is EVERYONE's responsibility in a church. Vibrant, fruitful, growing congregations practice Radical Hospitality (a term I first heard used by Robert Schnase, Bishop in the Missouri Conference of the UMC-we'll be revisiting this concept later). The entire church focuses on those outside their congregation with as much passion as the attend to the nurture and growth of those who already belong to the family of faith, and they apply their utmost creativity, energy, and effectiveness to the task, exceeding all expectations.
Beyond the entire church body's responsibility for engaging in hospitality toward guests, there needs to be a dedicated team of individuals covering a wide range of roles under the umbrella of Guest Services. Here's a typical make-up of a Guest Services Team:
Hospitality
Hospitality team members welcome each person into the foyer/commons area with a kind word, a welcoming smile, and offer coffee/snacks as appropriate.
Parking
The Parking team is an excited, friendly, and smiling group of people who are the first face of your Church. This team literally makes the first impression on every guest. It’s not about putting cars in parking spots, but about creating a friendly environment where people feel genuinely welcomed.
Greeters
Greeters stand at every outside access door, warmly welcoming guests, members, and regular attenders to your church. They are ready and willing to meet any need that might arise.
VIP
VIP team members go above and beyond welcoming first time guests. They go to extraordinary lengths to ensure VIPS are honored and know exactly where the worship center, children’s check-in, and restrooms are located.
Ushers
Users are totally devoted to helping people find great seats before and during worship services. Their presence also helps keep people feeling out of place if they arrive late, and helps to minimize distraction once the service has begun. Ushers are also the first responders (with appropriate other teams) in emergencies.
Follow-up
The follow-up team partners with the church staff and other designated teams to implement the appropriate follow-up process to guests.
Medical Team
The medical team is a network of medical professionals on call during worship hours to respond to medical emergencies.
Security
The security team monitors the entire campus to make sure everyone at your church is safe as can be. Special training and/or currently serving law enforcement officers is a requirement.
The above teams are representative of the roles and responsibilities that Guest Services fulfill at the typical church. Other churches may add specific teams as needed for special and unique opportunities.
Guest Services begins with people who are totally sold out to providing a WOW! Experience to all who come to your campus. They are the foundation to a successful guest experience.
Two kinds, actually - the people who provide the Guest Services, and the people who are the recipients of your Guest Services. Let's start with the people who provide Guest Services at your church.
Greeting guests is EVERYONE's responsibility in a church. Vibrant, fruitful, growing congregations practice Radical Hospitality (a term I first heard used by Robert Schnase, Bishop in the Missouri Conference of the UMC-we'll be revisiting this concept later). The entire church focuses on those outside their congregation with as much passion as the attend to the nurture and growth of those who already belong to the family of faith, and they apply their utmost creativity, energy, and effectiveness to the task, exceeding all expectations.
Beyond the entire church body's responsibility for engaging in hospitality toward guests, there needs to be a dedicated team of individuals covering a wide range of roles under the umbrella of Guest Services. Here's a typical make-up of a Guest Services Team:
Hospitality
Hospitality team members welcome each person into the foyer/commons area with a kind word, a welcoming smile, and offer coffee/snacks as appropriate.
Parking
The Parking team is an excited, friendly, and smiling group of people who are the first face of your Church. This team literally makes the first impression on every guest. It’s not about putting cars in parking spots, but about creating a friendly environment where people feel genuinely welcomed.
Greeters
Greeters stand at every outside access door, warmly welcoming guests, members, and regular attenders to your church. They are ready and willing to meet any need that might arise.
VIP
VIP team members go above and beyond welcoming first time guests. They go to extraordinary lengths to ensure VIPS are honored and know exactly where the worship center, children’s check-in, and restrooms are located.
Ushers
Users are totally devoted to helping people find great seats before and during worship services. Their presence also helps keep people feeling out of place if they arrive late, and helps to minimize distraction once the service has begun. Ushers are also the first responders (with appropriate other teams) in emergencies.
Follow-up
The follow-up team partners with the church staff and other designated teams to implement the appropriate follow-up process to guests.
Medical Team
The medical team is a network of medical professionals on call during worship hours to respond to medical emergencies.
Security
The security team monitors the entire campus to make sure everyone at your church is safe as can be. Special training and/or currently serving law enforcement officers is a requirement.
The above teams are representative of the roles and responsibilities that Guest Services fulfill at the typical church. Other churches may add specific teams as needed for special and unique opportunities.
Guest Services begins with people who are totally sold out to providing a WOW! Experience to all who come to your campus. They are the foundation to a successful guest experience.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Hospitality
20 days in; 20 days to go! This 40 Day Guest Services Journey is all about how churches can learn to create a WOW! Experience for their guests, members, and regular attenders. I hope you've enjoyed the journey so far!
In another post I alluded to the fact that our competition is not other churches; it's places that provide WOW! Experiences and to which guests compare our churches. While that may seem a negative, it can also be turned into a positive by LEARNING from those top notch notch places and their leaders.
Take for instance Danny Meyer, the founder and co-owner of eleven New York restaurants. He wrote a book entitled "Setting the Table." Subtitled "The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business," Meyer shares the lessons he's learned while developing the winning recipe for doing the business he calls "enlightened hospitality." They are lessons that the church can learn from. Here's a sample:
Earlier this year, I posted a series on hospitality based on Le Bernardin, the famous restaurant in NYC owned by Chef Eric Ripert. If this post resonated with you, click on the links below for more.
Creating experiences of hospitality allow for positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. They will help you connect to people coming in your door week in and week out.
In another post I alluded to the fact that our competition is not other churches; it's places that provide WOW! Experiences and to which guests compare our churches. While that may seem a negative, it can also be turned into a positive by LEARNING from those top notch notch places and their leaders.
Take for instance Danny Meyer, the founder and co-owner of eleven New York restaurants. He wrote a book entitled "Setting the Table." Subtitled "The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business," Meyer shares the lessons he's learned while developing the winning recipe for doing the business he calls "enlightened hospitality." They are lessons that the church can learn from. Here's a sample:
- Hospitality is the foundation of my business philosophy. Virtually nothing else is as important as how one is made to feel in any business transaction. Hospitality exists whe you believe the other person is on your side. Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you. Those two prepositions - for and to - express it all.
- Understanding the distinction between service and hospitality has been at the foundation of our success. Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes it recipient feel. Service is a monologue - we decide how we wan to do thins and set our own standards for service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue. To be on a guest's side requires listening to that person with every sense, and following up with a thoughtful, gracious, appropriate response. It takes both great service and great hospitality to rise to the top.
- People duck as a natural reflex when something is hurled at them. Similarly, the excellence reflex is a natural reaction to fix something that isn't right, or to improve something that could be better. The excellence reflex is rooted in instinct and upbringing, and then constantly honed through awareness, caring, and practice. The overarching concern to do the right thing well is there or it isn't.
Earlier this year, I posted a series on hospitality based on Le Bernardin, the famous restaurant in NYC owned by Chef Eric Ripert. If this post resonated with you, click on the links below for more.
Creating experiences of hospitality allow for positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. They will help you connect to people coming in your door week in and week out.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
What's Keeping You From Delivering a WOW! Experience?
We're just about half way into the 40 Day Guest Services Journey. While reading these daily posts, you may have picked up on a common theme sprinkled throughout:
It's all about WOW!
WOW! doesn't happen by accident, though. You have to work hard at it, whether you are talking about serving on the parking team, greeting guests at the entrance to your buildings, or serving as an usher.
Michael Hyatt, Chairman and CEO at Thomas Nelson Publishers, has a great post about obstacles to WOW!. Some of the key points are listed below; read the whole article here.
In my experience, there are at least five obstacles to creating wow experiences:
1. Often, we simply run out of time. The deadline looms. We are scrambling to get the product out the door. Or, we have to wrap up the service, so we can get to the next client before he starts complaining. We simply don’t have the time to give the job our best effort. So, we let it go. Half-baked. Before it is really done.
2. Sometimes, the problem is resources. We’d like to do a better job. We sincerely want to take it to the next level. But we just don’t have the money or the man-power. We rationalize by saying, I did the best I could do with the resources I had. And again, we let it go and turn our attention to the next project or client in the queue.
3. Occasionally, we don’t have sufficient experience. We just don’t know how to do what we know needs to be done. Our vision exceeds our know-how. We know what the product or service could deliver, but we don’t have the knowledge, the skills, or the experience to get us there. So, we settle for something less than our vision demands.
4. Too often, we acquiesce to the committee Perhaps we are a little unsure of ourselves. Everyone else seems to like it, we say to ourselves. Maybe they’re right. There are a lot of smart people in this room. C’mon, just let it go! And, so we do. We dial back our own vision for what could be and succumb to the collective judgment of the group.
5. But the biggest obstacle of all is fear. In fact, I would say that this is the primary obstacle. If we are honest, we must admit that the previous four items are only excuses. If we had enough courage, we would find the time, the resources or the experience. We would stand up to the committee. We wouldn’t settle for something less than wow.
What about you?
What's standing in the way of creating a WOW! Experience for your guests?
It's all about WOW!
WOW! doesn't happen by accident, though. You have to work hard at it, whether you are talking about serving on the parking team, greeting guests at the entrance to your buildings, or serving as an usher.
Michael Hyatt, Chairman and CEO at Thomas Nelson Publishers, has a great post about obstacles to WOW!. Some of the key points are listed below; read the whole article here.
In my experience, there are at least five obstacles to creating wow experiences:
1. Often, we simply run out of time. The deadline looms. We are scrambling to get the product out the door. Or, we have to wrap up the service, so we can get to the next client before he starts complaining. We simply don’t have the time to give the job our best effort. So, we let it go. Half-baked. Before it is really done.
2. Sometimes, the problem is resources. We’d like to do a better job. We sincerely want to take it to the next level. But we just don’t have the money or the man-power. We rationalize by saying, I did the best I could do with the resources I had. And again, we let it go and turn our attention to the next project or client in the queue.
3. Occasionally, we don’t have sufficient experience. We just don’t know how to do what we know needs to be done. Our vision exceeds our know-how. We know what the product or service could deliver, but we don’t have the knowledge, the skills, or the experience to get us there. So, we settle for something less than our vision demands.
4. Too often, we acquiesce to the committee Perhaps we are a little unsure of ourselves. Everyone else seems to like it, we say to ourselves. Maybe they’re right. There are a lot of smart people in this room. C’mon, just let it go! And, so we do. We dial back our own vision for what could be and succumb to the collective judgment of the group.
5. But the biggest obstacle of all is fear. In fact, I would say that this is the primary obstacle. If we are honest, we must admit that the previous four items are only excuses. If we had enough courage, we would find the time, the resources or the experience. We would stand up to the committee. We wouldn’t settle for something less than wow.
What about you?
What's standing in the way of creating a WOW! Experience for your guests?
Friday, April 1, 2011
A Hospitality Quiz
No fooling!
The questions below are designed to be thought-provoking in terms of what you are doing at your own church.
The questions below are designed to be thought-provoking in terms of what you are doing at your own church.
- If you asked the average person at your church who is responsible for greeting guests, what would they say?
- If you asked the average person at your church who is responsible for helping guests become regular attenders and then members, what would they say?
- How do members and regular attenders of your church describe what the church is like in a sentence or two? In a word or two?
- If I drove into the nearest convenience store or gas station and asked the clerk about your church, what would they say?
- Is your church facility a warm, inviting place? Is it easy to find?
- When a guest comes into your campus, do they know where to park? Where to enter the building? Where to take their children? Where to find the worship service?
- Are the print materials you use easy to understand?
- Is the language you use during worship full of "insider" terms? Would a person without a church background understand what is going on?
- If a guest attends your church once, but doesn't come back for a few weeks, would you know it? If you did, what would you do about it?
- When a guest wants to further investigate faith in Christ, is there a clear "next step" to follow?
- Does your church really want guests attending every week?
- What are you as a leader prepared to do to is the answer to the previous question is "no"?
- What if the answer to the question is "yes"?
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