Customer Satisfaction: Turning on the Heat

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: How To Turn It Up In Church

What is customer satisfaction and how do you turn it up in church?

How Every since I was a teen I’ve always loved management and customer satisfaction. Please understand that when I talk about customer satisfaction I am not talking about the cliche “the customer is always right”. When I talk about customer satisfaction I think about serving and excellence. While I served as Guest Services Manager in 4 star hotels we focused on operations and caring for the needs of others. The managers had a list that they went through daily and it was this list that helped us live up to the expectations of others. As a pastor where and what is your list?

It becomes very easy to neglect various flaws and problems in the church that guest see and many even become distracted by them. Pastors and church leaders are called to care for the flock and give of themselves but they are also called serve the needs of the church guest and members. When is the last time you did a walk through or visited your church as a guest?

I can give countless stories that others have given me when they visited churches. The greatest problem that I ran into on one of my visits to a church was a church that had rats and the rooms had not been cleaned in a while. The youth building was horrible because you could see rats walking up in the wood above you and I was told the room had not been cleaned in months. As a parent I would have personally told other parents about the church and problems. The many issues gave a really bad report to the leaders because you could tell that they were not being good stewards. Like so many other people we left the church in dissapointment.

One of my very best experiences was when we attended “The Sanctuary or Santa Clarita Canyon Country Foursquare Church.” The pastor had a deep understanding of meeting the needs of the guest and members. The pastor had the church service set up so that he could visit every children and youth room to spend time with each of them. He would then show back up in the adult service where he would express his love for them and what the kids were learning that day. Another great concept that he implemented was that once a year he would close the church service and encourage members to attend other churches bringing back bullitens etc. One of the greatest reasons he did this was that he wanted his members to fellowship with other believers and he wanted to know what God was doing in the churches. The following week he would celebrate what God was doing in the churches and in the community.

I celebrate churches like the one in Santa Clarita because we should focus on meeting the needs of our community and celebrate what God is doing. Improving the church facilities and services will only help your members become more excited about attending and meeting the needs of our guest. Some churches have very little cash and the facilities may need a lot of work but we must continue as upgrade the service and facilities as time and funds permit. A freind of mine pastors in Arizona and his challenge is the property and the lack of funds because the majority of the members are not employed. However, he has made many upgrades on the property and he focuses on the effectiveness of the ministries.

I’ve attended churches that felt like attending a movie or a broadway show. The issue here is not about putting on a great show but meeting the needs of those attending. We must pay attention to details that our guest pay attention to. We need to train our members and those serving so that growth can occur. If you want to improve on meeting the needs of your members and guest and increase customer satisfaction you should do the following:

Implement a monthly walk through where you

TRAFFIC FLOW

Inspect the parking grounds (Coming and Going)
Note the effectiveness of the signs
Look at traffic flow and write down troubled spots

BUILDING APPROACH

Landscaping overgrown or messed up
Any dangerous steps
parking lot concrete have holes etc
How are entrances and can any of them use a flower garden etc

YOUTH AND CHILDREN

How is registration processes
Staff and members friendliness
Staff and members approachable
Wait time for childrens registration, service on time, time to get in and out

STAFF

Attitude of staff
Attitude of people around you
Members and staff knowledgable

Services and Ministries

Do we meet need of our families
How is our beverage area (anything missing)
How effective are they

Gather a list of questions for customer satisfaction and have church leaders, members, visitors, and others answer them. The goal in gathering information is to find out what you are doing wrong and right. The best way to meet the needs of your guest is to find out what they are. Many churches only hit the surface when it comes to doing this and if they are detailed they do not do this regularly. Here are just a few areas to discuss:

How are the following? Were they friendly? What did you like about them?

TRAFFIC TEAM/GREETERS

USHER GREET TEAM

GUEST SERVICES TEAM

ATRIUM HOST

CAFE

BULLETEN ASSEMBLY

MEDIA

GROUNDSKEEPING

SECURITY

MEDIA RESPONSE TEAM

POINT PERSON