You can slice it and dice it any way you wish, if you are a leader, you have customers. You have people who are looking to you to guide them.
Today I wasted 2 hours on the phone talking to computers. I called 4 different numbers and heard every form of phone music known to man. I became very angry (righteous of course) and will probably switch our telephone provider for the church office.
- Was I angry with the actual service? No. The service was fine. I reported a problem at noon and a tech guy was at our office by 3pm.
- Was I disrespected by the people I came in contact with? No. The lady who took my initial call quickly set up my appointment and the gentleman who came to check the lines was very kind.
So, What was the problem? I was passed around like a number.
Because I had to talk to computers instead of people, I felt abused and left to fend for myself. I did not get the impression that the company WANTED to earn my business.
In your church you have people who need to know you care. Some simple ways to ensure this happens:
1. Phones get answered by people!
I worked at a mega-church during college and never once when I called the church offices did I have to talk to a computer. I didn't have to guess an extension. A friendly voice answered and directed my call if I didn't have someone's direct line. If I did have a direct line, I got a secretary or the person I needed. No matter what, I got a person.
2. Everyone gets eye contact and a touch.
Two churches I've been to who do this great are Fellowship Church and Granger Community Church. They each do a terrific job of first impressions. If you attend church (especially at Granger) you WILL have someone acknowledge you. For those of us in smaller churches this IS a problem even among 200 people. At that size churches are just big enough for someone to go unnoticed. Be sure you have a plan for people to be in contact.
This post is not about those people who are greedy or extra-needy. It's about the average person in your church. The average guest from your community.
What are some other ways we can remind people that they are valued?
2 comments:
I have to agree about the pone answering thing...man it drives me nuts....every church I call I never get to talk to a person....we have two women that work here at our offices and the primary objective is to answer the phones
Valuing people boils down to what our agenda is.
If it's to advance our "thing" to the next level, we will look at people as either a help or hinderance to that.
If it's to advance others with God, we will look at people as He does and invest the time it takes.
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