Stuff to Ponder
I fly American Airlines quite a bit, as I'm based in Dallas/Fort Worth and they have more flights out of here than anyone else. As a Gold member of their AAdvantage club (frequent flyer), I was emailed a survey about a recent trip I took from DFW to Detroit and asked to rate them on their performance.

I've taken surveys before, but I liked that this survey didn't 'set up' answers to give American Airlines a positive spin no matter how I replied. They asked a lot of great questions, and gave lots of options for answers - including a few questions that listed about 20 of their major competitors as possible answers for who was best.

But one multiple choice question about the quality of their customer service - from gate agents to flight attendants - gave me the additional space to explain what I liked best. My answer?

"Service with a smile" isn't just a catch phrase - it's the beginning of great customer service. - Anthony Coppedge

I'm obsessive/compulsive when it comes to top quality customer service in my business dealings, my personal interaction with stores and also when it comes to church.

Church has customers?

Now before I get some super-spiritual smart-aleck posting about "we're all supposed to be worshippers, not consumers!", yeah, I get that - when it comes to Christians. But the unchurched (not the dechurched or formerly churched) don't know jack squat about true worship, but they've got a lot of knowledge about great customer service.

When these people pull into the parking lot for the first time, what is their first impression?

Do you have parking lot greeters smiling and waving them into up-close visitor parking spots?

Do you have a hospitality team that hurries out with an over-sized umbrella (that has the church logo on it!) and a smile on rainy days?

Do your greeters smile and shake hands or pat people on the arm as they walk in?

Do you have 'floaters' whose job is to be near the doors, smiling, and make themselves immediately available to escort new visitors to the children's area, nursery or sanctuary?

Do your ushers smile warmly and thank each person for coming and coordinate seating so that it's easy for even large families to sit together?

Are you seeing a pattern here? All of that involves "Service with a smile!" and the customer service that goes above and beyond to make the first impression an outstanding one!

Most churches have average to mediocre customer service. Oh, sure, there might be an usher or two who will stop talking with the other ushers long enough to make quick eye contact with a guest as a church bulletin is passed between them. And even for those churches who have door greeters who smile, the above-and-beyond customer service I described above isn't even on the radar of most churches.

We often expect visitors to come to our church, meet us on our terms, understand our "Christianese" language, do what we do, sing like we sing, stand when we stand, sit when we sit and generally act as if they understand us. How realistic is that?

Our first job is to give them an irresistible environment so that they are blown away and openly receptive to an irresistible Savior! That's "Service with a smile".