This is the third of five chapters in a 25 part blog series titled: The Five Elements of a Fully Implemented Connections Strategy, published over a five week period. Everything I have posted here is the result of my own personal experiences, from serving on church staffs, volunteering as a lay leader, and being brought in as a paid consultant. It is my hope that these posts will help you and your church get better at connecting with guests, not simply to increase your attendance and membership, but ultimately to grow the body of Christ. Implementing a Connections strategy (or “Assimilation” strategy) is a long term process, and one that relies on a culture of continual improvement. This chapter has five entries, which will all be linked below the post as they are published.
3.4 What Should We Say? Good question for follow-up calls right?
The answer: not much, really.
The goal is to connect with your guests, thank them for coming, invite them back, and answer any questions. And of course, communicate the “next steps” for your church. You’ll want to communicate your church’s “next steps” as clearly as possible. So, just do that. Don’t try to tell a bunch of jokes or seem cool or solve all the world’s problems. Tell them who you are, that you’re calling to thank them for being your guest, and that you would like to see them next week. Tell them about the next event that best matches their demographic (another reason follow-up is best done through the department specific to the guest’s life situation). That’s really all there is to it. We’re talking about a 60 second call. This isn’t a cold call; we all know when we give out our contact info someone is going to use it.
Phone Calls: “But we need to know what to say!” OK, fine. I’ll give you a quasi-script. But be careful here. I know can’t stand it when I’m stuck on the phone with a script reading customer service rep.
- Introduce yourself. Make the phone call personal. The call is between you and the guest, not an organization and a guest.
- Thank them for coming. A simple thank you. Not a long scripted “thank you for choosing us and not another church…” That just feels wrong.
- Explain NEXT STEPS. Just about every church has them. This is really the whole point of Connections ministry, follow-up, and this blog series. In fact, we focus on communicating NEXT STEPS in our next blog post.
- Invite them back to church (and whatever big event is coming).
Email:
If you need to leave a message or send an email, that is even easier. It only takes a few sentences to thank someone for coming and invite them back.
Next: 3.5 Next Steps
Main Series Page: The Five Elements of a Fully Implemented Connections Strategy
Element Two: Guest Services