It’s no secret that businesses have to provide excellent service if they want to attract and keep new customers. In today’s “Google it” culture, customer reviews are available on demand, and if a customer has a bad experience, they can let the world know instantly through a post on their favorite social media channel.

Whether we like it or not, the same is true of churches. Today, people rate churches on Google, Facebook, Yelp and other sites. A few one-star ratings can drive away potential guests and potential growth.

You might be thinking, “But the church isn’t a business. It doesn’t matter if people think we deserve one star or five stars. We’re on a mission that’s far greater than some rating system.” That’s true! The message and mission of the church cannot be reduced to a consumer rating system. In fact, there were times when Jesus’ teachings were offensive. Most people don’t give a five-star rating to the idea of dying to self or loving your enemies.

At the same time, every person walking through the doors of our churches is a gift God has entrusted to us. It’s our responsibility to serve them, love them and minister to them. While the church is not a business, we do serve people, and our mission demands that we serve with excellence. How we serve guests the first time will determine whether or not they give us a second time. I want people to hear and receive the Gospel without hindrance or distraction. I’m sure you do, too. I often tell our volunteers that their service is like setting a table. If they set the table with excellence, they help remove obstacles when the Gospel is served.

So, how do we serve with excellence? Though the church is not a business, I do believe we can glean some valuable insights from the business community on how to deliver the very best service. Here are three insights to get us started:

Clarify Your Team Values
Most churches have a set of core values that define what’s most important to them. I would encourage you to adopt a short set of team values, too. Team values define how every team at your church plays the game.

At 7 City Church (where I pastor), we’ve adopted three team values that we expect our staff and volunteers to play by: “We are servant leaders, team players and hard workers.” Here’s how we articulate each value. “We are …

• Servant Leaders – We lead with the heart and attitude of Christ-like servants. Matthew 20:26-28 says, “But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (NLT).
• Team Players – We care about each other and the people we serve. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble” (NLT).
• Hard Workers – We deliver our very best effort every day. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (NIV).

I recently shared with our volunteers something that one of our guests said after her visit. She had recently moved to Fort Worth and was looking for a home church. She said, “I cannot say I have ever encountered what I encountered Sunday … . I felt incredibly welcomed and knew people wanted me there. I never felt like another number. I felt valued for what I brought to the table, simply my presence. I texted a friend after service and told her about my experience.”

I helped our volunteers see how they truly make a difference. When you clarify your team values, you provide a consistent and unifying set of principles for every staff member and volunteer as they serve. Keeping the list short helps your team remember them and live by them.

Infuse Service Standards Into Your Environments
Several years ago our family took a vacation to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.  It wasn’t our first visit to Disney, but I have to say it was the visit that redefined exceptional customer service for us. How? Let me set the stage.

A few weeks before we headed to Disney, our daughter Ashley went to the orthodontist to have her braces removed, and to get top and bottom retainers for her teeth. We told her, “We pay for the first set of retainers, but you pay for the second set … don’t lose ’em.” That seemed like a fair deal … until we arrived at Walt Disney World.

Providing great service doesn’t happen by accident.

It was dinnertime, and our family was ready for a good meal. So, we headed to a restaurant in our hotel, enjoyed dinner together, and then returned to our room. That’s when the drama began. Ashley suddenly realized that she had left her retainers wrapped in a napkin on the table. Immediately we rushed back to the restaurant and asked if they found a set of retainers at our table. It was too late. The table was cleared and the retainers were nowhere to be found.

The Disney staff apologized, and we returned to our room. Ashley knew exactly what this meant … she just kissed $225 goodbye. Nothing like a big, dark rain cloud to spoil an evening at “The Happiest Place on Earth.”

But then something unexpected happened. About an hour after returning to our room, there was a knock at our door. When we answered, there were two cast members (Disney speak for employees). They entered our room with a silver platter. When they removed the lid, there they were: two sterilized retainers and a Mickey Mouse doll.

We couldn’t believe it. In fact, we were utterly shocked. They literally dug through the trash for more than 20 minutes, found both of the retainers, carefully sterilized them and then delivered them to our room. I don’t know any company anywhere that digs through the trash to meet a customer’s need.

I later discovered how Disney delivered such remarkable service. In The Disney Institute’s book, Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service, the authors describe a set of “service standards” (safety, courtesy, show, efficiency) that are the operational criteria for how Disney consistently delivers great service. These service standards are then applied to three delivery systems: how cast members behave, the settings where customers interact, and the processes that provide a smooth customer experience.

Building on this concept, we’ve adopted four service standards at 7 City Church. We say, “I Am …

• Friendly – I treat guests with exceptionally friendly and personable service.
• Knowledgeable – I kindly provide guests with answers to their questions.
• Problem-Solving – I happily meet the needs and solve the problems of our guests.
• Efficient – I deliver smooth service without delay.

When we train our volunteers, we use our service standards as our training filter. We want every staff member and volunteer to provide friendly, knowledgeable, problem-solving, and efficient service. Why? Because we want the Gospel delivered without a single hindrance. If guests are sitting in a service, and all they can think about is the unfriendly greeting they received, the dirty bathroom they encountered, or the bad experience they had when dropping their kids off at the nursery, their hearts are immediately hindered from receiving the message of the Gospel.

Is customer service more important than the Gospel? Not by a long shot. But does the quality of the service we provide impact a guest’s receptivity to the message we believe in? Absolutely! If we can’t serve them with excellence, why would they take seriously our message … a message that claims love, service and selflessness?

Leverage Volunteer Huddles to Maintain Focus and Consistency
Defining team values and service standards is actually the easy part. The challenge is keeping them in front of every volunteer. We’ve discovered that it’s not enough to do a couple of training sessions each year. We do, but they’re not enough. Training leaks. People forget what they should do. Great businesses have discovered this to be true, too. Take the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company for example.

The Ritz-Carlton takes training so seriously that they require every Lady and Gentleman (that’s what they call each employee) to receive 250 hours of training per year. While this training might include classes, online training, weeklong seminars, and one-on-one coaching, their greatest development tool is the “daily line-up.”

Every person walking through the doors of our churches is a gift God has entrusted to us.

The daily line-up is a 15-minute gathering of staff members designed to share testimonies, wins, wow stories and what’s happening that day. The team also learns about specific customer needs, and they’re made aware of that day’s agenda. But, most importantly, the daily line-up is focused on their mission and service values.

During each daily line-up at every Ritz-Carlton hotel around the world — before every employee shift — they are reminded of why they do what they do. Each team member has a credo card (with their credo, mission, values and more), and each day they briefly discuss something on that card. Imagine how this simple practice keeps the legendary service of the Ritz in focus every single day.

You can adopt this practice in your church, too. Each week, as our volunteers arrive at 7 City Church, they gather with their team leader for a “volunteer huddle.” This gathering may only last for 10 minutes, but it is essential. Each volunteer huddle includes three things:

• Announcements – We highlight whatever is happening that day. This improves communication and gets everyone on the same page.
• Huddle Highlight – Each team member has a copy of a folded, business card-size tool that includes our vision, team values and service standards. During each huddle, we highlight one of these priorities. Within the course of two-months, our vision, and each of our team values and service standards receives special attention. To ensure consistency, each week we email our team leaders a brief list of announcements, along with a short, motivational story, testimony or insight that emphasizes our vision, a team value or a service standard. We only focus on one each week.
• Prayer – Each team huddle concludes with a time of prayer for the service and ministry happening that day.

During a recent huddle, we shared with our volunteers a testimony from one guest who was impacted by multiple ministry teams. She said, “ … the crosswalk team did great at stopping traffic (it made me feel better about carrying an infant across the street), the lady at the door was smiling and said hello, the kids check-in guy was awesome. He explained the process and was great, [and] worship was great … .” Simple testimonies like this in a huddle can go a long way to keep the team focused, engaged and committed to the church’s vision, values and service standards.

By using a volunteer huddle to infuse your vision, team values and service standards into each of your environments, you keep these priorities from growing cold. 

Providing great service doesn’t happen by accident. There will always be moments when things don’t go as planned, but if you are intentional about the service you provide, you’ll set the table for guests to hear the Gospel without distraction. How you deliver this service will be unique to your church, community and audience. Be creative, and whatever you do, be intentional. It’s worth the attention, because eternity hangs in the balance.