8 Ways To Make A Great First Impression
#4 - Use Body Language
According to one UCLA study, 93% of a person’s communication effectiveness is determined by nonverbal communication. If this is true in an interview or daily conversation, it is also true when someone comes to your church. Here are a few keys to effectively communicate non-verbally to those that visit your church:
- Eyes - Look them in the eyes when communicating with them. Don’t look at everyone passing by and don’t worry about saying hi to all your friends. The First Time Guest is interested in you giving them attention. Focus on them. Be observant. Not all First Time Guests identify themselves. Become a student of people. If you watch people long enough, you will be able to spot most First Time Guests with relative ease. (some hints are listed below)
- Posture - We communicate many messages by the way we walk, how fast we walk, how we lean, how much we lean, how close we stand, how far away we stand all communicate different messages to those we are around. If you are speaking to someone, lean forward slightly, it communicates openness and interest. When walking someone around the church, don’t walk too fast. It give the impression you don’t want to spend time with them.
- Facial Expressions - Smile. Smile. Smile and then smile again. Place happy people in places where they will interact with First Time Guests.
Nonverbal communication is not only important for your greeters, ushers, staff members, and information center volunteers. It’s most important for your church members! How they communicate to those around them is crucial to the first impression developed by a First Time Guest. How members interact with those they don’t know can either make or break their decision to come back a second time.
- If they are never greeted, they won’t come back.
- If they are not given complete attention, like looking them in the eyes or being listened to when they ask questions, they won’t come back.
- If they are not given the time of day when they finally identify themselves as First Time Guests, they won’t come back. (we have noticed that some visit our church for 3-6 months before filling out a guest form)
Take time to evaluate how your greeters, ushers, staff, and volunteers interact with First Time Guests. But don’t stop there. Evaluate how the whole church interacts with one another. If they are not interacting, they need to be taught how important this is not only to the First Time Guests, but to everyone in the church.
Ways to identify First Time Guests:
- Deer in headlights look - dazed and confused
- People looking around at everything - trying to take it all in
- People asking questions like: “Where are the rest rooms?”, “Where is your nursery?”, etc
- People picking up brochures - exploring all that is available
- Families that walk in together, especially families with teenagers
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February 6th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
This is great stuff Jeff.. I love the 5th way to identify a first time guest… Sometimes it’s hard to put parents and teens together because you NEVER see them together!