“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”
Today I went to the dentist for the second time in my life. My first visit was 15 years ago at the age of 13 and we went because I had an extra canine growing beneath my tongue. Crazy. Today’s visit was almost painless thanks to the grape flavored anesthesia. The staff referred to me as "Mr. Perfect." My teeth are in great condition. I do have a very small cavity that will get filled in in June. Otherwise I am the picture of dental health. I did get to go home with a swag bag filled with a new tooth brush, some tooth paste, and a little floss.
The swag bag got me thinking about what we could send home with first time guests that would tell them more about Arrow Heights without overloading them with paper to read and that they could actually use. I was reading Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church by Nelson Searcy last night and he talked about the gifts that they give their guests. They give their guests a copy of Case for Faith, a letter for the pastor, and a $5 gas card. So give me some input here. What could we send home with first time guests that they would value and would show them that we want them to come back and appreciate their visit?
YouVersion
glad to hear the dentist went well for you. I like the idea for the swag bag, maybe we could come up with some cool coupon idea-i’ve always liked coupons because as a marketing tool people just have a terrible hard time throwing them away and even if they don’t use them they tend to be something that they hold on to for a while and each time they look at them they think of whoever gave them the coupon. What would the coupon be for? maybe a free meal on wednesday night? an item for thier car-air freshener or debris bag or other convenience item so that they would think of AHBC each time they are in their car. just thinking out loud
Glad you found Fusion helpful! I hear of people use all kinds of gifts:
- Startbucks Cards
- ColdStone Cards
- Sonic Card
and my current favorite is Gas Card!
Blessings,
Nelson
P.S. I just started blogging at http://www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/blog
Nelson Searcy, Lead Pastor
The Journey Church of the City
One Church: Three Locations: Six Services
http://www.JourneyMetro.com
Nelson,
Thanks for stopping by the site and leaving some more great ideas. I have been reading http://www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/blog and enjoy reading about what is happening at The Journey Church. I recently moved to Arrow Heights within the last 6 months and we had not done any assimilation in over TWO YEARS. Fusion has given me some great starting points and reinforces the importance of engaging guests before they check out. Keep up the great work.
Bless God,
Jeremy
hey jeremy, I created this stuff to give out to visitors http://blog.rylandrussell.com/2009/01/wake-up-worship/