3 Lessons We've Learned about Customer Service & How it can Help your Church

3 Lessons We've Learned about Customer Service & How it can Help your Church

Breeze Church Management

Digital giving apps and tools

"What is the single greatest lesson you've learned since starting your company?"

Before starting Breeze Church Management, I never would have guessed that this would be the thing I would learn more than anything else.  I thought I'd learn a lot about business in general, maybe marketing, perhaps sales - but hands down, the thing I've learned the most about has been... customer service.

Many companies treat customer service as a necessary evil - something they need to invest in to make sure their customers don't leave. What I've learned however is that customer service can not just stop people from leaving; great customer service can be a powerful growth engine. I think that the lessons we've learned in customer service can help not only businesses succeed but churches as well.

Here's the three biggest lessons we've learned about customer service and how it can help your church.

1. I want my problem to be as big a deal to you as it is to me

When a church calls us with an issue, they want to know that we take their dilemma seriously.  Wouldn't you agree that nothing is more infuriating than talking to a customer service representative who doesn't really care about fixing the problem and would rather just hand you off to some other department.  Experiences like this leave us with a bad taste in our mouth.

And isn't it refreshing when you call a support line and the technician is friendly, patient, and goes above and beyond to make sure your issue is resolved?  Even though you just had a problem, many times you leave the conversation being even more of a fan of the company than you were before.  Many times the difference between the two responses is how seriously the support representative takes the issue.  We've learned that to serve churches well, we need to take their problems just as seriously as they do.

Likewise, when someone reaches out to your church because their marriage is falling apart, teenager is going off the rails, or job has unexpectedly vanished, they want their church leadership to take the issue as seriously as they do.  They want to know that their church actually cares about them.  Church leaders are in a unique position where they see more than their fair share of lives in turmoil and if not careful, this weight can make one jaded. Jadedness kills empathy.  Without empathy, it's tough to take anyone's problems all that seriously.  Yet just like a company with bad customer support, a church that doesn't take each individual's issues seriously leaves behind a trail of hurt and bitter people in their wake.  In contrast, a church leadership team who is deeply empathetic, caring, and supportive finds those who reach out to them to become even greater fans of the church and God's movement in their lives.

2. I don't want to interact with a machine

If we were to chart out the questions we receive in a given month, we'd see a lot of repeats.  Churches call wondering about certain functions, the best practice for a specific topic, or some other facet of church management.  In these situations we give the same answer again and again.  It could be easy to impersonally point them towards some documentation page or recite, without enthusiasm, some script that repetition has ingrained in our heads.  But no one wants to interact with a machine.  No one wants to feel like their question has prompted response #682 which is being read from a sheet.  They want a human.  Someone with a personality.  Someone who is living, breathing, and thinking.

Church leaders face the same task of repetition.  Weddings, baptisms, profession of faith ceremonies - for the participants these are huge, monumental occasions, but as church leaders, if not careful, that premarital counseling session can feel more like reading from a script than helping a couple build a foundation for an amazing life together.  Don't be so professional or so tired that your interactions feel like you're just going through the motions.  People want to interact with humans, not machines.  Be real.  Be personal.  Let your personality shine.  Do what you need to do to replenish yourself so that when you step into the next wedding, the couple you're marrying feels like this is the most important and special ceremony you've ever performed.

3. I want you to like me

Have you ever called customer support only to feel like the representative's sole goal was to get you off the phone as quickly as possible? Many service agents treat calls like a transaction of information rather than a relationship. And while a exchanging information can be helpful and even solve a problem quickly, it falls flat it creating fans of your company. We've learned that taking the extra time to get to know a customer and hear about their unique context not only helps us better serve them but also creates a real relationship between us and them. We believe many of our customers value this personal touch. We truly like our customers and enjoy talking to them.

Likewise, the people attending your church want you to like them. They want you to enjoy taking the time to get to know them. No one wants to feel like a sympathy case, a checkbox on a list, or an obligation. Just like a company needs to build margin into their systems to be able to make that extra effort with each customer, a church should have a care or small group structure that allows the time necessary for real relationships, not just transactions.

How software can help

We believe that church management software, when used well, can help churches be more personable. Software can help keep track of counseling notes and details so that people know just how important you think their issue is. Software can store organize key information about people so that you're able to provide that personal touch at each wedding ceremony you officiate. And software can help you organize your groups and care teams so that no one is over-capacity. While nothing can replace a church leader's own spiritual health, church management software can go a long ways in helping a healthy leader serve their church even better.

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St. Pauls United Methodist Church

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Hillcrest Church

All of our database needs have been more than met, it's easier to use than the last database we had, and the price is amazing - what a value this has been to our church! All of our staff can use this software and they do regularly. We use it to track…literally anything a church could possibly need to track regarding it's attenders.

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Crossroads United Methodist Church

Breeze has been a great asset to our church and congregation. Especially from an administrative standpoint, it has been the most adaptable and easiest church database I have ever used. The features from blast emails to giving on-line, and texting have been one of our greatest assets. Thank you!

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Church Admin

We switched from a major, web-based ChMS to Breeze and our decision is confirmed every day. We are a medium size church and we use Breeze for contributions, member management, event checkin and a few other applications custom to our church. I had trouble getting any staff to use our previous ChMS but almost all staff are using Breeze. The product is very well designed, extremely easy to learn and use and customer service is incredible.

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Grace Church

Breeze has opened the communication highway for our congregation and staff, with very little training. Because members can update their own records and search easily for other members - and map their locations, send emails and text right from Breeze, they love it and our data is more real-time accurate. Our ministries are stronger, because they can trust the data in Breeze, which is easily accessed anywhere, anytime.

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First Presbyterian Church of Ramsey

Breeze is the first ChMS my volunteers have actually embraced. That's because it's so easy to use. The software is very flexible and gives us the opportunity to make decisions based on actual data we've collected and not just hunches or stories we believe to be true.

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Ellel Ministries Canada

I cannot say enough about Breeze. Their customer service is so friendly, you feel like you have friends and family helping you get started, they're prompt to reply and will do whatever they can to help you get things sorted out. It's been so easy to learn, our staff is loving it and best of all even our staff who are not computer savvy find it a breeze (pun intended). We are just thrilled by our choice.

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Central Baptist Church

From the start of our process looking for an online solution, Breeze has exceeded all our expectations. Fast data import, fast and friendly customer support, and we can’t say enough about how much we like the program itself. Very well designed and user friendly. On a scale of 1-10, Breeze gets a 15 from us!

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