In Leadership

Do you ever get so focused on finding that new guest that you overlook the discipline of retaining the guests you have?  It can happen to the best of us.

Here are some practical strategies that will help.

1.  Empower your employees - let them fix the small stuff.  Employees are typically the ones that your guests are dealing with on a day to day basis while they are at your property.  Sometimes a small issue can become big while an employee is looking for their manager to provide a solution.

2.  Listen and Act - take the time to hear what you long-term guest's are saying and let them know you were listening by acting on what you heard.  Guests will love seeing the results of their feedback and that will make them ambassadors for you.

3.  Solve problems and meet needs - if your dealing with guest group's inevitably your meeting planner will encounter problems. It will only strengthen your relationship if you are helping to solve those problems and meet those needs.

4.  Be Hospitable - If you aren't, your employees won't be.  If you and your employees treat people well, your property will become a place that people want to be.  Make sure your policies don't limit your hospitality to guests.  Hospitality is the key to re-booking business.

Remember -
     *  Make it easy for groups to come back another year
     *  Keep in touch - make sure your meeting planners know they are wanted
     *  Remember that history is valuable
     *  Fight for your group - it's about ministry not convenience

If you take the time to consistently, thoughtfully and intentionally care for your guests, you will succeed in keeping them.

At Ridgecrest and Glorieta, we host a significant number of senior adult groups each year. In addition, we also plan and host several of our own senior adult events. As a result, we have an opportunity to interact with a great number of senior adults and senior adult ministry leaders.

The following post was written by Ron Pratt. Ron is our national event planner and has more experience working with churches and helping them with their ministry they he sometimes cares to admit. I recently asked Ron to write an article on the changing face of senior adult ministry. The following is the first part of what he sent me.

If your ministry is working with senior adults, then I want to thank you for what you do. The most exciting days of senior adult ministry are yet ahead and I'm looking forward to them. I am one! And, so is my 84 year old mother who is very involved with a great group of senior adults in her church. Their Senior Adult ministry has made a world of difference in her life, especially since the passing away of my father just over two years ago.

Where to begin? As you are probably aware, today's senior adults bring incredible blessings and challenges to ministry. In a humorous way, I have always talked about senior adults in three different categories. There are the "go-go's", the "slow-go's" and the "no-go's".

There are those senior adults who are incredibly active, yet they have no desire to sit in a rocking chair or get on a bus for a long trip. They are physically active and want to do ministry that they can get involved in physically, spiritually and even financially. They are the "go-go's".

Next are the "slow-go's". These are the senior adults who can't wait to get on the bus, anywhere, anytime as long as they can play their card games, eat their home-made goodies and stop at some interesting points along the way. They love "going", just as long as someone else is driving or coordinating the trip and they have rest stops along the way.

Finally, the "no-go's" are those senior adults who are mostly (or totally) home-bound, yet want and need to stay connected to their friends and their church.

In future posts, Ron will share some strategies churches can use to reach each of these 3 groups. Please feel free to share your thoughts or comments with us here on the blog, or you can email Ron directly at ron.pratt@lifeway.com.

Be authentic; be real
Connect your heart with other people’s hearts. This is how people grow the best and that is a leader’s real work – to help people grow and develop.

Acknowledge and reward others; make them feel important
People will forget what you say, they may forget what you do, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Have a positive spirit
which is much more than just a positive attitude. A positive attitude comes from the head; a positive spirit from the heart! Your mood will affect your team more than you can ever imagine.

Be a good-finder
Learn to actively look for the good in every situation and in every person – all the time.

Reframe situations so you and others can see the advantages of a difficult situation
just like changing the frame and mounting around a print or painting can transform the painting, we can change the context of a communication or situation, and its meaning is transformed – just like the painting.

Know yourself
find out your purpose in life. Do “work” rather than just have a “job”.

Connect heart to heart
the door to your heart can only be opened from the inside; you will really touch others when you are able to connect heart to heart.

Do the right thing
Character is doing the right thing always – even when nobody else is watching.

Be careful how you are programming yourself
be aware of what you are saying to yourself, as what you say is programming your mind. The subconscious mind is very literal and if you tell it something repeatedly, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy!

Use judgment, don’t make judgments

Imagine that everyone you meet is wearing a banner across their forehead that says “make me feel special”I

Unwind before you arrive home
You need to give your family as much energy and caring, if not more, than you give those at work.

Be aware of your non-verbal communication

Encourage others
Give them courage and make them feel good about themselves

Tell people they make a difference to your life!

Celebrate the successes and big efforts of others!

Have fun – be joyful at work and home.

• Sit in the front row of your life
• Quiet the negative voice in your head
• When you make a mistake, say "how interesting"
• Speak possibility
• Look for shining eyes
• Lead from wherever you stand
• Give people a possibility to live into - not an expectation to live up to
• Recognize the downward spiral
• Give everyone an "A"
• Don't take yourself so seriously
• Philippians 4:13

If your company is looking for ways to do more with less, taking the following 10 steps can help you compete strong:

1. Rethink your marketing strategy.
Create a marketing strategy that optimizes every dollar and integrates your activities to gain the highest return for every effort. This approach will ensure your strategic plan that will enable you to remain visible and strongly compete on a reduced budget.

2. Evaluate your brand.
Now is the time to carefully evaluate your brand, the market and your competitors. Review your marketing assets (such as your company's brochures and website) to determine if they are relevant to today's customers. Also look closely at your competitors to determine if your company stands out.

3. Target your marketing efforts.
Invest your time in creating a targeted customer database to use for direct marketing. You may not be able to afford broad advertising efforts, but that's OK because direct marketing allows you to directly reach your customers in a more efficient and cost-effective way.

4. Message strategically.
Evaluate your messaging to ensure it connects with customers. Keep in mind that their wants, needs and interests may have shifted with the economy.

5. Update your core marketing materials.
If your brochures, website and other materials are not relevant to today's customers, or if they blend in with those of competitors, make the investment to update your core materials. Many times, customers will visit your website or request information before calling your business.  Be sure to make a good first impression to optimize every opportunity.

6. Integrate traditional methods with online tools.
Today's communication model is a two-way dialogue. Integrating traditional marketing tactics with web-based tools and social media can boost your response rates by engaging customers at a deeper level. In many cases, boosting exposure through online social networking adds very little cost. Empowering customer interaction with your company can add significant impact to your campaigns and boost exposure for those on limited budgets.

7. Generate media buzz.
Distribute regular press releases to your industry or local media outlets. If your advertising budget is limited, supplementing your media and industry exposure with public relations is a good idea.

8. Increase your network.
Network with other business owners and customers at industry or local events to increase awareness of your company and generate interest. Do not underestimate the power of word-of-mouth; it is a powerful, cost-effective marketing tool.

9. Forge partnerships.
Strategically partnering with complementary companies can provide you with new leads and expand your network without adding costs. Look for win-win partnerships that can help your business move forward and help you achieve your goals.

10. Optimize your existing customers.
Many companies spend all their energy trying to win over new customers when existing customers may be the quickest way to increase business. It is critical to maintain strong customer relationships to retain customers. Look for opportunities to upgrade and cross-sell to your existing customers since you already have a relationship with them.

This past year, I attended a deacon's training meeting at my home church, LongHollow Baptist. To kick off the meeting, our pastor (David Landrith), spoke with us about leadership. In particular David focused on leadership lessons we could learn from the life of Nehemiah.

Personally, I love the book of Nehemiah. Over the past 6-8 years, I've often looked to Nehemiah for encouragement in dealing with challenges at work. He is a great example of staying focused on what he was called by God to do and not letting others distract him. Nehemiah was also a gifted leader and the following are the 7 qualities David shared with us. Then, to help personalize the exercise, I've added a question to each one for us to think about.

Seven Qualities of a Gifted Leader (Lessons on Leadership From Nehemiah)

1. Godliness - What am I doing to cultivate a heart for God?
2. Courage - Am I willing to make the hard decisions, no matter the cost to me?
3. Vision - Do I have a vision for where God wants me to lead my tribe?
4. Integrity - Do my actions line up with my stated beliefs?
5. Concentration - Can I stay focused on achieving the vision in spite of internal and external distractions?
6. Persistence - Am I willing to stay the course, or will I bail when it starts to get a little tough?
7. Solution Oriented - Am I more focused on coming up with solutions to problems, or placing blame?

Whether it's in your home, at church or at work, being a leader is not easy. Leadership is hard work and not always appreciated. It's a great responsibility, but it's also a great privilege. We owe it to those we lead to do it right.

I read an article on Social Networking and Ministry and thought I would share the possitives I found with you.

1.  Building Community - Social networking sites present  the opportunity for building relationships with others.  For churches, they provide another venue to reach out to those who are seeking.

2.  Staying Connected - Being a Christian is a daily lifestyle, not a one-a-week event.

3.  Teaching - After a message, you can have discussion, keeping your audience engaged all week.

4.  The Great Commission - With the staggering usage of social media, the fields are ripe for spreading the Word of God.

Just think, every day lives can be transformed and relationships with Christ can be strengthened through the power of social networking.