Blog

Sometimes it's odd to think that Apple and AT&T work so closely as partners -- especially when you take a look at how the heads of each company handle dealing directly with their customers.

Steve Jobs is notorious for keeping secrets and making sure his people are tight lipped about what the company's up to.  Despite that, he has a public email address and from time to time, he'll actually respond to questions, criticisms and praises.  Sure the answers might be short, or not what you wanted, but he replies.

Take AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson as another example.  Recently a customer sent a couple of emails to Stephenson with fairly simple questions about iPhone upgrades.  The response to that customer: a cease and desist order from the Ma Bell legal department.  (The company later apologized for the incident.)

The point here is it matters how you interact with the people who are making contact with your church.  Whether it is on the phone, via email or in person, the way you treat someone, guest or regular attendee, matters.  We've all heard stories of a grumpy church staff member manning the front desk or roaming the building who gets testy with someone needing help.  Every interaction, how small it may seem, communicates something about your church.  That's why it's worthwhile to set guidelines and expectations for staff members and volunteers for how to deal with people, email, etc.  And it's always good to back it up with some reasoning of why it's important.

How does your church handle this?  Are there expectations in place?  Are you a Steve Jobs or a Randall Stephenson?