Several years ago a new member to my staff team came to me, asking if she could bring some "mystery shoppers" into our weekend experience to give us fresh perspective on what our guests were actually experiencing.

Coming from the restaurant biz, she had utilized mystery shoppers considerably. The idea, of course, is to invite people to come in as "normal" guests, providing them with a prepared "checklist" of areas to evaluate. In the restaurant biz that's everything from wait time to courtesy of staff to food prep. In church that's everything from the property appearance to friendliness of our people to signage to the service itself.

So, we began bringing in unchurched "mystery guests". And we started listening. Our first discovery was that we were "too friendly" - yes, too friendly. You see, churched folks enjoy, even expect, a handshake - every time. New, unchurched guests...not so much.

We've used our own forms based on our own desired outcomes several times now. You can do the same.

OR you can visit GuestReflections.com and let Jim McGee and his team of "mystery guests" take the hassle out of developing your own questions and finding your own "shoppers". We've used Jim's service and here's what you can expect:

• up to 5 different mystery guests over a period of a month - two months
• varied church backgrounds - some who don't attend at all, some who are regular attenders elsewhere
• mystery guests from your demographic area
• a "heads up" that your mystery guest showed up - after the fact of course
• an email follow-up directing you to an online link to review a comprehensive report of that guest's experience

I recommend Jim and GuestReflections.com without hesitation. Want to know what your guests are thinking? Want to know how your teams are doing? Want to know what culture your guests are really experiencing? Visit GuestReflections.com.

...because people matter.

_{Mark Waltz is pastor of connections at Granger Community Church in Granger, IN. He is the author of First Impressions: Creating Wow Experiences in Your Church and Lasting Impressions: From Visiting to Belonging. He consults and trains in the areas of guest services and relational connections in the local church. Catch his blog and contact him at becausepeoplematter.com.}