Don’t Forget the Follow Up!

Many churches and even some businesses are in the season of putting on Fall festivals right now to serve their community or customers. It’s a great alternative to Halloween and is an excellent outreach opportunity. Churches are having Fall Fest with hay rides, face painting, giving out candy, etc. I’ve seen real estate agents doing pumpkin giveaways for their clients. No matter what you’re line of work is this is a great time of year to serve others and begin to build trust for your organization.

But, many organizations fail to leverage these events by not having a clear follow up plan afterwards.

If you’re a church creating a Fall Fest, obviously you would love people in your community to return to your church for a Sunday service or a small group or anything that connects them back to you.

Here's 3 simple steps to make sure you are capitalizing on your Fall events (or any outreach throughout the year like an Easter egg hunt or Christmas production, etc.).

1. Collect their info

   Once someone shows up at your church or business for an event like this the best way to make sure they return is to invite them again. In order to invite them to something down the road you need to collect their info while they’re with you.

   Once people arrive you could just ask them to fill out a simple card collecting their info. Or you could tie it into a giveaway or something else so there’s more of an incentive to get people to sign up. One thing to keep in mind when collecting info is the less info you ask for, the more likely someone will be willing to give it to you. The other day I was walking through the mall and someone asked me to fill out a card for free popcorn. I love popcorn so I said sure. But when they gave me the card it had 10 different blanks they asked me to fill out so I said never mind. Keep your info collection card short and simple. Email and texting is the best way to communicate with people so simply ask for their name, email address and possibly phone number (if you have a church texting system.) However you plan to communicate with them ask for that info. Here’s a few ideas you can use to collect info on people at your event:

   1. Give away- Make sure it’s a prize that people would be willing to give their info for. If you live in New York City give away tickets to a Broadway show. If you live in the South give away SEC football tickets. You get the idea.

   2. Food- Give away free food. Jesus did it so can you. There’s no great ROI than serving people. When you give them food ask them to fill out a card while they wait.

   3. Free giveaways- Find a local company (or a few different ones) and ask them to donate a gift card or a discount card that you can give away to people at your event. In order to get the discount card they simply have to fill out a card and give you their info.

   4. Survey- This is a good one with multiple returns. You get their info, but you also find out pertinent info to help you serve your community better. Find out where people are coming from to your event. Ask them how they heard about it. Ask them do they attend a church. Ask them have they ever attended your church. Ask them if they would like someone from your church to contact them.

2. Follow Up Plan

   Now since you have their info make sure you have a clear next steps plan. You could even have a team of people at the event working on a computer inputting their info and creating the follow up plan in CCB or Planning Center or whatever your Church Management system is. Here’s a sample follow up plan you can use:

   1. One day after event- Thank them for coming. Don’t ask for anything. Just thank them and stay on their minds.

   2. Three-Five days after event- Send them a free resource. Maybe your Kids ministry has a PDF on 5 Ways to Help Your Child Enjoy Reading More. Whatever it is just send them something that adds value to them and shows that you care.

   3. One-Two weeks after event invite them to a church service. Highlight your Kid’s ministry and showcase all the things you have to help their children. Share your Kid’s ministry staff pics and bios to begin to build trust with them. Make sure to explain how your church can help them, instead of explaining how great your church is and they should come because of that.

   4. If someone attends your services or another event you’ve invited them to make sure you send a follow up thank you with an invite to your next event or service.

3. Hand Out Invite Cards at your Event

   Print small 3x5 cards that has your church service times and your website listed. Putting a QR code to a landing page specifically for first time guests is an idea as well. Be sure to have signage around your event with QR codes on it as well that people can easily scan for more info.

These are just 3 simple ways to connect with people who interact with your church or business for the first time.

Remember if you’re going to ask your team to put in the effort and energy to create this amazing event make sure you capitalize on the follow up.

The people you want to reach will be at your location on your premises. Don’t miss an opportunity.

And remember your why for this event is to serve people. If through your follow up they get connected to your church that’s a win, but at the end of the day you win by serving people.

BONUS***

If your church or business has a budget and can afford to give away gifts there is no better free advertising than t-shirts, hats, coffee cups, pens, etc. Buy them in bulk and print your church or business name on them and give them away.