The Future of Retail Is In Your Hands
By Mike Radlovic
 Excellence in ministry is all about the
members’ experience. To succeed, church leaders must
consistently understand, anticipate and fulfill their
expectations. This creates loyalty, which in turn drives
long-term growth.
So, you’ve worked all week to get people to your church on
Sunday. You’ve paid your dues, and all the pews are full.
You’re excited to tell this sea of faces about your plans to
grow and build the church. And then they leave.
When Monday rolls around, you gladly give these same people
up to advertisers, merchants and incentives without so much as
a whimper. The advertisers and merchants get the loaf, and
your church doesn’t even enjoy a crumb of profitability.
Meanwhile, church leaders complain about the lack of funds.
It’s true that without funds, you can’t grow and build your
church, and the cycle continues. How can you turn that loyalty
into something tangible and mutually beneficial to both you
and your members? The first step is to change your
thinking.
You have to start to think like a merchant. Merchants
think of their customers as profit centers; their goal is to
get the same customer to spend more of their dollars in the
their store before they think about finding a new
customer.
They achieve this many ways, including discounts, specials
and rewards such as frequent-flyers miles, but all of these
are temporary solutions. They’re good ideas just as long as
their offer is better than the next guy’s. Finding new
customers is an expensive proposition.
“Buying” a customer’s loyalty is a merchant’s dilemma — but
it’s not yours. Your members are already loyal to your church.
Here’s where your new thinking will help: Why not partner with
local merchants, who would gladly compensate your church in
return for your members loyally shopping their store? Your
members win, knowing their church is reaping benefits from
their new shopping habits. The merchant wins, knowing he
didn’t have to tape into his limited advertising dollars. And
your church wins by increasing revenue without asking members
to dig deeper to finance their church’s new growth. You win
with new thinking, planning and executing like a
merchant.
Train your team and take decisive action. You must
slowly build your paid and/or volunteer staff and bring them
in on this vision. To fully realize the benefits of a
merchant-focused plan, you must acknowledge that this is not
much different than a member-focused plan — merchants and
other service providers would enjoy the same attention you
(hopefully) lavish on your members.
You’re already doing it! You probably have merchants
sitting in your pews on Sunday. Ask them for their help and
advice on implementing this strategy. Or, are you a Chamber of
Commerce member? Perhaps you know who the local business
leaders are? Take decisive action.
Increase visibility. Your staff is ready. You’re
focused. Your major donors are impressed with your church’s
energy and drive. Visibility — with everyone being able to see
your plan — is the reason.
Companies like Wal-Mart and Dell don’t hide their
intentions — they want the business. If they don’t get it,
their competitors will, and that’s not the goal. Visibility
leads to ease of use and confidence. It’s a multi-step,
multi-year effort.
Today, merchants work on smaller, shorter-duration
projects, which are linked to big-picture plans. They test and
tweak, and so will you. Remember: Go forward boldly!
The steps you take today to build a funding solution must
break out from your church walls. You must take advantage of
your hard-earned members’ loyalty. Work diligently in your
community, step-by-step, and build your merchant base. The
next generation of fund development will be led by those who
see things others haven’t and deliver them in smart,
economical ways.
You’ve worked so hard to get people in the door on Sunday —
don’t stop when Monday rolls around!
Mike Radlovic is the CEO of TranStar Systems Inc., one
of America’s premier customer and fund-development companies.
Radlovic has an extensive background in venture capital and
marketing and enjoys working with startup businesses and
church-based entrepreneurs. Reach him by e-mail at Mike.Radlovic@TranStarsystems.com.
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