Maurilio Amorim

Author: Maurilio Amorim

  • Is Your Church Ready for the Sunday After Easter?

    Easter is often a wasted opportunity for churches. “Easter attendance looks good in the reports, but the extra people show up for that Sunday but they don’t come back until the next holiday” said the disappointed pastor on the other side of the table from me. Unfortunately, he was right. A lot of people come through the doors of churches during Easter who never return until next year, if they come back at all. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Over the years, I have seen churches of all sizes compel the “Easter Crowd” to return the following weekend and eventually become part of the congregation. With some pre-planning and strategic intent, you can improve your odds at getting back the people who, otherwise, you might not see again for another year.

    Easter churches ready

    Most of the churches I work with will start a new teaching series the weekend after Easter. It’s a strategic move because we know that most people like being a part of something new. A fresh teaching series will give your Easter guests a compelling reason to return during the next few weeks, where, we hope, they’ll enjoy it enough to stay. When planning for a new series, keep in mind that compelling titles and strong graphics are great tools but if you want to maximize your outreach potential, you should try to create an emotional tie between the series subject matter and your audience even before the series begins.

    Hollywood does this well. One of its most successful tactics to promote a new film is through a compelling movie trailer (which quite often is better than the movie itself). Your church could do the same. Create your own video trailer: a two-minute promo or “commercial” that will present the heart of your new teaching series. Show it during your Easter services and reinforce it with any other visuals you might have, such as posters, cards, or stage props.

    Don’t let the trailer idea intimidate you. You don’t need to have a big budget or expensive equipment to create a persuasive piece. If you have a small church and resources are limited, consider doing something simple but effective. I once worked with a start-up that produced a simple man-on-the-street video. It featured the pastor asking one question to random people in his community: “What’s the most hurtful thing anyone has said to you?” The video set up a new series that dealt with relationships. The outcome was powerful. Some of the answers were funny (a woman told him that a neighbor once called her a hemorrhoid!), while others were very poignant (a son recounted how his father told him that he would never amount to much). The video didn’t cost a lot to produce, but had a strong impact.

    What’s your church doing the Sunday after Easter? 

  • Is Your Critical Nature Holding You Back?

    In our pursuit of improvement, of becoming our very best, we can find ourselves always looking for the negative in every situation.  As a consultant, I’m paid to figure out how to improve communication, technology, and create new and better systems. Being critical is part of the skill set that forces me to see what could be and not just what it is. But recently I ran into a statement from Shawn Achor in his book “The Happiness Advantage” that has forced me to think deeper about my consulting skills. He writes,

    “Constantly scanning the world for the negative comes with a great cost. It undercuts our creativity, raises our stress levels, and lowers our motivation and ability to accomplish goals.”

    criticism critics

    Achor goes on to support this statement with case studies and illustrations. Even if he didn’t, the truth in it resonates with me. How can I be an effective critic without becoming a negative person? That’s tough. In the past few years, I have been conscious about how negativity can affect every area of my life and how easily I can find fault with everything around me. Here’s how I’m fighting it.

    Not a critic, but a servant. That’s perhaps the most difficult of all the shifts I have had to make over the years. I’m not hired to be a critic, even though some of my observations might come across as criticism. I’m ultimately hired to serve an organization, a cause, or a person. My contribution is not only to point out what’s wrong, but to help find a solution.

    First the positive. No matter the circumstance or dilemma I’m dealing with, there are always a lot of positives to recognize.  It’s easy to focus on the 20% that needs to change than on the 80% that’s working well.

    A kind heart. Difficult conversations are a lot less painful when they are encased in gracious language and attitude. I remember as a young professional watching a well-known consultant use condescending language as he reported his findings to a group of leaders. It didn’t make him look good or smart in my eyes. It made him come across like a big ugly jerk that I wouldn’t want to ever hire or emulate.

    Do you agree with Achor? How do you keep from being negative?

  • Success and the Perseverance Principle

    The difference between success and failure in any venture often cannot be attributed to a single incident or cause. It’s usually a culmination of factors including timing, execution, assumptions, economic factors, and more. While much has been written on the success of start ups, one factor usually sticks out in my mind. Recently a friend who is in the process of starting a business told me he was “overwhelmed and not sure of what he was doing.” I can relate to that feeling well. But my advice to him still rings true from the early days of my company, The A Group. My words of encouragement were simple: “Don’t quit. Success is 90% perseverance.”

    Perseverance

    I can’t quantify the percentage. But I know that the great majority of the successes I have seen in my professional career both in business as well as in ministry have been directly tied to my ability to keep going and not accept defeat. I have talked with others who have successful businesses and churches who share the same trait: perseverance. Since most entrepreneurs are usually “all in” and there is not a “Plan B” in place, we tend to keep going until something happens.

    None of us knows when our next break is going to be–the meeting with a profitable new client, the phone call with a large order, the exchange with a wealthy donor. But we all know that if we are not there, none of them will ever come to fruition. So we continue to push forward, to persevere even when there are no signs of spring. In business, as in life, perseverance pays dividends. Be aware, however, that perseverance is not glamorous and often not fun, but absolutely essential.

    Think about your life. Where do you need the most encouragement not to quit?

  • Thoughts from the Mobile World Congress 2013

    Last week I attended the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. It’s the industry’s biggest event, drawing over 72,000 attendees from over 200 different countries. The event was massive in both size and scope: booths, the size of city blocks, from the likes of Samsung and Sony to small software developers for mobile devices. Everything mobile was covered. After learning my way around Barcelona’s metro system and fighting through the crowded train stations, I got several days of exposure to what’s happening, and what’s about to happen in the mobile world. Here are some overarching observations:

    Wolrd Mobile congress

    The world is now mobile. While desktops might still have a place in business, the new day belongs to the untethered, highly portable world of mobile devices: phones, tablets, and phones the size of small tablets or small tablets with a phone built in.

    World Mobile Congress3

    Payment through mobile devices has become streamlined. There are several technologies currently in use that makes payment for goods and services through your mobile device possible. From proximity payment (via blue tooth) to QR code scanning, and even text-to-pay options, paying using your mobile device will continue to grow and become a way of life. Asia and Europe already have a jump on this, I’m sure the rest of the world will soon follow.

    With app and mobile development becoming ubiquitous, marketing becomes critical. With an estimated 1.4 million apps for both Apple and Android operating systems (and more to come from Windows phone and platforms like Ubuntu and Firefox), standing out in the crowd is nearly impossible. The if-we-build-it-they-will-download-it mindset no longer works. I’m not not sure it ever did. There were as many companies at the congress who market apps and mobile site as there were those who create them.

    The proliferation of mobile devices in developing countries means opportunities to reach an entire new wave of people. Cheaper phones and easier access to data mean more people can have access to smart phones than ever before. There are huge commerce, but even more so, ministry implications. It has never been easier and cheaper to reach a global, and yet very targeted audience.

    What mobile platform are you on? (Android, ios). What do you like/dislike about it?

     

  • The Happiness Advantage

    Some believe happiness comes from finding themselves in the right places, relationships, job, or income level.  I don’t believe that, and in recent years there is enough evidence from the field of psychology in what I have believed all along: happiness is not a byproduct of success. The opposite is actually true: happy people become successful.

    happiness advantage

    After finishing reading Shawn Achor’s book, “The Happiness Advantage,” I bought a copy for everyone on my team.  Shawn’s work is well researched without being didactic. It offers practical steps even for those who are not naturally prone to be happy.  I highly recommend it.

    One of the points that resonated with me the most came from a 40-year-old study directed by psychologist George Vaillant. He summed up his findings in one word “love—full stop.”  In his words, there are “70 years of evidence that our relationships with other people matter and matter more than anything else in the world.”

    As a Christian I knew that. After all, people matter to God. God’s relationship with us was so important that He sent His son to redeem it. I’ve preached it from the pulpit.

    And yet we, no, I, too often sacrifice long-term relationships because of pettiness and self-righteous indignation. “It’s not my turn to call. If he wants to know how I’m doing, he’ll call.”  I have cut people out of my life because of an insensitive remark I found offensive. Just like that. Sometimes I have moments of lucidity and my inner dialogue kicks in, “are you willing to lose a friend over so little an offense? How stupid are you?” Well, pretty stupid at times.

    I want to live and lead from a place of grace and enjoy life-long relationships that define who I am and the legacy I leave behind. Ultimately my happiness depends on how successful I am at doing that. The competing forces of power, money, and pleasure never deliver on their promises. They never have.

    How’s your social network? How close are you to those around you?

  • How to Write Marketing Copy that Works

    Words are powerful. They can move people into action. They inspire, they challenge, they amuse, but words also sell. Regardless of your industry, you are in sales. We all are, especially those who are in the non-profit sector or church leadership. It’s perhaps the most important of all sales: hope for better days and the ultimate hope of eternal life. Here are some key points to consider when writing copy that’s going to be used to compel and motivate people into action.

    compelling marketing copy

    Write to a person. Unless you understand your target audience, you cannot communicate effectively. Writing to “everyone” guarantees that you reach “no one.” Have a person in mind as you craft your words. Are you writing to a 50 year-old business professional, or a 35-year old stay-at-home mom with snotty-nose kids running around the house?

    Understand your audience’s motivation. Forget your agenda for a minute and try to think of your audience’s needs. I recently saw a commercial for a local congregation featuring the preacher talking about the church’s choir and their lovely sanctuary while showing shots of him preaching from the pulpit. I couldn’t help thinking “what a waste of money.”  The number one question we all ask when confronted with an offer or an option is a simple but powerful one: “What’s in this for me?” If you don’t understand people’s motivation, you cannot compel them to move forward. Your motivation, the “right thing to do,” are all irrelevant in moving people into action. Find out what’s important to them first, then lead with that. Instead of a generic spot about the church, that congregation would have seen more fruit from trying to begin with its audience’s needs first.  Since I know about the church and its perception as a strong family church, I would have led the spot with something like “Growing a strong family is not easy these days. But we are here to help you.” That’s a simple line but it is written to motivate the spiritual decision maker of the home, the mom, to bring her family to church. It solves a problem every mom in America is facing as she tries to keep her family together and growing strong.

    Have a strong value proposition. In any marketing or persuasive copy writing you must answer the “so what?” question. It amazes me how often I intersect marketing pieces that fail to give me the pay off. In our sentence above, the value proposition is simple and yet very compelling: if you want a strong family, we can help you get there.

    Give clear next steps. You must close the deal. If you got my attention and gave me a value proposition, then the next question you must answer is “what do you want from me?” If we continue the church commercial script, I would create a clear call to action like this: “Join me this Sunday for a new teaching series…Power Parenting…and find the tools to love and grow your family.” In this example, I want you to come this Sunday, because there is a “new” teaching series. People like to be in something new and it’s timely, since it will no longer be new a couple of weeks from now. It’s also a series which implies a limited amount of time. Yet another easy way to get a “yes.”

    What else would you add to this list?

     

  • 4 Questions to Help You Figure Out Your Next Move

    “I’m not sure what to do next with my life.” It’s a familiar phrase I hear quite often these days. The economic downturn has created uncertainties and opportunities. People have lost jobs. Career paths that seemed promising a few years ago are now no longer viable. Quite often I talk with people whose lives are at a crossroads–sometimes of their choosing, most often not. Recently I heard Phil Cooke speak briefly about four questions we all should ask before deciding what to do next.

    4-questions

    1. What comes easy for you? That’s what you are naturally gifted at doing.

    2.What are you passionate about? What gets your pulse to quicken and your eyes to light up?

    3. What do you hate? Perhaps you should solve that problem.

    4. What do you want to leave behind? That’s your legacy…what you want to be remembered by.

    Even if you are not looking to change careers, it’s interesting to answer these questions. Your answer to them might be a good gauge to how happy you are in your current career path.

    After answering those questions, how do you feel about your job?

  • How to Market to Your Multiple Audiences

    Messaging is critical in any marketing campaign. The wrong message to the wrong audience and all you your effort is a miss. No organization has only one audience. Even if your organization has the most homogeneous target audience, say retired male teachers, it might be at different levels of engagement with the organization: some have never heard of it; some have just been exposed to your services; others are members; and you might even have a volunteer force that helps you fulfill your mission. Since budgets are always tight, the temptation is to create materials (brochures, mailers, email blasts, visuals) that communicate to the entire target audience. Unfortunately that seldom works. What to do then?

    marketing campaign target audience strategy

    Identify your stakeholders. Every marketing campaign my company puts together involves a strategic session where we identify the target audience(s) and their level of engagement or commitment. Know who they are, their motivations, and the best way to communicate with them.

    Create a progression flow. From potential member to committed core, there are logical entry points or milestones for every business, ministry, or church. Identify them and decide what it would take to move someone from the outside in. This exercise will help you decide the next level of engagement and what kind of information or type of an “ask” is reasonable to make of people who are in that group. The bigger the “ask” of your organization, the more levels of engagements you should have. If you work for the Peace Corps and your ultimate ask is for someone to give you his or hers best years, that’s a big ask. People will not sign up for two years in Africa because of your cool YouTube video. They might want more information because of the video, however, but that engagement process will take a lot of more effort, and therefore, more intentional communication.

    Develop a communication strategy for each group or phase. Each of your identified target groups should have its own specific communication track. With the continued migration of communication from paper into the digital domain, that is becoming more and more a reality. As a matter of fact, some of your target groups might not respond to letters, print brochures, or direct mail.

    What else would you add to this list?

  • What Should You Stop Doing?

    “Every leader must learn that just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.” That’s what I came up with after the lady asked me to write down my favorite quote. Nothing had come to mind but that statement.


    That was it. Of all the books I’ve read and of all the people I’ve studied, is that THE quote? Come on. But it has stuck with me over the past few weeks since the incident. As I think back in my professional career, I have lived and continue to live that statement. As a matter of fact, the more I’m able to apply it to my life, the more successful I become.

    I remember the first time that I decided to stop fixing the office printer early in my career. Yes, I could do it, but so could someone else and my time was best served elsewhere. It’s not that I’m too important to fix the printer, but for every hour I spend dealing with printer issues, I fail to do the most important things I could do for my company: lead, sell, and inspire.

    I remember the day I stopped designing. I loved to tinker on the computer and come up with very cool graphics. It took me hours, even days to come up with very nice work that I enjoyed, but, that ultimately did not help grow and develop my business.

    The big question then is “what should I do that only I can do for this organization?” Once I understood the answer to that question and began to work in that sweet spot, I saw growth.

    Today I work with people who are much smarter, more sensitive, and more talented than I. But I know that what I do everyday contributes the most to my team. Often I find myself going back to doing the things I’m capable of doing but shouldn’t be doing them. When I do that, everyone loses.

    What should you give up in order for your organization to grow?

  • How to Form a Great Partnership

    Partnerships are important part of business as well as ministry. Great partners can help you grow while a bad one can be the death of a dream. While we can easily form a partnership, it takes a long time to break one apart, sometimes with dire consequences. Here’s what I consider before going into a partnership with an individual or organization.

    partnership success

    Trust. If there’s no trust then you should never, ever go into any kind of partnership. If you get the feeling that the other party is waiting for you to mess up so they can get the upper hand on any situation, run for the hills.

    Respect. Whether it be business or personal, if you don’t respect the leader of an organization, then you shouldn’t create any kind of partnership, no matter how beneficial it looks on the onset. Once, I went to work for a man because I thought I could “bypass” my own lack of respect for him. Big mistake.

    Different skills. Find people and organizations that bring different skills to the partnership. If you bring the same skills to the table, you might not have a partner but a competitor.

    Compromise. No one gets everything they want. That’s just life. If you or your potential partner cannot compromise on the onset, you’re doomed.

    Defining the win. Wins can be vastly different even for people working on the same venture. Don’t assume that your partner’s win is the same as yours. Understand what they value and what they want out of the partnership. Managing expectations is critical in any relationship.

    Exit strategy. Nothing lasts forever. Even the best of friends often grow apart and move on. It’s imperative to have a clear, well-documented exit strategy for both parties. That’s where a good lawyer is worth every penny you pay.

    What else you add or change on this list?