Reception Team

The reception team is a volunteer team who help manage the front desk and assist with administrative tasks during office hours.

Responsibilities

Answering the phone and taking messages
Responding to voicemails
Updating check-ins
Creating name tags
Assisting with Admin Support

Answering the Phone

Make sure you have a pen and the voicemail message book.
1. Ensure the card stock insert is behind the most current page so that the pressure paper doesn't bleed through
Answer the call: “This is _____ at Foothills Unitarian. How can I help you?”
1. If they say their name, write it down immediately. If you don’t fully hear or understand it, you can write down what you hear and clarify later.
2. Searching the first 2 letters of their first & last name into PCO will generally bring up their profile if they are in our system. Sometimes this takes a little guessing and it’s okay if you can’t find it, it may just help you understand who you’re talking with
Determine who they want to talk to/what their question or concern is. Some questions you will be able to answer & help with, some you will not.
People will ask “is ________ around, I would like to speak with them” but unless someone is immediately accessible/nearby, we generally don’t forward calls because we only have the one phone. You can say “It looks like ________ is in a meeting right now, can I take a message or answer any questions for you?”. Callers are generally agreeable to this. People in the office appreciate this as well as most of them are not prepared to answer the phone at any given time.
Make sure to take notes while listening to their call
If someone is asking to speak to someone with no context, you can ask “What does this pertain to?” This will help you discern prospecting calls
Generally, folks are asking for:
Pastoral Care
This includes speaking with our caring team but can also include assistance finding social services (ie food banks, housing assistance, etc.)
If all the person wants is help getting connected with organizations, provide those for them
Housing:
1. Family Housing Network
  https://www.familyhousingnetwork.org/
2. Habitat for Humanity
  https://fortcollinshabitat.org/
3. Rainbow Villages (LGBTQ+ only)
  This one is a Foothills affiliated group but a little harder to provide direct resources for as they are small. We do not immediately give people who we do not know access to this group as this is a very sensitive group dedicated to helping queer families move to safer states. Take down the callers information and give it to Lauren F or Caitlin.
Food:
1. Mobile Food Market
  We host these guys every other week at 1pm, on 1st & 3rd Sundays
2. Larimer County Food Bank
  https://foodbanklarimer.org/
3. Vindiket Foods
  This is Not an official Foothills community partner but I like this one personally.
  They are a food rescue that works on voluntary donations only and is run mostly by volunteers
  https://www.vindeketfoods.org/
Community
1. Invite them to engage in our church.
2. Lauren F is our newcomer and engagement coordinator and will be able to help them. Tell her we got a call and give her their information. Give the caller her email: lauren@foothillsuu.org
3. If the person needs more than access to our resources, direct them to our caring team and inform Elaine of the situation. Do you best to be patient and kind with these folks, they are generally having a bad day
  1. caring@foothillsuu.org
  2. 970-493-5906 ext. 126#
Assistance adjusting their pledge/donation
1. Caitlin, Jenn, or Katie can help with this
2. Take down their information changes, full name, and phone number. Double check that you have the correct details by repeating them back
3. Tell them you will communicate the changes to our financial team and that they will be receiving an email shortly
Information on our Small Groups & Events Registrations:
People are often looking for groups or info about groups that we host. Sometimes this answer is simply adding them to the group they want to be a part of.
Sometimes a group is closed and you have to tell them that. Other times it is unclear and you will need to reach out to the group lead to confirm if it is no longer open
Space Rentals
Ask them what their event needs are, take notes, and communicated those things to Jenn & Caitlin
Direct them to our rental request page on our website.
https://foothillsuu.org/reserve/
Tell them Jenn will help soon
General Comments/Questions
Where can I watch an old service
Website command chain: menu>Watch/Listen>Watch Services>Fill Out Form>You can watch services now
Theoretically they are also on Youtube but I am not sure how that’s functioning rn
Can I have a copy of the sermon
Yes! Scripts are found in services and Sermons can be put into their own document to read over later
Take down their email and name and send it to them once you’re done with the call
Do you guys have x type of program/group
Honestly, easiest way to do this is to look up a keyword in Groups that they say if you don’t know
ie - justice, environment, climate, lgbt, lgbtq, etc.
This was really cool and I liked it
Make a note of who says it, thank them for letting you know, and post it in FTW basecamp group.
Podcast
Our podcast is on hiatus for the moment. We want to it come back soon, we’ve just had a lot of staff changes which makes it challenging
Music
We are currently interviewing candidates to find the one who most appropriately fits our team and vision
Sophia will be with us until 9/5. Benjamin will temporarily help lead music 9/8-9/29
https://foothillsuu.org/2024/07/music-update/

Staff changes
Keep it vague.
“Unfortunately we just weren’t a good fit”
“We are in the process of interviewing and hiring new candidates. We hope to have the position filled soon”
Prospecting Calls
Be nice but tell them no
It doesn’t matter how much they push the answer is no