Recently in Fast Practice (a practice management Information news letter) there was a good column by Jeffrey J. Denning called “Spring Cleaning Time.” Even thought the column was short his point was clearly made. He was talking about how people will judge our place of business by how it’s appearance is and his example was of patients who go to a doctor’s office for the first time and have no idea of the physician’s medical skill, but if the office is dirty, wall paper torn, desks messy, etc., they will tie these things to what they think about the physician’s attention to detail is. If a doctor is willing to see patients in a dirty, messy, unkempt place what does that say? Nothing good for sure. People will rely on other signs that they can see in order to determine quality. Just look through the Consumer Reports about stores like “Ross Dress For Less”, they have a multitude of complaints about how dirty and messy the stores are. As humans we judge a lot by what we see first, then hear and smell. Take food for instance, would you eat something that looked bad and smelled bad? Probably not. Jeffery Denning suggests that every business have a comprehensive list of every single maintenance and cleaning task required to keep its facility in tip-top shape. Make lists with weekly tasks, bi-weekly tasks, monthly and so on, and also have who is going to do the tasks for accountability.
A good idea is to ask someone who has never been into your place of business to come do a “white glove inspection” where they write down all of the things that they see that need attention. What do they see that they like and what do they see that they do not. Take all things into consideration as your business success does depend on it. Once you have your list, start ticking away at the projects. Have pride in where you work and how you present to your customers. Remember cleanliness is next to successfulness.
The link below will take you to the Greenbranch site where you can find out more about the Fast Practice News Letter.
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