by Ken Vincent, Featured Contributor
Recent studies show that 90% of people agree that cleanliness in any business is essential. More people are dissuaded from becoming return customers by that issue than any other.
I doesn’t matter what the business is either. Nor is the definition of cleanliness as varied as we would believe. Clean is clean.
In a hotel room all evidence of prior occupancy must be erased. Along with that all evidence of the room having been there for a length of time must also go away. That means dusted picture frames, no dirty sock under the bed, no hair in the bathtub, and a long list of other items.
In a restaurant a clean carpet isn’t enough. The table and chair legs must be clean, the booths without crumbs where the seat meets the back. Dusted window sills, a tidy bar, etc.
In retail stores shelves should be dusted and door thresholds free of debris.
I was in a car dealer’s service bay the other day. The adage that you could eat off the floor was true. The mechanics had clean uniforms and were wearing rubber gloves. There were no greasy rags, engine parts, or tools around. I was truly impressed.
Clean, tidy, well groomed personnel are essential of course. It doesn’t matter if the facility is clean if an employee looks like he slept in his clothes and has dirt under his fingernails.
Have you ever been turned off by a business that wasn’t clean to your standards?
Do you think that the definition of clean varies by age, or between the sexes?
