There is no truer adage than “First impressions are lasting impressions,” and one of the unsung characters who shapes that impression is your janitor.
Business consultant and author Tom Peters once remarked that a coffee-cup stain on the flip-down tray in an aircraft raises doubts in his mind about the airline’s commitment to excellence — including the maintenance of its engines. I initially thought this sounded a little harsh, perhaps even eccentric. But with experience comes wisdom, and I’ve since become convinced there is a direct correlation between attention to cleanliness and attention to product quality and customer service.
Think about it. When you walk into a business for the first time and it’s clean and tidy, doesn’t that create a favourable impression? Don’t you think, Looks like they run a sharp operation here? But if you walked in and the air smelled like a half-eaten tuna sandwich on the receptionist’s desk, the floor hadn’t been swept in days, the wastebasket was overflowing, and dust had settled thick enough to write your name in — would you still think they ran a sharp operation? Wouldn’t you have doubts about their product quality, or worse, find yourself considering a competitor?
Early in my business career, I visited an ink factory in Toronto for a business meeting. The conference room resembled a poorly maintained storeroom. Filing boxes spilled their contents onto the floor. Half-drunk coffees shared the table with scattered paperwork and colour charts. Three of the six ceiling lamps were burned out, leaving the room in a dim, theatre-like gloom entirely unsuited to a business meeting.
The contrast with a similar meeting I’d attended just months earlier — at an ink factory near Atlanta — couldn’t have been starker. That company’s conference room, with its polished table and black leather boardroom chairs, could have passed for a high-end law firm. Everything about it spoke of professionalism and quality. Their products and business conduct matched that first impression perfectly.
Back in Toronto, the meeting did not go well. Their products lacked quality, their business conduct lacked finesse, and their premises lacked a janitor. Any possibility of doing business together evaporated right there in that janitor-free zone.
A good impression can also extend beyond the four walls of your premises. If you operate delivery or transport vehicles, those vehicles are effectively billboards on wheels. It always surprises me to see an unwashed commercial truck — the impression it creates is exactly the same as a dirty shop floor or a cluttered reception area. I find unwashed food-industry vehicles particularly troubling. If poor maintenance of a tray table makes Tom Peters question the aircraft’s engines, a filthy food truck makes me question a company’s commitment to safe food handling altogether.
Beyond the impression made on customers and visitors, cleanliness has a profound effect on staff morale. Few things chip away at employee pride as steadily as a dirty, disorderly work environment. I’m proud that our premises earned three telling indicators of success: employees had no hesitation bringing family members to see where they worked, visitors regularly offered unsolicited compliments, and other small-business owners brought their own staff for tours to show them the standard they aspired to.
Regardless of who fills the janitorial role — a contracted service, a dedicated staff member, or the owner themselves in those early start-up years — cleanliness must be everyone’s concern, and most particularly the owner’s. The standard you set is the standard your team will follow.
I cannot think of a single circumstance in which janitor-free premises would boost staff morale or give a small business a competitive edge. And yet, cleanliness and orderliness remain concepts not fully grasped by many small-business owners — who may never realize just how much a good janitor could do for them.
