Clean = Good, Spotless = Five Star. 

I'm writing this chapter on a train. It's big, seats hundreds of people and can travel at well over 100 miles an hour. I'm sitting in First Class, which is a privilege I never take for granted, and your eyes (like mine) would water if you knew the cost of the tickets.  There is a challenge though. It's a bit dirty.  There are crumbs on the table from the last traveller, an unidentifiable stain on the window and the Guard - sorry Revenue Protection Officer - has dirty nails. The latter was pointed out by Christine, who spots nasty nail fungi at fifty paces.

It's not nice is it?  I have a friend who got off a plane because his seat table was filthy. His thinking was, 'if that's how they treat the tables, how well do they look after the engines?'

And it gets worse.  My friend Tom decided he didn't want to buy a £50,000 product because the salesman had dirty shoes.

There's a famous story that Michael Eisner, the then Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Corporation, was showing a group of international executives around the Magic Kingdom. He walked across the street, picked up a piece of litter and threw it in the nearest bin. When one of the group suggested he must have staff to do that he replied, 'the cleanliness of Disney is everyone's responsibility'. 

I've heard the story so many times that there's a little piece of me thinks they must plant the litter for every tour so he can make that point.  And the point is obvious - isn't it? Or is it?

The level of cleanliness around your product or service has to be immaculate. Not good, not left to the next person, not 'it will get better tomorrow' as I'm talking about immaculate now.

And I'm talking about you as well your environment.  You only get one chance to make a first impression and customers make judgments with their eyes long before they have experienced the service.

Here's a list of 8 things you must consider...

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