Creating the perception of quality

Most dentists are pretty proud of their dentistry and rightly so. We deliver a custom made product under difficult conditions.But, patients have no real way of assessing quality. Provided a filling doesn't fall out immediately and the tooth doesn't hurt then they can't tell great dental work from mediocre.So, does this mean that patients don't form opinions about our quality?Not at all. Rightly or wrongly they judge us on lots of small, possibly unrelated, factors.Are our restrooms clean? Is the surgery neat and tidy? Is there clutter behind the front desk. Are the indoor plants healthy? Do we have on a clean scrub? Are our finger nails clean? Is there dust on the equipment? Is the spittoon clean? Are our rubbish bins overflowing? Do we have post-it note stuck everywhere?Try this as an exercise. Walk into your office and see it with fresh eyes. Look around.If this was a hotel what first impression would you get? Based on what you see would you expect the hotel to be well-run and the rooms to be clean. Or is there clutter and mess?