Some time ago, I gave a talk to a business group. Afterward, a woman came up to me and said she owned a restaurant. "We really serve the best Mexican food in the area," she said. "But we're not making any money and I'd like to meet with you to see if you could use your consulting skills to help me." We agreed to meet later in the week at my office. I had never been to her restaurant, so I stopped by the next day for lunch. I took three pages of notes during lunch in preparation for our meeting. The woman never showed up for her appointment. Well, just because she stiffed me doesn't mean that my observations have no value. I'd like to share some of them with you because they have implications for your business, too, even if you're not running a restaurant.

For openers, the place looked dumpy from outside. The door had those slanted gold hardware store letters spelling out PULL, but the L had fallen off so it said PU L. Not a good first impression. The front windows were covered with those freebie signs that the beer companies give out, so the restaurant made no statement about itself (except that it served beer).

Walking inside, I saw that the place was decorated with a combination of promotional signs for soft drinks and garage-sale cast-offs. The decor included junky Tijuana-style trinkets, bows, and hats. A newspaper had written a very nice restaurant review, which had been laminated and hung with rubber suction cups. It deserved to be matted and framed. The place could have used less hanging pinatas and more hanging plants to give it more warmth. The lighting was unflattering. The layout was strange. A professional decorator could do wonders for this place. If the owner was short on cash, maybe she could have made part payment with free meals or work out some other kind of trade with a decorator.

The restaurant's waiter was friendly but was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. He didn't look the part. Wait people don't have to be dressed formally but they should be dressed so that you can tell that they're not customers or dishwashers. In between waiting on customers, he sat at one of the tables reading a newspaper and smoking a cigarette. He looked like a customer and not a well-dressed or alert one either.

First impressions are important for any business. Since a camera doesn't lie, we used to take Polaroid photos of the inside and outside of our business. By studying them carefully we got ideas about signage, product placement and color scheme. When we did our first trade show, we built our own booth but hired a designer to help us with layout and color. He was well worth the expense. He made our booth look more professional and stylish. Even though our booth had nothing to do with our competence as manufacturers, it was the only way people could get to know us so it had to be inviting. That's true for professional offices, too. It's going to be harder to convince anyone that you're a competent accountant if your waiting room has cheap metal folding chairs and budget prints from K-Mart on the wall. Competent accountants are successful and successful accountants have nice offices. Perception is reality. Decor should be pleasant and inviting, whether you're an accountant, a restaurant or any other business or practice which is visited by prospective customers.

Well, we're into the fifth paragraph of this review and I still haven't talked about the food. That's because it is probably the least important part of the dining experience at a restaurant. Everyone thinks they're a food critic but mostly they're restaurant critics. They judge the total experience - the decor, the ambience, the service and the demeanor of the staff. Food is only part of the experience. Furthermore, food made with the finest ingredients prepared by the world's most competent chef won't taste very good if it sits out under warming lamps for a while. Food must be served promptly. As in most other businesses, prompt delivery is very important. Incidentally, the food in this particular Mexican restaurant was OK but I'll never go there again. There are too many other nearby restaurants, Mexican and otherwise, that provide food which is just as good. They also provide a much better overall dining experience.

I hope that you'll learn something from this restaurant review - even if you're not a restaurateur. Whether you have customers, patients or clients, you're being judged based on their total experience with your organization. Make sure that you present a consistent, inviting image to them. If not, they may never come back.