Have You Ever Made a Bad First Impression?

Have you ever made a bad first impression or had the feeling that you made a bad first impression? Of course, you have. We see it in people's faces—you say something you shouldn't have said, bring up something that maybe was not appropriate, or that the patient wasn't ready to hear. You may have said something that required vulnerability to understand. It happens all the time, and we see it in people’s faces.

The Impressions We Don’t Know We’re Making

Oftentimes, we create first impressions that we're not even aware of. People will quietly cancel us—they’ll ghost us—because of something we've done: how we look, what our office looks like.

The Renovation That Taught Me a Lesson

A number of years ago, I renovated the building that I currently work in. This was about 25 years ago. I didn’t have much money, but I got a big mortgage and bought the building. I thought it would be a great investment because it was previously a dentist's office. However, the building needed a lot more work than I thought—I had to gut the whole thing. That meant I had to spend a lot more money, and I did.

The inside of the building was beautiful. I put in a teaching center, a whole video conference hall, and seven brand-new operatories. Everything was brand new—beautiful floors, beautiful furnishings. People loved it when they walked in. It took me two years to build it.

A Compliment with a Sting

One day, a patient came in and said, "I love what you did with the place." He was a very successful builder and well connected in the area. My heart swelled with pride.

Then he said something else that felt like an arrow through my heart: "The building has no curb appeal."

He was right. When you pulled up, the building wasn’t newly painted. The shutters were scraped, and the paint was peeling. I didn’t have irrigation, so the lawn didn’t look very good. I hadn’t pulled out the old bushes that had been there for 40 years. There were no roses, no planters. I had run out of money and put all my effort into making the inside beautiful, which I thought was the most important part.

Do the Insides Match the Outsides?

We often say the insides should match the outsides. It’s the last chapter in my book. When your insides are good, the outsides should look good—but they don’t always.

White Sneakers and Clean Floors

An analogy I often talk about is the importance of white sneakers in our practice. Everybody wears white sneakers. That came to me years ago when I went to India and saw specks of blood on people’s sneakers in the operating room. That was in Bombay Hospital in 1997.

Later, I visited a plastic surgeon's office and saw blood specks on his shoes during a consultation. It made me question his professionalism. I started judging people by the little things: their shoes, the dirt on the floor—things that aren't as important as clinical skills, but that people still notice.

Seeing Through a Patient’s Eyes

Next time you're in your practice or office, look around like it’s your first time there. Drive up like a new patient. Is there garbage? Are the floors clean? Is the doorway neat? Look at the lights above the chair—are there bugs? Is everything clean?

Everything Matters

As my friend Dave Rosania often says: "How you do anything is how you do everything. It all matters."

Yes, the insides should match the outsides—but people see the outside first. If they’re not impressed, they won’t stay to look inside. If your building needs paint, paint it. If your fingernails aren’t clipped, clip them. If your sneakers have blood specks, get clean ones.

You don’t have to wear white sneakers—but in our office, it’s our moniker. We’re known for it. Just something to think about. Be the gift to those you serve.