Do you know about the FISH! Philosophy method of team building? Well, it’s a model to help build stronger relationships with coworkers and customers – it helps to build an inviting culture in the workplace. The FISH! method was inspired by Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle (I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting) – where you would think you’d encounter any number of cranky, stinky, restless fish folk slinging and selling fish all day long. But no, that’s not the case. According to the promoters of the FISH! philosophy, the work environment there is fun and exciting – the employees are excited, the customers are excited, they throw fish around, and yell and have fun together… just exciting all around.
The basics of the philosophy are simple:
- Be There – just be there for people – be connected and involved.
- Play – have fun and break the rules, enjoy yourself!
- Make Their Day – just be nice to people, do something nice!
- Choose Your Attitude – be in tune with yourself and make a choice in how you will respond.
Here’s an interesting point – they made the FISH! video, it’s 20 minutes long, they charge $825 for it (or you can rent it for half that price). Think of it this way, none of those 4 basics are earth shattering revelations now are they? We’re just talking about 4 ways to motivate yourself and your team, right? We all know these things. But if you package up the video with some sticky notes and pens and a work book, it can become all the rage and you can charge $825 and up for it! Is that inspiration enough for you?
Even though this method is geared towards team building in the workplace, it’s good (in my opinion) for life in general – and for creating products 
I say it’s a good method for creating products because I think it’s very important to connect with your customers through your product. Let’s see how we can do this:
- Be There – well, you let your customers know that you understand their problem, and you are there to help them through your content, videos, audios, etc.
- Play – you’re going to be creative, not boring, with your info products by creating interesting things for them to see and hear and do with your products.
- Make Their Day – you can drop them an email after they purchase their product, perhaps sending them another freebie or a special bonus, or just saying “hello”. How many times will the author of a physical book do that?!
- Choose Your Attitude – before you start recording your video or your audio or even typing the words of your ebook, choose to be excited about your content! Be excited about it in your sales letter, and be excited about it in your follow up emails. Your voice and the words you choose are different when you are feeling positive and excited versus feeling indifferent about something – people can tell.
Just as a side note: Apparently employees of Pike Place Fish Market may have a different opinion of the FISH! Philosophy:
Follow me on Twitter: KarenWWehrle
Well, now. That’s interesting. As is usual with your posts, Gwen. Good points on interacting with customers whether it’s from a phony wonkup or what. You certainly have a resourceful way with finding info-product creation tips. Thanks for sharing. I keep learning a ton!
Karen Wilson Wehrle´s last blog ..Home Business Blog–How to Drop Your Old Baggage, Or Fail
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Karen,
Thanks for stopping by!! I’m glad you find it useful… real or phony LOL!!
Gwen
Follow me on Twitter: melaniekissell
I’ll say he’s got another opinion! Sheesh! Doesn’t seem like a very “chipper” employee, does he?
I really like the FISH philosophy as you’ve related it to online marketing and small business ownership.
I’ll go along with Karen … very interesting.
Melanie
#blog30
Melanie Kissell´s last blog ..My Experiment Bombed
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Great points about the philosophy! I work with the company (ChartHouse Learning) that created the film and the philosophy and just had to comment here about the Pike Place Hates FISH video.
I think you will find it relevant that Bear, the gentleman in the video, was asked to leave the market about a year or so ago by his co-workers!
They had tried to work on him for a number of years about attitude and such and finally decided that he just wasn’t “Pike Place Fish” anymore. he and his son, who was also working there, left.
They really do practice these things everyday. And, whereas the video has been around for about 11 years, they have been practicing this stuff for about 20.
Let me know if you are interested in making this work for a small business! We have seen fantastic results over the years.
Take Care,
Jay Larson
jay.l@charthouse.com
Follow me on Twitter: gwenatanner
In response to Jay’s comment:
Hi Jay,
Thanks so much for commenting about Bear. He seemed pretty grumpy in the video
What’s interesting about your comment is that you said they tried to work on him for a number of years – they didn’t give up did they! LOL He was there a pretty long time, so there was definitely something about the environment he liked.
I saw the FISH! video a few years back and it’s definitely inspiring, whatever the story may be. I think the philosophy can apply to so many different things – even online business!
I really appreciate you stopping by – and feel somewhat honored you did
Thanks for visiting,
Gwen
Follow me on Twitter: gwenatanner
In response to Melanie’s comment:
Hi Melanie,
There’s always a negative Nelly! LOL I’m so glad that Jay from fishphilosophy.com stopped by and explained “Bear’s” story. Very interesting.
Thanks for visiting,
Gwen
The Fish! programs are different than the market– FISH! was created by a 50 year old learning company and brings learning philosophies to help translate and make accessible the successes at the market (plus ideas from David Whyte to Peter Senge) to any other business. And businesses have had major successes.
Some have had great successes from the books (low entry cost) and some from larger investments in speaking and video programs (which vary from less expensive video streaming to DVD copies). The biggest investment is the time and commitment any company makes to improve its culture. To get a 10% income growth or cost decrease, or to find new innovations, or to overcome internal conflicts, a few thousand dollars may seem cheap to a business. The question is how much are you able to do yourself, how much more time are you willing to put into the training, and how much help do you want. The FISH! programs have pre-made powerpoints, discussion guides, leadership materials– learnings geared to different learning styles that go much deeper than simply repeating the four practices.
FISH! programs always have been flexible to provide a variety of benefits, and offering a variety of materials to achieve the benefits. The question is what do you want?
Follow me on Twitter: gwenatanner
In response to Mike’s comment:
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your comments. This is a good to see how you are tailoring your product to different needs of different businesses. This is very important for people to understand. Many people visiting my blog are small business owners and online business owners who have their own knowledge and philosophy to share (and I’m hoping they will create products to show). I’m glad you have described your product funnel to us.
Philosophies are built from observances of real-life situations and this is a good example (like I’ve tailored it for creation of products as well). I hope people reading this understand the value of doing this – especially those thinking they don’t have knowledge/expertise to share.
Once again I feel honored to have you visit my blog!
Thanks for visiting,
Gwen
Follow me on Twitter: mywebgal
Hi Gwen,
You’re sure bringing in a lot of attention on the Fish Philosophy. I had never heard of it, but I have seen the Pike’s Place Fish Market in Seattle, of course, since I live in Washington state! LOL.
Your post was very informative and entertaining to boot and on top of that the conversation really got going with the comments. This is also a great display of what a blog is all about… interaction!
Hugs!
Deb Augur´s last blog ..Mini 7 Blog Challenge
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In response to Deb’s comment:
Hi Deb,
I was hoping you’d drop by to let me know if you’ve been there! Thanks so much for your comments too.
Thanks for visiting,
Gwen
Follow me on Twitter: mzjme
Gwen, I swear I learn something new from you each time you post! I love going to the Pike Place Market it’s such an amazing place to spend the day! I must say that if you come here to Seattle, stopping by the Fish Market is a “Must”!! PS I had no clue about the video! Gonna have to check into it! Thanks Again
Jaime´s last blog ..WordPress 3.0 Released Today
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In response to Jaime’s comment:
Hi Jaime,
That’s right! You’re out that way too. Do you see them throwing the fish? I will be sure to stop by there when I visit. I have to now. LOL
Thanks for visiting,
Gwen
Hi, Gwen. I saw your post on Fish and thought you
might enjoy our Smile & Move video (3 minutes… we call
it a Smovie). http://www.SmileAndMove.com/resolution
It’s based on a little book we wrote (20-minute read, tops) that
organizations are using as a fun way to inspire and reinforce
a service-oriented culture (internally and externally).
It’s a follow-up to our book 212 the extra degree (how a little
extra effort can make a big difference). That video is available
from the link in my signature (3.5 min.)
Both our videos are free to forward to friends and colleagues. The training programs are under $400. Please email if you need anything at all.
Jennifer
Do you give the extra degree of effort?
http://www.Just212.com/be212 (212 seconds)
Give More Media, Richmond, VA, USA
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