Lundin, Joseph P.  Fish! © 2001. (Non-Fiction/Business/Leadership)

The World Famous Pike Place Fish Market has caught the attention of business leaders worldwide for its successful approach to employee morale and customer satisfaction, and this parable explains the company’s philosophy in a clear, easy-to-follow way that clarifies its appeal and makes it applicable to other businesses and work environments.

Basically, the fish market bases its services on four principles:

1. Choose your attitude—when you choose to be energetic, cheerful, and enthusiastic, your whole day is easier, more productive, and more fun.

2.   Play—Work that is fun is work that gets done. Employees enjoy doing it, customers enjoy doing business with your company, and people leave feeling satisfied and happy.
3. Make their day—Again, an attitude of playfulness lends itself to customer satisfaction, as does this policy: to attempt to make your interaction with each customer the most pleasant experience of their day. Get them involved, talk to them, make eye contact, smile, make them laugh.
4. Be present—When you’re with the customer, be with the customer. Stop what you are doing and attend to the person, not the other tasks at hand.

Anyone who has visited the fish market has seen the workers their applying these four policies on a daily basis. It is a pleasant, entertaining place to do business, and the workers have much to teach others about creating a great work environment and pleasing customers.