How the fish philosophy can help your salon business

Lorenzo Colangelo, owner of award-winning salon The Gallery in Tunbridge Wells, Kent talks about how  the renowned FISH philosophy approach to business can work for salon owners. The FISH philosophy is based on four key daily interconnected practices that can help you build stronger and more effective relationships with those you work with, your customers, your family and others you meet on the way.  Here’s how we translate them for our business. Choose Your Attitude Choose the attitude that you are going to have each day, don’t just react, be intentional. When you get up, decide who you want to be today. Ask yourself throughout the day, "What is my attitude right now? Is it helping the people who depend on me? Is it helping me to be most effective?" This mindfulness not only makes an impact on those around you, but makes your day a bit better too.  So imagine that you know you have a busy Saturday looming, you can choose whether you think “oh no this is going to be such a long and tiring day, I am going to just hate it” or you can think “Isn’t it fantastic that all these clients want me to do their hair – I am going to enjoy being with each one today!”  Try it I guarantee you will see a difference. Be Present When people need you, they need all of you. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by others or other thoughts. To be fully present is a sign of respect to the person you are with. It improves communication and strengthens relationships.  So when you are with a client, make sure your focus is them, not the other staff or your next client or your previous client.  Now this can be difficult if you have a busy day, but actually when you practice this principle it is easier to get through a hectic day because you don’t spend valuable time worrying about what is to come. To use this principle you must also be able to let go of what has just passed.  So perhaps you had a client who was tricky to deal with, who you found difficult to please and it unnerved you.  Don’t take that feeling into your next client.  Or your negative feelings could get passed onto them and you could ruin their experience with you. Make Someone’s Day Simple gestures of thoughtfulness, thanks and recognition make people feel appreciated and valued. When you make someone else feel good, you feel good too.  These are surprisingly easy to do – both at work and in your day to day life and they really do make you feel better! This could be as simple as noticing and thanking an assistant for clearing up after you.  Or it could be offering to run out and put another parking permit on your client’s car.  Or noticing a haircut or colour by one of your team mates and telling them how lovely it looked.  The list here is endless and if you are unsure what you can do or say , simply think of the things you would like someone to say to you today at work and you will have the answer! Have Fun You can be serious about your work without taking yourself too seriously. Having fun is a mindset more than a specific activity. It allows you to throw yourself with enthusiasm and creativity into whatever you are doing, in a way that is natural, not forced. Playing with ideas helps you find solutions to everyday challenges.  I use this a lot in the salon – don’t get me wrong we are incredibly professional, but we want our staff to enjoy coming to work and for our clients to enjoy coming to see us.  Last week I had everyone over for a dinner party – why?  I told them I would cook for everyone if they hit a weekly stretch target that I had set.  They hit it, I had to cook for all 20 of them!  But it was fun to all get together outside work and from a business point of view we achieved a target! Getting Feedback! Want to know who in the team is following the FISH principles properly? We monitor this by simply asking members of the team how they feel about the team. Who has a great attitude? Who makes yours and others day? Who is fun to have in the team? Who is present when you need them ?  You will find the same names keep appearing so reward this fantastic behaviour.   Lorenzo Colangelo is the managing director of The Gallery in Southborough, Tunbridge Wells. He has spent a great deal of time working with business coaches, psychologists and other business experts to become a businessman rather than a hairdresser with a salon.