Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results (Hardcover)

by Jack Mitchell (Author) "It always seems like emergencies come up when you're not ready for them, and that's exactly what happened during the escapade of the navy blue..." (more)
Key Phrases: hug your customers, hugging culture, hugging customers, Game Day, New York, Three Thousand (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
If you work at a Fortune 500 company and live in southern Connecticut or New York's Westchester County (two of Manhattan's most affluent suburbs), chances are you buy your suits at Mitchells (in Westport, Conn.) or Richards (in Greenwich, Conn.). These two independent clothing stores are some of the most successful in the business and outfit CEOs from Chase, GE, IBM, Merrill Lynch and Pepsi. Mitchell, whose father started the business, shares the secret of his success in this unoriginal but cheerful guide to keeping customers happy. Hugging your customers, he says, has nothing to do with being touchy-feely around them and everything to do with offering them over-the-top service. For Mitchell, that means literally offering a customer the coat off your back, if that's the only one left in the store in the customer's size and preferred style and color. It means going to customers' homes to tie their bow ties for big events. It means serving coffee and bagels in the store and giving away hot dogs in the parking lot on summer Saturdays. Some might view this as fawning, but for Mitchell, it's the best way to keep customers coming back. His advice-know your customer, think outside the box, have a "no problem" attitude-is hardly groundbreaking. But those who work with customers daily have much to gain from this chipper, inspiring handbook.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Hug Your Customers can change your attitude and outlook while helping you become more successful. A must read!" -- Larry Bossidy, CEO, Honeywell International Inc.

"Hug Your Customers gives the business world proven techniques to ensure success for many generations." -- Harry Paul, Co-author, FISH! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

"Follow the tenets of Hug Your Customers and your business will be more stable, you'll make more money . . ." -- Jeffrey J. Fox, author of How to Become a Rainmaker

"Great book-required reading for anyone who manages a business where customer service counts." -- Seymour Sternberg, CEO, New York Life Insurance

"Jack Mitchell has created an organization that epitomizes the best in customer service." -- Richard J. Harrington, President and CEO, The Thomson Corporation

"Lots of merchants profess a devotion to customers, but Mitchells practices that devotion in every conceivable way . . . A must read!" -- Larry Bossidy, former CEO of Honeywell

"Simple but winning approach to customer service." -- Esquire

"The Mitchell method is simple, straightforward and incredibly effective. Business people as well as consumers will benefit . . ." -- Arthur Levitt, Jr. author of Take on the Street, former chairman SEC, present friend and customer of Mitchells

"This book is a suprising little gem." -- William J. Holstein, The New York Times

"This is a terrific read -- a mixture of wonderful, insightful anecdotes, along with brilliantly simple and useful advice." -- Don Peppers, co-author (with Martha Rogers) of The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (June 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401300340
• ISBN-13: 978-1401300340
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,186 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book For Service Business Owners, August 26, 2003

By	Peter Hupalo (MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way To Personalize Sales And Achieve Astounding Results" by Jack Mitchell is a great book for entrepreneurs who operate service businesses and, especially, for business owners who operate retail operations.

Jack Mitchell is co-owner and CEO of Mitchells/Richards, the upper-end clothing retailer. Today, Mitchells/Richards sells $65 million in apparel annually. Mitchells/Richards dresses many Fortune 500 executives. However, the store began as a modest family business, started by Jack's dad in 1958.

Mitchell writes: "When the store opened, there were a few dozen shirts, some socks, a couple of sweaters, and a few ties. Plus, exactly three Doncaster suits, the brand Dad created for the store, priced at $65 apiece. A size 40 banker's stripe. A 42 navy blue. And a 42 charcoal gray.... Nowadays we stock over three thousand suits-for men and women."

Mitchell credits his family store's success to making the store a home, where customers feel welcome. Mitchell says his parents: "...understood that customers wanted five things more than they wanted a great location or enormous inventory:

1. A friendly greeting
2. Personal interest
3. A business that makes them feel special
4. A 'no problem' attitude
5. Forward thinking"

Mitchell says that to be successful in the service industry, you must build a customer centric organization-one that hugs the customer. It's not enough to have satisfied customers. You need extremely satisfied customers.

Mitchell writes: "When you have strong relationships, customers will do more of their buying from you. They'll refer other customers. They'll communicate with you better and tell you what they like and what they don't like, in turn making your business more efficient and effective."

Mitchell points out that hugging is difficult to quantify, and many companies ignore customer satisfaction and customer profiling altogether. While inventory is recorded on the balance sheet, Mitchell tells us that a company's greatest asset-repeat customers-doesn't appear on any financial statements.

Further, while companies invest significant amounts in computer systems, they rarely develop computer systems that support a hugging culture.

Mitchell writes: "What's amazing is that although personal relationships are absolutely crucial to any company's success, they are rarely tracked by any system. Hotels don't know who likes queen-sized beds and who wants extra pillows. Airlines don't know who prefers aisle seats and who prefers the window."

Mitchell is a big fan of profiling customers to provide more personal service. He likes his sales associates to know which customers like M&M's and what nicknames they prefer.

With over 115,000 customers, knowing personal information about each customer is nearly impossible without a database to support this information. When a customer visits Mitchells/Richards, the customer's sales associate can pull up the customer information easily allowing the associate to recall information about the individual.

Hug Your Customers also contains solid advice about running a family business.

Peter Hupalo, Author of "Thinking Like An Entrepreneur"

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Put tears in my eyes, September 10, 2003

By	Experienced seminar leader (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

In a world where "that's not my problem" and "we have our policies" too often reign, from large companies and small ones both, this book is sheer delight. I read this book while smarting from being treated as if having no water in our house for several days were not an emergency. The well company came on a Friday, appeared to have fixed the well and left. Twenty minutes later, the problem came back. Had they subscribed to the Jack Mitchell philosophy, the service guys would have come back later that day, or on Saturday so that we wouldn't have been left without water for the weekend. But nope, their weekends are more important than customers. When he finally called me back, I even asked the owner if he could give me a beeper or cellphone number so that I could let him know if the next service call also didn't solve the problem. He refused. Now compare this with the Jack Mitchell philosophy, which is that an emergency is whatever the customer defines as an emergency, and that the customer counts. And the customer counts not because this creates a fatter bottom line (which it does), but because people matter. That's the part that put tears in my eyes. His sincerity on this point came through loud and clear. The book rates a "5" both on emotional and logical grounds. I read tons of business books every year, and this one truly stands out.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book, July 9, 2003

By A Customer

Once again, there's not a lot that's terribly new here but the basic concept of customer service cannot be overstressed: treat people as you would like to be treated yourself. I own a high-end retail establishment on Madison Avenue in New York City. I had become so fed up hearing my employees complain about the mega-stores and mega-brands taking away our business that I had them read this book and we discussed it at a staff meeting. It made a huge difference, and the customers have definitely noticed. If you like this one, then I would also recommend the new book about a small coffee business called "Beans." The same tenets apply.