Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results | 
 enlarge | Author: Jack Mitchell
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $0.03
You Save: $19.92 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 40149
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8
ISBN: 1401300340
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.812
EAN: 9781401300340
ASIN: 1401300340
Publication Date: June 11, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
nce a customer, always a friend-that is the simple philosophy behind Mitchells/Richards, two of the most successful clothing stores in the nation-and that is why Jack Mitchell, his family, and associates inspire the enduring loyalty and admiration of his customers, including today's top CEOs. Jack's two stores, Richards in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Mitchells in Westport, Connecticut, suit up discerning customers from across the country. Now for the first time, Jack Mitchell shares the secrets of his family's innovative merchandising and management approach in his book Hug Your Customers. It's a deceptively simple but winning approach to customer service-that a relationship is at the heart of every transaction. Jack Mitchells' business philosophy is based on 'hugs'-personal touches such as knowing every customer's name and clothing preferences or handing out free coffee and newspapers on the commuter train platform. Complete with anecdotes that exemplify outstanding customer service, Hug Your Customers shows how any business can adapt this hugging philosophy to attract great staff, lower marketing costs, and maintain higher gross margins and long-term revenues. At a time when customer service has become the difference between success and failure, Hug Your Customers shows how Jack's one-of-a-kind philosophy brings winning results.
Download Description
HUG YOUR CUSTOMERS is about customer service and how Jack Mitchell has practiced it by extending "hugs" - unexpected extras, from knowing each customers name, along with their family members and clothing preferences, to handing out free coffee and newspapers on the Greenwich commuter train platform to say thanks (and by extension "Shop at Mitchells"). Mitchell looks at sales as being about something other than the product. You're not selling clothing, you're selling the relationship. That's why on Saturdays, many people come to Mitchells just to see what's going on. In the summer, he's giving away hot dogs. Any time a regular customer walks in, the sales staff knows his name, spouse's and kids' names, clothing preferences and last purchase.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
 Biz book club says, "We love the book". March 17, 2008
I facilitate a biz book club for a women's organization and we chose "Hug Your Customer". We were also fortunate to have Jack speak at a luncheon as we are located near his stores. In person, Jack was professional and enthusiastic. The book club loved the book and felt that after reading the book we went about our daily lives expecting hugs and not getting many. In any extremely competitive business, I think it's the hugs that will make you stand out and you won't have to ask for the business, customers will automatically spread the good word. The storytelling in the book put tactics to life and easy to understand.
Sharon Lucca
M & T Bank
Entrepreneurial Womans Network Business Book Club
Westport, CT
 Gag me, please February 17, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
All this Mitchell character did was make claims and then back them up by their own philosophies. I truly gave it a chance but page after page was about themselves pumping their own grandeur.
I study the art of sales and customer loyalty with respect to customer retention - but this just seemed like one big solicitation. I wasn't impressed. I actually received the book from American Express as a new year's gift and was delighted that the company sent it to me but not so much when I actually got through half of it.
 Hug Your Customers December 12, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a book about the principles of passionate customer service. Written by USA retailer, Jack Mitchell, it is full of homespun philosophies and amusing anecdotes that give a glimpse of why his two store business is so successful. Here are two examples of what Jack Mitchell means by a `hug':
"A hug can be a thoughtful remedy for an annoyance. When the postal service raised the price of a stamp to 37cents from 34 cents, my first thought was, `Oh great, now I've got to stand in line to get 3-cent stamps so I can use that mound of 34-cent stamps I bought...I hate waiting in lines, so I sent out a personal note to 500 of our good customers, thinking they might be in the same boat, and included some 3-cent stamps. I wrote, `In an effort to make your life less hectic, I have enclosed a handful of 3-cent stamps.' It was a hug out of nowhere, and they loved it."
"Whenever I notice customers shopping with young children, I like to go over and kneel down so I'm at child height and say, `Hi there, I just wanted to thank you for bringing your mom and dad into the store today."
Rather like John Timpson, at Timpson Ltd in the UK, Jack Mitchell believes in rewarding high performers.
"We say to our great sellers, `we want to invest in you. We would rather pay you more, than pay to put additional ads in the Westport News or the New York Times.' Most retail stores traditionally spend 3 to 5 per cent of their sales in marketing. Years ago, we did too. But then we realised that we could spend a lot less and invest it in great people. It was a tremendous win for everyone."
"Hug Your Customers, love the results" is an easy read that is unlikely to give you new insights but it will get you thinking about how you can hug more of your customers more often and reap the rewards. As Jack Mitchell says, "You have to be consistent with all your customers. Inconsistent businesses have inconsistent profits."
Lead Your Business to Improved Customer Loyalty October 8, 2007
Overall, this is an excellent book for leaders of customer-centric organizations. While the book lacks organization and is heavy on personal examples, it is effective at providing numerous methods to improve customer loyalty. Hug Your Customers is an easy read and most examples can be implemented in almost any business. The positives so far outweighed the negatives mentioned above that I am giving this book five stars.
GROUP HUGS!! July 5, 2007
This book is an inspiration! Jack Mitchell writes with such enthusiasm it would make anyone want to hug. It is general enough to apply to any type of business and not at all boring.
If companies would aspire to doing even a fraction of the hugging he is writes about, the world would be a happier and healthier place. I will recommend this read for ANYONE in customer service or those who may think service is dead. I plan a trip to Mitchell's, just to check it out. Thanks Jack Mitchell. Service is NOT DEAD.
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