Rating: 
Summary: Great Book For Service Business Owners
Review: "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"
Rating:
Summary: A 5 Star Hug!
Review: "HUGGING", it might sound corny.....but this book is far from that! "Hugging", I have found after reading Jack's book, is critical to a successful business because it is the thing that keeps your customers coming back. His writing style is easy and enjoyable -- his lessons are spelled out for all to take. If you are a retailer, hotelier, stockbroker, etc., order this book for yourself and everyone you know -- believe me, you will get many hugs in return.
Rating:
Summary: Creating a Magical Experience for Customers
Review: A business owner who'll do anything for his customers--even fly across the world to deliver a suit! He turns clothing shopping from commodity to magical experience--and he is very well-compensated. I read this all the way through in about two sittings.
Rating: 
Summary: Mitchell Deserves A Hug
Review: Everyone that deals with people should read this book. I would love to give it to the geeks that invented the computerized customer service reps.. those shameful beings. Hugs become extra important for someone who basically deals with clients through a computer.. like me :) The one thing I would change about this book is that certain sections tend to get really vague.
Rating:
Summary: hugging is for all
Review: great book on the best way to take care of your customers. has a great message that any business should try to follow.
Rating:
Summary: Believe What You Read
Review: Having had first hand experience shopping at Mitchells and Richards you can be assured that what you read is what you get. The Hug book chronicles the non fiction path to over the top customer satisfaction. Jack has achieved the pinnacle and diplayed "The Formula" for everyone to emulate. An easy, quick read full of implementable strategies that apply to any business. Loved every page!
Rating:
Summary: valuable read for any businessperson
Review: Highly recommend to any businessperson as a "how-to" guide to differentiating yourself through service and overall attention to the customer. Much of what is written here seems like common sense (the Golden Rule: "Do unto others...") yet is rarely practiced by businesses. Although the book may be somewhat redundant (the reason I gave it 4 starts rather than 5), this weakness is offset by the fact that it remains a quick read, largely due to the numerous great anecdotes illustrating Mitchell's business principles. I will have all my employees read it and intend to make it one of the books that I try to re-read annually.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best business books I've read in a long time
Review: HUG YOUR CUSTOMERS by Jack Mitchell is one of the best business books I have read in
a long time . . . it describes how he transformed a little store
started by his parents into two of the most successful clothing
establishments in the business. I know that I was really into it by the copious notes I was
taking on just about every topic . . . in addition, I kept thinking
to myself that next time I'm anywhere near one of his
stores in Connecticut, I want to stop by and see for myself how Mitchell has managed to succeed when so many
others fail in the industry. As he notes, "We shower our customers with attention.
There's no doubt in my mind that our philosophy can be applied
to selling just about anything--from aircraft engines to beanbags." He does this by showering his customers with "hugs"--personal touches
that impress and satisfy the customer . . . these include such
things as:
Remembering the name of your customer's dog;
Calling a customer to make sure he's satisfied after a purchase;
Having a kids' corner with TV, books and treats;
Knowing your customer's golf handicap; and
Letting your customer use your office to make a personal phone call. The book was chock-full of other ideas that could be applied
to just about any situation; among them: When I'm bored at home, rather than reading a book, I often
punch the button on my computer and put in parameters to
pull up our top one hundred or top one thousand customers, men and women, and I study them like I was studying vocabulary
words for the SAT's. The names go into one of the attic rooms
of my brain and lodge there. As I once knew all stats on Joe
DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, I now try to know all the stats
on my top thousand customers. Because that's the game:
knowing the customer. A hug can be a thoughtful remedy for an annoyance. When the
Postal Service raised the price of a stamp to 37 cents 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
so I wouldn't have to wait in line for a long time." I hate waiting
in lines, especially at a government agency. But who doesn't? So
I sent out a personal note to five hundred of our good customers,
thinking they might be in the same boat, and included some 3-cent
stamps. "You know you are the focus of our business," 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. Consistency means that if you're going to do anything for the customer,
you have to do it for everyone, including someone you've never seen
before. That means that a customer is more important than a
mannequin. One Saturday years ago, Mitchells was really mobbed,
and this couple came in who had never been there before. The wife
asked if we had a certain tie in a green coloration. I flipped through the tie racks and couldn't find it. The woman nodded at
a mannequin and said, "There it is." So I got up and removed it and
took if downstairs to be steamed. Meanwhile, the couple browsed
around and wound up buying several suits, a couple of sport jackets,
and twenty-three custom shirts. As they were checking out, the woman
said, "We were in a store in Stamford before we came here, and there
was a tie on the mannequin that I liked and I asked the manager if he
could take it off, and he said, 'Absolutely not, the visual department
is coming out from New York today and the visuals have to be
perfect.' "
Rating:
Summary: A Necessary Business Tool
Review: Hug Your Customers is the best tool you can offer your team in any business. There is not enough "hugging" in the world today. Jack Mitchell has valuable, hands on experience that he was kind enough to share. It would be a miss for anyone in business to not take advantage of his kindness!
Rating:
Summary: 5 stars is not enough!
Review: I have read over 50 books on Customer Service. This is by far the best of all of them. It goes into great detail on what things you need to do, not just the fact that you need to do them. I have sent them two emails, and they responded in less than a day-That's better than 90% of the companies out there...If you are going to read a book this year, this should be the one. It is insperational, and motivational for anyone dealing with the public, even Governmental agencies could learn a thing or two, or three or...
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