Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way To Personalize Sales And Achieve Astounding Results

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

Product Description Revised and updated for the first time since original publication! Here is the 200,000-copy staple, praised by Warren Buffett as "a gem ... I wish everyone at Berkshire would follow [Jack Mitchell's] advice--we would own the world." If you want to put your arms around your business and bottom line, you'll want all the updated information and practices found in the landmark business bestseller, Hug Your Customers. The only way to stay in business is to have customers; the only way to increase your profit is to attract more customer visits by providing exceptional customer service. It's that simple says Jack Mitchell. Hug Your Customers shares the hands-on practical philosophy that has allowed Mitchell and his Family of Stores to thrive and excel in today's challenging retail marketplace. Filled with accessible advice, personal case studies and tips any businessperson can use, Hug Your Customers is an energizing blueprint for customer and employee retention, increased per capita spending, and groundbreaking success. 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 "I have been a customer and a friend of the Mitchells for many years and from day one everyone has greeted my wife and me with a hug, a smile and often times a good joke! They have been a beacon--and a leader--in developing sincere and deep relationships with their clients." "It's all about service! That's what they taught me as a sales associate at Richards in the 70's and it's what they continue to show me as a customer in the year 2000. What a pleasure buying clothing from people who make you feel like family." About the Author Jack Mitchell is the CEO of Mitchells/Richards/Marshs/Wilkes Bashford, four of the most successful clothing stores in the business. He and his wife, Linda, live in Wilton, Connecticut, where they raised four sons.