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HUG YOUR CUSTOMER, AGAIN!

AND AGAIN! IN OUR TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN ERA, THE RE-RELEASE OF THIS 10-YEAR-OLD CLASSIC REINFORCES THE VALUE OF RELATIONSHIP SELLING. BY KAREN ALBERG GROSSMAN book review

About 10 years ago, a second-generation specialty store apparel merchant based in Westport, Connecticut wrote a little book on customer service. The inspiration for so doing was an industry conference that predicted online retailing would soon put brick and mortar stores out of business. Jack Mitchell was one of the speakers but he didn’t buy into the premise: his family’s two apparel stores were among the most successful in the country, if not the world. Yet their secret was neither high-tech nor profound: treat customers first as people, then as clients. Caring inspires loyalty, which inspires increased sales.

The initial version of Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Outstanding Results is now in its 17th printing, having sold well over 200,000 copies in North America and tens of thousands around the world (Brazil, Japan, China, Russia, Mexico, the UK, even Estonia!). What’s more, Jack Mitchell suddenly became a highly sought-after motivational speaker who has presented at more than 200 conferences around the globe.

Why? In this writer’s opinion, the book is not just a guide to personalized selling but, in a very real sense, a manual for living a more meaningful life. I know it’s changed mine.

“The heart of the re-release is the same as the original but with a new preface and, ironically, a new take on technology, the very thing that many predicted would put specialty stores out of business,” says Mitchell. Since the book’s original publication, the Mitchells purchased two iconic stores 3,000 miles across America during the worst recession of our time, and more recently launched a highly personalized interactive website that somehow manages to convey their culture of hugging through cyberspace.

The essence of the book is tough to sum up; it’s Mitchell’s marvelous anecdotes that bring it to life. Among my favorites: the time he opened the store on a Sunday just so a woman could buy her irate husband new underwear. (She was in the process of moving and had inadvertently packed and shipped all his boxers…) It was a small sale but Jack was happy to make it, theorizing that he might have saved a marriage! (Editor’s note: How did this stranger reach the store owner on a Sunday? A family member’s personal phone number is always on the store answering machine after hours.)

And the time when, with the CEO of a luxury cruise line, Mitchell came up with the idea of lending tuxedos to male passengers (and offering on-board alterations) in order to raise the bar on dress code. The concept worked brilliantly, despite the fact that they didn’t offer footwear; guys would show up for dinners in their elegant tuxes worn with brown boat shoes or scuffed sneakers. Still, once seated, they looked great in the professional photos. The elevated mood among passengers jumpstarted sales in the casino and throughout the ship, as well as bookings for future cruises.

Thinking out of the box, cooperation instead of competition, creating a hugging culture, challenges not problems, the power of new: there’s much to learn from this wonderful book. “I’ve added some new insights and fresh stories to the updated edition,” notes Mitchell, who defines a hug as any personal touch that impresses or delights. “But the key message I want to convey is that hugging worked 10 years ago, it’s working today and I believe it will work 100 years from now. So try it! It might start out as a business strategy but it quickly becomes a way of life.”

THIS BOOK, WRITTEN BY OUR FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE JACK MITCHELL, REFLECTS OUR THEORY OF PERSONALIZED SELLING AND CAN REVOLUTIONIZE YOUR BUSINESS.”