Out of Work? GMT Wants to Send You Two Free Games!

I became aware of this program, when it was run last year, and asked Tony about what lead to the special offer. You can check out the interview in its entirety here and here, but I’ll just share our exchange about the “Tough Economy” Special:

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JM: One thing GMT is certainly known for is the top notch customer service provided with every order. In this day and age it’s refreshing to see a company that responds quickly to customer inquiries and addresses any errors almost immediately; I’ve never run across anything negative in the forums on BGG stating otherwise. To me that shows GMT cares about its customers. Another great indicator of GMT’s support of the community is the Tough Economy program. I did write a little about it in an earlier post but I was wondering if you’d care to go into a bit more detail about the program?

TC:  On a personal level we believe in the Golden Rule – treat our customers as we would want to be treated. We strive to be error free, but we are human and mistakes happen: games get shipped with missing or damaged parts, game boxes get torn up shipping to customers, orders get entered that do not get invoiced and shipped, and so on. We have always believed in the basic honesty of our customers. If a customer calls and says he is missing the counter sheets to a game we shipped to him, we send them out right away because we believe those sheets really are missing. If a distributor contacts me and says they were short two games in their last shipment, we send them right out. We have not been disappointed by our customers. We have the blessing of working with a segment of society where honesty is the norm. From a business standpoint we know the one thing that will drive a customer – and any future purchases – away is being treated poorly. Owning the best GMT game in the world will not compensate for poor customer service after the purchase. We still lose a few customers, but it’s not for lack of trying. With stress levels through the roof because of the economy, it’s even more imperative to try to solve customer problems quickly, efficiently, and most of all, cheerfully with no questions asked.

The Tough Economy Specials. We gamers are a unique bunch of people. In our hierarchy of basic needs, buying and playing games ranks right up there close to food shelter and clothing. OK, an exaggeration, but there is truth to it. Gamers thrown out of work by this recession get hit twice – they have to deal with the emotional and financial issues of being downsized, and with diminished budgets they can no longer afford to buy the games that would bring them enjoyment. We have run three Tough Economy Specials. For those anywhere in the world who have ever bought a GMT game from any source and who can show they have become unemployed as of a certain date, we have sent two free GMT games of their choice and paid for the shipping. We just wrapped up the third special. We are in what economists who are not out of work glibly refer to as a “rolling recession.” All sectors get hit, but not at the same time. We had gamers thrown out of work in the fall of 2008. We have gamers getting downsized now – and at all points in between. There may well be a need for a fourth Tough Economy Special.

JM:  Why did the Tough Economy program seem to make good sense for the folks at GMT?

TC:  I’m glad you asked. For us it has made perfect sense, but the average business person looking in from the outside might think we were nuts. We have been taken to task for giving away games we could have sold, and truthfully, at a time when our revenues were down, we created an additional expense we had to absorb. On the other hand we’ve been complimented for coming up with one of the neatest customer loyalty programs out there. Well, since day one for GMT, customer loyalty has always been a top priority. It’s not like we suddenly decided it was important. Our motivation to run the specials has been two-fold. First, all five partners are Christians and believing in Matthew 25 and James 2: 14-18, we could not stand by and do nothing in the midst of such widespread suffering. Second is our gratitude for the loyalty our customers have shown us through the years. As I mentioned before, many of the gamers out of work are the same ones who kept us alive earlier through their faith and generosity. We wanted in some way to repay their loyalty – return kindness with kindness.

JM:  No doubt those are just some of the reasons that gamers who have played GMT games are fiercely loyal to the company!

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