Lesson from GNC: How a Customer-Centric Agent Won Back a Customer

The customer management community likes to focus on the negative.

If businesses are not customer-centric, they will lose customers. If agents are not properly trained and empowered, they will ruin customer service interactions. If customer service policies are not flexible and versatile, they will anger customers.

While a negative approach helps articulate the stakes of poor customer service interactions, it does not emphasize the benefit of customer-centric ones.

If bad customer service drives customers away, businesses will know they cannot deliver bad customer service. But unless they are convinced particularly good customer service will create a particularly fruitful competitive advantage, they will not strive to be the best. They will simply avoid being the worst.

It is thanks to that phenomenon that the state of customer service, despite all the talk about the importance of the customer experience, has not improved in the past several years. Businesses are more conscious of their mistakes, but they do not feel incentivized to do their absolute best.

They need to start feeling that incentive. An exceptional return policy can yield exceptional reward for the business. An impressive customer service agent can keep a disgruntled buyer from taking his business elsewhere. A unique in-store experience can generate favorable social media reviews that drive thousands of new customers through the doors.

It is unclear if nutrition retailer GNC fully recognizes the incentives associated with great customer care. But insofar as one of its agents is yielding that benefit by actually delivering great customer service, it absolutely should recognize the incentive.

Choosing "Policy" Over Logic (Let Alone the Customer)

There is a hazard to getting something for free: what happens when you later have to pay for that good or service?

That is the dilemma to which I was subject at GNC. A regular shopper (largely for the line of Redline energy drinks that far too few other New York City retailers carry), I undoubtedly stood to save a lot by paying to join GNC’s Gold Card discount program.

Knowing that, I probably would have joined in spite of my philosophical objection to paying for a customer loyalty program. But I did not have to – thanks to a special promotion in January 2013, I received one for free.

That expired in 2013. And even though I would have clearly profited by renewing at the $15 annual rate, I could not bring myself to do so. I could only focus on the fact that the service was free last year—paying this year would make me feel like a sap.

And that is exactly what I told the cashier at the Rockefeller Center (New York City) GNC when she pitched me on a renewal. I expected her to respond by dropping the issue.

I was wrong. In a surprising turn, she understood my scenario and explained that the retailer was giving away free renewals to anyone with a gym membership. I was in luck!

Well, I would have been, had I carried my gym card in my wallet. Since I could not prove I was a member, I could not renew my Gold Card at the time.

Luckily, the agent confirmed that the promotion lasted for another day and would be honored by all GNC retailers. That meant that I could go to the 86^th Street location (near my apartment) and secure another year of discounts!

When I arrived, however, I received a shocking dose of bad news. The offer was not, as the original employee told me, an in-store promotion but one attached to a specific coupon. Even though I subscribe to GNC’s email list, I was unable to find the coupon on my phone. The person serving me, whom I believe is the store’s manager, refused to honor the promotion.

That I was told by a GNC employee that this was an in-store promotion did not matter. That I was told I only needed my gym card to secure the renewal did not matter. That I showed the manager my phone—to prove I subscribe to the mailing list—did not matter. That I am an insanely loyal customer (and come in contact with that particular manager weekly) did not matter. He was not going to extend the discount.

Furious and bewildered, I left and vowed never to shop at GNC.

Don’t They Know That’s How You Lose Customers?

Yesterday, I broke my promise. Desperately needing a Redline to get through the workday (and unable to find one at a nearby Duane Reade, which used to carry the drink), I had no choice. I had to stop into GNC.

As I checked out, a very friendly cashier asked why I was costing myself money by not using a Gold Card. I was frustrated by the question, but because she was so nice, charming and approachable, I felt compelled to offer the explanation. I detailed the aforementioned story.

When I did, she was horrified. "Why would they do that? That’s ridiculous. I hate when employees and stores say things and then don’t keep their promise. Don’t they know that’s how you lose customers? I’m so sorry that happened."

Even though she only focused on the negative—the hazard of delivering poor customer service—I greatly appreciated her candid, customer-minded view of the scenario. That she would even criticize the behavior of her GNC peers (and, by virtue of that, GNC itself) was so refreshing and all I needed to leave the store satisfied.

She was not done. Before I could even respond to her rant, she went over to her manager and asked for the code to process a free Gold Card membership. It did not matter that I was, again, sans a coupon or gym membership card. All that mattered was that I was dissatisfied, and as a customer-facing employee, she believed it was her duty to change that.

She did. She processed the free renewal without breaking from her stride of apologies. She knew her company had done wrong, and in the interest of preserving business, worked to make it right. She got customer-centricity. And while I have clear evidence to believe this is not universal across all GNC location, her manager, by virtue of empowering her to offer this kind of resolution, also got customer-centricity.

As a result of the experience, I am back on board as a loyal customer (well, save for the 86^th street location). And I am sharing my positive experience online! GNC helped me win, and now I am helping GNC win.

It is the power of great customer service.

Businesses across all industries can achieve similar results. Great experiences are not unnecessary; they are integral in attracting new customers, retaining existing ones and recovering lost customers.

To get there, businesses have to appreciate the rewards of customer-centricity. They have to condition agents to value the customer experience and then empower them to deliver service in accordance with that value.

They have to believe that striving to be great is tangibly superior to refusing to be bad.