Are we losing our connection with our customers?

Yesterday we talked about keeping newspapers profitable.
Today we’ll talk about enriching our customers’ experience.
These insights surfaced at our think tank summit in Atlanta.
Question #1: Is outsourcing our jobs a plus or a minus?
Newspaper technology expert Kevin Slimp sees real problems.
Outsourcing can damage our connections with our customers.
Designers in India don’t understand our culture.
Outsourcing advertising and editing to them is a disconnect.
Question #2: What does it cost to replace people with technology?
Circulation trainer Bob Bobber fears we will become a commodity.
Look at the banks’ attempts to replace tellers with ATMs.
They lost the personal touch, their connection with customers.
Are we headed down the same perilous path?
Question #3: Is voicemail robbing us of that human connection?
Designer Ed Henninger warns of over-reliance on voicemail.
Lets say your newspaper didn’t arrive today. You call the paper.
You get a recording: "If you did not get your paper, press 1."
Three recorded prompts later you’ve given your name and address.
You don’t get to talk to a real person. ‘Real people’ are an expense.
Voicemail is cheaper. But is it a good experience for subscribers?
A banker friend of ours won’t have voicemail answer his calls.
He says his competitors can copy everything else he does.
He stresses the one thing they won’t copy is his friendly staff.
Too expensive, the competition says. Poppycock, he says.
His competitive advantage is that personal customer connection.
Have you maintained a personal customer connection?
Tomorrow we’ll talk about educating future news people.
To get rid of your profit killers click here.