---
title: Customer Relationships - Be Bad, but at Least Don’t Cheat on Me
description: Customer Relationships - Be Bad, but at Least Don’t Cheat on Me
---

[Blog | Brainzooming ](https://www.brainzooming.com/blog)

# [Customer Relationships - Be Bad, but at Least Don’t Cheat on Me](https://www.brainzooming.com/blog/customer-relationships-be-bad-but-at-least-dont-cheat-on-me)

 Written by [Mike Brown](https://www.brainzooming.com/blog/author/mike-brown) | Jan 17, 2011 10:50:43 AM

**I may be ending one of the longest relationships of my life**. It pains me to say this, but **the other party** in the relationship **hasn’t been loyal** and** they are taking the easy way out**. It is not my wife or other family member. It is not a friend or client or someone I work with.** It is a customer relationship** **with **our local daily newspaper. I’ve read** [The Kansas City Star](http://www.kansascity.com/)** since about the third grade. At this moment I am not a subscriber, and I’m not sure I ever will be again. <https://www.brainzooming.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/110116NewspaperSidewalk-3.jpg>And** lack of innovation and strategic thinking is playing a big role** in ending this customer relationship.

**I put up with** it when the paper **declined in size and quality**--and the **price **remained **the same**. I put up with it when they **couldn’t find my house for three weeks** in the fall of 2009. I put up with getting** a successful delivery about six days out of seven **since then.

**What I am not sure I can put up with is their roving eye**. Shortly after I received my annual renewal notice,** I got an offer** in the mail to subscribe **for about half of what I had been paying**. When a Star subscription rep called to see if I was going to renew, I said I would like that much lower price. “No,” she said, **"that offer is only good for new subscribers.”**

Apparently **our relationship isn’t as important to The Star as it is to me**. **They are looking for someone new **and they are willing to do things for them that they won’t do for me. And to think, a little innovation and more strategic, rather than tactical, thinking might have saved this customer relationship.

**Newspapers face enormous [business model issues](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/31/080331fa_fact_alterman)**. Easy, **short-term, tactical thinking,** e.g. cut prices for new subscribers,** isn’t going to solve the problem**. It is going to make their current customer base mad and put that at risk.

We **see this response in lots of businesses that have enjoyed monopoly or duopoly market positions** that have been **undercut by changes in technology or regulation or in consumer preference**. Think [cable TV](http://www.sectv.com/LV/prod_bundled.html) or [cell phones](http://ezinearticles.com/?Save-Money-on-Cellular--Upgrade-Your-Current-Phone&id=497754).

It **could be the printed daily newspapers can’t be saved**. Maybe they are like carriage makers at the dawn of the 20th century, about to be overwhelmed by the automobile. But The Star has produced a highly valued and highly profitable product [for more than 125 years](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Star). **Cutting quality, cutting service, and cutting relationships is a way to guarantee they will be the 21st century’s carriage makers**. - *[Barrett Sydnor](https://www.brainzooming.com/?page_id=2388)*

***[The Brainzooming Group](https://www.brainzooming.com/?page_id=1188) helps make smart organizations more successful by rapidly expanding their strategic options and creating innovative plans they can efficiently implement. ******Email us at [brainzooming@gmail.com](mailto:brainzooming@gmail.com) or call us at 816-509-5320 to learn how we can deliver these benefits for you. ***

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