tment of large amounts of money in the acquisition of low-value and high-risk customers. New Targeting Techniques The other way for a sales or promotion group to embrace its new role in the customer-centric organization is to work with a more focused targeting technique. Sales and promotions strategies need to incorporate all of the information generated by the customer management system into the very process of deciding what kinds of customers should even be approached. eXcellence in Telecommunications The Telco Churn Handbook REDEFINING CUSTOMER SERVICE AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION One could argue whether or not marketing and sales need to play a less prominent role in the telecentric organization, but the roles of customer service, billing, and network maintenance organizations will definitely move up in stature. Clearly, if they are to concentrate on managing relationships, then these are the groups with the ultimate responsibility for the nature of that process. However, before we start doubling the size of the customer service budget and ordering new call center automation systems, let's consider what an enhancement of this role actually means. Redefining the Role We say that we want to redefine the roles that the customer support organizations play within the telecentric firm. That does not mean that we should spend more money on those organizations SO that they can do more of what they have already done. Instead, some fundamental adjustments in assumptions about how these groups work is in order. THE NEW CUSTOMER SERVICE MISSION The customer service organization in most telecommunications companies is a business unit that operates on a clear set of principles: Respond to as many customers as possible, as quickly as possible, with as little impact as possible on the rest of the organization. Let's consider the consequences of this dictum. Minimize the Expense The minimize-the-expense rule has probably the most pronounced impact on the quality of the customer service experience for most Chapter 18 telco custom