cles at work. The challenge is for the telco to figure out which model makes the most sense. Chapter 16 Characteristics of a Response Model The key ingredients of a consumer response model are straightfor- ward. The response model defines the following elements for the organization: The basic attitude towards consumers Ease or difficulty of access to your services Commitment to a certain level of consistency in delivery Commitment to a certain level of accessibility to people, policies, etc. Willingness (or lack thereof) to compromise and be flexi- Making a response model tangible is no small task. Many organiza- tions create grand-sounding consumer commitments and corporate vision statements only to deliver little, or none, of the promises made to consumers. How Is a Response Model Executed? You can tell what the company's real, versus idealized, response model is by examining the following: Budgeting and staffing of departments - The number one way that a commitment to consumers is made is in the staff- ing of consumer support services. Low numbers of sales or customer service people, or worse yet, large numbers of untrained, low-paid, unmotivated people, will tell the con- sumer what the company really thinks. Measures, metrics, and key performance indicators -An- other way to determine how serious the company is about commitments to customer relationships is to look at their key performance indicators. What do they encourage peo- ple to do? Assignment of roles to departments -Good indicator of the company's response model is the relative importance and the definition of the roles that groups play. eXcellence in Telecommunications The Telco Churn Handbook ALTERNATIVE CONSUMER RESPONSE MODELS FOR TELECOM AND WIRELESS Because there is still much confusion and chaos in the consumer relationship, it is not surprising that the telecoms are having trouble identifying a consumer response model that makes sense. After all: a. Most telecoms have undergone several generations of reg- ulatory chaos in the past few years 