vices, they also tend to prefer them for new services such as Internet, wireless, and DSL. Not surprisingly, these customers tend to be very resistant to price sensitivity as well. The incumbent can charge far higher than normal prices and these customers will continue to be loyal. As time goes on and as markets mature, we find that this group becomes a smaller and smaller portion of the population. However, this behavior must certainly be taken into account. Chapter 5 Incumbent Brand Image Curiosities There are some other interesting side effects of this tendency people have to view their original provider as the only provider. Many times, consumers fail to recognize that a change has even occurred. In one market where a competitor had legislatively replaced the incumbent, market research found that more than fifty percent of consumers believed that their old carrier was still their phone company. Somehow, in the minds of these consumers, the fact that phone bills were now being paid to another company didn't change their beliefs about who was actually providing their service. Positive Associations with Former Monopoly Providers Along with the tendency to completely discount the existence of competitors in the marketplace comes an even more pervasive tendency to consider the incumbent to be the de facto standard against which all other providers are measured. Surprisingly, in most countries, no matter how bad the relationship with the incumbent was before competition arrived, after the competitive environment becomes established many consumers come to consider the incumbent's level of service to be the best available, no matter what the facts happen to be. Professional Churners (a.k.a. Pro- fessional Shoppers) There are, of course, also consumers who take the completely opposite attitude about incumbents. These consumers embrace competitive options and rush to give business to the best service providers in the marketplace. Ironically, those consumers that really get serious about the options available to them ge