y model for telecommunications is not going to serve very well in a competitive marketplace. In the competitive market, consumers do have alternatives and any telco attempting to survive by clinging to that model alone is doomed to failure. In the competitive environment consumers have choices. They can choose not to pay for poor service. They can seek other providers. They can vote with their wallets. Not only that, but consumers typically still have the option of also going to regulators if they dissatisfied. This can create an exceedingly confusing environment for the telco. When telcos go from non-competitive to competitive markets typically they modify their consumer response models to address Chapter 16 the changes. Unfortunately, this change usually focuses on the front end of the relationship, in the customer acquisition area. In other words, they focus on the sales and marketing part of the business and assume that the rest of the business should continue as always. Advertising budgets grow into the millions of dollars. Sales groups and marketing campaigns employ many additional resources, all focused on getting consumers to sign up as quickly as possible. This model that attempts to attract new customers and to sign them up as quickly as possible we call the offensive consumer relationship model. The term offensive refers to the company taking a proactive stand in its relationship with consumers. Advantages of the Retail Model Telecoms and wireless providers have come to quickly embrace the retail model for several reasons. One reason is that the model provides results. Telecoms that never had to go out and get customers before have found this model a useful approach. Not surprisingly, telcos (who have little competitive experience) adapted the retail model because there they found ample expertise and rich examples to draw from. Disadvantages of the Retail Model Even though the retail model has helped telecoms to establish themselves in the competitive marketplace, it is not an optimum solution for tele