pplying such criteria to a behavioral segmentation can provide the telco with extremely powerful and useful symbols for managing large groups of similar customers. Geographic Optional Geographic criteria have a varying degree of importance for a base segmentation, depending on the specific telecommunications products in question. Wireless customers are notorious for being geographically insensitive, while more traditional wireline customers are obviously geography dependent. The inclusion or exclusion of Chapter 12 geographic criteria in the base segmentation will be dependent on the organization and market conditions. Business Base Segmentation Although most telcos spend an inordinate amount of time on their consumer base segmentation, few pay much attention to the segmentation for business customers, and this could be a serious mistake. Business customers, just like consumers, need to be managed for consistency. They contribute a very large proportion of the revenues of the firm, and yet little time is spent on understanding them. Industry Basis Although consumer base segmentation is best accomplished using behavior as the starting point, the same is not true for business customers (small and medium businesses that are best managed like consumers). For the large business, the most important criterion to base your segmentation on is the industry. The industry a customer is in tends to identify much of their behavior as well as their demographics. Implementation of hierarchical segmentation is extremely important in the business area. Because corporations related by legal or organizational ties often behave and purchase in consistent ways it is crucial that you include hierarchies in your business segmentation Behavioral Enhancement Once the core industrial segmentation has been done, it is useful to enhance it with the typical consumer behavioral measures (revenue, minutes of usage, usage trend). Additional insights can also be attained by adding number of phone lines and average revenue per line measures. eXcel