ny people use the term in a totally unrelated manner. For the telco industry, at least, the concept of one-to-one marketing is not very useful or practical. Telco companies need to deal with economies of scale that demand that they interact with customers on a one-to-many, not a one-to-one basis. We can, however, simulate a one-to-one relationship through the use of segmentation. Segmentation Provides a Simulation of One-To-One Marketing With effective segmentation we identify groups of customers with wants, needs, and opinions that are SO similar that we can create product offerings which appeal to a large group while appearing to the individuals as made just for them. A good job of segmentation produces the benefits of a one-to-one approach from the customer's perspective but generates the economies of scale that a one-to-many approach makes possible. Given this understanding, we see three major reasons for participat- ing in a segmentation exercise. One, we create manageable groups of people. Two, we develop a highly focused and refined under- standing of customers' wants, needs, and characteristics. (We get to know our customers better.) Three, we create the means to develop measurable objectives. Segmentation to Create Manageable Groups Telecommunications companies today are forced to deal with thou- sands and thousands of people on a regular basis. In a perfect world we would want to treat everyone equally, providing the same level of service, responsiveness, and outreach, but that is not possible. To make management of SO many relationships feasible, we need to group customers SO that we can allocate resources to manage each group. For example, imagine that you have hired 100 sales people and allowed them to sell wherever and to whoever they wanted. You would have utter chaos. People living in some areas would get eXcellence in Telecommunications The Telco Churn Handbook dozens of sales calls, while others would be ignored. Segmentation provides us with the means to turn a large population of customers int