ed in a relatively short time). In the present telecommunications marketplace, obsolescence is more than planned; it is relentless. Telcos need to recognize the obsolescence that is built into the industry and turn it into an advantage. eXcellence in Telecommunications The Telco Churn Handbook Current product development strategies tend to focus on the next big offering with all future values and projections based on a three- to six-month window. Instead, companies need to think of products that can be used to grow customers into related capabilities. For example, how can you create a series of product offerings that migrate customers from recreational cell phone usage, to handling some business decisions with the wireless, to using the cell phone to drive most business transactions? What about a migration path for teenage users, housewives, working mothers, and sales people? Creating streams of products and developing migratory product clusters will give the telco unique and unchurnable products to offer the consumers. The Relationship Plan Approach What is a relationship plan and how do we package it? This question brings us to yet another perspective. Each of the approaches that we have illustrated provides us with another part of the answer. KILLER PRODUCT PACKAGE COMPONENTS As you put together a customer relationship plan, you can vary the terms, conditions, products, and promotional components of your products. However, if your new relationship package plans do not incorporate components that address these four aspects, then you are not creating anything that truly differentiates your company. You must expand the concept of what defines a successful product that affords more than short-term sales success. A successful product offers a definable market differentiation or creates real churn proofing. A Flexible and Renegotiable Pricing Component The most important component of any churn-proof product offering must be a mechanism that lets consumers and companies dynamically Chapter 23 adjust the pricing in re