rying to manage a personal relationship as they are for the telco trying to manage customer relationships. All of the advice to the lovelorn boils down to five basic rules of relationship management. Know who you are getting involved with. Know the person you are having a relationship with. 2. Define the type of relationship you want to have with the person before getting involved. Be sure that you are equipped and ready to participate in the relationship as agreed. 4. Establish good lines of two-way communication to keep the relationship healthy. You must invest in the relationship if you want it to last. Pay attention when there are problems and warning signs and take appropriate action to prevent disaster (churn pre- vention). As we will see, these five rules can provide us with exactly the ingredients we need to develop a sound customer relationship management strategy as well as a sound personal relationship strategy. Who Are You? We hear SO often of people who have been married for many, many years who realize one day that they really don't know the person they are living with. Men living double lives. Women with secret ambitions or careers. Knowing the person you are in a relationship with is the foundation of any relationship and our first consideration. Know Who You're Getting Involved With The first rule of marriage and a very important one s:Don't marry the first person that asks you. Marriage is a serious commitment, eXcellence in Telecommunications The Telco Churn Handbook and you cannot hope to have a good one if you don't find out about the person ahead of time. Who is the person that you are considering marrying? What are his likes and dislikes? What is her profession? What kind of partner will she be? Is he messy or neat? Does she pay her bills on time or is she always late? Most people would agree that a little background research on a prospective mate would be a good idea. Knowing Your Customer How well does your organization know the customers? Naturally, for a service provider/customer relati