really discussing is an entire revamping of our understanding of what the mission, operating principles, and basic business model for customer service should be, and this is no small task. CUSTOMER SERVICE MISSIONS To create this new vision of a customer service organization we need to reconsider its missions and key performance indicators. Acquisition Responsibilities The most difficult stretch of our imagination involves extending our understanding of customer service to include the acquisition of new customers. Although the generation of new business has always been the primary mission of sales, it is clear that customer service can participate in this process as well. Chapter 22 The Friends and Family Model One of the most classic stories of using customer service-like roles to drive sales can be found in the famous MCI Friends and Family campaign. Under that model, existing customers were asked to provide MCI with the names of friends and family that they thought would be interested in discounted inter-family calling rates. These acquired names were then called, recruited, and, in turn, asked to provide their own list of names. The approach was responsible for a significant increase in subscribership for MCI. Customer Service for Lead Generation Although the Friends and Family campaign is a good example, little has been done to formalize or make use of the customer service organization to enhance sales opportunities in the majority of telecommunications organizations. There are many reasons, but most have nothing to do with the appropriateness or effectiveness of the idea. Instead it is generally a lack of capability on the part of the customer service reps to perform an effective job. In addition, it is also the lack of an infrastructure and compensation plan that rewards reps for such efforts, and the lack of an infrastructure to make it all operationally feasible. Affinity Responsibilities The other area where customer service currently fails to contribute in any significant way is in building customer af