t even smarter than the providers. These consumers learn how to be very adept at playing one carrier's offers against the other's to their own advantage. From the consumer's perspective, all that has happened is that they have learned to be professional shoppers. The Confused Consumer We find consumers at both ends of this spectrum of provider relationship management. Some consumers are blindly loyal to eXcellence in Telecommunications The Telco Churn Handbook the incumbent; others are voraciously aggressive in their shopping behavior. For the most part, however, the majority of consumers and providers both find themselves lost somewhere in the middle between the old relationship and the new. Clearly, there is an as-of- yet undefined relationship that will ultimately determine how the telco/consumer relationship is to be managed by both parties. Shopping Cycle Chaos Ultimately, we have a bad case of customer shopping cycle chaos in the telecommunications industry and especially in wireless. Consumers are not sure of how they are supposed to shop for telecom services. Some do it the old-fashioned way, some shop constantly, and some respond to major stimulation from a variety of sources. Strategies for Managing Shop- ping Cycle Chaos All of this means that the telco or wireless company hoping to manage churn will have to take all of the possible consumer shopping cycles into account when formulating a strategy. This is one of the biggest reasons that the development of a churn management strategy for telcos is such a complex problem. For an optimal job of managing churn overall you need to have a different strategy for each of the different shopping behaviors. Attempting to develop an approach that addresses the churn created by professional churners will do nothing to help with the management of the loyal customer who has decided to leave because the new offer made by a competitor is just too good to pass up. Each situation requires a different kind of response. Chapter 6 CHAPTER 6 TRADITIONAL VIEWS OF CHURN MANAG