been a customer What the customer's average revenues per year (per month) have been What products or services have been utilized The number of dropped calls or other service troubles ex- perienced (whether the customer reported them or the network management system detected them) The number and nature of all calls this customer has placed to customer service The customer's current and past billing plans or special deals Any other special contractual or relationship information The customer's value function The customer's churn prediction value The churn shield index for the segment this customer is a member of The identity of the segment that this customer belongs to Customer Service Prerogatives Just as the customer service organization needs to have much information to make informed decisions, SO too must the customer Chapter 19 service rep have latitude in determining how to respond to the customer service complaint or service call. Instead of being given simple alternatives from which to choose to help the customer, the customer service rep should be provided with ranges of response options that they can invoke to respond appropriately to who the customer is and what the customer call is about. Measuring Customer Service Activity The typical method of measuring customer service effectiveness (i.e. accomplishing the maximum number of customer calls handled in the minimum amount of time) becomes a dangerous and counter- productive measure in this kind of environment. The customer service organization under this scenario needs to be evaluated based on the appropriateness of responses and on the net impact on the customer's ultimate disposition (stay or leave). Of course, this means that the measurement of effectiveness of customer service, such as the management of the customer relationships themselves, must take on a much longer time frame than usual. The customer service organization needs to be evaluated based, not only on the number of calls handled, but on the number of customer relationships bolstered for 