Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way!

Another carrier entered your market this year. An unhealthy 7% of your subscriber base has churned in the past quarter. Every time you open the sports section, you find another provider's ad offering more for less. And despite all of those roaming agreements, your company's wireless footprint still leaves holes that make Godzilla look like a microchip.

On a normal day like this, you can lose sight of the future just trying to hold the present at status quo. Before we race headlong into the second half of 1998, take five minutes to answer these questions and figure out if you are ready for the next revenue generator.

1. Your largest corporate customer -- 263 terminals that average 957 minutes per month (don't you just wish) -- dropped a heavy hint that mobile wireless to her means a lot less voice and a lot more high-speed data. You tell her .. .

(A) "An unhealthy 7% of our subscriber base has churned in the past quarter. Is this a hint that you're planning to join them?"

(B) "Data? We've added a service so your employees can gather the latest sports and weather information free of charge."

(C) "We're working with a vendor right now to offer 64kb/s data rate service by fourth quarter of this year."

2. The local TV station has sicced its consumer reporter on you. Someone clued him in to the idea that people might be able to access the Internet using their wireless phones. He needs a sound bite fast. You say ...

(A) "We don't comment on technology advances, as we're worried about that new wireless carrier that entered the market."

(B) "That data thing again? No one can seem to make that work. Why not tell your viewers about how they can use wireless to report traffic problems?"

(C) "High-speed wireless Inter-net access will be available in our market by the end of this year."

3.There is an obvious conspiracy at work within your customer-care and sales departments. At the most recent buying committee round table, the managers of both units complained that your offerings are beginning to mimic those of the other four wireless carriers in your market. You suggest ...

(A) "Let's run an ad in the sports section offering a lot more free airtime. "

(B) "I'm meeting with one of our phone vendors tomorrow. I'll see if they have a smaller, lighter phone to offer."

(C) "High-speed data is what can set us apart in this market. We don't need to undercut prices if we're offering services that our largest customers need."

4. You are about to sign a new agreement with a phone vendor that is bragging about its new, smaller, lighter dual-mode. Never mind that the keypad is so tiny your subscribers must use the tip of a (finely sharpened) pencil to dial. Just before you sign the contract for an initial shipment of 500, you say ...

(A) "This dual-mode sure will help with the holes in our wireless footprint. "

(B) "I just wish the screen wasn't so damn small, but I suppose that's the price you pay for progress, huh?"

(C) "Have you got any terminals on the drawing board that facilitate future wireless data applications?"

If you answered (A) to most of these questions, you are so influenced by your competition that you can't think for yourself.

If (B) was your most common answer, you are on the right track. But it is not enough to think "new revenue stream"; will that microphone or perky service really translate into subscriber loyalty?

The future of your business lies in high-speed wireless data. Set your customer up so he can access his e-mail or log on to the Internet, and you are offering the next big thing in wireless. When you can answer (C) to all of these questions, the competition may be following in your footsteps.