Sprint Nextel has taken its first step to keep its customers after losing a significant number of them last quarter. The Reston company on Thursday announced a slate of customer service initiatives, most of which will take effect next year.
The news comes a week after acting Chief Executive Paul Saleh said the company would return its focus to customer retention. Sprint lost 60,000 net wireless subscribers during the third quarter.
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Beginning Monday, subscribers will be able to change their calling plans at any point during their contract, Sprint spokesman John Taylor said.
“If you look at the cost of finding a new customer versus keeping the customers we have, it’s much more cost-effective … to retain them,” Taylor said.
Next year, the company will give a welcome call to customers when they begin their service to answer questions, and do courtesy calls when customers incur significant time charges to make sure they have chosen the right plan, Taylor said. Customers also will be able to upgrade their handsets two months before their contract expires and try Sprint for 30-days risk-free.
The company plans additional loyalty rewards for existing customers, though Taylor said the exact terms of these hadn’t been settled.
“I don’t think they’ve got much choice,” said Peter Siggins, a partner at PA Consulting Group who leads the firm’s communications division. “From an investor’s perspective, I think it’s what people expect.”
Sprint has been further hindered by Verizon’s and AT&T’s investment in wooing subscribers away from struggling companies, he added.
Sprint will have an easier time persuading its current customers to try its upcoming WiMax broadband service, in which it is investing heavily, than drawing from competitors, said Jack E. Gold, president of consulting firm J. Gold Associates LLC. The company also should concentrate on better satisfying its business customers, which bring in more average revenue per user, Gold added.
