I recently switched my cellular service from Cingular to Verizon Wireless.

I don't abandon established business relationships lightly. I'm an extremely loyal customer driving 15 miles to my long-standing dry cleaner rather than doing business with the chain down the road. And I had been a staunch AT&T Wireless (then Cingular) customer for almost eight years.

But my husband insisted that we make the change. Not only does he believe the service at Verizon to be best-in-class, but he is avid about supporting Verizon, which is a partner with the company he works for. He ordered me a Blackberry to replace my old one, which has been battered from traveling around the world.

What I experienced in the transition from a long-time relationship to a new one contains lessons for every business.

1. The experience with their services people was amazing!
I called the Verizon Wireless 800 number and after punching in a few numbers, a friendly voice (not the kind you typically get) responded after one ring-may I help you?

A few minutes into the call there were some issues. I didn't have the secret password they needed for activation. "Oh no!" I thought, I don't have time for this." To my surprise, they never said, call us back when you get your password. Instead, the service rep had me on hold for two minutes and came back each 20 seconds "Promise, it's going to be a few more seconds." They made the call on the other line and retrieved the password for me!

Now here's the kicker. As she worked through the set up, she asked me very pointed questions: "How long were you with Cingular?" "Why are you leaving?" "What would prompt you to leave a wireless carrier?" "Why did you join Verizon?" "Why did you choose the Blackberry?"

2. Genuine interest and trust from a smart person.
Soon into our call, I realized something-her questions and her active support were not (in my mind) part of the process. It seemed genuinely part of the culture at the Verizon service center (and hopefully across the company.) She wasn't reading from some checklist or banging away at the keys each time I responded. She was thoughtful, smart, took care of my questions, and never said "NO." It was obvious she was a highly trained representative. Within moments, the phone was ported and I was parted from Cingular. After a few minutes, the Verizon rep called me back and said "Hi, Promise! I just wanted to make sure that your new Blackberry was working. I also sent you a few emails to see that your email service was working."

3. The fresh breeze of competition.
Competition in the cell phone market, driven by Number Porting legislation, has forced providers to differentiate based on service. I wish everything could be that way. I spend a lot of time with clients and I always like to go to their call and service centers. It speaks volumes about their culture-what level of folks are hired, how much autonomy they're given to make decisions, and so on. We tend to forget about the service reps as drivers of customer loyalty and more often as the last place a good customer goes before it dies.

What I found most interesting about my experience is that I don't have to call Cingular and sever the relationship. After several years, the relationship can be severed and remembered as a series of transactions. Here is the real killer-Cingular knows that I have defected by now, but they have not called! Do they not have the triggers in their system when it happens? Is there a process to win back a customer or learn from the defection? I doubt it.

Companies spend so much time focusing on getting money in the front door and in many cases ignore the back-door slamming sound (and the crushing sound of their brand).

It is probably more challenging for your customers to defect when they're using hundreds of your company's licenses. But when they do, what does your organization do about that? Who owns the defected customer?

I leave you with this: We're all looking forward, but what place does the lost account play into your business strategy and reflection?

Promise Phelon, CEO promise.phelon@phelongroup.com