There are good signs coming from Sprint. According to its most recent quarterly results, customer losses came in at a record low. This is a real sign that Sprint is in recovery mode. When customers are happy, they stick around. When they are not, they leave. Sprint customers are sticking around. So what can we expect next?
Transformation typically takes time. It’s very difficult to simply flip a switch and transform a company overnight. Big ships take a while to slow down, turn around, then gather speed once again. Sprint is in the middle of that process. This process could take a few years to complete. The good news is if they continue on this path, the future looks bright going forward.
Transformation on two levels: service and perception
Transformation must take place on two levels. One is the actual product or service and the other is the perception of the actual product or service in the marketplace. Both are key.
You can improve, but if the marketplace doesn’t recognize it, you will not benefit. Remember the old saying, if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Same thing here.
Rough decade
Sprint had a rough decade. However, it started investing billions of dollars under previous CEO Dan Hesse to improve its network and performance. Then SoftBank acquired 78% of Sprint a couple of years ago and invested billions more.
One year ago, Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, brought in Marcelo Claure as new CEO. So Sprint is going through a major transformation on the inside as well as the outside. As long as it is a growing and healthy company, everyone wins, and during the last year, Sprint continued to pour investment dollars into the network.
After a year on the job, Claure is instilling new guiding principles for the company. Sprint is focusing more on the customer including consumers, business customers and governments. It is disrupting its traditional wireless business model. Its new “iPhone Forever” and “Direct 2 You” plans are just a couple of many examples of this new way of thinking.
The carrier is creating a customer-centric culture: Putting the customer first. And according to their record low customer loss rate, users are noticing the improvement.
Sprint continues to improve quality, speed and reliability
However, changing wireless is just one of two important areas Sprint needs to focus on. The other is changing the perception of the company in the marketplace’s mind.
I don’t know if you realize it yet, but Sprint has shown measurable improvement. The call quality, reach and speed have all strengthened. It has quite a bit of wireless data spectrum for both consumer and business customer use. The once shoddy network is actually quite good today – faster and more reliable than ever. And things continue to improve.
Test and compare
I carry a variety of wireless phones and devices from a variety of different carriers and I always test and compare. As I have said over the last decade, Sprint used to stink. However, over the last few quarters, I have begun to notice solid improvement.
This is one reason why customers are no longer leaving Sprint. Another reason is Sprint is introducing some very attractive offerings to the market.
Last year it started with its consumer service called “Cut Your Rate Plan in Half,” which was a success. Today it is advertising its newest business service idea called “Mobility-as-a-Service.” In fact, it has quite a few offerings, which both consumers and business customers really seem to like.
It’s time to improve perception of Sprint in the marketplace
Now is the time for Sprint to focus on improving the perception of the company and services. If you recall back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sprint had a similar problem. That’s when it developed the campaign to tell the world of its improved quality. You remember the “Pin Drop” campaign. There were actually two campaigns over several years for the long-distance network and the wireless network.
The challenge is the same today. Sprint needs to let the marketplace know about the improvement. Wireless is an industry where you can never say you’re all done. Every year wireless carriers must invest billions just to keep up with an increasing customer base, increasing usage on data and voice, and higher demands from both customers and investors.
Keep reinventing and improving
While this is a continual challenge, it is also a very good thing. The reason is simple: It keeps wireless new. The problem with successful companies and products is they have a lifespan. They travel on a growth wave, which rises, crests and falls. This would have happened with wireless if it did not continue to grow and to change as it has over the last few decades.
Wireless has grown from analog to digital, then increased speeds and capabilities year after year. Today we are up to 4G and now are planning “5G.” That’s why wireless as an industry won’t crest and fall. Wireless is the center of the universe for its own industry, and ground zero for other industries like automotive, health care, retail and much more.
While it’s impossible to know what the wireless world will look like going forward, the good news is it looks like we will have four, strong and growing wireless carriers in the U.S. marketplace.
We have to remember that Sprint is now a very different company with a new sense of direction under Claure and Son. They are reinventing Sprint. So far, according to Sprint customers and their very low loss rate, it looks like the company is starting to succeed.
There are many different slices in the wireless pie. Carriers win by focusing on their slice of the pie and winning there. Looked at that way, every carrier can win in a crowded marketplace if they keep the consumers and business customers first.
This looks like what Sprint is starting to focus on and to date it looks like it is turning the ship around. There is still plenty of work to do, but so far it appears the carrier is headed toward the right path.
