Vodafone launches new Red plans after a year of 'couples therapy' Vodafone CEO Bill Morrow said the company went into couples therapy to salvage its relationship with customers. Picture: Claire Porter Source: Supplied VODAFONE has been in therapy. Couples therapy. New CEO Bill Morrow was brought in 17 months ago to turn the company around after a series of network problems between 2010 and 2012 caused significant customer drop-offs. Morrow candidly revealed that he told his staff that every time a customer leaves the service, they should think of it as a break up. "If a customer leaves us, we should be thinking of it as a lover who just dumped us for a reason we don't really know and we should show that we want that relationship to get back together," said Morrow. Vodafone filled its offices with dead flowers and wrote messages on mirrors in red lipstick which said: "It's not me, it's you" and "Why did you do this to me?" Mr Morrow and other members of the company even put together a fictitious email stream from a churned lover called "Victoria" after the state with the highest "break up" rate. "We went through with this fictitious letter writing, and it said I am terribly upset, I've had it with you, and I can't be with you anymore, you have forgotten who I am, you forgot what I want," explained Morrow. I wrote back, and I said 'I really don't want you to go, I want to stay connected with you, I really do like you', and she responded with 'I have told you what is important to me and you ignored me'. He described the experience as having "couples therapy." Today Vodafone took its first baby step back to success, releasing a new range of mobile phone plans designed to take it to its competitors, Optus, Telstra and Virgin. Under its new "Red" plans, customers can have "Infinite" phone calls, text messages and internet use for $65, $80, and $100 a month. Customers who bring their own device will get $15 off their plan. Vodafone's new Red plans. Picture: Vodafone Source: Supplied Vodafone's $65 plan comes with half a gig more data than Optus' and Telstra's $60 plans (which do not include unlimited calls). The $80 plan includes 1GB more of data than Telstra's 1.5 allocation, and half a gig more than Optus' 2GB allocation. Its $100 plan comes with 2GB more than Optus' 3GB allocation and Telstra's 2GB allocation. Mr Morrow told news.com.au that its new Red plans are the company's first step away from "corporate pretense and bulls**t." The Vodafone chief told news.com.au that since he joined the company, more than 45 per cent of its employees have left the company as part of a massive restructure, and nearly two thirds of the top 50 leaders are new in their roles. Mr Morrow also instigated the move to bring Vodafone's call centre back to Australia to avoid "cultural differences." Recently Vodafone announced customers would be able to use their mobile phone overseas for just an extra $5 a day. Currently the plan only applies to the UK, the US and New Zealand but Mr Bill Morrow said tit would soon be expanding to other areas of the globe. The plans are designed to discourage people from having to temporarily switch providers by purchasing a local SIM card to avoid hefty phone bills. Vodafone's new roaming plans undercut local competitor Optus who last week released $10 a day travel packs which provide users with unlimited access to calls and texts in Europe, the US, Asia, Canada and the Pacific Islands. The new mobile phone and roaming plans are just part one of a three-year plan to turn the company around. Under his guidance, Morrow has predicted that Vodafone's customer numbers will stop falling within the first quarter of next year. It can't be easy joining a company with the sole purpose of changing everything. Trying to instigate change in a corporate structure can be challenging but Morrow says he was "pleasantly surprised" by how willing, "dedicated and motivated" staff were to "do what's right for the customer" by adapting to change to turn things around. Morrow says brand perception is already changing for the better. The company uses an industry measure called Net Promoter Score (NPS) which tells it how customers and non customers feel about it, whether non-customers would consider joining its service and whether customers would recommend it to their friends. "While perception is harder to change than reality, historically we have held the highest score in the industry and our intention is to get back there," Mr Morrow said. Customer word of mouth is one of the most powerful drivers of positive sentiment and we are noticing a change for the better in our social forums. Over the last 17 months Vodafone has secured more than a billion dollars to invest in rebuilding its 3G network and launching its brand new 3G+ and 4G networks which have delivered "huge improvements in speed, reliability and coverage for our customers," Morrow says. The company has also expanded coverage to regional Australia. Claire Porter travelled to New Zealand as a guest of Vodafone.