The document discusses strategies for creative customer retention and engagement. It emphasizes engaging with customers with authenticity and integrity by anticipating their needs, developing a sense of community, and maintaining trust. It also discusses developing high-level value propositions by identifying customer needs and vision, and cultivating relevant technology and service portfolios. Finally, it stresses that critical success factors include customer relationship development, identifying customer needs and vision, and developing high-level value propositions focused on mission satisfaction and differentiation.

1. Creative Customer Retention
and Engagement Strategies
Engagement with Value
Daniel L Scott
Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems
Business and Advanced Systems Development

2. Setting Expectations through Engagement
Shaping Your Competition Requires Shifting Engagement Focus,
….Demands Increasingly Greater Energy Over Time

3. Engagement with Integrity
• Authenticity and integrity are two key characteristics required to
retain, engage and cultivate customer relationships.
• Partnering with your customer requires that you continually strive
to anticipate their needs.
• Recognize and develop a sense of community with your customers.
• Avoid the pitfall of de-personalizing the customer.
• Practice intentional warmth through communication.
• Establish and maintain trust through promoting both integrity and
accountability.
• Reframe and expand your understanding of organizational
community.

4. Strategic and Tactical Engagement
• Market Analysis
• Customer Relationship Development
• Formulate Overarching Domain Positioning Strategy and Plans
• Identify High-Level Customer Needs and Vision
• Cultivate Relevant Technology/Services Portfolio
•
Develop High-Level Value Propositions
•
Evaluate Potential Opportunities

5. Critical to Success
• Customer Relationship Development
– Target customer (acquisition and end-user) thought leaders and influencers
– Identify existing relationships (personal and program)
– Engage in capability demonstrations (services / technical), conferences, and
advocacy
• Identify High-Level Customer Needs and Vision
– Key requirements, mandates, priorities, and hot buttons
– Relevant customer investments (Technology /Services, National Labs, etc)
•
Develop High-Level Value Propositions
– Mission satisfaction
– Discriminators and Differentiators
– Evolution and/or leverage of existing company programs/services

6. Incumbents Know Too Much!
As the Incumbent
Dreamt it
As it appeared in the RFP
As it was Proposed by the
Challenger
6
As the Customer specified it
As the Incumbent Team Proposed it
What the Customer wanted

7. Value Proposition Within Trade Space
Quality
(Real and Perceived
Benefits [and Risks])
Price
(Acquisition $ + Switching Cost $
and Switching Headaches $)
Value =
Higher
Performance
Longer
Schedule
Higher
Cost
7
Source: RMD

8. Build Winning Value Propositions
Value
Proposition
"Favorable Points of
Difference"
"Resonating Focus"
Consists of:
All benefits
customer receives
from an offering
All favorable points of
difference an offering has
relative to the next best
alternative
One of two points of difference
(plus parity) whose improvement
will deliver the greatest value to
customer
Answers the
customer
question:
"Why should
customer purchase
Our offering?"
"Why should customer
purchase our offering
instead of the
competitor's?"
"What is most worthwhile for our
customer to keep in mind about
our offering?"
Requires:
Knowledge of own
product offering
Knowledge of own
product offering and next
best alternative
Knowledge of how our marketing
offering delivers superior value to
customer compared with next
best alternative
Potential
pitfall:
Benefit assertion
Value presumption
Requires customer value
research
"All Benefits”
Building blocks for winning Value Propositions
8
Source: NGC CLC

9. Product/Service Value Proposition
Visual Depiction
9

10. Four Simple Takeaways
Conduct Customer
Engagement with
Authenticity and
Integrity
Perform on Current
Contracts; Capture and
Execute Profitable
Follow-On and New
Business
Result:
Increased
Customer Value
Creation
Evaluate All New Capital
and Investment ; Eliminate
Non-Performing Assets
Reduce Program and
Enterprise Costs;
Perform and Achieve
Higher Margins

11. Q&A

12. Increase Productivity and Customer Engagement
• Develop your workforce to ensure a focus on customer
engagement through
– Customer relationship and intimacy
– Clarity of Needs and Vision
– Understanding of your discriminators and differentiators
• Provide customers with responsive communication
strategies, and evidence of methods that reflect previous
customer input
• Transform your customer’s experience through Value
Propositions that are founded on Customer Benefits