How to Meet Customer Needs

A business is successful because it provides a good or service that serves a customer base well and consistently.

By consistently serving our customers, we create a successful relationship. Lockheed Martin’s customers are men and women who count on our products to perform in the battlefield, to protect against the enemy and to push the boundaries of today’s technology. There’s no question that we need to be successful in providing services to this customer base.

How can we create a business that consistently meets customers’ needs and expectations?

We can meet these expectations by…

1.   Getting to know your customer.

The first and most important thing to do is to understand what your customer wants and why they want it.

Early in my career I would take immature concepts to end users and acquisition customers to gauge their reaction. It’s uncomfortable to show an unfinished idea, but often they would point out gaps in our solution that would allow us to tailor our concepts to their needs before investing in the prototype.

2.   Garnering customer feedback for your advantage.

The customer knows best when it comes to the use of their product, so heed their feedback and make it better for next time. This applies throughout the lifecycle of a product from concept through development and after it’s been delivered. 

3.   Researching, so your customer doesn’t have to.

Create the next-best thing that your customer might not even know about.

Often customers understand their need, but don’t know how rapidly and affordably it can be met. We’re currently integrating existing air-defense systems to provide layered defense, which is ultimately providing a much-improved budget and schedule when compared to a new system. It saves the customer time and money, and it might not have been something discussed if we didn’t propose it.

4.   Always being honest.

If you aren’t on schedule or can’t deliver, tell the customer as soon as you realize it. Keeping an honest relationship with your customer is beneficial in the long-run. 

A few years ago, we discovered an issue with a component in one of our missile systems. Analysis showed that the system would meet its contracted reliability requirements, but we didn’t want our customer to run the risk of a failure during their critical missions. We contacted the customer and committed to recall and retrofit thousands of units at our cost. Our candor and response to the challenge continued what has been an outstanding customer relationship for more than 25 years.

Every business has a reason that it exists - whether it’s providing logistics services or developing a new, grid-scale, long-duration energy storage system – everything serves a purpose for the customer. At Lockheed Martin, our purpose is to deliver reliable, affordable, innovative solutions so our customers can accomplish their mission to provide a more secure and prosperous world.