Marketing Plan

Draft v1
Last Updated 4/5/2011

Customer Retention & Engagement

Strategy
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PLEASE CONTACT:
Mary Zaleski
CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL UNDER AOC NON-DISCLOSURE

2011 Customer Retention & Engagement Strategy

Situation Analysis
Customer loyalty is becoming harder and harder to achieve with so many choices
available in the marketplace today. Yet, keeping good customers is essential to any
business. In fact, studies show that it costs up to five times more to acquire a new
customer than to retain an existing customer.
Retaining customers - especially high value customers - is a business imperative.
According to Emmet and Mark Murphy, in their book Leading on the Edge of Chaos, a 2
percent increase in customer retention has the same effect on profits as cutting costs by
10 percent! And, its important to note that customer profitability tends to increase over
the life of a retained customer.
Atlas has not actively measured customer retention rates, but with a new CRM system in
development, we will be able to monitor not only our retention of customers, but their
individual value to us in gross profit per year as well. This will allow us to employ a
customer retention and engagement strategy designed to optimize revenues and improve
customer loyalty.

Objectives
The objective of this plan is to retain 95 percent of our high value current customers by
the end of 2011 and develop a win-back program for any major lost customer account.

Strategy
Our strategy is to develop a measurable program for customer value and retention that
can be tracked through CRM and augmented with a customer nurturing program to
enhance the customer experience with Atlas. Along with this strategy, we are proposing
the creation of switching barriers which strengthen our ties to customers and make
them less likely to leave.
It is important to note that many companies have restrictions on entertainment and
corporate gifts, so we will focus instead on engaging our customers in ways that are
valued. Increasing our involvement in industry associations where we can interact with
and learn more about our customer needs will be another important step.

Key Message/Value Proposition

Our customers are our most valued asset at Atlas. Not only do we provide exceptional
service 24/7/365, but we work harder than our competitors to keep our customers
satisfied. Our value proposition is the Atlas Advantage.

The Process:
Step One Determine Customer Value Segments
The first step in this process is to quantify the value of our existing customers. This will
be accomplished using a model currently being built by IT and Accounting. The model
will help us extract from our customer records those customers who are in the top (Gold)
tier, Middle (Silver) tier and Maintenance (bronze) tier.
Once tiers are established, we propose rewarding customers based on their Atlas tier. See
model below that illustrates the process for rewarding and moving customers up through
the tiers.

* Database Marketing Institute

Step Two Customer Research

On an annual basis, survey customers to determine how well we are meeting their
needs and if there are expectations not being met. These results can then be
benchmarked against our competitors. This could be done in a formal third party
survey or by hosting a Customer Advisory event to capture customer information.
In addition, we propose increasing our involvement in industry and trade
associations where we can interact more with customers and learn more about their
issues and needs.

Step Three Develop Switching Barriers

One of the best ways to retain vulnerable customers is to create barriers to
switching. These are things that make staying with you easier and provide some
level of value or convenience to the customers. Some examples include EFT,
consolidated billing, contract programs such as GAP, fixed price, etc.

Step Four Develop Incentives by Tier (These tiers will be known only to Atlas,
not to our customers.)

Gold Customer Incentives Focus on Service

Gold customers are assigned to a sales representative.

Personal information stored in CRM to enhance customer relationship
Annual thank you for your business letter signed by Sam
Holiday card from Atlas
Quarterly lunches or dinners
Premium suite or ticket offers
Investigate gold club privileges such as:
o Free pricing or market update texts daily
o Invitations to Webinars on current topics of interest
Frequent contact with sales rep, letters, emails, etc. at least weekly
Webinar and Monthly Newsletters (Retailer, Advisor)

Silver Customer Incentives Marketing Efforts

Postcard reminders tank refills, etc.

Holiday cards and turkeys, hams given during holiday season
Tickets offered occasionally
Atlas participation at trade associations and seminars perhaps with a booth
Surprise with coupons for discount or free services
Invitations to Webinars to encourage upselling
Contact by phone or email monthly

Bronze Customer Incentives Maintenance Efforts

Send monthly newsletters Advisor or Retailer
Quarterly personal calls from a sales rep
Some sort of entertainment with their Sales Rep as appropriate
New Customers

Welcome letter and kit (Need to make sure we gather the correct mailing
address to each customernot their ship to address. In the past with these
kits we didnt have the customers mailing address only where their fuel was
being delivered to.) Note: current welcome letter comes from credit and is not
welcoming!

Add to our newsletter list Advisor or Retailer

Lost Customers Win Back Program

The average company loses 10 percent of their customers each year. We need to
know the value of lost accounts and keep track of them for win back purposes. Our
CRM system should record bid dates and helpful information about why we lost the
account. These customers should be surveyed about why they left and if valued,
should receive a thank you letter with the hopes we can serve them again.
VIP Segment
There is a certain level of entertainment that Sam may want to reserve for his top
customers that would go above and beyond this program. This needs to be discussed.

Step Five Measurement

Measure customer retention year over year

Measure retention among highest value customers
Measure customer win back for high value lost customers
Lifetime value assessment longer term

2011 Customer Engagement Plans

All Year

Date

*Industry & trade assoc. events

February

Varies
Date

Pistons Basketball
Red Wings Hockey
Chicago Bulls Basketball
Chicago Black Hawks Hockey
Indiana Pacers Basketball
Indiana Ice Hockey
March
Marine Pistons Game
Kid Rock Concert Indiana
Big 10 Mens & Womens
Basketball - Indy
April
Detroit Tigers
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Indianapolis Indians
Hams to key customers
May
Casino Night
Kenny Chesny - Indiana

2/11,
2/18

3/26
3/01

Customer Type
Interact with customers
at key industry and
trade events
Customer Type
Key customers &
suppliers retail, TW,
Bankers, etc.

Marines & families

Retailers
5/06
5

Indianapolis 500
June
Tigers game-DEW DECK
DTE Music Concert Tickets
Tim McGrawDTE Music
U2 Concert-Spartan Stadium
July
DTE Music Concert Tickets
U2 Concert-Soldier Field,
Chicago
Brickyard 400 - Indy
August
Chicago Cub/Whitesox
September

Tankwagon/Transport
6/24
6/26

7/05

Retail

October
Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
Indianapolis Colts
November
Turkeys to top customers
December
Houston VIP customer event
Big 10 Football - Indy
Atlas Holiday cards sent
February 2012
Super Bowl - Indianapolis