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July 13, 2005 Ian Todreas, ERG

Marketing to FORTUNE 500 Companies. BWC Network Strategy Session. July 13, 2005 Ian Todreas, ERG. Marketing to F500. Barriers Tips to overcoming barriers. Some barriers to F500 recruiting. F500 companies are big. Employ thousands, across multiple work sites

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July 13, 2005 Ian Todreas, ERG

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  1. Marketing toFORTUNE 500 Companies BWC Network Strategy Session July 13, 2005 Ian Todreas, ERG

  2. Marketing to F500 • Barriers • Tips to overcoming barriers

  3. Some barriers to F500 recruiting • F500 companies are big. • Employ thousands, across multiple work sites • Hard to identify the right person/decision maker • BWC is not central to F500 businesses. • “Employee” issues are not always on the radar screen • TDM not always on the “employee issues” agenda • Making cold calls is scary and time-consuming. • What to say? BWC is complicated! • We are all busy with other things

  4. Tips to get past the barriers • Do your homework & develop a list of “hot” leads: • Identify F500s with in your area. • Which work sites have commuter benefits? • Which ones might have commuter benefits? • Which ones have BWC sites elsewhere? • Which F500s are on similar lists (e.g., Best Places to Work, Best Places for Working Mothers, etc.)? • Which are active in the community and care about corporate reputation? • At which F500s/work sites do you have contacts (including friends, family, colleagues, former colleagues, etc.)

  5. More tips • Avoid cold calls by: • Sending a letter/e-mail out first about BWC. • Wait at least a week, then make your call. • Don’t procrastinate… • This campaign has a deadline (early Sept)! • Create weekly goals (e.g., x calls/day).

  6. More tips • What to say? First get organized: • Keep copy of letter in front during calls. • Keep copy of other materials (e.g., flyers) in front. • Know thy web site (www.bwc.gov). • Always take notes on your correspondences. • Then hone your pitch/message: • Practice your elevator pitch before making calls. • For an ETC: your program is great, get recognition! • For an HR person: recruitment and retention. • For a PR person: distinguish yourself, leadership, free media coverage. • For an employee champion: all of the above. • Other

  7. More tips • Do they qualify? • Determine this as early as possible in the conversation. • It’s HARD to convince someone to substantially improve benefits in a short time frame. • It’s EASY to convince someone to join BWC if they already qualify.

  8. More tips • Don’t fret over getting the “right person” on the line. • If your first contact doesn’t express enthusiasm, you are not necessarily at a dead end. • A HR exec may not be interested in BWC, but a PR exec may find it compelling, or vice versa. • Be persistent, until you learn that the site doesn’t qualify.

  9. More tips • Use the CEO letter to its full potential. • Fax copies to whomever you are speaking with. • Handholding is effective. • Walk your contact through the online application while on the phone! • Drop names. • USA Today, MSNBC, Wash Post, etc. covered BWC F500s last year.

  10. More tips • Be prepared to counter conventional wisdom: • “Rural work sites can’t take advantage of benefits” (what about vanpool, carpool, and telework?) • “In the city, everyone takes transit anyway so we don’t offer benefits there” (many F500s do offer benefits at city-based work sites to be competitive. Also telework is popular among workers looking to ease daily commutes) • “This work site [e.g., manufacturing plant] has strict/varied shifts for its employees and is not conducive to offering benefits” (while not necessarily good for catching trains predictable shifts make for great carpooling and vanpooling)

  11. More tips: Countering wisdom (cont.) • “We had a bad year and are laying off employees” (some companies argue that offering commuter benefits saves the company money by minimizing parking expenses, and fewer employees could improve their ranking!) • “We had a great year and don’t need to offer these benefits” (you can never be on too many lists of Bests) • BWC has examples of employers of all types: rural, urban, services, East/West/Mid West/South, huge, smaller, etc. Use these!

  12. More Tips • Ranking is a competitive force: • Some companies want to be in the Top 20 or #1. • Some companies would be glad to be #1 in their industry. • Some companies would be glad to be #1 in their region. • What’s the competition doing in TDM? Can you leverage one F500’s BWC participation to inspire another? • Etc.

  13. More tips • Things change from year to year: • New staff come, old leave. • New facilities open, old ones close. • Awareness of the importance of transportation, environment, and communities is growing. • Benefits offered change. • Awareness of BWC and this list is growing. • Be patient (think Red Sox!) • If you don’t get ‘em this year, there’s always next year.

  14. Thanks for your time, and good luck! Ian Todreas, ERG BWC FORTUNE 500 Recruiting Team Ian.todreas@erg.com Tel. (617) 357-4623

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