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