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Minnesota Department of Transportation in the Marketplace

BOB WOLFE AND MARK ANDERSON

All of the ingredients of modern commerce are present in the operations of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT). Some marketing already takes place within Mn/DOT and should be expanded to provide even better products and services. Over the years, the concept of marketing has evolved from one of sales to an entire range of product conception, prod­uct development, delivery systems, market analysis, advertising, education, sales, service, etc. Mn/DOT operates in this same competitive environment and competes for the same resources. Indeed, it competes in the marketplace of government services and in the overall marketplace. It has become more customer oriented, beginning with the extensive public involvement in the project development process that started in the 1970s. In addition , interaction with customers in nearly all areas of Mn/DOT is in­creasing. Mn/DOT is trying to apply modern marketing tech­niques to all of its operations.

Following the end of World War II, transportation improve­ments were eagerly sought across the United States. New highway and airport design technologies had been accelerated out of necessity and the public was ready to apply them.

Programs such as the Interstate Defense Highway Network required strong direction and immediate results. Transpor­tation agencies were organized with a top-down management style and adequate resources were made available to do the job. The military management style was commonplace and was, for the most part, acceptable to the citizens who wanted the much-needed improvements.

The post-war country began to change in the 1960s and the change has continued to this day. Words like Viet Nam, Prop­osition 13, Watergate, global economics, and workforce di­versity have come to represent our growing awareness that there are many sides to issues, that there are many different priorities and that what may be good for one group of people may not be so good for others. This diversity has forever changed the traditional bureaucratic management style of government when dealing with clients.

The Northwest District of the Minnesota Department of Transportation recognized the need to change nearly 16 years ago. Initially, a new vision was created that identified the "real bosses" as being transportation clients (timber produc­ers, tourists, sugar beet farmers, etc.) rather than the internal Mn/DOT hierarchy.

The traditional government attitude of take it or leave it and the regulatory approach to clients was replaced with "finding a way to say yes" to clients.

Northwest District, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Trans­portation Building, John Ireland Boulevard, St. Paul, Minn. 55155.

NORTHWEST DISTRICT PUBLIC CONTACT PROGRAM

The first formal step in the marketing of transportation ser­vices was to establish a means of finding out what the clients wanted. A public contact program was developed that in­cluded 15 areas of emphasis, ranging from visiting schools and colleges to formal meetings with timber and agriculture association board members.

District staff people were assigned regular public contact responsibilities in all cities, counties, and township associa­tions in the district. These were regular work assignments . Feedback was provided on a simple speed message format that was shared with appropriate staff people for follow-up action.

A couple of interesting things were noticed:

1. Mn/DOT did not fully understand the business and social needs of its northwestern Minnesota clients.

2. Clients generally knew little of the bureaucratic process or the resources available through Mn/DOT.

In other words, Mn/DOT and its clients did not understand each other's business.

It was obvious that this public contact program would have to have two primary objectives:

1. Help Mn/DOT staff to understand the business objec­tives and needs of external clients.

2. Educate transportation clients about the Mn/DOT pro­gramming process and other related services.

Nearly 45 district staff people have been actively working in this process of mutual education. Regular , ongoing contacts with local governments , industries, farm groups, tourism groups, small business owners, schools, and other client groups have established a solid base of information that helps set priorities for investing transportation resources. Conse­quently, road improvement and highway maintenance activ­ities are geared toward helping clients compete successfully and yet maintain the quality of life so important to rural people.

This contact program was first described as the precondi­tioning of clients to a process of marketing government ser­vices. This would help Mn/DOT meet the priorities and needs of clients.

After several years of mutual preconditioning, it became apparent that the ingredients of success were beginning to follow a pattern similar to time-tested marketing concepts

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long used by private enterprise. Rather than merely empha­sizing the need for government services (convincing people why more public funds are needed), an entire concept of marketing evolved that included product conception, product development, delivery systems, market analysis, advertising, education, sales, service, etc.

All of these elements are important ingredients if a firm (or government agency) is to sell its products (services) in an increasingly competitive and perceptive marketplace. North­west District staff have become client oriented as a result of these marketing practices. Its clients seem to have embraced the idea and have invited Mn/DOT contractors to be active participants in their business activities. It is now common practice for Mn/DOT staff people to be considered as tech­nical representatives for industry groups and community part­ners for local governments and special service groups. A vis­ible measure of product success is the tremendous support that Northwest Minnesota gives to new funding of transpor­tation programs.

MARKETING GOVERNMENT SERVICES

In the previous section, the marketing process that intuitively evolved in the Northwest District Public Contact Program was discussed. From some of the current literature on marketing, it was obvious that the client-oriented approach paralleled the customer service-oriented approach to marketing in the private sector.

Successful firms in the private sector learned that pushing goods onto the market was not as effective as learning to satisfy customers. At Mn/DOT, it was learned that it was better to learn about the wants and needs of the clients before going ahead with a transportation project. Successful private

SERVICE

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companies have also learned to guide their total effort by what their customers want. At Mn/DOT, it was learned that it was best to view the agency as part of the various industries and businesses of the clients and let their needs guide the efforts.

Figure 1 shows a graphic representation of a government service marketing exchange process. It is a modification of a common representation of the exchange process and dem­onstrates the need for mutual education and the required interdependence of the Marketer (government agency) and the Consumer (road user) if wants or needs are to be satisfied. If each part of the graphic is equally important, the exchange process is likely to be successful.

This process has applications in transportation both at the microscopic level (of specific projects or services) and at the macroscopic level (regional or industry transportation needs.)

Mn/DOT SIX-STEP MARKETING PROCESS

Since the Northwest District began a strong customer­oriented management style in 1974, six key steps seemed to be prevalent in instances where the greatest client satisfaction was achieved. They are as follows:

1. Establish your objective or mission, 2. Identify your customers, 3. Conduct a mutual education or information exchange, 4. Identify wants and needs, 5. Formulate strategy to satisfy wants and needs, and 6. Implement the strategy.

This basic marketing process was taught in a training class at an Mn/DOT Leadership Academy held in St. Cloud on Jan-

( lnform•llon Co•chlng)

MARKETER

Government A11~ncles, Governor, legislature

( Wants Needs )

PAYMENT

Fuel Tax, License Fec:1, Local Taxes

FIGURE 1 The marketing exchange process.

CONSUMER

Molorists, lndu$try, Tourism Bu.slness, Clllzens

Wolfe and Anderson

uary 25, 1990. Attendees included supervisors and engineers from the Willmar and Brainerd districts, representing admin­istration, engineering services, and maintenance operations.

One of the up-front costs for the class participants was the requirement to prepare a formal report of the class project. The project involved developing a marketing strategy for the development of a transportation corridor for the Paul Bunyan Expressway (four-lane roadway on TH 371 from Little Falls to Bemidji) and the Western Gateway (four-lane roadway on TH 12 from Wayzata to Willmar).

The class was divided into six teams with three working on each of the two projects. Their products for each of the six marketing steps are summarized to provide some real ex­amples of how the process can work.

1. Establish Your Objective or Mission. This step is critical as it sets the initial direction for the marketing effort. All too often, government agencies come up with the answer before the mutually agreed-on objective is clearly thought out. In reality, there isn't any right or wrong answer but rather an agreed-on objective that may well change after the marketing team gets deeper into the process. This is the time to challenge the traditional approach and let the creative juices flow. The objective above all is satisfying the wants and needs of the real bosses-the customer.

The Leadership Academy class participants generally es­tablished objectives or missions that "supported the economy along the two corridors and provided better access to rural Minnesota." Other objectives referred to intermodal coor­dination, futuristic transportation services (high-speed train), and balance of environmental and economic concerns. The interaction of maintenance, administration, and engineering people was really interesting, demonstrating the potential for broader objective setting.

2. Identify Your Customers. All too often, the government agency response will be focused on single client needs. To­day's competition for scarce tax dollars and the necessity to maximize investments as we compete globally, requires con­tact with a broad range of clients. Partnerships can often be formed that add strength to the marketing effort while dealing with individual customer needs.

The Leadership Academy class identified both broad client groups (truckers, tourists, communities, trunk highway as­sociations) and very specific clients (turkey growers, specific businesses, hospitals, cities, counties).

3. Mutual Education or Information Exchange. Some ini­tial criteria, necessary to achieve the goal of mutual (agency and client) education and information exchange, include the following: (a) be open minded; (b) keep all customer groups informed; (c) identify a central "push group" to overcome barriers, provide energy, and coordinate direction; and (d) look at the history of related projects.

Mechanisms that can be used are public contact programs (with feedback documents); surveys; informal public listening forums; attendance at township, city, and county meetings to inform and learn; and service as technical representatives to industry, business, farm, tourism, and other client groups.

The Leadership Academy class identified the TH 12 Task Force and the Paul Bunyan Expressway Committee as the major contact groups. They also focused on the importance of using the exchange process with legislators, local officials,

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Central Office support staff, and local citizens (relationship of transportation to overall socioeconomic and environmental concerns).

4. Identify Wants and Needs. For years, the Northwest District has relied on a strong partnership with its clients to identify priority construction projects and appropriate service levels. Timber producers have assembled a composite list of projects that covers the four northern Mn/DOT districts. Farm groups have consolidated their needs and wishes through the Northwest Regional Development Commission. A key to this process is the understanding by all client groups of the formal Mn/DOT programming method that ensures realistic priority setting.

The Leadership Academy class list of needs generally fo­cused on economic development, safety, efficient travel and reduced travel between the metropolitan area and the Willmar and Lakes and Pines areas.

5. Formulate Strategy To Satisfy Wants and Needs. A key step is the development of a blueprint to focus all parties (government and client groups) on the marketing pro­cess. Information flow is critical with the key "push group" being responsible to keep effort high, recognizing the ever­present barrier of resistance to change.

A good inventory of related factors such as in-place facil­ities, funding sources, policy, key players, applicable research data, and existing regional business objectives is a good start. Milestone dates then need to be set up to establish a good foundation of support. Subsequent project-related activities must be targeted at the planned objective.

One of the St. Cloud training groups identified specific activities for its corridor concept such as hiring consultants, public meetings, district coordination, client support, media activities, and proposing special funding packages for de­congesting the metropolitan region. Other ideas included risk management practices, priority setting, special statewide con­ferences on rural and metropolitan economic linkages, and policy changes.

6. Implement the Strategy. There is always the danger of simply "studying an issue to death." This last step, although short and simple, is the area that requires the most energy. It is simply going out and doing it.

EXAMPLES

The Northwest District of Mn/DOT has enjoyed excellent client support, much of which can be attributed to the home­spun marketing techniques that have evolved over the past 10 to 15 years. The following specific success stories are giv­en to encourage other government people to try out some marketing.

Timber Producers

Technical classes on highway design, road strength, spring road strength recovery, effect of heavy loads on road fatigue, and highway programming have been taught at annual and special meetings of the Minnesota Timber Producers Association.

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Resulting products include a $125 million construction pro­gram aimed at high-priority timber routes in three districts, recently passed legislation that increases the gross weight from 80,000 to 82,000 lb for tree-length truck movement (which reduces the number of violations and ensures less road dam­age), better information flow on spring road restriction post­ings, and mutual information flow that ties the importance of forest products to all parts of the state (70 percent of the jobs are located in the metropolitan area) .

This recognition of the metropolitan rural connection has resulted in a portion of the Mn/DOT program being set aside for low-volume route construction projects. Traditionally, these projects never compete with higher-volume roads. In 1992, the first project will be under contract-TH 6 from Deer River to 11 mi north.

Sugar Beet Growers

This industry moves over 5 million tons of beets to their factories every fall. It is the major cash crop in the Red River Valley. Barriers to success were safety (mud on the road and unskilled truck drivers), lack of 10-ton roads, and poor co­ordination with Minnesota and North Dakota law enforce­ment and road officials (both country and state) .

Regular annual meetings with all parties are routinely held each September to reestablish lines of communication. Road projects are now scheduled to reduce interference to the mas­sive beet haul, local farmers have installed scrapers on their trucks to remove mud from between dual tires, truck weights have been kept within reasonable limits, road projects have been scheduled to enable 10-ton axle weights and a 10 percent overweight special transportation permit was developed to help move beets faster from the field to the piling sties.

Also turn lanes were installed to permit cleaner, safer access to roads; a truck driver safety practices film was produced, cosponsored by the Red River Valley Growers Association and the two states; and a clear line of communication was organized that puts local plant site managers in touch with

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key law enforcement people and road personnel during the harvest.

Paul Bunyan Expressway

One of the basic needs of the Lakes and Pines area of northern Minnesota is to have convenient access to the St. Paul­Minneapolis and Winnipeg metropolitan areas . Tourism, tim­ber product movement, and industrial development are the needs and wants. The Northwest District implemented a mar­keting approach that started locally with Bemidji City business people and local government officials. A four-lane roadway from Bemidji to Little Falls was the goal.

Newspaper articles were generated in local newspapers in the Brainerd area where there were objections to a bypass on the west side of town. Fearing the loss of ·business, this concept (the centerpiece and highest priority of a Paul Bunyan Expressway) had been aggressively resisted in the past. The marketing strategy was to point out the economic advantages and to assign a local folklore label (Paul Bunyan) that would be catchy. Many meetings, working with client groups, and cooperation from the Commissioner's office, led to the agree­ment for a bypass. Two other four-lane segments from Bemidji to Cass Lake were programmed for the period 1993 to 1995.

YETTO DO

There is a need for Minnesota to recognize its strengths and weaknesses and to take whatever steps are necessary to com­pete economically in this fast-changing world. Minnesota must be treated like a large corporation that uses all of the modern business techniques available. It must set basic business ob­jectives both for government and for industry that will best position it to compete globally while maintaining the good quality of life so important to all Minnesotans.

Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Statewide Multimoda/ Transportation Planning.