The Marketing Advocate:
Roy Blanchard's Railway Age Columns

Occasionally columns were re-titled by the editor and additional minor changes made. Although we have retained the editor's titles in this index, the links lead to the columns as originally submitted.

1995 Columns:

• Don't limit yourself to one Class I connection (January 1995)
• How to earn more money per train-start (March 1995)
• How to uncouple demurrage charges from car-hire (May 1995)
• It's time to shed those "ice cream shoes" (July 1995)
• Value for all stakeholders(September 1995)
• Creating customer value (November 1995)

• The Taking of Car 12723
  July 1991 -- a look at a nightmarish sixteen-plus-day move of a test car for a potential customer.
• We are all marketers
  November 1991 -- Most workers on a feeder line wear many hats. Here's why the "marketer hat" should be one of them for everyone.
• Stop demonizing your Class I
  January 1992 -- Although Class I bashing is a satisfying sport among many shortliners, it damages the relationship with your best customer.
• Niche or be niched
  March 1992 -- On the benefits of niche marketing for the feeder railroad.
• How to get first class service from your Class I
  May 1992 -- Class I resources that help build short line business.
• Beating the trucks at just-in-time
  July 1992 -- Just-in-time doesn't necessarily mean off-the-railroad. A case study of one feeder line manager's successful fight to keep a just-in-time convert shipping on his line.
• Capitalizing on the Elkins exemption
  September 1992 -- How the ICC helped to level the playing field for the railroads, and how the feeder line can benefit.
• Demurrage as a marketing tool
  November 1992 -- A "Dear Customer" letter that explains this contentious issue and turns it into an opportunity to improve service.
• Railroad business has many "owners." Here are a few.
  January 1993 -- Every railroad employee has an ownership stake in every customer's business, which is what marketing is all about.
• Change--or die
  March 1993 -- The Fallen Flag & Eastern saw no need to change. Where is it now? Change is nowhere nearly so threatening when it's understood, and when it's a change you've had a hand in.
• Unconventional thinking can make for success.
  May 1993 -- Yesterday's conventional wisdom is today's gibberish in an era of rapid change. Here are some ways feeder lines are defying conventional wisdom and doing the "impossible."
• To build business, you've got to go see the people
  July 1993 -- It's been proven that a manager is only as good as his market intelligence. The best way to gather intelligence along your railroad is to go out and look.
• To win new customers, do your homework
  September 1993 -- Common customer objections to rail service, and how to address them.
• Quality means going beyond the buzzwords
  November 1993 -- Use your scrounging, finagling, and scavenging skills in the marketing arena to deliver results to your customers.
• To win business, demonstrate your price advantage
  January 1994 -- Demonstrating your price advantage may seem self-evident, but if you and your customer aren't speaking the same language you'll never be able to show the savings. Some ways to break the language barrier.
• Ask yourself: would you ship on your railroad?
  March 1994 -- Take a good look at your railroad's operations, through the smudged bifocals of a harried, overburdened and perplexed shipper. It may just dictate your strategic plan for the next six months.
• It's time to "fix the process." Short lines can do it best
  May 1994 -- If you have to end-run the system all the time, it's time to overhaul the system. Here are ways some short lines have done just that.
• Short line stages a crash -- and sends a message
  July 1994 -- Why the Aberdeen Carolina & Western wasted an '89 Olds for the CNN cameras.
• Fingering the culprits on car supply
  September 1994 -- Whose fault is it this time? The answer may surprise you.
• Class Is are your customers -- not "evil step-parents" Let's review: who "buys" all our outbound freight? So why aren't we treating them nicely?