Lemons to Lemonade

The following is an email I received from Doug in Lancaster.

I wanted to share with you something that transpired over the last 24 hours.
I received a call from a woman who identified herself as being from the DOT. She asked for information on one of my clients, a trucking company in our DOT Consortium. I got very uncomfortable, and I told her that Gloria, who had all of this information, was out to lunch and asked her to call back after 1:00pm.

Meanwhile, I called John Lipp and Tony Waters and shared with them what happened. Tony suggested I send the information to the company, rather than the woman, not knowing if she really was from the DOT.

In any case, the DOT Auditor called back. I told her that I was uncomfortable sharing client information over the phone and suggested that I send it to the company. She acknowledged my concern and told me that she would e-mail me the information she needed about the company’s DOT program.

After receiving the email and verifying that she really was from the DOT, I put the information requested together, (we had everything she requested) and faxed it to the company. I called the trucking company today, and they told us everything we sent them answered all the auditor’s questions, and the issues had to do with their trucking company testing program, not AccuDiagnostics. They were very appreciative for the quick response and that all of the information I sent was complete, professional and in good order.

Because of that, the trucking company now wants us to do Supervisor Training and they are going to recommend us to one of their friends who is starting their own trucking company.

But wait! There’s more…

I made copies of the e-mail I had had received from the DOT auditor and distributed this to several my DOT type of clients and prospects I’ve been working with. I positioned the email copies as a ‘DOT Alert’ – the “DOT Auditors” are in the Antelope Valley and shared what the DOT may look for if they should select their company for an audit.

But Wait!!!! There’s more……

The phone started ringing immediately. In just one afternoon, I got three commitments for Supervisor Training, as well as one company that is switching from their current drug testing company to AccuDiagnostics. I had tried to get them as a client for more than a year with no success. Now they also want us to do a new Drug-Free Workplace Policy, Supervisor Training, as well as their random testing and pre-employment testing.

The call from the DOT Auditor turned out to be a great opportunity to get in front of my prospects again, create a lot of credibility, and trump my competitors.

Doug wins the Innovation Award for the Week.

Moral of the Story: In every problem there is an opportunity.