We had a problem. The pilot program in Plainfield was a success - the ‘mini clinic” model actually worked and it was achieving the outcomes we all desired - fewer injuries, happier/healthier workers and a growing workload for a small company. To anyone who works in a well-resourced business or even one that has been functioning for a few years this probably sounds like everything you’d want. For a small business like ours that was the case too, but it was also our first look into the mouth of the tiger who hunts us - the good but nonetheless problematic dilemma of how to grow into the opportunity before you have a team big enough to handle it. Good problems are, after all, still problems.The employer-client had decided things were going so well with the 100-ish employees in Plainfield that it was time to consider a “company wide” rollout, that is, to bring a similar service to the other 8,000 or so employees (at the time). Or, in today’s parlance, to scale things 50-80X. Gulp. We would have to hire and train a team, build all of the systems needed to schedule the work, invoice the client and get paid, track outcomes and most of all, inspire a much larger group to engage and embrace the idea of prevention. This was no small lift for a team of +/- 5 people who could only dedicate a few hours per day in order to stay focused on the projects that were currently keeping the lights on. All of this paled in comparison however to the first hurdle which loomed like a granite cliff directly in our path - the Request For Proposal (RFP) and the boardroom style pitch.
While our comfort level with the process has grown over the years, diving into the requirements section of an RFP for a “Fortune 500” type company is daunting the first time. There were insurances we’d never heard of, legal language that almost roped us into giving away the model’s intellectual property (another great story!) and the deadline we darn-near missed because the financials needed tweaking and the fax (if you were born after 2001 you might need to Google it) transmission was so slow. To say we were ecstatic to learn we were among the finalists a few weeks later is a generational-understatement but, the question remained, how would a group of 5, all under the age of 30 convince a corporate board room that we were the right group considering we were up against the arm of a major consulting player in the space. It was time for a storyboard and a review of our narrative.
We decided we’d bring “Dad” (Tom Eisenhart, our version of an “activist investor”) because he looked “seasoned enough”. We’d emphasize the trust we had on the ground from the last few years of training their employees. We’d make it about the people, not the technology. In essence, we’d paint the exact opposite picture of what the big-player would say and we’d do so with a level of passion and excitement that would inspire. Oh, and because they had a few power plants in Connecticut (where none of us were licensed to practice) we’d pay one of my old rugby buddies to sit-in and act a bit.Eric “The Viking” was just what the nickname implies - he stood well over 6 feet tall, had a shock of blonde hair at the time and was probably pushing 250 lbs. He was an intimidating physical presence but, as one of the few majoring in PT and a year or two between Amy’s time and mine at UCONN. We bonded over the workload and he always looked out for me. I remember him initially laughing at my request to attend but when he realized exactly how serious I was, agreed to find a suit and show up in Newark. We told him to sit quietly unless asked a direct question, nod knowingly if we said anything that lit up the room and make it clear that “Connecticut was covered”. In exchange for the experience, he’d accept a small fee, let us pay for his gas and tolls and buy him the occasional beer. It was a crazy idea, maybe the first of many with that client, and against all odds it worked.
A few weeks later a first installment check came in the mail. It had more zeros than I had ever seen. I still have a framed color-copy deep in a box somewhere; Not because of the value but because of what it signaled - Prevention could indeed Work. No surprises that’s what we branded the initiative “Prevention Works” and for a team of innovative minds who were not afraid to use a crazy idea for the right reasons, it kicked off enough adventure for a lifetime…all compressed into 15 years.
-Mike E.
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