| ="body"> | | | | 'offenders'? |
| It only takes one bad apple to spoil the barrel. The | | | | --- A One-In-A-Million Long Shot |
| apple doesn't fall far from the tree. From tiny acorns | | | | They reported somewhere in the order of a dozen |
| grown mighty oaks. For every situation there is some | | | | incidents - maybe a few more. If you focused a few |
| quote that seems to support it... | | | | pages of 'prime time ink' on that number of issues, sure |
| It doesn't seem that a day goes by without someone | | | | it looks like a lot, but lets keep this is perspective for a |
| writing something bad about the automotive industry. I | | | | moment. That's roughly one incident for every 1 Million |
| just don't get it. Do we have some kind of sticker on | | | | tests, in other words we are talking about a "one in a |
| our proverbial back that says "kick me" ? | | | | million" long shot. One in a million - those are slim odds |
| This month as I was completing my writing, I was given | | | | in anyone's book. |
| an article from a newspaper all about how a few | | | | --- A Brighter Future |
| unscrupulous people (here in Ontario, Canada) who | | | | So what are 'we' supposed to do about this kind of |
| had been 'scamming' the Drive Clean system by selling | | | | negative press? Well you could always do nothing, |
| 'fake pass' certificates. | | | | after all the late great P.T Barnum believed that any |
| --- If It Bleeds, It Leads! | | | | publicity was good publicity because of something they |
| I could almost hear the groans of all the honest, hard | | | | eventually called the Barnum effect. |
| working facilities that carefully and professionally | | | | It goes a little like this: |
| implement the governments Drive Clean tests. But no, | | | | A negative incident happens. The press has a field day |
| the newspaper had focused on a handful of rotten | | | | and quite possibly the impact on your business is |
| apples and not only did they do that, they spent pages | | | | negative and sales may drop. The good news is that |
| and pages going over, and over these incidents. | | | | 'this too shall pass' and this negativity is temporary |
| In any system there will always be a small percentage | | | | because people forget. Over time people will recall less |
| of people who find ways to abuse the order of things. | | | | of what you did and only remember you - and the |
| We all know that "if it bleeds, it leads" on the news, but | | | | really good news is that they often forget the details |
| constantly picking on an entire group of people | | | | too. |
| because of a few others is simply unfair. | | | | So as weird as it may seem, all this recent 'bad press' |
| --- Poor Sportsmanship | | | | surrounding the Drive Clean will eventually help you - |
| Sure, those that break the rules should be punished - | | | | just so long as the negative press stops long enough |
| no contest there. But to lump them all together and | | | | for people to start forgetting. |
| 'suggest' and insinuate using some rather questionable | | | | --- Drive Clean |
| English language skills, as to the real severity of the | | | | And for those of you who think a response is in order, |
| problem, is just poor sportsmanship. | | | | well why not figure out a way to work this 'event' into |
| --- The Up Side? | | | | your client mailings. Discuss the subject with your |
| Let's take a positive look at this for a moment, the | | | | clients - include it in your newsletters. |
| expose article claimed to have analyzed over | | | | Remember, those facilities that openly share |
| 12,000,000 (yes that's million) Drive Clean records which | | | | information are seen as trust worthy - not the kind of |
| covered a period of a few years. And with all that | | | | people who would 'clean pipe' a test or sell a fake |
| energy, power and resources directed towards that | | | | pass. |
| special task they uncovered how many alleged | | | | |