By Bill Current, President and Founder

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Author’s Note: I founded the Current Consulting Group (CCG) in 1998, nearly 25 years ago. In the months leading up to our 25^th anniversary in September 2023, CCG will produce articles, webinars, and offer discounts on CCG services. Check our website and LinkedIn page for special updates and offerings. Each of our monthly newsletters will feature a special article entitled “Being Current: 25 Years in the Making” on some of the most important lessons I’ve learned and people I’ve met since I started CCG, the #1 consulting firm in the industry, two-and-a-half decades ago.

Lesson #6: A Fair Price to Solve Specific Problems        

“Drug testing works!”

That was the phrase we began using in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a growing number of employers began turning to drug testing to help them fight the increasing problem of workplace substance abuse.

Later we expanded the phrase to include: “It deters drug use and helps identify people who need help.”

As phrases go, it was a good one. In a handful of words it precisely described the value of drug testing—stop drug use and help people.

Drug testing has always been a very price-sensitive business. Some drug testing providers pride themselves on being the lowest price in town, so to speak. Some companies base their buying decisions almost exclusively on the lowest available price. But drug testing is a complex process that must be done perfectly every time in order to produce a reliable, legally defensible result. And because each drug testing method (urine, oral fluid, hair; lab-based or point-of-care (POCT)) has its own unique qualities and advantages, shopping on price alone may not produce the desired outcomes.

Shortly after I started the Current Consulting Group in 1998, I was gifted a client out of the blue at a time when Current Consulting desperately needed a client. I say “gifted” because Don Weber, the founder of Health Services of North America (HSNA) in Lacrosse, WI, showed up out of nowhere needing a consultant. But Don taught me as much or more than I was able to do for him as his consultant. He knew the drug testing business better than anyone I knew at the time. Among his many business strengths was his ability to accurately identify a company’s drug-free workplace needs and present unique solutions that would solve those problems versus always presenting a one-size-fits-all solution.

Don was an early proponent of oral fluid drug testing, especially POCT oral fluid. He saw its value as an alternative to urine testing for companies that needed to make faster hiring decisions and who didn’t want to send people to off-site collection facilities.

On one occasion, he was in New York City on his way to present a proposal for POCT oral fluid testing to a large, international company. We spoke by phone as he took a cab to the client’s office. He walked me through his entire proposal (maybe he was practicing his presentation) and at the end I asked him what price he was planning to propose. He was proposing POCT oral fluid testing at a higher price than the industry average pricing for a standard lab-based urine test. When I pointed that out, Don patiently explained that he was basing his proposed price on the value of the job POCT oral fluid testing could do for that particular client. He said POCT oral fluid could do things for the client that urine testing could not, and that higher value was worth a higher price. Don won that account.

It’s true that employers want an accurate, legally defensible drug test result. However, they do not conduct drug testing for the sake of drug testing. They conduct drug testing to solve problems, which in turn improves their corporate bottom line. Referring to Clayton Christensen’s “job to be done” theory: “People don’t simply buy products or services, they ‘hire’ them to make progress in specific circumstances.”[i] To that point, it is appropriate to charge a fair price for a solution that solves a specific problem.

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