This is a way off-topic blog post but I thought some of my readers would find it interesting:
The work I do for money sometimes involves tracking down customers who, other than the fact that we receive their payments every month, we never hear from them. It’s pretty rare, but we can go for years without needing to know their current phone number or address. I came across such a customer this morning. This guy, an intellectual property attorney from another state, owns an investment property in North Carolina that he bought 7 years ago. His loan is coming due, so I needed to contact him about renewing it. The only phone number I had took me to what I expected was his office, but when I called I was told that “he was no longer with the firm.” Oops.
Now I realize that in this day and age there are lots of tools available to assist in the search for missing attorneys. But of course I turned to Google in hopes that I could turn up something that would lead me to his current position. I came across dozens of dead ends, articles that referenced his name and some kind of presentation or case, but they all referred to his former employer.
Somewhere in all my searching I came across this guy’s LinkedIn page. And it showed who he worked for but no contact information. I thought about sending him a note through LinkedIn, but figured that wouldn’t be terribly professional and saved it for a last resort. I Googled the company, but their headquarters is in another state. No good. But then, I went back to LinkedIn and noticed that a lot of his contacts were co-workers at his current firm. I looked through his contacts, Googled them and finally found a phone number. Not for my guy, but for his boss. Ah-ha!
Figuring that there is no way a direct call for an attorney is going to go through to him, and if it did I could easily explain myself, I called the number. Got a voicemail system, and after a few “Press #,” “Press 1,” etc. I got to where I could search a department directory using the first 3 letters of my customer’s last name. Call goes straight through and he answers it. Yep, he’s my guy!
I know what I did wasn’t anything really special, but I was amazed at how I was able to solve the puzzle. It was fun, he was very helpful and we’re going to do his deal. Not a bad way to start a Monday!
Interesting how you used the internet to locate him. I’m curious as to how much time you had to put in to locate him. It also sounds like you are good at your job. A pay raise maybe?
I suppose it took me 30 minutes or so of actually searching. Once I exhausted my standard methods anyway.
I made sure to pass your comment on to my manager. He told me to get back to work. 🙂 No humor, those managers.
Or maybe you’re in the wrong line of work.
Tom Dills P.I. ?
Hey, there’s an idea! Maybe I could live in Hawaii and drive a red Ferrari? I’d have to grow my mustache back though. And even then I wouldn’t look like Tom Selleck.
It’s amazing how much information we have at our fingertips these days isn’t it…and it cost nothing except a little time. Sweet!
The scary part to me is how easy it is for people to get to things I don’t want them to get to. We can’t exactly put our heads in the ground but need to take precautions, that’s for sure.