Home mods: Don't overlook your drivers

Q. What's the best way to get into a client's home to determine their aids to daily living (ADL) challenges?

A. Your drivers, your delivery technicians and your RTS/ATP evaluators. It is important to use internal staff members who deal with your clients on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately, management does not usually consider staff members who deliver and install equipment as team builders. This needs to be reevaluated. Never underestimate the information gathering that they can do for your company. Think about it: Who sees your clients on a day-to-day basis, and with whom do your clients feel most comfortable?

So how do you incorporate your delivery staff into your sales efforts? Educate them. Teach them what to look for when they're in a client's home, based on what you can supply, service and install. Take time each workday to include them in your goals. Short, 15-minute bursts of education before they leave every day could be a huge asset to your company. Motivate them to turn your existing clients into future revenues. Offer them a $25 gift card/gas card or even a six-pack of beer to entice them to help you build your home modification business.

Here are some examples of how your business can grow from this small step of educating your delivery staff:

4    Say you can reach 50 patients per driver in one week. Fifteen of those patients want grab bars for $75 each. It's $12 for each bar and $25 for installation. That's $38 in profit per unit or $570 for 15 patients—in one week. Most patients will want two grab bars, making the total $1,140.

4    Say one patient wants an automatic door opener at $2,400. It's $1,400 for each unit and $250 for installation. That's $750 in profit per unit. If you sell only one unit per month for 10 months, that's $7,500 in cash you didn't have before.  hme

Robert Gurinowitsch is the owner of Life Access. He can be reached at 866-434-5744 or robert@lifeaccessonline.com.