Growing the ‘George’s Way’ in Ohio

BROOKVILLE, Ind. – George’s Pharmacy & Medical Equipment, which has 11 locations in Indiana, is taking its hands-on approach to customer service to Ohio, where it recently opened a location in Blue Ash, its first in the state.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Ohio,” said Trent Gillman, owner and CFO. “Nobody offers the full everything, a one-stop shop in Ohio. So, our goal is to start out in Cincinnati and see how it goes.”

The family-owned George’s started in 1985 when Trent’s father, George Gillman, bought a Rexall Drugs in Brookville, Ind. His brother Blake Gillman joined as a pharmacist in 1999, giving George Gillman more time to delve into DME and pharmacy, even going as far as to obtain an assistive technology professional (ATP) certification from RESNA.

One-stop shop drives referrals, growth

Today, George’s is a one-stop for DME, complex rehab, respiratory, disposable medical supplies, lymphedema and continuous glucose monitoring, as well as home and vehicle modifications.

“That’s one of the main things that’s made us successful in our referral base,” said Butch Martin, executive vice president of sales & marketing, who joined the company from Invacare in 2017. “If a patient needs five different product categories, they don’t have to send them to five different locations. We try to treat people like our neighbors.”

Leaning in during COVID has paid off

Like most providers, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 created a lot of challenges for George’s, but it also allowed the provider to step up, for its employees and its community, says Gillman.

“A lot of our competitors were doing limited DME, just doing discharges, and we said, ‘We’re not going to do that,’” he said. “We kept all our staff employed and we went out and were doing lift chairs, we were doing commodes, and the business really grew like crazy.”

Inside the ‘George’s Way’

As a small company, George’s takes a nimble approach to running the business, says Gillman. While the company has standard operating procedures and KPIs that its employees must meet, it empowers its employees to make decisions. That’s resulted in happier customers and a high employee retention rate.

“We felt empowering our employees to act individually has been a lot better than micromanaging them,” he said. “We kind of have a secret sauce called the George’s Way.”

What’s next for George’s

With the new Ohio location opened, George’s will eventually look to add a handful of additional locations in Indiana, as well as look at a few other states, says Gillman.

“What we’d like to do is copy what we’ve done in Indiana to the state of Ohio,” he said. “Once we get Ohio rocking and rolling, then we’ll go down to Kentucky and do the same thing there. If you have good people, you can keep replicating (your model). It’s the George’s way.”

Photo courtesy of George's Pharmacy and Medical Equipment.