If you want to be successful in business, then you should employ all marketing and sales strategies within your disposal to win contracts both from corporate and individual clients. The truth is that if you don’t have regular NEMT (non-emergency medical transportation) contracts, you are going to struggle to grow the business and if you are not proactive, the business may pack up sooner than you expect.
Companies that operate in the NEMT industry transport customers from their home or office to meet up with doctor’s appointments or to carry out lab tests et al. NEMT companies generally provide services between metropolitan areas or urban centers and form a network that includes local, national, and international pickup and drop off to serve customers’ needs.
If you run a standard NEMT services company, then you should ensure that much more than having the capacity to deliver, your marketing and sales team must be professionals who are always on top of their games and who know how to secure contracts regularly.
Tips and Strategies for Getting a Contract for NEMT Transportation
-
Choose a Good Location for Your NEMT Company
One of the most important tips for getting NEMT contracts from both corporate and individual clients is to ensure that you position your business in the right location. It cannot be over-emphasized that the success of any business lies in the location you choose for the business.
You should ensure that you locate your business close to places with high aging populations, hospitals, and other medical facilities et al. No doubt NEMT companies that are located in a city with aging demography are expected to stay busy and experience an increase in revenue.
-
Make Use of Reliable Ambulettes
It is one thing to choose a good location for your NEMT company but another thing to possess the capacity to deliver the job. If you want to continue to secure contracts and minimize downtime to the barest minimum, then you should have only reliable and well-equipped ambulettes under your fleet.
What is the point of boasting that you offer 24 hours services all across your city and state when your ambulettes are always breaking down on the highway or spending more time than required in the mechanic garage? Running a NEMT services business with reliable ambulettes will give you an edge over your competitors.
To achieve this, you may have to go for brand new ambulettes; although it might be expensive to initially acquire brand new ambulettes, you can rest assured that in the long run, it will be more advantageous than purchasing cheap and used ambulettes.
-
Make Your NEMT Services Superior to Your Competitions
Come to think of it, people and organizations will always patronize a business that appears to be superior to others. So to keep getting contracts, you should project your company to be superior to your competitors not only in appearance but also in your service delivery.
-
Build Good Business Network
Networking is perhaps one of the most effective and creative marketing ideas needed to build your clientele base and you have to put plans in place to leverage all your networks if you truly want to do well in the NEMT line of business.
Because of that, you should look out for gatherings where you can network with companies and businesses that are into regular transportation of patients. Your first port of call will be to connect with hospitals, Medicare & Medicaid Services businesses et al.
-
Get Your Employees Involved in Marketing Your Services
As a NEMT company, part of the tips and strategies you need to adopt if you want to continue to get NEMT contracts is to ensure that all your employees are directly or indirectly involved in the marketing of your services.
Just ensure that you make provisions for your employees to earn a commission when they bring in business (contracts) for the organization. You can as well create a business model that will enable freelancers to work with your organization; whenever they refer clients to your organization, they will earn a percentage of the deal.
-
Build a NEMT Business That Will Serve Both Big and Small Clients
Another idea that will help you get NEMT contracts is to ensure that you design your business in such a way that you can comfortably work with both individuals who may want to regularly meet up with doctor’s appointments and also big organizations such as hospitals, and Medicare & Medicaid Services businesses et al who are involved in massive transportation of patients.
The truth is that some NEMT companies miss out on contracts simply because they are either too big to attend to smaller clients or too small to execute larger NEMT contracts.
-
Form Strategic Marketing Alliance with Other Players in Key Industries
As a NEMT company owner, if you want to continue to get contracts from both corporate and individual clients, then you should look towards forming strategic marketing alliances with key players in other industries. Good enough, there are opportunities for NEMT services companies to form strategic marketing alliances with other players in the industry because some NEMT companies may lack the capacity to handle certain contracts.
-
Create a Brand Identity for Your NEMT Services Company
You will quite agree that customers go for products or service providers that are always in front of them; in the business world, it is called promotion and branding. So, if you want to continue to get NEMT contracts from both corporate and individual clients, then you should be ready to create a brand identity for your company.
It is a fact that any business that wants to grow beyond the corner of the street must utilize every available means to promote the business. Boosting your brand awareness will go a long way to endear you to the market in the city, state, or country where you operate.
You can make plans to work with branding consultants to help you map out publicity and advertising strategies that will help you walk your way into the heart of your target market.
-
Work on Your Retention Strategies (Improve Your Customer Experience)
A company that is good at winning contracts but not good at generating repeated sales from their existing customers will always struggle to maximize profit in the business. You cannot keep welcoming customers from your front door and watch them leave via your back door and expect to generate enough revenue for your business.
Part of the retention strategies you need to adopt as a new entrant into the industry is to ensure that you leverage on price to win over customers; your prices should be affordable and negotiable. The fact that your business door is open to both individuals and corporations means that you should have a different price range for different categories of clients.
To improve your customer experience, you should make provisions to give out discounts to your customers from time to time, make available flexible payment options for your clients, make use of effective customer relationship management (CRM) software to effectively manage your clientele base, and ensures that you carry your clients along when making decisions that directly affect them.
-
Visit Corporate Organizations to Source for NEMT Contracts
If you are interested in getting a NEMT services contract, your best option is to take your proposals and marketing materials straight to hospitals, Medicare & Medicaid Services businesses et al where you will find businesses who will need your services.
It is simple, if you want to fish, you go to the river, so if you want to get NEMT services contracts you go to places where you can find organizations and individuals who are always going to the hospital to meet up with doctor’s appointments.
In conclusion, as a NEMT company owner, if you can adopt the above surefire tips and strategies when running your company, you can rest assured that you will continue to get NEMT contracts from both corporate and individual clients within and outside the location where your business is domiciled.
Please note that there may be certain challenges unique to NEMT companies in your business location; you must be creative and improvise when it comes to tackling such challenges.