About this episode
Jarrod Hilliard is operations manager at B811 Medical Transportation in Solano County, California, the company his mother started with no NEMT experience after his uncle lost the ability to drive himself, and which has reached five vehicles in under two years. Hilliard went from being the only driver on the schedule to running invoicing, scheduling, driver interviews and fleet upkeep, which he names as the hardest recurring job. His costliest early call was buying two ambulatory vans after the first wheelchair van, because most B811 clients use wheelchairs and a wheelchair van carries ambulatory riders too.
Key takeaways
- Buy the wheelchair van first. Hilliard followed B811's first wheelchair van with two ambulatory vans and calls it a mistake, since a wheelchair van can carry ambulatory riders but not the reverse.
- There is no call center. One phone number rings and takes texts all day, and Hilliard and his mother trade the handset between them depending on who is driving.
- Fleet upkeep is the hardest part of growth, not sales. Hilliard names tire changes and gassing every van every night as the recurring job that scales worst.
- Regulars ask for Hilliard by name, so he rides along on the first trip to introduce each new driver in person, and phones ahead himself when a pickup is running late.
- B811 tracks client birthdays and gives a free Sunday ride anywhere, once to the movies. New contracts came from flyers dropped at a senior apartment building by a former classmate.
Chapters
- 0:00 Introduction
- 2:16 Jarrod's background
- 6:30 Jarrod's role at B811 Medical Transport
- 9:05 Son-Mother working relationship
- 11:36 Lessons learned in NEMT
- 14:50 NEMT compared to prior work
- 18:47 Bambi software makes NEMT easy
- 20:38 Personal relationship with clients
- 22:51 Jarrod's vision for the next 3 years
- 29:49 Learning NEMT the hard way
- 33:09 Personal touch with elderly clients
- 37:30 Reputation and referrals
