About this episode
Mackenzie Andrews and Raymond Damitio run The Doctor Ride in Charlotte, North Carolina, and eight months after buying their first van roughly 60 percent of their rides come from private pay individuals who found them online. Before they owned a vehicle, Andrews did 75 facility walk-ins and Damitio built the website, SEO, and Google Business Profile, landing a facility partnership agreement on net 60 terms that still runs rides daily. Their own CRM, 1 NEMT, flagged 22 rides turned down in a single month, and at an average booking a little over $200 that justified buying a second van.
Key takeaways
- Andrews knocked on 75 facilities before The Doctor Ride owned a van, landing one preferred vendor agreement from an operator already unhappy with its incumbent transportation provider.
- Damitio built the website, SEO, and Google Business Profile before launch and now optimizes for AI answers, saying The Doctor Ride books rides from people who asked AI who to use in Charlotte.
- Facilities sign partnership agreements, not contracts, and expect providers to conform to their operations. The first one paid on net 60, so cash lagged the work for weeks.
- The in-house CRM, 1 NEMT, sends written quotes by SMS and email, nudges quiet leads with automation, and texts a Google review link after every completed ride.
- Separate private pay, facility, and broker pipelines let them see 22 refused rides in one month against an average booking a little over $200, which justified van number two.
Chapters
- 0:02 Why NEMT is an unsexy business
- 0:40 From real estate sales into NEMT
- 1:27 Grandmother's seven appointments, unanswered phones
- 6:01 Sixty-five members, trimmed for activity
- 8:24 Growing the group through Instagram DMs
- 10:58 Online presence built before the van
- 11:18 Seventy-five facility walk-ins, no vehicle
- 14:07 Partnership agreements, not signed contracts
- 18:12 Sixty percent of rides from individuals
- 19:42 Getting found when buyers ask AI
- 20:19 Inside 1 NEMT, their own CRM
- 26:34 Twenty-two turned-down rides, second van
