Service Department in Need of Repair?

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — For the past few years, home care
providers have relentlessly sought to keep expenses down and
increase efficiency in an environment of squeezed reimbursements.
Much attention has been lavished on billing systems, but Dick
Fuller, founder of Richard Fuller Consulting, believes it is time
to focus on the service department.

“To make money these days, you have to be sure that your repair
shop is running as smoothly and efficiently as possible,” said
Fuller, former director of MED Certified Repair Centers. “Most of
my clients have already decided to frame the repair department as
almost a differentiating advantage in the marketplace by being able
to promote their company as having top notch service support. It’s
an effective way to counter the Internet providers that are rather
invisible when you need help after the product has been sold.”

Taking best practices from the automotive and aviation
industries — in Fuller’s pre-HME career, he was a test
engineer in the motorcycle industry and director of marketing and
repair at a Cessna dealership — Fuller applies his knowledge
to the ever-changing home care world. Even with the shifting
environment, he was not positive that he would have customers to
help.

“The thing that had me a little concerned is that nobody else is
doing this,” said Fuller, who started the service and repair
consultancy (www.rfullerconsulting.com) in July 2009. “The question
mark I had at the beginning was, ‘Does anybody really want
this?’”

So far, clients have found Fuller, and he has helped some
dormant service departments boost revenue and uncover cost-saving
efficiencies. He prefers to be onsite to help most providers, he
said, because each HME business has its own identity depending on
which specific products the company sells. “The hands-on aspect is
pretty important, but it really depends on the challenges the
provider is facing,” he said.

Fuller is keen to take on jobs where he is convinced he can make
a difference. In his relatively short time with the business, he
has seen some sophisticated operations, he said, but many companies
run departments that turn into a financial black hole.

If you answer “No” to any of the following questions, Fuller
said, it could be time to take a look at your service
department:

• Do you measure your monthly profit for your service
  department?

• Do you use KPIs (key performance indicators) as benchmarks to
  monitor service department performance?

• Do your technicians have targets that correspond to your
  KPIs?

• Do you measure service department productivity regularly
  (monthly or more frequently)?

• Do you measure technician productivity?

• Do your technicians know what you expect?

• Do you charge work done by your technicians for other
  departments to that department?

“The good news,” Fuller said, “is that [looking at repairs] is
timely and highly relevant. It’s obvious you are not going to make
as much money on the profit side anymore, and you have to increase
the profit someplace. You have to make the business financially
solid and you have to take a close look at all those internal
expenses, and the repair shop is one of the larger expenses.”