How to Turn Your NEMT Drivers Into Your Sales Force

In episode 20 of the Duet NEMT Growth Podcast, James sat down with Marqus Johnson, who runs Wheelchair & Stretcher Transportation Services in Tampa and coaches NEMT owners across the country. Marqus has spent 20 years in healthcare and 15 in medical transportation, and his whole playbook comes down to one idea: stop treating drivers like people who push a gas pedal, and start treating them like ambassadors who manage facility relationships. Here's what they get into:

• From driver to ambassador
  Why "pickup and drop off" thinking caps your growth, what a managed-care mindset looks like on an actual trip, and why the extra step (like carrying the luggage on a discharge) is what makes facilities call you back.


• Hire for soft skills, train the driving
  What Marqus screens for in an interview: clear communication, timely responses, listening more than speaking. And the red flags that end one fast, like cutting him off or claiming to already know the industry.


• The pay structure that builds a sales force
  A fair base rate plus 10 to 15% of the discharges and trips a driver generates. The commission compounds as facilities learn to trust that driver, and Marqus's clients have drivers earning $60,000 to $80,000 a year this way.


• Give your best drivers a region to run
  Instead of piling more trips on your best driver until they burn out, pull them toward management: their own territory, their own facility relationships, eventually their own team. Some will leave to start their own thing, and that's fine. Most people want a plan, not a business.


• "The driver is the symptom, not the disease"
  When owners bring Marqus a driver problem, the real problem is usually upstream: an overwhelmed owner who controls everything and empowers no one. He shares how he learned that the hard way managing 40 contractors at his company's peak.


• If he were starting over tomorrow
  Learn local SEO before you buy a second van, start with private pay instead of broker work, and walk into local rehabs and nursing facilities asking what they need. A website costs $500. A new wheelchair van costs $70,000. Tiptoe into the water first.

Want Marqus's help with your NEMT business? He's old-fashioned about it: he'd rather talk than run a funnel. Reach out through his website, or email James at james@duetinc.com and he'll make the introduction. 📞 And to see how Duet helps providers grow, go to the Duet website.

By James O’Donnell, Cofounder & COO at Duet