Heartland Session Sneak Peek – [Panel] A Discussion on Growing Your Business in Challenging Times

Published in Home Modifications on April 19, 2022

By Jim Greatorex, VP, VGM Live at Home

The home accessibility industry has seen many new challenges come its way in the last 18 months, yet it has grown at a double-digit rate. Navigating all these challenges while still providing your customers great solutions when modifying their homes has created many unique scenarios with your customers and referral sources. What have we learned through this process?

The ongoing challenges:

• Dramatic price increases for product
• Manufacturer ship time increases
• Unprecedented uptick in freight charges and freight damage
• Increase in the cost of employees
• Finding and keeping valued employees
• Mitigating customer expectations
• Keeping your employees and customers safe during a pandemic

These challenges create new issues in your business that need to be addressed, such as:

• How much do we increase our prices?
• What do we tell our customers and how do we tell them?
• How do we keep employee morale up with volatility everywhere we look?
• What key changes have been made to keep services levels and prices within reach?

During my panel discussion at Heartland Conference 2022, I will ask successful home accessibility executives to share their biggest challenges and how they were able to mitigate them and still grow their business. We will look at the challenges that we have faced, and most companies are still facing.

Even with the current market conditions, the majority of home access companies and manufactures had record sales in 2021 and they are on pace to grow again this year. The retail market for home access is gaining steam and demand is expected to increase dramatically in the next 5 years. We believe that by creating best practices and increasing available training, we can continue to grow our businesses and maintain service levels. We can create career paths for our employees and continue to provide the meaningful work for our customers. This period of volatility will help us all become more efficient, build sustainable business models, and become the go-to experts in our markets.     

Join us at the Heartland Conference as Jim Greatorex moderates this panel discussion on these timely issues. For more information or to register, visit vgmheartland.com.