Do What You Do Best

Recently I presented a program at a meeting of the Home Care Alliance of Virginia. We spent some time discussing high-performance companies in order to get ideas about what drives their higher-than-average profitability. One of the audience members astutely noted that all of the subject companies had eliminated some activities, and he went on to cite the actions of a provider in his market. His comments:

“A provider in my market has stopped delivering hospital beds. Eliminating these activities helps make them be more profitable, and I could do the same, but I am in this business to help people.”

Another attendee said, “You know, just about everyone in this room is in this business for the same reason: They want to help people.” Many of the heads in the room were nodding in agreement. The first man asked, “What happens when we all stop delivering hospital beds?” A third person responded, “It will be like when we quit delivering diabetic test strips. Someone else will come along and do it.”

The third person to comment was correct. Someone would come along and do it. Further, they would have figured out how to do it profitably.

The second person was also right. As he spoke of “just about everyone in this room,” I believe that just about everyone in this industry participates because they want to help others, even the provider who has stopped delivering the hospital beds.

My response to the first man encapsulates what I think can make every company in this industry a better company:

Figure out who you do the best job of helping, and focus on helping as many of them as you can. Let someone who can do a better job help the others. For example, a respiratory therapist can help someone with a respiratory problem better than a rehab technologist, and a rehab technologist can be expected to design a better assistive technology solution than a respiratory therapist. Maybe, the companies that eliminated products from their offering realized they can do a better job for some people than others and decided to focus on what they do best.

There are several reasons why we all should do this.