Why Your Clients Need Options: Flexible Ergonomics Service Models

In this episode, I’m giving you a behind-the-scenes look at a fresh way to structure and offer your ergonomic services—one that’s flexible, scalable, and way more aligned with what clients actually need (and can afford). 

Whether you’re working with office setups or on the shop floor, I’ll walk you through how to use a value ladder approach and hybrid service options to reach more people, show up as a true partner, and create long-term client relationships.

You’ll hear real-world examples of what this looks like in action—from discomfort surveys and quick workstation check-ins to pop-up ergo clinics, “first aid” hotlines, and quarterly risk screens. 

If you’ve ever felt stuck offering the same one-off assessments over and over, this episode will open up some new, practical ideas you can start using right away.

Are you a healthcare professional curious about how office ergonomics assessments could fit into your services? I’ve got you covered with some valuable (and free!) resources at www.ergonomicshelp.com/free-training.

Transcript

Darcie: 0:00

Hey there. Today on the show we're diving into a fresh approach for packaging your ergonomic services, one that helps you meet a wide range of client needs and budgets without overcomplicating your offers.

Darcie J's video recording: 0:14

Welcome to the Business of Ergonomics podcast. I'm your host, Darcy Jeremy. I'm a board certified professional agonist with over 15 years of experience delivering ergonomics programs to employers of all different types. In this podcast, I share what other healthcare professionals are already doing and being with ergonomics assessments. And how to land those clients that you dream of. Without further ado, let's jump into this episode right now.

Darcie: 0:46

So I have something really special for you today. What you're about to hear is a behind the scenes look of what members get in my program. Accelerate the business of ergonomics. Accelerate is designed to give professional ergonomists value added resources delivered straight to their inbox every month. Whether it's helping you write reports faster, stay current with up-to-date content, or just save a lot of time. So what I want you to do is grab your notebook. And get ready to explore a fresh new way to deliver value to your clients. That is very much outside the typical box thinking. We're looking at this through the lens of hybrid ergonomic services and using a value ladder approach to better serve your clients and add tons of value here. This is gonna be. Totally relevant, no matter what type of industry of ergonomics that you specialize in. Let's do this.

Darcie J's video recording: 1:51

Today's focus is helping you rethink how you offer your ergonomic services. Especially in small to medium businesses who are budget conscious and maybe even hesitate to bring someone in. And by all means, add what you're doing in your own services, whether you're a pt, ot, other ergonomics types of services you're gonna walk away with some plug and play service ideas, plus a new way to structure your offers using the value ladder strategy. This isn't about being creative, it's about removing the friction that keeps potential clients from saying yes to your services

2:30

so,

Darcie J's video recording: 2:30

Let's get real here. Most small to medium sized businesses wanna do things right, but struggle with budget constraints, gossip or fairness concerns. If one person gets equipment, I'm sorry, Shelly. If Linda gets a new chair, because she needs it, doesn't mean everyone is entitled to get a new chair too. There's the fear of opening the floodgates with equipment requests time, especially when teams are lean. So how do we meet them where they're at let's break down this hybrid service mindset. Traditional services tend to be linear, right? If someone complains of any sort of ergonomics risk, you come in, you assess, you report, and then it's done. But hybrid ergonomic services do something a little bit different. We're looking at combining education. Risk identification and some sort of tiered support to those people who really need our help, versus those people that may not have as much pain or discomfort or ergonomic need by this framework, you're gonna be able to help more people. You're gonna show the leadership of that company that you are proactive. And really at the end of the day, the most important thing I feel is that we are reducing long-term issues for those people as well. This mindset shift makes you a strategic partner, not just a hired assessor. And there is way more value for us as a strategic partner. For us as ergonomics consultants, not only does this mean there's more value provided. It means that there is a mutually beneficial, very long-term relationship there. Okay, so here's a real life example of what this looks like in action. A company tells me that they can't afford to assess everyone or buy new chairs for all. Instead of doing just a one off ergonomic assessment for the loudest voice and then bouncing, we delivered a discomfort survey to spot the hot spots before anything ever started. Then we hosted a one hour training for all staff how to adjust your workstation and us as ergonomics providers. We already know that this is gonna solve approximately 80% of the ergonomic issues for those people who might have some concerns or maybe in a low level amount of pain when it comes to musculoskeletal issues. So everyone is encouraged who participated in that training to go back to their workstation and apply what they've learned and make any adjustments. After we spend two to five minutes. It's very quick and we do ergonomic checks to verify the setups that everything is done correctly. We're not doing a full ergonomic assessments, we're not taking measurements and we're not doing reports. Behind the scenes, we've already reviewed all the ergonomic surveys and we triaged those people who may need more help, more consulting, more additional stuff, we did these two to five quick ergonomic checks. I'm also going through and flagging the people that need more help as well. That's not gonna be solved within the two to five minutes. This is proactive, it's cost effective, and it's equitable. Let's dive into the value of this hybrid approach. So you just help the company avoid singling people out, a necessary equipment purchases and long reports that they probably won't read. You gave them. A company wide culture shift, visibility into discomfort, trends, targeted support, and a plan for follow up. So not only does this type of service model build long-term trust, you are shifting from that assessor to that authority figure in ergonomics. And because of this, it will usually lead to repeat work. Let's dive into this a little bit more. Let's look at the creative hybrid packages for office settings. Using three to five of these types of services can build up that value ladder and fill in at least the middle rungs of it with value added services that clients need. What and desire? The first one we're gonna talk about is pop-up. Ergo clinics, and think of this as like drop-in hours, but for ergonomics, and you can go on site, whether it's remote or in-person, and employees would sign up for a 10 minute ergonomic check-in. The second year is ergonomics first aid hotline. This could be a monthly virtual office hour, even 30 minutes, that will provide value for employees to ask questions. This is especially helpful for remote or hybrid workers. The third do it yourself. Ergonomics champion program. This is where you would train one to two internal people on basic workstation setups. They're not gonna be able to handle moderate to complex stuff, but basic ergonomics, yes. How you can provide value here is that you can give them checklists, maybe short videos, maybe give them a priority aspect to some contact or phone calls with you so that you can help their teams achieve what they want. Next up onboarding, ergonomics support. This is where every new employee gets a 15 minute consult or checklist. And this keeps issues from becoming injuries. Number five is where you provide value to. Organizations, if they are doing an office move, maybe they're moving floors, or if they're planning a Reno and they need to incorporate some sound ergonomics principles. This is where you would help HR or facilities design new spaces to ensure any sort of ergonomic concerns are eliminated from the get go. And as an ergonomic consultant, I know that you probably have a list. How often have you jumped into a workplace and it's a brand new reno and it looks beautiful, but there are some core ergonomic principles that just were never met, and it could have to do with acoustics of the room, the desk placement relative to the window placement, the lighting, the types of chairs and desks that were purchased. There's just so much opportunity here. The last idea here is a straightforward way to get everyone's awareness of ergonomics issues up. It's just a training that occurs halfway through the year to encourage ergonomic practices or other value added trainings that you think the organization needs and wants? Next, let's dive into the creative hybrid packages for industry settings. We're building up the middle rungs of that value ladder. And you might wanna choose three to five of these or more based on how you are running your ergonomics service business number one here is on the floor coaching day, and this is where you shadow team leads or workers for a few hours and you make some live tweaks to how they lift, carry, stand, and reach. The next option here is LIFT training, and if you've ever done this before, you know that the valuable training is. Using actual job tasks. You wanna make this short and you wanna make this hands on and you wanna make it in areas that people are already working in. So go to the shop floor and actually get this done. So this is actually about an opportunity to combine education, skill, practice, and coaching. Next up is the ergonomics risk blitz. You might have heard the term. Kaizen events before from the Toyota or Lane Manufacturing Movement. This is where you assess multiple jobs quickly using a very simple tool or strategy where you look at risky movements and then you deliver trends and the top three risks to management. Number four, accommodation triage. So this is where you would recommend. Reasonable adjustments and any modified duties that would be required to bring that person back to work safer and make a gradual return to work plan if necessary. Next up is proactive quarterly screens. So you might wanna set up a rhythm here every three months screen at risk roles if the trends emerge. The risks get caught early, is truly proactive when there's a safety week at that organization. Provide an ergonomics miniseries. This can include any of the opportunities that we talked to up to this point. You can use handouts, quick wins, something to get ergonomics to the forefront and let them know the system involved. If a worker has discomfort or pain or concerns, what is the process that they have to take so that information gets to the right person, and the countermeasures are put into place like you going in and doing the ergonomics assessment. One last point here and it's at the bottom because I think it's the most important because not only does it relate to this in industry, but also in office. So I wanna address it now, the way that you present this information. Is so key in how you work with the company, the messaging or the communication. So the way you wanna talk about these services is how it works, the use case, and the objection solves. So put yourself into your client's shoes and what might be some of the concerns that they have, whether it's money. Budget time, people might not be engaged. Those are all relevant concerns, but you wanna put yourself in their shoes to craft communication that actually addresses their need. So not only the use case and how it works, but the objection is so key in your communication of these services. Let's introduce this idea of value ladder, and this is gonna work. If you are in office or industry or manufacturing, wherever you are, these are sound principles that are gonna move the business forward. It all comes together here. The reason why it is so valuable is that it's a way to organize your offers so that people can ease in. This system is the opposite of a fire hydrant of information. It's very valuable. Why? Each run or level of your value ladder builds trust and gives the client results. And the most common sense solution to one rung of a value ladder is your next service offering. And at the end of the day, this means that you are giving people an easy way to get started, even for free. And this removes hesitation and build long-term relationships. Okay, so let's dive into an example of a value ladder. And I wanna really encourage you just to start jotting down ideas of what would be very valuable for your clients. And you really need to put yourself into your client's shoes to find a good match between your skillset and what you've heard that they would really need and find valuable. So for this example, you always wanna set up a value ladder with a no brainer, and that usually is like a lead magnet or a freebie. And these freebies can be like infographics, checklists, et cetera. It really could be anything here. And then the first rung of that value ladder would be something that would be lower price point and allows you to get the yes, simple. It's something that they need, want and desire. Then we move into the second rung of the value ladder. This is something that takes a little bit of commitment, but not a whole lot. There's a lower price point, and it's something that this company probably already needs, so they are looking for this. This could be a combination of discomfort, survey plus training, and that example that we already looked at when I first started today's training. It could involve a gap analysis or a discovery call, and to get that information, just go to module five. Then next up on that value ladder is assessments, coachings, and training. That could be an element of a tuneup day coaching, any of those things that we've chatted about before. And then we have the highest of the high, the premium level, and this is the highest level because there is more value here. This requires more of your time, but there is more of an impact too. This could include opportunities like. An annual retainer or like a whole ergonomics process and program that includes follow up. And the value here is that all of these services are lined up with each other. The freebie builds confidence into. Your discomfort survey and training, and that shows the opportunity to do some assessments. You've demonstrated your value and your knowledge and your expertise through assessments, coaching, and training, the only next logical step in my opinion, is a full thorough process or having you in on a retainer so that you can answer those very difficult questions as they come up because they're gonna come up. So here is a sample industry value ladder. All in all, it's like very similar, right? We're starting with something that would be very valuable as a lead magnet. It could be maybe the top five industrial ergonomic risks. PDF. And then as you can see, the types of services here are increasing in value. So in the intro rung, we might wanna look at the ergonomic blitz walkthrough as an opportunity. Another term for a blitz is that Kaizen event, where you limit this to only three job areas. Or perhaps you wanna do like the gap analysis or the discovery call from module five and give them a report. Next up, the value ladder is looking at something that adds a little bit more value, so there's gonna be a little bit more impact and it's gonna cost a little bit more money. Some examples here would be coaching, like lift training or. Any sort of opportunity with that. And maybe risk identification too. And then let's look at the highest or the premium level of the value ladder. These are services that are going to be costing more money because there's more impact. There's more value, it takes more of your time. And these include ergonomics, risk identification solutions. Job demands, analysis, support, and return to work consulting. Could be a retainer here. There's so much opportunity here. And again, each of these steps is designed to build trust and offer higher value. Let me address the elephant in the room. If a company calls you in. To do a one-off assessment, we're not gonna say wait. Let's get you on the bottom rung of the value ladder and move you through these steps. Before I can offer an ergonomics assessment, we're gonna put out the fire and then look for opportunities to serve them and at least let them know about the types of services that you offer and how that will bring value and address objections at the workplace. What this means for you as an ergonomics consultant, you now have a new lens to look at your services through. You're not limited there's so many flexible services to solve the real underlying causes, like the root causes of what's going on in that organization that addresses the budget, the time, and any sort of uncertainty that organization might be experiencing. By doing this method, your services become easier to say yes to. So I have some homework for you to do. Don't worry. This is value added and it's gonna get you to build some momentum in how you talk about your services. So I want you to choose one of your services, whether it's an assessment or training, any of the things that we talked about today, and I want you to start adapting it to your ideal client. I want you to think about the pain points, the budget level. And prior experience with ergonomics and how that relates to you communicating the value of what you do.

Darcie: 19:59

Thanks so much for tuning in today. I know the audio was a bit tin in parts. I'm already working on improving that for future episodes, so thanks so much for bearing with me on this. If you are just getting into office ergonomics assessments, or if you already have experience and you're ready to grow your consulting business, I've got programs to support you no matter where you're at. You can find all the details@ergonomicshelp.com. Before you go, what was your biggest takeaway from this episode? I would love to hear it, and if you found this helpful, please share it with a friend or a colleague and give it a review or a like. It really helps to find more people who might be interested in the show and growing their ergonomics, skillset, and practice. I'll see you next time.