NSM starts 'new beginning'

FRANKLIN, Tenn. - After several years of aggressive growth through acquisitions, a new brand identity will help to “unify” National Seating & Mobility, company officials say.

“I liken it to a blended family coming together and living in a new home,” said Stephanie Buckley, vice president of marketing. “It represents a new beginning.”

NSM now has a new logo, tagline, mission and vision statements, and core values, thanks to a months-long process that included surveying almost 2,000 referral sources, clients, payers and employees.

In addition to acquisitions, some of them large like Hudson Seating & Mobility in Newington, Conn., NSM has also added numerous ATPs to its team organically.

“We wanted to unify all these fantastic people under a refreshed brand,” said CEO Bill Mixon. “We feel great that it's also scalable to the future.”

To Mixon's point, the new brand emphasizes all things mobility. NSM's mission statement, for example, talks about delivering personalized solutions to those with mobility challenges, not just wheelchair challenges, keeping the door open to existing and future complementary businesses.

“We're very excited about home access—that's a real area of need for our clients,” he said of the company's home accessibility division, AccessNSM, which has grown to 14 locations in 12 states. “We worked to make sure the brand will grow with us.”

As part of the rebrand, NSM mailed to employees at their homes packets that included a coin emblazoned with its core values (honor, excellence, accountability, respect, teamwork and service, or HEARTS) and a small card imprinted with its mission and vision statements.

“I have my coin in my pocket right now,” Buckley said. “It's a reminder that we're working together with a set of core values.”

NSM's new tagline, “Let's Get Moving,” hammers home that point, symbolizing how it is “working together” with clients to not only get them moving toward increased independence but also get the company moving toward improved cycle times and communication.

“We're all in,” Buckley said.