Back To Normal Is Not The Goal

 Almost every day I hear someone say; “I can’t wait for things to go back to normal.“

If in 2019 you were making plans to try new things and striving to grow your pharmacy, advance your career or improve your personal life, then everything you were doing was an attempt to get out of what was then, normal. 

So, while yes, we want to put COVID behind us, we also want to find new, more and better ways to advance our professional and improve our personal lives. 

Remember that no matter how hard things get there are always ways to succeed.  I read stories of pharmacy owners who are totally reformatting their pharmacies into cash only, no insurance accepted practices.  I have spoken with pharmacists that contract with medical clinics to do chart reviews or diabetes education.  The clinic bills for the service using their billing codes and pay the pharmacist a per hour fee for providing the services.

Point of care testing is a growth field as is the role of pharmacy as a healthcare destination to aid patients in areas such as; drug nutrient depletion, improved diet, diabetes prevention education and many more services that are not dispensing related. I even know of an organized effort by a sharp vendor to incorporate the selling of health insurance into the pharmacy.  Ohers are providing, cash paid, in home elderly support care services.  Incorporating one or more of these, and dozens of other opportunities, into your pharmacy will help you move away from normal as you become; exceptional.

But what about finding more joy in what you do.  Societal expectations of what a job or career means are changing.  Consumer behavior has also changed as incents of rude and abusive customer conduct are increasing.  Working in a pharmacy just is not the same as it was a few years ago.  

No matter if you are the owner, manager, a technician or a cashier you can do much to improve your working conditions.  Pay and benefits are critical and need to be in line with the realities of the market place.  For staff members this is a good thing.  For owners and managers, maybe not so much.  But those who adjust and find ways to more fully engage, respect, trust and empower their team members will benefit from this huge shift in employer and employee relations. 

On a non-economic front, and I would argue a benefit that is more powerful than money is working conditions.  This affects owners, managers and team members equally.   Much of what happens in a pharmacy depends on the way staff members interact with one another, do their job and how well they treat patients.  Much of this depends on how much the employee believes that working in a pharmacy is a noble cause; that helping people live healthier lives is important and serves a higher purpose than simply that of making a living.    

A few years ago, I started using a made-up word; probletunity.  It is intended to underscore the notion that hidden in every problem is an opportunity in disguise.  COVID, and the closely related economic, social and health related problems it has brought upon pharmacy are well known to everyone that works in a retail pharmacy.  Yet, for those that are astute enough to see the opportunity, and then quick enough to adjust, will benefit from all the turmoil.  It has ever been so.  Wars, depressions, natural disasters and other major disruptions always produce new opportunities.  I have pointed out a few.  I’d love to have those who are smarter and more observant than me point out opportunities they see they feel are even better
than the ones I have mentioned. 

As always, here’s hoping something I have said here will help you, Do More and Be Better. 

Is 2022 The Year You Get Serious About Customer Referrals?

Here's wishing you all the best for the Holiday Season.  I'd like to give you one gift that will keep on giving by sharing a couple thoughts on how to engineer positive word-of-mouth recommendations from your current customers.  

One thing that I have seen work over the years is a well designed Customer Card.  The idea is to create some piece that tells the story of your pharmacy in a few simple words.  Let people know you are serious about being a healthcare provider and outline a few things you do that separate you from the competition.  Mention how you have invested in technology so you can provide better care, highlight how you communicate with physician's to help them find the best medication for patients and perhaps even describe how you take on the insurance companies to help get medications covered.  This is work - sit, ponder, doodle, brainstorm with team members but come up with a compelling - but very short story on how you take care of patients.  

Give these cards to your current customers and invite them to fill out the bottom portion and enter a drawing, or sign-up for your newsletter or join your birthday club.  Provides some reason for them to fill out, tear off and leave the card.  

Then, give them 2 or 3 others and invite them to give them to neighbors, friends or relatives but make sure they know to put their name on the "referred by" line.  Explain that when they give away a card and a person comes in with the card - and a new or transfer prescription  - that the person will get a $10.00 gift card towards the purchase of any private label item in the pharmacy and that the current customer will get the same.  

It's a winner.  Everybody wins and it costs you noting until it works.  

So, Happy Holidays, start thinking now how you and your team can start the New Year of right with a nicely designed Customer Referral Program.  

Two Things I Learned On The Road That May Help You Do More and Be Better

So, thanks to Liberty Software I just took my 12 major pharmacy road trip.  I formally visited four remarkable pharmacy owners in four southern states; Flower Mound Pharmacy in Texas, Caldwell Drug in Arkansas, Kirby Whitten Drug in Tennessee and Roche Pharmacy in South Carolina.  

Like independent community pharmacies all across the country the people running the pharmacy, the services they offer, the physical facility they operate from and the communities they serve are all different.  That makes for an interesting road trip, and because each of them is going to market in a slightly different manner it makes for a great way for others to learn from these owners.  

I learned a lot, and articles I have written for a couple pharmacy journals will cover some of the highlights.  For now I really want to share two thoughts for pharmacy owners all across the country.  

1. The future of independent community pharmacy is bright.  True, the glare of the son may make it hard to see but the fact is that creative, energetic owners are making good things happen and making money.  Perhaps the most important thing is they are changing - or, I'd rather say they are - improving.  I heard one owner says something like this. "If you try something new and it doesn't work, then try something else."  Try some new, do a little bit more, be different than your competitor and strive to be better tomorrow than you are today seems to be the attitude of all four of the pharmacies I visited.  

2. I have a neighbor who writes for a magazine that is read by independent auto repair shops.  We marvel at how many of the same issues confront both industries.  He taught me to look for something he calls the "invisible competitive advantage."  

I saw this "invisible" advantage in action in all four of my southern pharmacies.  What you are looking for is the atmosphere that permeates the pharmacy.  Are they happy, do they smile, do the talk to each other with courtesy, clarity and respect.  People can simply feel the electricity in the air - or the lack thereof - when they walk in the door.  If you don't have it you will loose customers and forget about getting word of mouth referrals.  

Finding ways to build a team is a challenge.  But it can and must be done and it has to start with the owner and other key staff members.  Take some time off together, away from the pharmacy, and really listen to your team, apologize for past mistakes and ask for suggestions on how you can make your pharmacy a better place to work.   Then, make some meaningful changes.  

As I close I truly don't want you to say, oh, another plea for an attitude adjustment.  That's part of any success plan but no, I am calling for more.  I want an action adjustment.  Start doing new, more, and  better.  Soon you'll see new more and better things happening in your pharmacy.  Action begets results, it all starts with you deciding you want more for yourself, your family, your team and your community.  Then you need to implement new, more and better practices, stock and sell new items,  train your people so they know more and can explain your new services with confidence and conviction. Finally, if you try something new and and it doesn't work, try something else.  

We All Make Mistakes

We all make mistakes.  Yesterday I found an old picture of me shaking hands with "Stormin' Norman" Schwarzkopf at the 2001 NCPA Annual Convention in Philadelphia.  Schwarzkopf is the general famous for winning the first gulf war in 5 days.  He was the featured speaker at the 2001 NCPA meeting   

The picture reminded me of a mistake I made at about that time.

You see, a few months prior to the NCPA conference I was the VP Independent Retail Sales for  the AmeriSource Drug Company.  In August of 2001 AmeriSource and Bergen Brunswig merged.  The October, NCPA meeting, was being held in Philadelphia, also the headquarters of the newly combined company, and it was a BIG deal for the company,

The two senior management teams worked hard to make sure the launch of our new company went well.  In an August planning session we wondered what type of "give-a-way" we could hand-out in the booth.  I had always liked box cutters.  They were small, had a little "heft" to them and they were a functional tool for a pharmacy owner to have.  So we bought 5,000 box cutters with the AmerisourceBergen logo imprinted on them.  They were to arrive in late September, in plenty of time for the convention being held in October.  

The quicker reader will spot the irony immediately; but for the rest of you, here is the mistake.  On September 11, 2001, terrorists took down four commercial airliners by killing the flight crews with box cutters.  When the freshly printed box cutters arrived in my office late in September I shut my door and pondered - what do I do now?  Eventually I went in to see my new boss, he came from the Bergen side of the merger so we were not yet well known to each other. We looked, we mused, he said an expletive and then we agreed that the box cutters would not be used at the upcoming convention.  

We exhibited at the convention in October.  I have no memory of what we gave away.  We had our first AmerisourceBergen national sales meeting in Nov.  Dec. was pretty hectic as we worked to know our new colleagues.  In early in January, 2002, my new boss invited me to sit and chat. To be clear, it wasn't just the box cutters, there are lots of reasons - but the box cutters didn't help.  You see, during that meeting my new boss told me the newly combined company no longer needed my services.  I walked out the door and in a few weeks and became a consultant.  

But, I kept a handful of box cutters.  I used one to open a box the other day.  I like them, they are small, they are hefty and they do a great job of cutting open boxes.  But, ordering 5000 for the convention was a mistake, not in planning, or thinking, but in the fact that; life happens!  Bad things happen to good people.  

The real point is, as a pharmacy owner, as a parent or a co-worker, you are going to make mistakes.  Sometimes the consequences are minor, you adjust and you move on.  Other times the consequences are huge.  But, the response is still the same, you adjust and you move on.

Here's hoping something I shared here will help you Do More & Be Better.  

So, if you own, manage or work in a pharmacy you may find this helpful.  I was recently exposed to a book called, The Rabbit Effect.  The title comes from an experiment the book tells of where scientist, in an effort to measure the effects of diet on cholesterol, took several groups of rabbits and fed them a high fat diet.  

The experiment’s details are not as important as the unexpected findings.  Evidently one group of rabbits, fed the same diet as another cohort and with the same general age, weight, sex characteristics ended up with a 60% lower cholesterol as their control group.  The scientists were baffled so they doubled checked all the data and tried to come up with a reason for the remarkable difference.  

The author of the book states that as a result of all the double checking and interviewing lab technicians they finally found what they decided was the cause of the difference.  A new lab technician, somewhat unfamiliar with all the protocols, fed the rabbits the controlled diet at the designated time.  But, being new to the lab she was attracted to how cute the rabbits were so when she feed them, she picked them up, cuddled them and spoke gently too them.  

The final determination of the study is that love, attention and caring has a demonstrable healing effect.  

So, why share this cute rabbit story with a group of hurried and harried pharmacy workers.  Because it has been shown, care, kindness and speaking gently with people has a positive effect on health outcomes. 

Much has been said about the importance of clinical competence.  But, the phrase – bedside manner – comes to mind.  Couple that with the the right atmosphere, ambience and general feeling of the Pharmacy and you are likely to get better outcomes.  

Here is a short take asway from the author of the report I read on the book. “The rabbit effect means that when it comes to our health, we’ve been missing some crucial pieces: hidden factors behind what really makes us healthy. There’s a social dimension to health that we’ve completely overlooked in our scramble to find the best and most cutting-edge medical care. Ultimately, what affects our health in the most meaningful ways has as much to do with how we treat one another, how we live, and how we think about what it means to be human than with anything that happens in the doctor’s office.” 

So, while it will be tough, my challenge to you is continue to build your clinical skills and deploy as much technology as makes sense.  Adopt new health care services, like point of care testing or medication synchronization.  But, in all you do, find a way to do it with a personal touch.  Talk to people about their health, and about their life.  And, as they come to know that they are appreciated as people, in your pharmacy, they will get better and be better customers. 

I know it’s a tough challenge, but according to what I just read it will make a difference in your life, the life of your patients and in the health of your practice. 

For more ideas, information or inspiration on how to improve your pharmacy check out my blog at: www.pharmacycrossroads.com  

Here's  hoping this will help you do more and be better. 

I had an eye opening experience today.  This morning I spent an hour or so reviewing entries on pharmacists nominated in the entrepreneurial category for the Next-Generation Pharmacist Awards.  My career has been centered on independent community pharmacy for 4 decades.  As The Road Trip Guy, I have driven to and visited amazing pharmacies all across the country.  Still, I was blown away by the uniqueness of the 10 pharmacy owners I read about today.   They have indeed found a way to think outside the box.   

Some of them have created retail pharmacies that sell only generics or that that do not accept any insurance.  Others operate in "the cloud" but provide same day hand delivery.  One is a mobile pharmacy that does only vaccinations.  They literally have no physical location.  Another bought a medical transportation business to help people in underserved communities get to their healthcare providers.  Then there is a specialty pharmacy doing amazing things with HIV, Hep. C,  and monitoring progress doing laboratory testing under a CLIA waiver.  

One comment made famous in the movie, Jurassic Park, is, "life will find a way."  My comment from today's experience is that pharmacy, will find a way.  My thanks to Parata and Pharmacy Times for inviting me to be a judge for this awards program.  But, more importantly, my thanks to those pharmacy owners who realize that the problems are opportunities in disguise and are finding ways to do more and be better.  

If you've not had a chance to meet Joe Moose, partner is several community pharmacies in North Carolina, then you are in luck.  Joe takes some time to visit with me and share some success stories.  The podcast went live the other day.  You can listen in at this link:  https://omny.fm/shows/pharmacy-podcast-network/pharmacy-industry-living-legend-joe-moose-pharmacy

Thanks Joe for sharing so many good ideas and explaining how they came to be and how they work.  The podcast; PharmacyCrossRoads has been created to help community pharmacy Do More & Be Better.