Pick-to-Light Will Call System Pays For Itself With Improved Cash Flow

I met Mark Vogler, R.Ph. in the spring of 2016 as part of one of my many pharmacy road trips.  I was impressed with what a passionate clinician and astute businessman he was back then.  I just got of the phone with him, and am even more impressed as he shared with me why he had invested in a pick-to-light will-call management system. 

Vogler is the owner of Martin-Tipton Pharmacy in Amarillo, TX.  It is a high-volume pharmacy, doing about twice as many prescriptions per day as the national average.  Much of this is due to Vogler being the type of guy who goes out and looks for better ways to meet the medication needs of his community.  In addition to traditional dispensing the pharmacy works with mental health clinics, assisted living facilities and provides medication services to an AIDS support group. 

But what brought us together was a conversation on why he had recently invested thousands of dollars in the scripClip™ LED supported will-call system.  Here is his short answer, “I was tired of looking unprofessional when patients came in for their scripts and we couldn’t immediately find them.” 

And here is what blew me away.  I asked how often that happened and he said, about 2 or 3 times a week.  That number jumped out at me as being low compared to other pharmacies I have interviewed on behalf of PerceptiMed, the company that developed scripClip.  I had done a survey for the company a couple months earlier and spoke with pharmacists who told me they had trouble finding scripts “a couple times a day” and didn’t seem to think it was anything to worry about. 

It got a bit more interesting when he talked about being in an ethnically diverse part of town and the complications that come from hard to pronounce and spell names.  He told me how his staff works hard to place filled scrips in alphabetical order but that just doesn’t always seem to work.  Now he says, with the pick-to-light system they simply put filled prescriptions on the will-call rack randomly. Then they retrieve them by asking patients for their birthdate and entering that into the POS.  The result, the right bag lights up and is retrieved quickly. 

Vogler says the system works exceptionally well, and he is pleased with the fact that it does exactly what he expected when he purchased it.  But then he adds, since installing the system he has found that it pays for itself in an unanticipated way. 

Vogler says the process of identify the precise bag for a person who has not picked up a filled script is much easier with scripClip.  Vogler says that by asking the system to “light-up” scripts filled but not picked up after 5 days his staff can simply walk the will-call area and retrieve those scripts.  Then they call – yes, they make a personal phone call – to those people, find out what the issue is and encourage them to come get their medicine.  

He says the personal call, done by staff members with access to a patient’s full profile helps him provide exceptional customer service.  Then he says, they repeat the process at 10 days and return items to stock and reverse third-party claims.  Being able to perform both tasks so quickly has helped reduce abandoned scrips and improve inventory turns and cash-flow.  He says scripClip has allowed him to reduce the number of bags in his will-call bin from 400 to 300.  These two metrics alone, he says, more than justify the cost of the system. 

Finally, he says, “The flashing lights just look nice.” 

The Pharmacy Marketing Mandate

Most independent community pharmacies retain the services of a lawyer and accountant.  The reason, legal and accounting functions are important, complicated and most pharmacists do not have the skill, nor the time, to perform these critical tasks.

With so many pharmacies adding new services such as; immunizations, medication synchronization, convenience packaging, etc. I’d argue the time has come for pharmacy owners to add a marketing professional to the list of needed experts.

The reason, most consumers do not understand the need for these new services.  And, some of the ways I have seen independent pharmacy owners try to promote them is counterproductive.  For example, I see web sites that say the pharmacy does compounding, MTM, or drug nutrient depletion.  How is a consumer supposed to know what those words or acronyms mean, never mind wanting them bad enough to pay for them? 

As a pharmacist you have spent countless hours in formal training to make sure you understand the chemical composition of medications, how the body absorbs them and what other medication can do to disrupt their positive effects.  You have been schooled in the technical aspects of dispensing.  You understand the critical importance of doing things right, every time.  That is a powerful and valuable skill which I am glad you have.   

As a pharmacy owner or manager, you are faced with two marketing problems; first you need to carefully determine what new services you can profitably provide.  Second, once you decide on that you need to find cost-effective ways to build demand for these new services.  

Wholesalers, buying groups, technology providers have been urging you to make changes to your practice for years.  Phrases like, “practice at the top of your licenses,” are commonly repeated.  That is good advice but it overlooks the most important practice challenge.  Most pharmacists do not know how, nor do they want to become sales people.    

So, what’s the answer?  Well, at least one path to success is for your pharmacy to hire, or retain, a marketing professional.  This pattern for success was carefully crafted years ago by The Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA).  One key to success in compounding is having someone call on doctors and explain the benefits of compounded medications.  Likewise, you need to build demand for the new services you hope to profitably provide.    

Doing this requires time and the ability to persuade.  The good news is that if you don’t have the time or the ability to sell, you can buy it. Yes, it costs money, money that is hard to come by with reduced reimbursement, claw backs and egregious audit practices.  But, the solution to most of these third-party caused profit problems is adding these new services to your practice, and charging for them!  If done properly you can find ways to make these changes and see them paying for themselves in a relatively short period of time. 

That is why I call this essay, the Marketing Mandate. For most pharmacy owners doing this on your own is just not an option.  And for those that have the ability to do "marketing" I wonder if you will ever really get around to it.   

Most wholesalers and buying groups have well developed programs for providing these kinds of services.  But for those who choose not to use  these partners, for any number of reasons, I am aware of a few companies that specialize in independent community pharmacy marketing.  If you'd like a recommendation just let me know.  

And, I'd know you what you think, on marketing, or any other retail pharmacy topic. 

            Complaints, kudos, questions; you can reach me at:  BFKneeland@gmail.com                                              

El Monte Pharmacy Improves Customer Service With Hi-Tech Will-Call System

Ken Thai, PharmD., owns a very busy pharmacy.  It is located in El Monte, a densely populated suburb of Los Angeles.  El Monte Pharmacy fills three or four times as many prescriptions per day as the average independent.   

I first met Thai in Las Vegas in 2016 just after he was interviewed by a senior AmerisourceBergen executive.  During the interview he was asked to share some of things he does to run a profitable pharmacy with the 4000 attendees of the wholesaler’s Annual Trade Show.  He impressed me as being an innovator, articulate – and, as a no-nonsense guy. 

One of the remarkable things Thai has done is start a new pharmacy franchise program, operating under the name; 986 Pharmacy (98.6 is normal body temperature).  The franchise program has 15 locations in California, Nevada and Texas. 

As an innovator he is among the first to have invested in the scripClip LED light supported will-call bin system.  He says he was “in the market” for a way to improve the look and feel of the will-call  area. But, up to that time the systems he had looked at were too expensive; and, installing them also required expensive re-arranging of the prescription pick-up area. 

Then he says, in 2017, while attending his wholesaler’s trade show he met with the people in the PerceptiMed booth where he was introduced to the scripClip system. Thai says, “It just impressed me as a creative and cost-effective solution to a long-standing problem.”

When pressed for more detail, Thai says, he is hard pressed to come up with superlatives.  Frankly he says, “The system is pretty straight forward.  The LED light lights-up in the handle of the patient’s bag, my clerks can see and quickly retrieve the right bag and give it to the right patient. scripClip just does what it is supposed to do.”   

When asked how he could justify spending money on new technology as margins continue to shrink, Thai responded in a manner that surprised me.  Noting the fact that despite the pharmacy teams’ best efforts there are too many times when locating a prescription proves difficult, so he says, cost justification is easy as, “Upsetting patients costs far more than scripClip does.”

Providing a little more detail, he ads that dwindling margins mean he needs to be more efficient and, he says scripClip makes retrieving prescriptions faster, and safer.  Then, he says, one other cost benefit is the ability to, at the tap of a button, locate all the prescriptions not picked up, based on a time frame he specifies, and return them to stock.

As one final note. Thai says that with all the technology he uses that scripClip, with its multi-colored flashing lights, is the only one that his patients really see.  All in all, he says, scripClip has been a positive addition to his pharmacy and he’d be happy to suggest other pharmacy owners take a serious look to see if it would be right for them.

Learn more about scripClip at;  www.perceptimed.com

comments, suggestion, ideas for content email me at; BFKneeland@gmail.com

Read more of my posts at;     https://kneelandsnotes.blogspot.com/

The Benefits of Having A Formal Community Relations Program

If you’d like to dramatically increase the number of new customer referrals you get you may want to consider implementing a formal community relations program. 

One way to start would be to find a person on your staff that is personable and trustworthy and ask them if they are interested taking the lead in a new initiative you are considering.  I would suggest you not position this as a promotion but as an interesting new job related task that will let them get out of the store for a few hours each week.  The idea would be to have this person make personal visits to key people and organizations in your area each week.  Having a pharmacy technician do this, wearing a smock, shirt, blouse or scrubs with the pharmacy logo on it is also recommended. You want this person to immediately stand out as coming from your pharmacy when they enter.  They also need to have business cards they can hand out were ever they go.

In the short run you are simply looking for increased positive awareness with healthcare professionals, organizations and retailers in your immediate trade area. As this newly appointed person gets out and meets with other businesses and organization you should be thinking of logical and appropriate ways you can collaborate on some inexpensive, appropriate and mutually beneficial project or idea.

Danny Cottrell, R.Ph. owns Medical Center Pharmacy in Brewton, AL.  During an interview Danny told me about a school district program he supports called BEAM – Brewton Elementary and Me.  Cottrell says, “It involves several things but my part is to set-up a small store in the school auditorium every nine weeks and the kids bring a ticket if they qualify for a prize. I usually provide dollar or two items like yoyos, cars, berets, etc. This has been beneficial to me in that I seem to get all the teachers business as well as a few parents and the students are incented to perform better socially and educationally.”

I have had success working on behalf of pharmacies by working with day care centers.  I visited them at the request of the pharmacy owner with a basket of private label products; hand lotion, non-aspirin pain relievers, etc. During the first visit all I did was meet the staff, give them the basket of private label products and let them know of a few features of the pharmacy. 

On the next visit, about a month later, I took in specially designed wallet size ID cards that entitled staff members to a 20% discount on private label items.  On the next visit I gave them cards they could put in the parent’s in-box for each child enrolled in their program. The important element was that this card was to be stapled to a letter on the day care center’s stationary indicating the center had “arranged” for families of children enrolled in the day care center to get a special discount on private label products at the pharmacy close by.  This is an important part of the process, it makes the card much more valuable as it is not simply an ad or coupon like they might get in the newspaper but a benefit from the day care center.

When the day care employees or patrons visited the pharmacy for their “special benefit” the pharmacist talked with them about other services the pharmacy provided, like home delivery or medication flavoring.  And since these people drove by the store twice a day on their way to or from the day care center it was easy for them to become prescription customers. 

The day care center loved providing the benefit, the people loved the convenient location of the pharmacy and the pharmacy loved getting new customers.  All for only the cost of a special discount on private label items.  A true win-win situation.

Once you start thinking along these lines you’ll soon realize that hair salons, dry cleaners, restaurants, craft stores and many of the businesses in your immediate area would love to work with you on these kinds of promotions.  The real trick is having someone on staff whose job it is to get out of the store and start looking for ways to make friends with the other local businesses. 

While working on a project of this type for one of the major wholesaler’s identity programs several years ago we assembled a note book where the person identified to do this job could keep track of who they visited and when.  Each contact had a separate page for notes on the purpose of each visit and what follow-up needed to be done.  It is pretty basic but it helps with a major component of success; accountability!  By filling out and working from these sheets the person working this initiative can report on what business have been visited and what happened.  Then, using these sheets you and your community relations specialist can make plans for next steps and even track how many new patients you have received from each marketing partner.

Do you have a good new customer program?

Here's the problem .....Last time my wife and I moved we had to find a new hair dresser, dry cleaner, auto repair shop, etc.

As we tackled this task I was amazed at how ill prepared these service business were at identifying and romancing new customers.  At the cleaners the attendant was completely befuddled when I asked her about their hours of operation and how much they charged to clean my suit.  

Several years ago, my wife and I stumbled upon a cute diner a few miles from our home called, Nifty Fifty’s.  Mostly because of its amazing curb appeal we decided to give it a try and we were glad we did. The food was good, the prices fair and the atmosphere great.  But the real point here is they also had a wonderful program for first time customers. 

When the server first came to our table, she could tell we were not familiar with the menu so she asked if this was our first visit. When we said yes, she smiled and told us we were going to love it.  How’s that for good employee training?  Next she pointed out a few things about the menu and made specific mention of their soda flavors. Nifty-Fifty’s does not sell Coke or Pepsi products but specializes in making their own sodas with a variety of flavors. They even offer free jars of baby food for those bringing in a baby.  

When she returned to take our order, she handed us a small packet. It contained a smaller version of the menu, a flyer on the history of the diner, a refrigerator magnet and a coupon for $5 off any of Nifty-Fifty’s souvenir items; t-shirts, baby bibs, baseball caps, etc. 

What about you – do you have a formal, carefully thought through and effectively implemented program for impressing new patients?  If not, here are a few suggestions:

• Your staff should be trained to acknowledge new customers; both in the pharmacy and out front. The approach should be personable, well-rehearsed and genuine. 
• They should invite the new customer to take a minute to meet you.  Remember, the personable and professional way you care for people is your most important competitive advantage
• Give them a new customer packet.  A four color brochure telling a bit about your history, clinical philosophy, special services, niche product lines, etc. Be sure to include a refrigerator magnet and other item that makes it easy for them to contact you 
• Have a letter you can mail the new customer a day or two after they visited your pharmacy thanking them for their visit and include some sort of offer that will encourage them to come back soon.  In this letter you can tell them about your Facebook page and invite them to check out your web page and use the web refill feature
• Start a tickler file and give the person a call in a couple of weeks.  Ask them for feedback on how you can improve your pharmacy and inquire if there are special products they’d like to see you stock.  

A program like this won’t cost much and it could help you turn a first time customer into a lifelong patient.  Indeed, a reception of this sort would be so impressive I’d bet that your first-time visitor will tell others about the remarkable pharmacy they just found.

Perkins Drugs and Gift Shop Benefits from a Pick-To-Light Will-Call Bin System

Andrew Finney, PharmD., is doing some remarkable things in his pharmacy in Gallatin, TN. One being, he has taken one of the country’s longest continually operating pharmacies (opened in 1895) and transformed it into one of the newest, most modern and up to date pharmacies in the county.

Finney started working at Perkins Drugs in 2005 right out of pharmacy school. In 2009 he became a partner, then in 2012 he became the sole owner. In 2018 he opened a second location of the pharmacy in a brand-new 11,625 sq ft square foot building that he developed of which Perkins #2 occupies 2,550 ft. Today, Perkins is a beautiful, well organized and impressive pharmacy operating with some of the most modern technology and providing a variety of enhanced care services.

One of new pieces of technology is PerceptiMed’s scripClip, pick-to-light will- call bin system. Finney says prior to opening the new location for business he attended the NCPA annual convention and saw scripClip on display. He says, “The moment I saw it I was intrigued. It just seemed to be a great way to improve customer safety and service .” And, he said, with his new store scheduled to open in a few months it seemed like a good idea.

Finney says scripClip provides his pharmacy with three benefits.

First, it saves time. When prescriptions are filled, they are scanned and then put into a clear plastics scripClip bag and then hung randomly on the will-call bin rods. When a patient comes in for their medication the clerk types their name or date of birth into the POS and the handle on the right bag lights up and will make an audible chirp if selected from the POS. The staff member retrieves the bag, scans it again for accuracy and completes the customer transaction. Finney says time lost looking for misplaced bags has been totally eliminated.

Accuracy, patient safety and peace of mind are the second benefit. With the pick-to-light system he knows that the right medication is being given to the right patient, every time.

Finally, the system can quickly identify items in the will-call bin that have not been picked up. He says they run a simple computer routine and every bag more than a specified number of days lights-up. He says because it is so easy to do this that they do it much more often now than they were able to the manual way in the past because it is so much quicker. Doing this, Finney says, improves refills as they can contact patients with a reminder call, and he says this has helped with his STAR ratings.

When asked, “If given the chance would you buy it again? He readily says, “yes!”

Health and Nutrition Counselling; Is This A Service You Could Provide?

Many years ago, as part of my duties as the Director of Marketing for a regional chain, I ran across a unique device that had the ability to conveniently measure a person’s body fat percentage.  Working with the manufacturer we adopted a program where I went to our stores and used the device to provide a free body fat composition screening in our pharmacies. 

The free service was well received and it encouraged a fair number of new people to visit our pharmacies.  Some of them were new to us and transferred their prescriptions.  It was a great promotional service.

The body fat composition program caused me to wonder; could this service be expanded and turned into a formal program that consumers would pay for, much like they pay to join Weight Watchers.  After all I reasoned, what do these commercial diet services provide that could not be better performed in a private section of the pharmacy. 

I recently participated in a Take Charge webinar that answered that question- yes you can do this!!!!

Terry Forshee, R.Ph., and the folks at Take Charge have built a successful program, currently being used by hundreds of pharmacies, that proves that nutritional counseling and lifestyle coaching can be profitably provided in a retail pharmacy. 

Forshee says the backbone of his program is a sophisticated technology that allows a patient to get a total body composition read out, even including their basal metabolic rate.  Take Charge has coupled this unique technology with specially designed software, a complete training program, marketing materials and a variety of nutritional support products.  And, they have proven the service to be well received, effective and profitable.

When patients pay for and enroll in a six-month program, the pharmacists sits with them and conducts a total nutritional review.  As the patient provides information the pharmacist enters the information into the Take Charge software which then produces a customized health improvement plan.  This includes recommendations for diet, exercise, nutritional and other lifestyle changes.

Central to the program’s success is weekly visits with the pharmacist who reviews, counsels and encourages the patient.  This type of accountability with a trusted health care provider makes the program much more successful than other commercially available plans.  

Forshee says the program has been successfully used by several pharmacists who collaborate with a local physician and have billed insurance for the services through the physician’s office.  All made possible by the ability of the Take Charge program to provide a treatment plan with benchmarks.  And, his program provides all the appropriate billing codes to support the service.

But, Forshee says the bigger immediate opportunity is for independent pharmacies to realize people will pay out-of-pocket for this type of service. One of the big selling features is the ability of the pharmacy to document that the initial patient cost of going on the program can be totally offset by substituting grocery store and restaurant food bills for the program’s proprietary shakes and bars.  

Forshee says that the long-term goal of the program is to get people to eat healthier foods purchased at the grocery store, but, in the initial phase the program does provide specially formulated foods to help “jump start” a person’s weight loss. 

If you have an interest in learning more you can check them out at:

www.takechargerx.com

To read more of Kneeland’s Notes, checkout our blog at:

https://kneelandsnotes.blogspot.com/