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.
