Share your passion for pharmacy

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.  A day which means a span of a hundred different things to different people.  For some it’s a day for romance, filled with roses and chocolates and candlelight dinners.  For others it means next to nothing or may even bring on a slew of less than positive emotions.  I suppose I’m somewhere in the middle of all of it all with neither expectations nor brooding thoughts.  But regardless, I can’t pass up the opportunity on this particular day to talk about a topic that is often on our minds here at RMS. Passion. 

Passion, like Valentine’s Day, can be thought of and defined in many different ways.  For our purposes, I’ll take the first definition in Webster’s Dictionary.  “A strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something.”  This is a feeling shared by RMS staff about what we do each day.  We hope that our passion is shared with our customers in our interactions, newsletters, blog posts and product offerings. We believe that our passion for helping independent pharmacies succeed is part of what makes us stand out from the crowd.

Likewise, your passion for your pharmacy can help you to stand out from the competition if you can find ways to share that feeling with your customers.  Just like it’s hard not to smile back at someone who’s smiling at you, it’s hard not to feel involved and enthusiastic along with a person, or even a business as a whole, with obvious passion for what they do.  And that kind of feeling creates loyalty, which is a key component for helping your store to grow. Here are a few ways you can share your love of your business, your customers, and your profession.

Get social-People who love what they do love to talk about it.  They don’t run every transaction and every customer interaction like it’s the same as the last because it’s not.  Talk to your customers about what’s new in the store, things you’re involved in within the community or even just make a product recommendation based on the customers purchasing habits.

Share your knowledge- As a pharmacist, you have a great deal of expertise that you can draw on for the betterment of your customers.  Make it easy for your customers to draw on that expertise.   You can do this by publishing a monthly or quarterly newsletter, writing a blog like this one, or even sharing via social media like Twitter or Facebook. Write about or post news about vaccinations or the newest supplement trend or the best ways to battle the latest virus that’s sweeping through the community. Tie it all together by hosting a workshop or clinic on a specific health topic.  Involve other local businesses and make it an open house.  

Involve your customers-This can actually be a lot easier than it sounds. You can tailor your Loyalty Program to a specific set of products that you’re passionate about promoting.  Instead of the ABC Pharmacy Loyalty Program, you could have the ABC Pharmacy Vitamin Club.  Showcase specific products by setting up promotions in your POS system and educating your staff on that specific product. This not only shares your enthusiasm, but can help to boost sales. 

Most of us did not choose the paths we are on because it was the easiest avenue open to us. Something led us to where we are today.  And I hope that like me, whatever that something was, you get to come to work each day and find something to love about what you do.  My best advice, don’t be afraid to share that with your customers and your staff.  When all is said and done, your pharmacy can only benefit.   

Karen Deckard came to RMS with a background in retail and customer service, and was initially brought on board as a Sales Assistant and managed IIAS certifications for RMS’s pharmacy POS customers.  Today, Karen works as a Customer Success Manager, striving to provide independent and institutional pharmacies with the tools and resources they need to succeed in today’s competitive pharmacy market.