How to Act on Inspiration to Improve Your Pharmacy

On Monday, I shared some quotes from Mark Cuban.  They’ve definitely been food for thought for me all week long.  But liking these sentiments and actually taking action on them are two very different things.  How does one even go about it?  The answer is never going to be simple, but there are ways that you can start to move forward with some things that will make your pharmacy better.  Let’s talk a little bit more about each of the quotes I shared and how you can used technology to make it happen.

“Wherever I see people doing something the way it’s always been done, the way it’s ‘supposed’ to be done, following the same old trends, well, that’s just a big red flag to me to go look somewhere else.”

There are always going to be things in pharmacy that have to be done in a certain, very specific way. There’s no getting around that.  But there are pharmacies that are changing the game when it comes to how they serve their customers.  Today, service should be about personal interaction with your customers.  Not just filling the prescription, ringing up their order, and sending them on their way.   Whereas most technologies further remove us from personal interactions, technology in your pharmacy should actually help you improve customer interactions.  They allow us to focus less on the task and more on the person in front of us.  Mobile POS technologies can even allow us to remove the pharmacy counter as a barrier and actually just have a conversation with our customers.  Don’t do something in your pharmacy just because the competition is doing it.  They are already there, so catching up isn’t going to be what sets you apart.  Look at the technologies available to you and think about unique ways that you can use them.  I’m betting you’ll think of some changes that could make a big difference.

“It’s not in the dreaming, it’s in the doing.”

At RMS, we talk to a lot of pharmacies making future plans.   But so many of these plans never come to fruition.  And there are a variety of reasons for that.  Time and money are the two big reasons that we run into.  But here’s the thing – those excuses represent a never ending cycle. If you don’t find a way to move past them, your pharmacy won’t become more profitable and you’ll never have the time to try new things.  You’ll continue to be stuck in the same routine you are today.  And maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world.  But is it as good as you want it to be?  The bottom line is that implementing technology solutions to streamline your pharmacy will save you money and time.  And that’s just the beginning.

“Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them. Pay up for people in your core competencies.”

This is really important both when choosing pharmacy staff and business partners.  You need to know what you’re looking to accomplish so you can identify the qualities that will be most important in helping you get there.  A staff member that doesn’t fit in with the team and the values of your pharmacy can throw everything off kilter. On the flip side, even the most valued employees can walk away if they don’t feel valued and don’t have the right tools to perform their jobs effectively.  When it comes to your pharmacy business partners, make sure you choose companies that are passionate about the same things that you are and that understand the business of pharmacy.

At RMS, we only serve pharmacies.  And not the big-box stores.  And as far for what we are about, well, it’s right in our mission statement.  “Making our customers the most profitable and customer-centric in the industry.”  

Remember all of the ideas shared today are just a jumping off point.  I hope they help to get you thinking about what you might be able to do differently to take your pharmacy to the next level.  As always, I encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.