.: Community Pharmacist :.Special Feature :.

(Editor’s Note: this article first appeared in the November 2009 issue of America’s Pharmacist, official publication of the National Community Pharmacists Association and is reprinted here with written permission.)

apart from the competition and they will immediately say they provide “great customer service.” Now, ask them what that means, and you’ll likely get a few blanks stares and a somewhat mumbled comment about how they sort out insurance issues, call people by name, and come in after hours to fill emergency prescriptions.

These are all good things and I trust you are doing them, but if you really intend to build your practice with customer service as a key differentiator, I suggest you think a bit deeper and initiate a formal customer service development plan.

Several years ago I was hired to be the director of marketing for a small pharmacist–owned chain based about 40 miles north of Dallas. The two pharmacist partners were remarkable businessmen as well as dedicated professionals. The first major task they asked me to do was to formalize a customer service plan.

After a few weeks of visiting stores, discussing various ideas internally, and conducting a consumer feedback panel, I came back with a plan. As part of that plan we realized we needed a mascot or visual aid of some sort to help explain our new program. Being in the health care business, we wanted to inspire our staff and challenge them to be “Health care Heroes.” So, we called upon Uncle Sam and stressed that our country needed help providing good healthcare to all its citizens. Then, as now, the need for quality, affordable healthcare was a major political issue, and the Uncle Sam motif served us well.

At the heart of the plan was the need to carefully define what we meant by the term “good customer service.” To do that, we published a set of 10 Healthcare Hero Flash Cards, with a rhyming statement on each card mentioning one simple thing that we expected all staff members to incorporate into their daily routine.

1. Be in Style, Wear a Smile: No customer service activity can succeed if you and your staff are unable to conjure up a smile. This goes for interaction between staff

members as well, and can greatly be improved if you make a point of mentioning how good it makes you feel when you see a staff member smile at you or a customer. On this, you must lead by both example and with positive reinforcement.

2. Show You Care as Soon as They Are There: The point is that every person who walks into your pharmacy ought to be greeted with a wave, a hello, a smile or acknowledged in some positive manner. A corollary to this is that staff members should be taught not to say, “Can I help you?” to which the reflexive answer is, “No, I am fine.” Instead, simply say, “ Hi, my name is Laura, let me know if I can help you in any way.” This puts the customer in charge and will result in many more

requests for help.

3. Retail Is Detail: As you ask your staff to do more and different things, you may sometimes hear them say, “Man, that’s a lot of work,” or other similar expressions

of disgruntlement. My wife and I raised five kids and the comment, “That’s not fair” was often uttered in our home, to which we responded, “Life’s not fair, get used to it.” Your staff needs to understand that operating a successful business requires that hundreds of small tasks be performed daily. This rule is the basis for several more, such as:

4. Clean, Don’t Lean: Every staff member needs to know that a clean store is an essential component of good customer service. And, that keeping a store clean is

part of everyone’s job, so as they have a few minutes between cash register rings they should grab a paper towel and glass cleaner and clean a counter, wipe off a door or collect any litter scattered in the aisles or in their work area.

5. Go and Show: As often as possible, and that should be most of the time, when a customer asks where they can find a particular item, make the effort to come out from behind the counter and walk them to the product.

6. Pitch the Switch: Whenever possible, and that should be most of the time, when a customer asks for a particular product, make sure they are aware that a private label version of the product they are looking for is available. Also, make sure they know that your private label products are of the highest quality and carry a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee.

7. Rotate Don’t Donate: Staff members should be trained and monitored to make sure that whenever fresh stock arrives it needs to be put behind the existing stock. Yes, this means that the product on the shelf needs to be removed, the shelf space wiped clean and the fresh item put in place and the old product returned to its proper place. This is extra work—but see rules no. 3 and 4.

8. Don’t Dicker, Update the Sticker: If you still have price stickers on each item, then your staff needs to check to see if the new items have the same retail price as the old items. If not, the old price sticker needs to be removed and a new sticker with the correct price placed on the package. Again, see rules 3 and 4. This also may be the time to consider installing a point of sale system.

9. Face as You Pace: Customers have a way of messing up your store and your staff needs to constantly be looking for ways to keep it looking neat clean and orderly. Much of this can be done in “real time” by simply coaching everyone to pick up and replace items that have been moved or abandoned. It is especially important to find the item that has been moved by a customer looking for something else that gets hidden in the back of the shelf behind other items and put it where it belongs.

10. Play a Game, Say Their Name: There is no sweeter sound to anyone than the sound of their own name. And, the pharmacy business provides many ways to be able to do that — when prescriptions are presented and picked up, or when credit cards or checks are used to pay for merchandize. Encourage your staff to thank people by name for coming into the store, but be careful about the Mr./Mrs. or first name issue. And, in store meetings, you will even want to devote time to pronunciation; in today’s multicultural society some names can be difficult to say properly.

No program of this type will happen just because cards are produced and a training session is held. One way we successfully put life into the program was to put in place a creative monitoring and rewarding program. Special cards were printed that tied into the flash cards and were given to each store and district manager. On one side the card simply said, ‘Thank You For Helping Me Feel Better’ — a tie into our consumer advertising theme. On the other side there was a place for the employee’s name, a three or four word explanation of what the employee did to deserve praise, and for the manager’s name and date.

Our managers were told that at least three or four times a week, as they were doing their normal duties, if they saw a staff member doing anything mentioned on the cards, they should express appreciation for the behavior they exhibited and present them with one of these cards. The simple act of acknowledging good behavior in and off itself was a notable event. But the cards went a couple steps deeper.

Armed with a Thanks for Helping Me Feel Better card, the staff member was authorized to present the card to the cashier when his/her shift ended. The cashier put the card in the cash drawer and gave the employee a $5 bill. The card was accounted for when the cash register was closed out, and the card was stapled to the daily report. The daily report went to the home office where the card was given to the president’s assistant, who mailed a short thank you note to the staff member.

But wait — that’s not all. Finally, each card was put into a box for a special drawing at our annual Christmas party, and during that event employees were thanked for their good work and then a few cards were drawn out of the box and various prizes were awarded. The more cards employees had in the box, the greater the chance they had to win.

All together, the program proved successful. We were able to define what we were looking for, measure how many cards were given, and employees were recognized and rewarded for providing exceptional customer service. All are elements of an effective customer service plan.

Recently I learned that Jim Wilson RPh, founder of Wilson Rx, the company that does the annual pharmacy customer satisfaction survey, is piloting a new service called RxScore. This Web based service will allow consumers to take a survey and comment on their experience with their pharmacy. The survey data will be tabulated and reported to subscribing pharmacies with the combined comments of their customers compared to national averages. This is just one more indication that the need to improve customer services is rooted in the ability to measure and monitor.

I hope something here inspires you to more carefully define and implement a customer service program that fits your management style, and will serve you, your employees and customers well.

Bruce Kneeland is a veteran pharmacy industry consultant specializing in helping small chain and independent pharmacies succeed. He lives in Royersford, Pennsylvania, and can be reached at brucekneeland@comcast.net.