SHELF OBSESSED

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you consider budgetary needs for a pharmacy remodel? Most likely, it's the aesthetic components of the space – new flooring, carpeting, decor; features that will please your customers. While these features are certainly important, there are at least 6 other key considerations that you should also take into account.

Having an efficient pharmacy workflow is imperative to the success of your business. An inefficient workflow doesn't just waste time; it can also:

• Make your customers unhappy
  They have to wait longer than necessary for their prescriptions, which reflects badly on you.
   
• Result in prescription errors
  More than just embarrassing, prescription errors can be dangerous and even deadly.
   
• Reduce your profits significantly
  About 90 percent of your profits probably come from prescription sales, so making your workflow its most efficient can improve your profits even if you don't change anything else.

Your patients and customers are the lifeblood of your independent pharmacy. And indeed, you're just as important to them. You are a healthcare liaison for them, but you differ from other professionals because you really get to know the people you serve. This gives you a unique responsibility – and opportunity – that you cannot overlook.

As an independent pharmacist, what comes to mind when you think about succeeding at running your pharmacy? Keeping your customers happy is probably first on the list. Fortunately, the personalized service you offer already puts you ahead of much of your competition. A better pharmacy workflow can make you even more competitive and successful.

As an independent pharmacist, you know that you need to stay competitive. One of the biggest hurdles to your success could be the inefficiency of your pharmacy workflow.

Are you building a new pharmacy or remodeling an existing one? If so, you'll need help with the planning and construction stages.

Your customers are the lifeblood of your business, and you strive the best you can for them every day. As an independent pharmacist you know that if you don't keep your customers safe and happy, you won't be in business for very long. Likely one of the things that helps your business stay afloat is word-of-mouth from customers and patients who trust you with their lives. You know them and their medical histories as well as anyone else who treats them medically.

You wear many hats as an independent pharmacist. However, no matter how busy you get, you cannot afford to ignore your customers' needs or make mistakes, especially when you fill prescriptions. For you it's not just a matter of "good business practices" or profitability, but of safety.

To thrive in today's business climate, which is dominated by the big-box one-stop shopping model, smaller businesses like independent community pharmacies must maximize their primary competitive advantage – personable and personalized customer service. In other words, the atmosphere and customer experience that makes people feel like they are doing business with neighbors, not a faceless national corporation that only knows them as a customer profile on a computer screen. So how can you make your store the most loved pharmacy in your neighborhood?

Anticipating the needs of your current and potential customers is key to building customer satisfaction and loyalty and, given the ever-growing role of the community pharmacy in health and well-being, those needs are more complex than ever before. Of course, understanding and anticipating these more complex customer needs means spending more time getting to know your customers, and accommodating those needs means being flexible. Incorporating those qualities into your busy routine on a consistent basis depends heavily on a well-designed and very efficient pharmacy workflow.