If you can save your patients time, they’ll spend more money.
Respondents in a recent survey from Field Agent, a marketing company, said almost universally said that if a store can save them time, they would spend more money at that store. The survey included more than 2,000 shoppers in seven countries.
Apply this principle to your pharmacy and look for ways you can save patients’ valuable time, so in turn, they’ll spend more money.
Here are five ideas.
1. Use the appointment-based model
Save patients time by reducing the number of trips they have to make to your pharmacy.
Implement the appointment-based model of medication synchronization (ABM), so patients can pick up all of their prescriptions at the same time. You can also synchronize an entire family’s medications to save parents extra trips to the pharmacy for prescriptions for their spouse and kids.
Reducing the number of trips a patient has to make to your store, and having the prescription ready when they get there, will give them more time to browse your aisles. Plus, the convenience is an incentive for patients to transfer all of their family’s prescriptions to your pharmacy.
2. Offer alternative pickup options
Offering a delivery service or a curbside pickup option can help busy patients save time.
Reserve a parking spot in your lot for curbside pickup, so patients can get their prescription without getting out of their car. This option is especially helpful for patients with children who don’t want to deal with the hassle of getting kids out of the car just to get their prescription.
Also, consider starting a delivery service. Delivery offers convenience for all of your patients, but especially for elderly patients who can no longer drive themselves to retrieve their prescriptions.
These options can help keep patients loyal, and they save patients time. Once your pharmacy solidifies its reputation for being efficient and helpful, patients will turn to you for other health care purchases and services.
3. Improve workflow efficiency
Adjust your workflow protocols to improve your pharmacy’s efficiency, and reduce wait times for patients. When you save patients time when filling a prescription, they’ll be more likely to return to your pharmacy for future fills.
Take a look at employees’ responsibilities and make sure you’re allocating resources where they’re most needed. Consider more drastic overhauls, such as putting a pharmacist in charge of inputting and dispensing drugs. Since the pharmacist knows what the drug therapy is, what the patient has tried in the past, and how to counsel the patient, having a pharmacist handle both these tasks can actually be more efficient.
Also, use analytics to track your pharmacy’s efficiency and identify areas for improvement.
4. Rearrange your store layout
Confusing, crowded or messy aisles can waste patients’ time when they’re searching for front-end products.
Make sure your store layout is functionally designed, well lit, clearly organized and intuitive, so patients can easily find the products they’re looking for. Also, take time to train your staff about front-end products, so they can quickly answer patients’ questions.
Walk through your pharmacy’s front end as if you were a new patient coming in for the first time. Do this every few days to ensure that your front end is clean, organized and easy-to-shop.
When patients have to spend less time searching for the products they need, they’ll have more time to browse and make impulse purchases.
5. Adjust your hours of operation
A slight adjustment to your hours of operation can save patients time and encourage them to keep coming to your pharmacy.
For example, you may notice that you have a rush around lunchtime when patients are trying to get their prescriptions filled during their lunch break. Consider adjusting your hours to stay open a little later, so patients can pick up their prescriptions after work.
Staying open even just an hour later can help some patients make prescription pickup a part of their commute home. And, if they pick up their prescriptions after work, they’ll have more time to shop your front end than they do when they run in for a quick stop over lunch.
Looking for more ways to save time in your pharmacy? Check out these time-saving technologies that can boost efficiency.
