All business owners want their businesses to be more productive. As the owner of an independent community pharmacy, being more productive can help you make a profit, grow your business, satisfy your patients and stay competitive against larger chains. But how exactly can you do this?
In the past, increasing the productivity of a pharmacy was simple: fill more prescriptions each day. Today, however, this measure of productivity isn’t enough. It doesn’t account for the expanding role of the pharmacist or for the complexities of running a pharmacy business today. When your pharmacy increases productivity, you may be filling more prescriptions, but that’s an end rather than the means of achieving higher productivity. Instead, focus on these often overlooked areas related to increasing productivity.
1. Start with yourself
As the owner of your pharmacy, increasing productivity begins with you. Good leadership will influence every area of your pharmacy. It will motivate your employees and it will help you gain customers’ trust. If you establish productive habits for yourself, such as focusing on one task at a time and having a positive attitude, employees will follow. Don’t forget to remind yourself and your employees why your work is important. Acting with a sense of purpose will help keep you focused and productive, and will encourage the same behavior in your staff.
It is also just as important to spend time away from your pharmacy. Refresh, refocus, and when you return, you will be able to attack difficult tasks with a clearer perspective and new energy.
2. Set priorities
Each day, spend some time reflecting on your goals and set a clear idea of what you need to accomplish. If you’re having trouble determining what you need to prioritize, make three lists: a list of what you must accomplish every day, a list of what you would like to get done and a list of steps essential to the operations of your pharmacy. When the lists begin to overlap, then you have found a starting place. With a clear sense of what you need to get done, you can quickly move from one task to another.
And, being able to effectively manage your daily tasks will allow you to devote more time to areas that will help your pharmacy stand out, like community outreach, public health education, following up with patients and more.
3. Use your time well
It is important to stay aware of how your time and resources are divided. Over the course of a day, or a week, monitor how much time you and your employees spend on different activities, i.e., customer service, filling prescriptions, administrative tasks, etc., and evaluate how much these activities contribute to the success of your pharmacy. Look at not just profitability, but also customer satisfaction. Ask for employee input and really reflect on how you can improve your operations. Make an effort to cut back on those activities that are not essential and invest more energy into those that are. Do this regularly and you will find that small changes can drastically increase your productivity.
Working to improve your productivity at any level will help your pharmacy stay successful and will help you adapt as the role of the pharmacist and pharmacy continue to expand. Even if you aren’t filling more prescriptions, the benefits of your increased productivity will reflect across other areas of your operations.
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