The time your patients spend waiting on their prescriptions in your pharmacy may be short, but you can use that time to engage with them—even without stepping out from behind the counter.
Start by creating a pleasant waiting area with easy upgrades like comfortable chairs and up-to-date magazines. Once you have the space set up, use the following tips to turn your patients’ wait time into an exceptional experience at your pharmacy.
Offer front-end coupons
When patients are waiting to pick up their prescriptions, hand out a coupon for a discount off your front end. This will incentivize them to shop in your front end while they wait for their prescriptions. The small perk of a discount in your pharmacy’s front end will make their short wait more enjoyable and potentially boost your front-end sales!
Promote your products
Use patients’ wait time to promote your pharmacy’s front-end products. Designate a product of the month that you recommend and place a stand-alone display of the product in the waiting area.
Consider offering patients a sample of the product. For example, if you’re featuring lotion, put a test bottle in the waiting area for people to try out.
These displays can also be seasonal. Feature gifts and cards in your waiting area during the holiday season, and highlight cough drops and vitamins before cold and flu season. Change out the display and feature sunscreen for summer.
Educate your patients
Set up an educational display in your waiting area to give patients something to look at. Use the display to educate your patients about various health topics, such as nutrition or proper hand washing technique.
Try changing these displays to feature a different topic each month. For example, in March, you can educate your patients about nutrition in honor of National Nutrition Month or feature facts about diabetes as a part of American Diabetes Month in November.
Personalize your waiting area
Show off your store’s unique personality in your waiting area. Consider displaying a bulletin board with pictures and fun facts about your staff, so patients can get to know them. This way, even if you don’t have time to come out and talk to them personally, your patients will see smiling faces greeting them while they wait.
Or, you could create a community board in your waiting area. Clip articles from the newspaper about your local school’s latest play production or an upcoming community parade.
This can also serve as a place for people to place flyers for other community events. A board like this helps connect your pharmacy to the community and your patients will love seeing their children or neighbors featured in the news.
Make sure waiting is pleasant for your patients. With a few easy adjustments, you can make waiting on prescriptions a positive experience.
