When patients walk into your pharmacy, do they feel confident that they’ll receive top-notch care and customer service?
If patients feel confident in your pharmacy, your staff, and the care you provide, it will benefit patients and your business. Patients who are confident in your business will be more likely to come back again and again.
Confidence and trust between patients and your business are essential to providing informed and quality care. Here are some tips to cultivate confidence in your pharmacy.
1. Use nonverbal communication
Make patients feel welcome with confident and friendly nonverbal communication. When patients walk in, on top of saying “hello,” greet them with good posture, eye contact, a smile and a wave. These nonverbal cues will put patients at ease and make them feel confident that they’ll receive friendly service. Carry these nonverbal signals into all communication you have with patients to continue to inspire confidence.
2. Display reviews
Collect positive reviews from patients who are confident in your pharmacy, such as stories about great customer service and examples of times when your staff went above and beyond to help patients. Be sure to post the reviews on your website, on your social media pages and on posters in your store, so they’re easily accessible. These examples of your excellent work will inspire confidence in your pharmacy in others who read them.
Also, get referrals and reviews from local physicians. Their endorsements of your services will make patients feel good about using your pharmacy right from the start.
3. Admit what you don’t know, and learn about it
If a patient asks a question that you don’t know the answer to, don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know. It’s better to tell them the truth than to give wrong information. If you’re not sure of the answer, tell the patient and then make a commitment to learn the answer and get back to him or her. Admitting you don’t know and then doing the research will make patients confident in your advice and information.
4. Solve problems
If patients have problems with their prescriptions, insurance or OTC medicine, be an ally who helps solve their problems. Calling their insurance company to work out an issue or helping them pick out the right eye drops will inspire confidence in your pharmacy and encourage them to come to you with future problems—and business.
5. Establish your expert status
Inspire confidence in your pharmacy by establishing and maintaining your health care expertise. Stay up-to-date with your continued education and seek out opportunities to build your knowledge. For example, if you offer a diabetes education class for patients, look for courses to further your knowledge about diabetes and use your education as a way to make your patients feel confident about your services.
When patients have confidence in your knowledge, your staff, and your products and services, they’ll keep coming back to your pharmacy for all their health care needs.
