When the local Skippack Pharmacy in Pennsylvania was bought by mega-chain CVS, Mayank Amin decided to take matters into his own hands. The community pharmacy had been around for more than 50 years in a ″mom-and-pop town″ where Amin was born and raised. When he got word of the sale, Amin decided to purchase the pharmacy himself to keep it independent even though he had never intended to be an owner. ″I didn’t know anything about the independent pharmacy world,″ he said, ″but I decided that we’re bringing this place back to life and we’re going to give people an experience they’ve never had in their entire life at a pharmacy.″
And he did just that. But it wasn’t long until the harsh realities of the independent pharmacy world became apparent. As a former pharmacist for Walgreens, what shocked Amin most about independent pharmacy was the fact that he could get reimbursed less than what he paid for a product. ″I never knew that a pharmacy could lose money filling a prescription,″ he said. ″In what world is that okay or does that make sense?″
This reality stifled his profit, and if he hadn’t found alternative ways to make money he may not have been able to keep Skippack afloat. One addition that rescued him was an over-the-counter product that is cash only, comes with a nice margin, and genuinely helps patients with their health: cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD.
″I can say that our pharmacy stayed alive in these last few years because of CBD,″ Amin said. ″It’s been a gateway for us to just stay open.″
Amin sells hundreds of CBD products every month, ranging from $20 to $140. Each product comes with a 30 percent markup—all cash sales. And his sales have been high even though Amin will never pressure a patient into a sale, and sometimes will even discourage them if the product isn’t helping. ″I don’t want to sell a product that could have no benefit to the patient and just make money off them,″ he said. ″We’re healthcare professionals, not salespeople.″
On top of the profit it provides, CBD also creates opportunities to attract more patients. Amin has found that taking time to work with patients on a CBD regimen—getting to know their whole health profile, educating them, and then following up with them—cultivates a trust that cannot be matched anywhere else. ″When they have that kind of trust, even if they don’t look at the product now, they just walked out thinking, ‘This pharmacy genuinely cares about me as a person. I’ve never had that experience before at another pharmacy.’″ Next, they are asking if Amin accepts their insurance plan and if they can get their prescriptions transferred from CVS. ″Now you have that trust from the patient, and they’ll switch their prescription medications. They not only come in to get counseling on CBD, but they purchase over-the-counter items as well.″
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Making CBD a success
For Amin, educating yourself on CBD and investing time with the patient are the most important factors to make a CBD offering a success. Everything else flows from that. Patients trust you, they discover that the products work, and then they spread the word. This is how his offering took off so quickly. ″Word just spread as they realized the knowledge we have about the product. And once they saw how well it worked for them, they would tell their neighbors and their friends, and they would come to us,″ he said. ″Now, we have people as far as a half-hour away driving here to get a consultation with us.″
At Skippack, selling CBD always starts with counseling and always continues with follow up. While building trust, the feedback also helps the pharmacy learn more about CBD and its effectiveness, which they can then use to educate more patients. Amin said, ″The whole aspect of us following up with the patient, having them give us a call and let us know how it’s going, has really helped us continue our CBD sales.″
When patients are in the pharmacy, Amin and his staff will ask them about their pain or about why they are taking a certain medication, which opens the door for CBD. He has found that many patients don’t know the damage Motrin wreaks on their kidneys or Tylenol on their liver, for example. ″And now there you go, we have a counseling point,″ Amin said. ″By the way, did you know that if you’re using this for pain, there are other alternatives? Natural therapies. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to talk to you about how CBD works in your body, and you don’t have to buy a bottle, you can take a free sample.″
Amin makes CBD presentations at various community events and facilities. He will stick around afterward to talk, share success stories from his patients on CBD, and hand out some samples. After a single speaking engagement at a senior living center last year, 50 residents showed up at Skippack Pharmacy within a week.
The sales have been good for business, and more importantly, the product fits exactly the type of practice Amin wants to offer to patients in his hometown. ″I like a customized approach to medication,″ he said. ″I grew up in that kind of background where a lot of natural therapies were used in our own household, and I wanted to be able to incorporate some of that into my own pharmacy.″
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