Customer service should be a top priority in your community pharmacy. It’s what sets your pharmacy apart from your competition more than anything else. When a customer shops at your store, they pay close attention to the service they receive. It can determine whether they’ll return or recommend your pharmacy to others. Therefore, proper training of your staff in the area of customer service is vital. By training your staff, you’ll build employee loyalty and increase morale.
Training Ideas for Your Staff
Role Play
Empathy is an important and invaluable customer-service skill. When your staff can see the world through the eyes of customers, they’ll gain better insights and empathy for dealing with customers who may be sick, scared, stressed, or upset. Give them examples of real-life situations. Have them act as the customer and then in their own role as pharmacy technician. Train your staff on how to use positive language with each interaction to reframe problems as opportunities.
Staff Collaboration
Customers may interact with more than just one different team member in your pharmacy during their shopping trip. Be sure that each department works well together to provide customers the best care and service. By doing so, the full customer experience can dramatically improve.
Stress Reducing Techniques
Teach your staff ways to reduce stress. Deep, cleansing breaths, mindfulness, and overall wellness can change how your staff manage their own stress. Coach your management team on how to identify opportunities to break the stress appropriately by taking short breaks or a moment to stretch. This will better equip the team to deal with high-stress customer situations with a positive perspective and problem-solving attitude.
Recovery
You may come across customers who have had a bad interaction with one of your team members. Recognize the situation may not have been addressed ideally the first time and acknowledge that you need to improve. This may win back the trust of the customer. Your humility and desire to improve going forward can go a long way in building a stronger relationship with your customer and increasing their loyalty.
Here are the top customer-service needs to focus on in your pharmacy. You might even want to hang them up where your staff can see them.
- Be timely with customer’s prescription orders. Believe it or not, this can make or break your customer service for a lot of customers. Don’t confirm a pick-up time without making sure the prescription is in stock, their insurance clearance is complete, and you have all of the other necessary information from them to fill their prescription before they arrive.
- Build a strong rapport with local doctors. A good working relationship with doctors in your area is important when you have questions or concerns regarding a patient’s prescription. Eliminating prescription delays in your pharmacy will ensure your ability to provide the best service for your customers.
- Go the extra mile for a smile. Take the time to follow up with insurance and addressing any questions or concerns for your customers. This shows that you truly care for them as individuals. Treatment like this can mean a lot to a customer and gift you their business for years to come.
While training your pharmacy team, be sure you don’t overlook the basics. If you have team members who are more comfortable texting patients rather than calling them, provide a training program on basic phone skills to help improve the service for your customers when they call.
Look into consulting companies and self-study video courses if you need help training your staff. You can also find free training programs and resources at your public library. Do your research to see what will best fit your pharmacy’s needs.
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