by Steve Choate for our 99 Ways to Make a Positive Difference in Your Pharmacy blog series

From my earliest days in retail, I was told by loss prevention teams to always engage every customer I saw and say “Hello” and ask “How may I help you?” The teams’ reasoning was that this would discourage people from shoplifting from our store. A great way to help deter losses, but what about a way to retain customers and increase sales?

Being a naturally friendly person, I liked to say “Hi” to everyone I encountered as I worked in stores. I did this not because I was trying to prevent a loss. I did not even do it because I thought it would increase sales. I did it to make my customers feel welcomed, special, and important! I really wanted to get to know them, find out what they needed, and how I could help them make their lives happier and healthier.

The moral of the story: Greet each person (not customer) who walks into your store. Learn their name so that you can address them by name when they enter your store the next time. Get to know about them, their families, and their lives. Over time, some will become friends. They will keep coming back because they have a connection; a relationship with you and your pharmacy. Hopefully, these customers will leave your store with a positive experience which will translate into them talking positively about your pharmacy to their friends. This in turn will help to bring more people into your store. If you treat your customers like family, they will respond in a positive manner and make your store their pharmacy of choice because of YOU!

As business development manager, Steve’s primary goal is to build long-term alliances and develop mutually beneficial relationships with existing and new clients and meet or exceed their past, present, and future revenue goals in a cost-effective and efficient way.