by Steve Choate for our 99 Ways to Make a Positive Difference in Your Pharmacy blog series
Prescription drugs are wonderful things. They help treat the ailments afflicting your patients. Over time, these drugs improve your patients’ health so they can resume their normal routines. However, using these drugs may also lead to side effects that affect other aspects of your patients’ lives.
Many side effects can be treated by over-the-counter (OTC) solutions in your store that you can recommend. You can direct your patients to these remedies after you counsel them about their prescription. Your patients will be appreciative that you thought about their entire well-being and not just about their prescription needs.
A better solution, if you have the room, would be to stock the OTCs that resolve the common side effects of your top 50 prescribed medications near your pick-up window. This way, you or your pharmacy technician could offer the appropriate OTC item at the time your patient comes to get their prescription. This would allow you some additional consulting time, improve your customer’s satisfaction, and earn additional sales and profits that may have otherwise walked out of your store.
Here are a few examples: as you are very well aware and versed, many prescription drugs cause constipation. Take the top two or three brands that you recommend to relieve this side effect and stock them near the pharmacy. The same goes for your recommended items to treat diarrhea, dry eye, dry mouth, the depletion of nutritionals, and other easily treated side effects. You do not have enough room to duplicate your entire store in your pharmacy area. Choose the top few items you would personally take if you had these side effects and merchandise them near the pharmacy counter. Do not forget to include facial tissues and comfort food, like chocolates!
Your foresight, compassion, and thoughtfulness towards your patients will be appreciated and help you build upon the relationship you already share.
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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.