By Brigitte Donato for our “99 Ways to Make a Positive Difference in Your Pharmacy” blog series
Motivating your team is something you need to do on a consistent basis, so you’re probably always looking for new ideas. A fun way to motivate your staff is through frie450dly competition.
Does your team have sales goals? They probably already try to suggest an additional item to every customer. Try having your staff pick a different product each week – maybe one that doesn’t sell well – to see who can sell the most of that item. If you have a website, encourage them to refer customers to your website to purchase items not carried in the 
store. Award the team members that reach their goals with something of value, such as a gift card to a local business.
Other goals might be to greet every customer or keep the front-end department(s) fully stocked and well-merchandised. A motivator could be the opportunity to win a free product. You likely have product samples you have received that you could offer your team as a reward.
Providing your staff with goals and the motivation to achieve them will pay off in the long-run. After working on achieving these goals, the behaviors should become second nature and they’ll no longer need to be reminded or motivated. This can minimize training time and costs. Another benefit is that your staff will become better team players. Camaraderie can be built from sharing mutual goals and ultimately working together so the pharmacy succeeds. The more fun you make it, the more they will enjoy it and look forward to coming in to work.
As a data entry assistant, Brigitte uses the process and procedures in place to enter, proof and evaluate descriptive and transcriptive information related to product attributes, back of package information, marketing language and packaging changes.
