By Megan Moyer, senior marketing communications specialist, for the Home Health Care Opportunity blog series
Now that you’ve determined who your local home health care (HHC) competition is and have conducted a demographic analysis of your area, the next step is to evaluate the needs of your current patients. Gathering information about current customers can reveal whether there is an immediate need you can address by adding or increasing HHC products in your store.
Consider your average weekly business and answer the questions in this Current Patient Needs Assessment worksheet in general terms.
If you answered M or H for more than three questions on the Current Patient Needs Assessment worksheet, your patients’ demand for home health care products may be more significant than you realize. In addition, you may think of other factors related to your current patients to consider. Think about your regular pharmacy visitors: what are they buying in the front-end as well as the pharmacy department? What health and wellness products tend to sell most quickly in the front-end? Your current patients can be a good indicator as to whether home health care is a potential growth area for your pharmacy.
Take Action
Based on your answers on the Current Patient Needs Assessment worksheet, fill in the Departments Needed worksheet.
Completing these worksheets give you a good picture of the categories that could generate sales at your store. An additional benefit of completing the two worksheets provided above is getting to know your customers better. Behind your prescription sales and point-of-sale system data are patients – and their families and friends – with needs that your pharmacy potentially could meet.
It’s a good idea to periodically survey patients on an informal basis, perhaps offering a 10% discount on a front-end purchase for their participation. Learning what else your pharmacy can do to help them maintain their health is a mutually beneficial quest.
You’re moving closer to being able to make an informed decision about adding an HHC assortment to your store. My next post will help you determine the space you’ll need, and how you can make it work.