intro RP

INTRODUCTION TO RETAIL PHARMACY

1.0 Introduction

• Learning Outcome :– Explain why the need for retail skills– Discuss how to build the kind of customer

relationships a pharmacy needs to succeed.• Active standards• Passive standards

1.0 Introduction

• Learning Outcome :– Explain the key techniques to communicate with

customers• The WWHAM approach• OTC categories• Product recommendations• Handling customers’s problem

1.0 Introduction

• Learning Outcome :– Explain the key techniques to closing a sale• Suggestive selling• Link selling• Merchandising and display

DEFINATION OF PHARMACY

• The word pharmacy is drived from the greek word pharmakon, meaning medicine or drug.

• Pharmacy was considered as an art of compounding and dispensing of medicines at the counter.

• with the advancement of science and growing needs of people for quality products, a lot of progress has been made in the profession of pharmacy.


• The drugs handled by present day pharmacist differ greatly from those used by his predecessors fifty years back .

• Now the drugs are manufactured in bulk by the pharmaceutical industry and are distributed or sold among the consumers by the pharmacist.


Definition :• Pharmacy is now defined as that profession, which is

concerned with the art and science of preparing from natural and synthetic sources, suitable and convenient materials for distribution and use in the treatment and prevention , of disease.

• It provides a knowledge of the identification, selection, synthesis, pharmacological action , formulation, preservation, analysis and standardization of drugs and medicines. It also includes their proper and safe distribution and use of drugs.

DISPENSING

• Dispensing means to prepare and supply of medicine to an

individual patient, in accordance with the prescription of

practitioner.

• For proper dispensing of medicines, it is essential that present day

pharmacist should have a sound knowledge of various branches of

pharmacy, such as pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical chemistry,

pharmacology, pharmacognosy, microbiology, pharmaceutical

technology and forensic pharmacy.

SCOPE OF PHARMACY

• There is wide scope of pharmacy profession .• A pharmacist is a specialist in medication .• Custodian of medical information .• Companion of the physician.• Counsellor to the patient and guardian of the

public health, since he can perform a number of roles, so he can odopt any one of the following fields of pharmacy to earn his livelihood.

SCOPE OF PHARMACY1. Retail Pharmacy Or Community Pharmacy.2. Wholesale Pharmacy.3. Industrial Pharmacy4. Pharmacy education.5.Hospital pharmacist.6. Drug control administration 7. Pharmaceutical journalism 8. Nuclear pharmacy (radio pharmacy)9.Oncology pharmacy10. Organisational management (MQA etc)

FUNCTION OF PHARMACISTS IN THE RETAIL PHARMACY

• Distribution of prescribed drug products

• computerized connection between pharmacies

across the nation involving all drugs that are

legally available

• compounding prescriptions

• consulting with and educating patients.

PRESCRIPTION

• Prescription is a written order from a registered medical practitioner , or other properly licensed practitioners , such as dentist, etc. to pharmacist to compound and dispense a specific medication for the patient.

• The prescription are generally written in english language. But Latin words or abbreviation are frequently used in order to save time.

DUTIES OF THE PHARMACY TECHNICIAN IN THE COMMUNITY PHARMACY

The pharmacy technician now has more responsibilities than ever before . These duties include : Processing the prescription Record keeping Pricing Answering telephone calls Computer applications in the control of drug use Accountability Maintaining privacy Communication skill Teamwork Purchasing Inventory control Billing Repacking products Preventing drug errors Safe methods of working.

THE NEED FOR RETAIL SKILLS

• In recent years, community pharmacy has

undergone significant change . It has been at the

forefront of a shift in health care policy.

• This shift has been accompanied by an increasing

number of medicines, formerly available only on

prescription, becoming available over the counter.


• All this, combined with changes in the supervisory role of

pharmacists, has resulted in a changing and widened role

for the pharmacy assistant.

• Every customer in the pharmacy is an important person:

counter assistant must demonstrate that they care about

each one. And want to meet and exceed their

expectations.


• During career as a pharmacy assistant, you will work

with pharmacists, customers, prescription medicines,

OTC and beauty products.

• People are no longer visiting a pharmacy to simply

have a prescription dispensed. They are buying a

services, which includes good advice and effective

products.


• If you provide quality assistance and service.

Then customers will return to your pharmacy

again and again.


• Shop design is important to the profitability of every

pharmacy.

• Displays of products on shelves in little travelled side

are much less likely to generate sales than items

displayed on the main side.

• However, this does not mean that every item

displayed on a main side will automatically sell.


• Therefore, it is important to carefully choose what

types of products you display in the main side.

• You can actively help make a sale in your

pharmacy without saying a word .

BUILDING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

• Customers are the lifeblood of a success

community pharmacy. How you treat them sets

the tone for all of their future dealings with you .

• Without customers, your pharmacy can not

make sales, and without sales you will not have a

position, and the pharmacy no future.


Q. How would you initiate an interaction with the customer ?

Smile and make eye contact. Say ‘hello’ Walk around behind the pharmacy counter so

that your back is not turned to the customer, then stay with in sight so you are available to answer questions.


• Providing good service in a pharmacy can be

achieved through two different approaches .

• One set of active standards has to do with

your behavior and other passive standards-

relates to the image presented through your

pharmacy’s appearance.

ACTIVE STANDARDS• We can subdivide the list of active standards

into even more specific categories called

1. Personality traits

2. Professional presentation

ACTIVE STANDARDS

Personality traits Professional presentation

Attentive Confidential

Attitude Professional appearance

Strong social skills Product knowledge

Trustworthiness Strong communication

Personality TraitsAttentive• When customers come to the pharmacy we must great them and

ask what they want and we must give good service to them.• Able to answer and quickly suggest the best medication • Give advice to the customers about their diet or maybe their

lifestyle.Attitude • To communicate with customers we have to respect our customer

to make them comfortable with us• Show that we have knowledge about the product in pharmacy

Strong social skills• If we have strong social skills, customers can feel more

confident and trusted with our product.• Friendly with them to make them comfortable communicate

with us. • We also must know to handle health equipment such as

blood glucose machine and othersTrustworthiness • Must have responsibility to care about customer safety.• We also must have good relationship with other staff and

honest each other.

Professional PresentationConfidential • It is an ethical principle associated with several professions .For

example, if VIP individual comes to the pharmacy and buy certain medication which relate to his or her diseases and can causes make his or her reputation down, we must keep all documents private and confidential.

Professional Appearance• Wearing suitable appearance and make sure it is clean and tidy

because we are carry the image of our pharmacy.

Product Knowledge • We must know benefit and side effect of product• Suggest the best product to the customer and sometimes have

to differentiate the medication with others. • Also can share our knowledge with the customersStrong Communication• Communication skills simply do not refer to the way in which

we communicate with another person• The way we respond to the person we are speaking, body

gestures including the facial tones, pitch and tone of our voice and a lot of other things.

• Without effective communication skills, a person may find it impossible to deal with customer.

ACTIVE STANDARDS

• Customers will make purchases regardless of how well you are served. But their loyalty to your pharmacy and the frequency of their visits is damaged by even one unsatisfactory experience.

• Customers who are left unimpressed by their experience in your pharmacy are less likely to return, and when they do, they tend to purchase fewer items only.

Passive Standards

Passive Standards

Cleanliness of pharmacy

Availability of products, no out – of - stocks

Store product and display

PASSIVE STANDARDS First and foremost, it is essential that the

pharmacy is kept clean . Dusty shelves, a dirty floor and disorganised

array of products all convey the impression of a shop that is not well cared for.

Passive Standards

• Display shelves that lack an adequate stock of

products indicate a pharmacy that is not ready to

serve its customers needs.

• A messy shop undermines all of your efforts to be

friendly and professional.

Communicating with customers

Q. How can you sell to the people who shop at your pharmacy ?

The answer lies in a less obvious element of selling: earning trust

This aspect of selling begins with the concept of selling yourself, or behaving and speaking in a way as to reassure customers they have placed their trust in the right person.


Customers will not be attracted to even the most knowledgeable pharmacy assistant if you demonstrates an unhelpful or disinterested attitude.

You must represent yourself and your pharmacy as knowledgeable, trustworthy healthcare providers to provide the products and advice to your customers need.


The key to effective communication .1. Treat customers as you would like to be treated .2. Always volunteer to go the ‘extra mile’3. Offer help – don’t wait to be asked4. Ask targeted questions5. listen actively6. Be patient7. Stop anything else that you may be doing when

communicating with customers.8. Know your limits and refer any issues where you are

uncertain to the pharmacist.

THE WWHAM APPROACH

The WWHAM is a set list of questions used to give accurate advice and to aid in

dispensing correctly, it means;

Who is the patient?

What is the problem?

How long has it been a problem?

Action that has been taken to date?

What other Medicines are taken?

OTC CATEGORIES Baby care Baby medicines Cough/cold/allergy Digestion Family planning Feminine care Foot care Pain relief Personal care Skin care Travel and first aid Vitamins and supplements

OTC CATEGORIES

It is important to learn what are the most

popular, best selling and most effective

products in each category.

Once you familiar with the categories and

subcategories in your pharmacy, you can sell it

very easily.

PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS

Many times customers enter the pharmacy already knowing what product they intend to buy.

often their choice is based on prior knowledge or use of the product.

but when it is a first-time purchase, what motivates the customer to buy one product over another?

PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS

Pharmacy recommendation is very important

to a customer’s choice of product, especially

when buying for the first time .

You will often find yourself being asked about

the different products in your pharmacy.

PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS You will be glade at those times that you can

answer for product questions.

You will be even more glad to be able to

recommend products based upon your own

knowledge.

HANDLING CUSTOMER’S PROBLEM

Common problems you may face include the customer is over-charged for a sale.

The customer who suffers an adverse reaction to a product you recommended, and the customer who is dissatisfied with the selection of products offered by you.

If the complaint involves an overcharge, quickly refund the difference and apologize for the over-charge.

If no over-charge has been made explain how the price paid was correct.

HANDLING CUSTOMER’S PROBLEM

From time to time a customer may experience difficulty after using a product.

Refer all such complaints immediately to the pharmacist for consultation .

If a customer is disappointed at not finding a desired product in your store, first offer them an alternative product you do stock. Otherwise prepare to refer your customer to other nearby retailers stock.

Customers will be grateful for your concern over their satisfaction rather than you focusing only on making sale.

CONVERT TO SALE

‘Convert to sale’ means to turn a browsing customer into a buying customer.

it involves everything you do to encourage each customer in the pharmacy to make purchase.

most customers actually convert themselves into buyers by simple technique.

CONVERT TO SALE

Technique such as :

Suggestive selling

Link selling

Merchandising and display

Suggestive selling

Suggestive selling is a sales technique in which the salesperson mentions to a customer another product that is related to the product already being purchased.

Making a suggestion to a customer in this way often results in a larger purchase and at the same time the customers is better served with more of what they needs.

LINK SELLING

Link selling is a similar to suggestive selling. Where

it differs is that the second product is related to the

customer’s health condition or to the product they

are planning to purchase.

Link selling is a way of offering your customers an

additional service and increasing sales of related

products from the pharmacy.


When products in your pharmacy are displayed according to a few basic and tested principles, the possibility of their catching a customer’s eye is increased


When you are familiar with how your pharmacy’s shelves are laid out and where different categories and subcategories of products are kept, you can quickly guide the customer to where they will find the type of item they needed.

Customers generally appreciate being taken to where the product is situated, rather than just being told where it’s situated.

THANK Q

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