As an independent pharmacy owner, what sets your pharmacy apart from your competition more than anything else is customer service.
When customers visit your store, the service that they receive will ultimately be a primary driving factor in how they feel about their experience as well as how likely they are to return and to recommend your pharmacy to their friends. For a matter of such high importance, training your staff well in the area of customer service is a worthy investment in your business.
Fortunately, customer service skills can be taught. With the cost of hiring new employees reaching into the thousands each time that your business needs to replace one of your staff members, retaining your team with appropriate training can save your business a pretty penny. Instead of spending money on recruiting applicants, new employee background checks, onboarding, and employee referral fees, when you focus on training your current staff you can build employee loyalty, increase morale, and save money while improving the overall customer experience for your clientele.
Let’s look at a few customer service training ideas that you may want to consider with your pharmacy staff:
1. Step into your customer’s shoes through role play.
Role playing can build empathy, and empathy is an invaluable customer service skill. When your staff can see the world through the customer’s eyes, it provides them with better insights – and empathy – for dealing with those who may be sick, scared and/or stressed. Provide them with examples of real-life types of situations and have them act as the customer and then also in their own role. Use this opportunity to train your staff on how to use positive language with each interaction to reframe problems as opportunities and provide excellent service to their customers.
2. Encourage collaboration across your staff.
Customers may interact with any combination of your team of pharmacists, technicians, retail staff and others within your business when they visit your store. When each department works together to provide optimal customer care and service, the full customer experience can be dramatically improved as well.
