Powerful Questions Every Pharmacy Owner Should Ask

As The Pharmacy Sage, I often write about solving your most brutal problems by asking the right questions. They are so basic and fundamental that I am presenting to you some of the most powerful ones that I have discovered for helping create a far more profitable and successful pharmacy than ever before.

• “Have I differentiated my pharmacy in the marketplace?” Differentiation is the essence of strategy and the prime source of competitive advantage. You do not earn money just by filling regular scripts for your patients. You earn a lot more by being different from your competitors in many ways. The more ways you differentiate, the greater you’re pulling power— as long as these differences are beneficial to both current and future patients. In this manner, you serve your core patients better and more profitably.
• “Is what got me where I am today going to get me where I want to go tomorrow?” This is the first and most basic question that needs to be answered. Is what got you results many years ago. Things that worked in bygone years just simply do not bear fruit in today’s fast changing marketplace and economy. You need new tools and new strategies. New tools like a more comprehensive demographic study of your surrounding population, as well as a new business model. And new strategies regarding where you market, how you market, and which media you choose to dominate for your particular niche. Without these new tools and strategies, you may continue to flounder—at an even worse level.
• “Am I organizing my time, effort, and other resources around winning strategies and great marketing to build the future I want, or am I still clinging to the status quo, which is based on yesterday’s breadwinners and today’s mistakes? Make certain that everything that you do each and every hour of the day is organized around all of your marketing, including your training and selling. Do not spend 1 hour doing anything that does not lead to your enhancing your cash flow. Make marketing paramount because marketing is the engine that drives your business to greater and greater heights of success. Other people can fill prescriptions. And other pharmacists can put their seal of approval on them.

A version of this article was originally published by Total Pharmacy. Visit TotalPharmacy.com to view the full article "The 5 Most Powerful Questions Every Pharmacy Owner Should Ask."

Call (518) 382-1990 to get a copy of the free report “Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Marketing for Pharmacy Owners.”

The Pharmacy Sage can be reached at (518) 346-7021 or thepharmacysage@rxresultsnow.com.