Running a community pharmacy in a competitive market comes with countless stresses: one of the most overwhelming being finances. While your competitors up and down the street may have massive budgets for investing in employees, marketing, and other operating expenses, community pharmacies often have tighter budgets to work within in order to succeed. Luckily, a massive budget isn’t necessary to win over the hearts of your local community. However, at the same time, it’s important to find ways to optimize your cash flow.
Before you turn your books upside-down, start with the simplest ways to trim the fat and free up cashflow.
Audit Your Community Pharmacy Expenses
In order to adjudicate where you can begin trimming the fat, you’ll need to first determine where your funds are being distributed. Some expenses you simply can’t do without, such as your cost of supplies and inventory. However, looking at your operating expenses would be a great place to start. There may be alternative methods to current day-to-day operations that will give you some breathing room in the budget and improve your cash flow. If you have any subscriptions, consider whether you can cancel them, replace them with a less expensive service, or negotiate your bill down. Oftentimes telephone and internet service providers can be bargained with to lower your monthly bill, especially if you’ve been a long-term customer.
Focus on Marketing That Drives Results
It’s common for businesses to fall into a routine with business essentials such as marketing and to become complacent. Take some time to determine which marketing techniques are actually driving traffic to your community pharmacy. Another common mistake is for community pharmacy owners to assume they have to use the same marketing techniques their competitors use. For example, just because Walgreens is on every single social media platform doesn’t mean you have to be as well. Oftentimes small businesses benefit more from prioritizing one or two digital marketing strategies they can do extremely well will have more of an impact than trying to do it all. Evaluating your current marketing strategy will help you determine where you can free up funds from your marketing budget to use elsewhere.You can also look for opportunities to implement free advertising, such as getting involved in the community by volunteering at local events. Not only will you maximize your visibility in the community, but also you’ll build connections that foster loyalty and drive word-of-mouth traffic. Partnering with other local businesses such as doctor’s offices, health and wellness organizations, and fitness centers will help you grow your business without footing a hefty bill.
Empower Your Employees
Rather than spending money to train new employees often due to turnover, encourage your current employees to train the newbies and document the training sessions and topics. Doing so will simultaneously empower your existing employees, foster bonds within your team, and build a wealth of assets that can save you time and energy in the future.Rinkin Patel, a successful community pharmacy owner in London, likes to empower his employees by giving them valuable titles rather than resorting to the status quo. For instance, instead of giving an employee the title of “counter assistant,” the more creative title of “health and wellbeing consultant” empowers employees to take pride in their position.
By bolstering the internal resources of your staff and nurturing employee pride, you’ll reduce your costs of turnover and training while presenting an image of consistency and comfort to your customers.
Ever-Changing Technology
While it is important to stay up-to-date with the latest and greatest technology, it may not be the best idea to invest in new equipment as soon as it becomes available. It can be tempting to buy in to the latest tech advances as soon as they’re available – especially in the midst of all the hype – but technology changes so rapidly that you’ll likely find a more affordable option or a more well-developed option in six months to a year. Start by determining what equipment and systems you use the most. Then, plan strategically for upgrades to focus your investment where it has the most impact. Purchasing gently used or refurbished equipment is an opportunity to save money while providing you with the same useful technology. Similarly, evaluate your systems to see where you’re not making enough use of technology. Many analog systems can be automated using inexpensive tools to save you and your staff hours upon hours of time and human error.
Cater to the Local Demand
Massive pharmacy chains are largely out of touch with the needs of your specific community. Your community pharmacy has a leg up by being focused on serving your local community specifically. You have an edge on being able to fill the needs of your customer base. Rather than wasting time and resources offering a service the community isn’t asking for, focus on local trends and micro-epidemics by tapping into social media and community partnerships with health clinics. You work hard to run a successful community pharmacy. However, taking the time to re-evaluate where you’re spending your valuable resources can go a long way toward stretching your dollar and sprucing up your cash flow. Want more tips and tricks for running a successful community pharmacy in a highly competitive market? Sign up for a free membership with Pharmacy Cure All today.