I knew from when I first started this company Peak Strategies, that my main goal was to help pharmacy owners run successful pharmacies. That drove the desire for knowledge, for learning and for development. I did this through working with pharmacists and owners, to help as many pharmacy businesses as possible. All to understand what made a pharmacy successful. What were the good owners doing?
That is a life-long journey for me. But it led me to starting Pharmacy Mastermind. Pharmacy Mastermind was a key component in the evolution of myself and Peak. It brings together the people, the talent, the experience, and the skill sets needed to help pharmacies owners grow and prosper.
Now that Pharmacy Mastermind has been operating for a while, I wanted to share with you a couple of success stories and how we have helped pharmacies to grow.
Story #1 – The Power of Solid Marketing Strategies
This pharmacy came to us in March 2021 after suffering successive years of declining script numbers and customer numbers. Gross Profit was declining as was overall profitability. They were good owners, very skilled in fact. They had some proper marketing basics in place, particularly social media, a website, and loyalty program. But they lacked strategy and consistency…
When we started working with them, our first focus was to strengthen up their marketing strategy and to build a more solid connection with their community. We also built up the consistency in their marketing communications.
This meant 3 to 4 social media posts per week, weekly EDMs (emails), digital paid advertising and growth in loyalty program numbers. One of the KPI’s we initially focused on was Total Reach. This is a KPI made up of total website visits, total number of people who open their emails, and total social media engagement. To give you some idea of the growth we have achieved have a look at this data.
First half versus second half 2021 calendar year – 238.5% increase
First half 2022 versus second half 2021 calendar years – 198.5% increase
They are seriously good numbers. So, what happened to their financial results?
Our focus for the 2nd half of 2021 was to stop the slide and start seeing positive months. The 1st half of 2022 was all about growth.
I am really excited about their potential. They have many other “projects” on the go which I am really excited about. This is my “pharmacy of the year”.
Story #2 Believe in the value you are providing
This pharmacy owner is relatively new to the Mastermind program, but I am very excited by the potential of this business. And reminds me of the lessons I have had to learn in business. Believe in the value you are providing to patients. If you are providing good value, price for that value. People don’t value what they get for free.
This has the foundations of a very good profitable business. It is sustaining consistent growth each year already but has low profitability and is taking a lot of work by the owner to manage it. The first thing we needed to start on is focussing on the basics.
1. Many pharmacies have an issue with under-servicing patients. This owner has a problem with over-servicing. This has resulted in very high wage costs compared to GP$ produced.
We are working with the owner to ensure the patients are charged correctly for the services provided. Even potentially losing customers who are overly price conscious. Given the size of the business, the owner can afford to do this. Profitability is the goal; the size of the turnover doesn’t matter as much.
2. Work with the team to ensure efficiency in workflow and service provision. Don’t over-service, but still provide excellent service. Its about getting the balance right.
3. Review of internal pricing policies to ensure premium service is matched with premium price.
4. Work on budgeting and cashflow monitoring to ensure we are achieving financial success.
We haven’t even started on marketing yet, which will produce further growth again. But we have to get the basics right first. This won’t be growth for growth’s sake. This will be growth in the areas they want to grow in. By my forecasts this pharmacy will achieve at least a 50% increase in profitability, and I believe will double profitability within 12 months, given the opportunities for available improvement.
Another pharmacy I am genuinely excited about.
Overall biggest lessons
The key lessons we have learnt so far through Pharmacy Mastermind are the ultimate components that drive success in pharmacy business is the owner’s ability to learn and to be open minded to different ways of doing things.
As well as show leadership and get stuff implemented. Especially that last point. The biggest virus that has plagued pharmacy owners is not Covid, it is the FTI disease. Failure to implement.
It has been a lot of fun working with the Pharmacy Mastermind clients. We are getting a good number of enquiries from all over Australia and even internationally. We have an excellent team who can provide a lot of value and expertise. If you are wanting to find out more about Pharmacy Mastermind click here.
Or book an obligations free consultation with me below.
