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Pharmacies need a plan of action in place to improve their business, Dennis Reid of Retail Performance Specialists told pharmacists in a presentation in the Business seminar stream at The Pharmacy Show last month.

Try and get a business model that works for you, he suggested. €How can you improve the ability to drive traffic into your business? How good are your staff €“ operationally, keeping the business running and with services? Do you have a system in place for retaining customers?,€ he asked.

Many pharmacies want to improve added value services and retail, said Mr Reid. However, in one survey, pharmacists said that of their key most common challenges €“ number one was managing staff.

€What is the key thing that if you fixed it in the next 90 days, your business would go to a new level of performance? What is the key thing killing your business today? And so you have a plan of attack to fix it? Why are you allowing that to happen?€

Retail Performance Specialists has experience of working with major retailers, including healthcare companies, to improve their businesses, and Mr Reid has a background in elite sports performance coaching. €Do you want to be the best? Is it possible for you to do outstandingly well €“ yes, absolutely. It takes as much time to be average as it does to be the best, he said.

€I worked alongside an Olympic cycling team, and they decided to sit down and work out how they could be the best in the world. That was a young man called Chris Hoy.€ RPS has developed a business programme to support pharmacy. €Your job is to make a business environment where your people come in and do an outstanding job. Does your team know what great looks like? And do your customers and patients understand €“ 'why should I deal with you',€ he questioned.

€In 12 or 24 months what needs to be happening in your business for you to be celebrating? Another way of looking at this is what makes it a good week. And what's currently preventing that from happening,€ he suggested.