Central to any sales growth plan is a commitment to examine all areas of the business:

• Products and service opportunities
• Customer service and retention
• Physical environment and pharmacy layout
• Resource levels and competencies
• Selling and marketing strategies.

To enhance your turnover, your business must have a clear concept of its strategic direction. Does it localise its offerings to a small community, expand its products and services or develop niche and focused offerings?

Take a few minutes to think about the community pharmacy that you manage or work in:

1. Business destination or direction

What will we look like in three years?

2. The playing field

What markets should we compete in? Are we a traditional or specialised pharmacy?

3. Tactics of the game

How can we perform better than the competition? How will we increase transactional value from prescription customers?

4. Resources for the win

What resources (e.g. skills, assets, finance, relationships, technical competencies and facilities) do we need to be able to compete?

5. Players in the market

What environmental factors affect our ability to compete? How do we manage and respond to those factors?

6. Stakeholders

What are the values and expectations of those who have power in and around our organisation?