How to handle customers effectively

1. PEX 6.8.4: Serve
Customers in a
Pharmacy Business
DRILEBA SUNDAY

2. outline
 Have an understanding of concept of customer service
 Ability to serve customers satisfactorily
 Appreciates the value of serving customers satisfactorily

3. Definition
 Customer service is the process of ensuring customer satisfaction
with a product or service.
 Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs
by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service
and assistance before, during, and after the customer's
requirements are met.
 Customer service is meeting the needs and desires of any customer
 Often, customer service takes place while performing a transaction
for the customer, such as making a sale or returning an item.

4. Characteristics of Good Customer
Service
Some characteristics of good customer service include:
 Promptness: Promises for delivery of products must be on time. Delays and
cancellations of products should be avoided.
 Politeness: Politeness is almost a lost art. Saying 'hello,' 'good afternoon,' 'sir,'
and 'thank you very much' are a part of good customer service. For any
business, using good manners is appropriate whether the customer makes
a purchase or not.
 Professionalism: All customers should be treated professionally, which
means the use of competence or skill expected of the professional.
Professionalism shows the customer they're cared for.
 Personalization: Using the customer's name is very effective in producing
loyalty. Customers like the idea that whom they do business with knows
them on a personal level.

5. Customer Service
 is a crucial and essential part of any business. It is the lifeblood of
any organisation for it creates
1. the relationship between business and client. When consumers
have questions about products or services, they expect customer
service to take care of their concerns.
2. Through customer service, clients can communicate their demand
which the employee will then execute.

6. ADVERTISING
 Advertising is a means of communication with the users of a
product or service.
 Examples:
 Direct mail,
 catalogues and
 leaflets

7. Types of advertising
Type of Ad Requirement
Product claim ad: Names a drug and the indication(s);
makes claims regarding safety and efficacy
Product claims are made, so “fair balance” does apply
and risks are required to be included in a “brief summary.”
or (for broadcast ads only)
Risks must be included in “major statement,” and
“adequate provision” for access to a “brief summary” is
required.
Reminder ad: Names a drug, dosage form, and possibly
cost, but not its uses
No product claims are made, so “fair balance” doesn’t
apply and mention of risks in “brief summary,” “major
statement,” or “adequate provision” is not required.
However, the FDA does not allow this type of ad for drugs
with serious risks (i.e., a boxed warning).
Help-seeking ad: Describes a disease or condition but
doesn’t mention a specific drug that treats it
No product is mentioned, nor are any claims made, so “fair
balance” doesn’t apply; inclusion of risks in “brief
summary,” “major statement,” or “adequate provision” is
not required.

8. Importance
 Informs, educates, and empowers patients
 Encourages patients to contact a clinician
 Promotes patient dialogue with health care providers

9. Customer service improvement
process
 1. Treat every customer as if they were a VIP
 Give every customer the same excellent treatment as you would like
to receive yourself. It’s as simple as that! You could use some of the
following approaches:
 Thank your customers for their business, both in person and also
printed on the receipt.
 Make a real effort to help your customers and assist them in every way
you can.
 Keep your promises and integrity. If you say that you will contact them
to let them know when an item is back in stock – be sure that you do!
Every so often, businesses forget or fail to get back to their customers,
who might very well find another supplier in the meantime.

10. 2. Keep measuring customer
satisfaction
 Studies show that 91% of unhappy customers will never come back
to a business they believe is below par. By frequently measuring
customer satisfaction, you can reduce the number of unsatisfied
customers and prevent customer churn. An effective and easy way
to measure customer satisfaction is using an online survey tool from
a survey provider, such as Netigate.

11. 3. Know how you should survey your customers – the
right way.
 With a customer feedback survey you are able to find out how
happy your customers are with you, if and what you need to do to
improve your product or service, and to identify those customers
who love your product and could possibly send new customers your
way. A Net Promoter Score is the ultimate survey to find out how
likely it is that your customer would recommend your business to
others, with one simple question. If you choose to have a slightly
more comprehensive survey, make sure you keep it fairly short, less
than 10 questions and not longer than 3.5 minutes.

12. 4. Keep an eye on what customers say about you
on social media
 When you track and monitor customer satisfaction on social media
you are updated on both positive and negative feedback and can
take appropriate measures to resolve them.

13. Ways of customer service
1. Free Gifts
 Fairly self-explanatory. There are many ways to utilize this particular
sales promotion technique.
2. Free Samples
 uses this method with great success. By providing samples to all customers in
the store, regardless of whether they purchase something, they encourage
customers to buy products they may not have considered before.
3. Discounted Prices
 Everybody loves a deal, consistently demonstrate year after year,
consumers will go crazy over a good price. Use holidays and events in our
Marketing Calendarto your advantage by having sales or specials at your
business.

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4. Joint Promotions
Joint promotions can be done both between brands owned by a
single company, or between brands owned by separate companies.
Joint promotions are easy if you know
other business owners in a similar or related industry. Offer them some
of your products or services to be bundled into a package at their
business and offer the same bundle at yours. This is free promotion for
each of you at the other owner’s business.

15. contd
6. Vouchers and Coupons
 These are offered in magazines, newspapers, on product packaging,
and online. You can offer vouchers and coupons via email to your
email list or as a thank you when people subscribe to your blog or
email newsletter.
7. Social Media Contests and Giveaways
 Purchasing a product provides a consumer entry to these giveaways.
Such sales promotions are particularly popular with food items such as
chips and sodas, which provide prizes related to the business inside
the packaging or offer codes on bottle caps. But you can do the
same with a Facebook or Instagram giveaway to get new customers
interested in your business.

16. Why advertising drugs is prohibited
in media
 It is an offence to issue a false or misleading advertisement or
representation about a medicinal product; in particular, the
advertisement has to comply with the approval.
 The product must be presented objectively and without
exaggeration, to encourage its rational use.
 It is an offence to issue an advertisement about a non-authorized
indication, and no promotion of a medicinal product is permitted
before it is granted.
 The advertising of POMs to the consumer (the patient) and thus the
general public is prohibited as they begin self medication

17. Serve Customers in a Pharmacy Business
PROMOTION, ADVERTISING AND AFTER SALES REGULATIONS
• CHECK EXISTENCE OF LEGAL PROVISIONS COVERING PROMOTION AND
ADVERTISING OF MEDICAL DEVICES, MANUFACTURERS,
IMPORTERS/EXPORTERS, WHOLESALERS/DISTRIBUTORS, AND RETAILERS.
• IDENTIFY AND MONITOR RESPONSIBLE AUTHORITY FOR PROMOTION,
ADVERTISING AND AFTER-SALES MONITORING OF SERVICES.
• REVIEW PRE-APPROVAL FOR ADVERTISEMENT AND/OR PROMOTIONAL
ACTIVITIES.
• MONITOR AND PROHIBIT ADVERTISEMENTS PRESCRIBING MEDICAL
PRODUCTS TO THE PUBLIC.
• PROVIDE GUIDANCE ON ADVERTISEMENT OF ON-THE-SHELF DEVICES.

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 Establish communication with civil societies in surveillance of
promotion and/or advertisement of medical products.
 • Ensure commissioning records, manuals, logs, calibration and
maintenance schedules, and validation protocols are in place.
 • Ensure compliance of owners and users of specific types of
devices with the requirements for personnel, safe handling,
installation, maintenance/calibration and disposal.
 • Follow-up and report on compliance with after-sales services and
obligations.

19. Serve Customers in a Pharmacy
Business part 2

20. Brainstorm Exercise
 Divide yourselves into four groups
 What do you think marketing is?
 Brainstorm your ideas

21.  ‘The social and managerial process by which
individuals and groups obtain what they need and
want through creating and exchanging products and
value with others’ (Kotler)
 The centre of any marketing theory is the end user of
the product or service
 ‘True marketing starts out with the customer, their
demographics, related needs and values. It does not
ask, ‘What do we want to sell?’ It asks, ‘What does the
customer want to buy?’ It does not say, ‘This is what our
product or service does.’ It says, ‘These are the
satisfactions that the customer looks for’ (Drucker)
What is Marketing? (1)

22. What is Marketing?
 Marketing is creating satisfaction through customer
relationships;
=Attracting new customers
= Retaining and growing current customers
 The knowledge exchange Business Encyclopedia:
Planning and executing the strategy involved in
moving a good or service from producer to
consumer.
“Marketing” is NOT synonymous with “sales” or
“advertising”1

23.  Marketing is not a new concept
◦ People have been trading for hundreds of years
 The importance of marketing depends on the availability of products or
services
 The British Industrial Revolution (late 18th
and early 19th
Century)
◦ Products could be mass-produced in factories
◦ They became cheaper
◦ The reduction in price increased demand
◦ Demand became greater than supply (e.g. not enough products could be
made)
◦ Choice became limited, so marketing was not important
 The 1920’s
◦ Production of goods was greater than the demand for them
◦ Manufacturers had to develop products which had advantages over their
competitors’ products
◦ Variation of similar products emerged
◦ Marketing became very important
What is Marketing? (2)

24. What Can Be Marketed?
 Goods Information
 Services Experience
 Places properties
 Ideas organizations
 Events
 Persons

25. Purpose of Marketing
 Initially, it’s a form of communication by which people are informed
of available products and services with hope that they might gain
interest in the offer.
 Achieve consumer satisfaction
 Increase sales and profit margins.
 Repeat business with reduced competitor threats.

26. PURPOSES OF M ARKETING WITHIN A BUSINESS
 It identifies & maximizes the companies marketing
opportunities.
 It helps in targeting the right customers.
 It facilitates the exchange relationship where a
desired pdt is obtained in return
 It enables an organization to make proper use of
resources. This helps the organization to fully utilize
the available resources thus producing good
quality products.
 It helps an organization to create customer
satisfaction and loyalty. This is through knowing
what they want to be produced to them thus
satisfying their needs.

27.  The Marketing Mix (the four P’s)
◦ Price
◦ Place (location)
◦ Product
◦ Promotion
 Designed to get the best response from potential customers
 The most important factors in designing a marketing strategy are
the characteristics of your customers and how they may be
expected to behave
Marketing Strategy

28.  You should know
◦ How many people visit your pharmacy on an average day
◦ The age bands of the people
◦ The gender of the people
◦ How many people buy products in your shop
◦ How many people enter your shop but do not buy anything
◦ How many people come in for their prescriptions to be dispensed, but
don’t buy anything else
◦ How many people get their prescriptions dispensed in your shop, and
purchase other items at the same time
Understanding your Customer

29. What Affects Customer Purchasing
Decisions?
1. Income
2. Price of product or service
3. Ease of purchase
4. Quality of service
5. The features of the products and services on offer
6. Place
◦ Location chosen for displaying goods in the pharmacy
7. Promotion and selling
◦ Advertising
◦ Selling skills

30. 1: Income
 Disposable income influences purchasing decisions
 Family Life Cycle:
◦ Single
◦ Married no children
◦ Full Nest I (youngest child <6 years)
◦ Full Nest II (youngest child 6 – 12 years)
◦ Full Nest III (youngest child >12 years)
◦ Empty Nest I (still working)
◦ Empty Nest II (retired)
◦ Alone (partner deceased)
 People who are married with no children, and those in the
Empty Nest I category typically have the most disposable
income

31. 2: Price of Product or Service
 Value for money is generally more important than actual cost
◦ A time-poor customer will not value a long trip to purchase a product
for 100 UGS cheaper
◦ Money-poor customers will spend more time on shopping to get the
best bargains
 The level of service provided by the seller is also very important, as
it contributes to the ‘value package’
 Some customers perceive highly-priced products as an indicator
of quality
 They may consider ‘cheap’ products to be sub-standard

32. 3 & 4: Ease of Purchase
& Quality of Service
 Ease of Purchase
◦ Some customers have little time to spend on shopping
◦ They will purchase items in a time-saving way
 E.g. they will buy items from shops which are convenient to them,
rather than travelling to a distant shop to buy cheaper products
 Quality of Service
◦ Price only becomes an issue for customers if it is outside the
range they consider to be acceptable
◦ Customers will still buy leading brands of products, despite the
price premium
◦ Patients may choose to come to your pharmacy as they
receive good advice from you
◦ Make sure that quality is consistently delivered
 One bad experience may lose you a customer forever.

33. 6: Place
 Merchandising and layout
◦ Does the layout of your business reflect what you wish to offer?
 Category management
◦ Products can be displayed according to the categories they fit into
◦ E.g. for OTC medicines, you could have categories for cough, cold,
pain, skincare etc
◦ Within a category you should stock the brand leader (Category
Captain) and maybe one or two other brands
 The importance of brands
◦ The brand name is the way the manufacturer establishes the
product’s identity
◦ Many customers know brand names of medicines, but have very
little idea of what ingredients they contain
 E.g. Panadol = paracetamol
◦ By advertising, manufacturers lead customers to believe that their
brand is better than all the rest

34. 7: Promotion and Selling
 Advertising
◦ Can be defensive as well as proactive
◦ Manufacturers of brand leaders may heavily advertise them when rival
products are launched onto the market
◦ This negates the effect of the competitor’s advertising
◦ Effective advertising is related to the customer’s needs
◦ It is important for you to understand the marketing message of a brand
 Then you can maximise the message and motivate the customer to buy that
brand

35. 7: Promotion and Selling (contd.)
 Selling skills
◦ Customers will use your business if you meet or exceed their
expectations
◦ Three skills of selling:
1. Knowledge of the product
 Keep up to date with changes in treatments and new products.
Undertake Continuing Professional Development
2. An understanding of the customer
 Identify what they need
3. An ability to communicate
 Communication is a two-way process: Talk AND Listen
 The salesperson must have a good attitude
 Dress, actions, and body language
The customer should always come firstThey have the ability to go
elsewhere for what they require

36.  Open (soft) questioning
 Starts with what, why, when, how, where and who
 Used to elicit information from patients
 Closed (hard) questioning
 Start with other words
 Can be answered by ‘yes’ or ‘no’
 They do not elicit information, but are useful if used at the right time
Questioning Techniques

37.  Can I help you?
◦ Closed question
◦ The customer will usually reply with, ‘No, I’m only looking’.
 How may I help you?
◦ Open question
◦ Cannot be answered by ‘yes’ or ‘no’
 Which of these two items would you like?
◦ Open question
◦ Customer may reply with, ‘Neither of them thank you.’
 Would you like the red item?
◦ Closed question
◦ Will decide if the customer wants the red item or not!
The Use of Open and Closed
Questions

38.  If you need to refer the customer to someone else (e.g.
the pharmacist), give the person you’re referring them
to as much information as possible
◦ Customers do not want to start the whole questioning
process again with someone else
 If the customer has been referred to you by somebody
else, begin the conversation by summarising what you
have been told about their problem
◦ This gives the customer the chance to correct any
information that you may have misunderstood
Questioning Skills (1)

39. Questioning Skills (2)
 The more choice people have, the less likely they are to make a
decision
 Use your questioning skills to narrow down the appropriate choices for
the customer
 This is not reducing their choice, but clarifying what they really need
 Most people do not like to choose between more than two items

40.  Look at the local area
◦ What services are already available?
◦ Is there a gap in the market?
 Look at other pharmacies (your competitors)
◦ Are they successful?
◦ What are they doing differently to you?
◦ You can turn their weaknesses into your strengths
◦ This will help you to attract new customers to your business
How can I be better than my
competitors?

41.  THE END