Every year since inception, Cynthia has sat down and written out one or two major goals for the new year. One year the focus was on compounding. Another year they focused on their regular retail section. Cynthia dove in and figured out how to make the most out of the prescriptions they were doing, whether it was with therapeutic optimizations or finding different wholesalers.  

This past year Cynthia focused on OTC. It was the one focus she hadn’t done yet, and it made sense that it would be the end of her attention if she’s going to go down the list of things to grow in the business. “OTCs really aren’t super profitable typically; Band-Aids, Advil, some Epsom salts, it’s not how you’re going to pay the bills. So, when I decided to focus on OTCs for 2019, CBD and vitamins were the top of our focus. We’ve really been able to grow that area of our business.” 

“Just in 2019, we sold over $215,000 worth of CBD products,” she says with excitement. Cynthia has one employee that is considered their in-house CBD expert. They’ve advertised it more, and she spends a lot of time vetting different companies to make sure she’s putting high-quality products on her shelves. She’s very hands-on and feels it’s a prerequisite for being a successful and honest business owner.   

Sweetgrass has been compounding from the very beginning. As soon as they first opened, compounding was a moneymaker. “I didn’t know how to make money on regular prescriptions. I focused on compounding and that’s really what drove my success for the first four years of my business.”     

Sweetgrass is averaging about 1,200 to 1,300 compounds per month. For a while, compounding equated to 50 to 70 percent of their gross profit margin. It wasn’t until July of 2019 that it balanced out with the prescription side of the business.     

They even have their own, full-time veterinary pharmacist, who’s the only board-certified veterinary pharmacist in the state. They do everything from sharks to gorillas to pet monkeys, and then of course, dogs and cats. “That is a large part of our business, which is super fun and always keeps us guessing. You never know what’s going to walk through that door next.” 

The other thing that Cynthia enjoys about compounding is working with special needs children. No one else will make the medicine the way these patients need it, and Sweetgrass proudly makes it happen. “Whether they need to be dye-free, sugar-free or made into a suspension so it can go through a G-tube or a J-tube, we do whatever it takes to get done.”   

“That’s one of my favorite parts about compounding. We see the change we can make in people’s lives by working with their doctor and adjusting their medications, just a little.”     

Nirmit Patel, Owner of Whiting Pharmacy, details his first three years in business as just a pharmacist who opened a pharmacy. With the help of PDS, Nirmit describes his next two years as “a business owner who just happens to be a pharmacist.” Joining PDS completely shifted Nirmit’s mindset. He’s now focused on growth and making his business as profitable as possible. Many business owners, albeit, have a right to complain, yet within the PDS network, problems are turning into solutions.

After attending the 2019 PDS Super-Conference, Nirmit was ready to sell CBD to his patients. He saw this as an opportunity to present a healthy alternative and grow his sales. “We picked up so many different ideas from direct marketing to having bag stuffers and doing seminars around the town. We just had to communicate with the individual patients. If someone came in with aches and inflammation, instead of giving them Tylenol or Advil, we started talking about CBD.”

Nirmit had his employees go through training to make sure they were educated and well-versed on such a popular product. He wanted to make sure they were aware of different dosing and methods of taking the product. It paid off, as the pharmacy went from non-existent sales to averaging $12,000 – $15,000.

Ninety-nine percent of Whiting’s clientele is Medicare Part D. He was filling more prescriptions than ever, which meant more revenue, but he also needed to make sure he kept his DIR fees as low as possible.

Since it’s impossible to eliminate them, owner, Nirmit, was laser-focused on making sure he kept as much of his hard-earned dollars as possible.

“We just needed to understand it all. Some PBMs are a flat DIR fee, and some are GER or BER. For us, the most important thing was understanding that, and then
making sure that our team, from technician to cashier to the delivery driver, are aware and understand what the DIR fees are and the importance of keeping them under
control.”

Nirmit’s pharmacy is an Amplicare and FDS customer. They use these platforms to keep their scores within the top five percent. “That’s another thing we are very, very proud of. We’re keeping our scores very high and keeping the DIR fees at the lowest we possibly could,” says Nirmit.