Running a successful pharmacy requires more than having a vision of what you want your business to be like. It requires strong leadership, endless motivation, and the ability to inspire people. Not everyone is a natural born leader, and you may not even think of yourself as a leader in your pharmacy. But if you’re not the one leading your team, who is?

The absence of leadership within a company creates numerous problems, from frustrated employees to unhappy customers, causing potential financial issues. Even if a role in leadership was not something you envisioned for yourself, it’s essential that you see yourself in one now. Although getting in the right mindset is just the beginning, it’s an important step in becoming a strong pharmacy owner and leader.

What skills does it take to become a strong leader in your pharmacy? Here are four leadership skills every pharmacy owner should master:

1. Effective communication skills

As a leader, it’s important that you know how to communicate effectively with different types of people in a clear and concise way. You need to communicate with your team and customers in a way that evokes motivation and results rather than resentment and anger. Always let your team know what’s going on within your pharmacy and what you expect of them. This includes letting them know what role they play in the company, when they’re not performing to your standards, and how they can improve in the future.

When it comes to your customers, do your best to actively communicate with them when there’s a problem. For example; don’t let a customer wait to come into your store to learn that their prescription isn’t ready or that there was a problem validating their insurance. Be proactive in your communication, and never allow your customers to feel as though you’re hiding something from them.

2. Smart decision-making

As a business owner and leader in your pharmacy, it’s important that you’re able to make quick, confident decisions. The most successful leaders understand the importance of considering many different factors before making a major decision. Whether it’s implementing a new program or adding new employee policies, it’s important to know how to make decisions that will benefit (or hurt) your pharmacy. Also, know when to makea decision on the spot and when to take time to think about it.

3. Active listening skills

There’s a fine line between being a leader and being a dictator. Being a great leader means that you listen just as much as you speak. When you take the time to listen to your employees and your customers, you’ll learn more about your pharmacy than you could ever imagine. When your customers are talking to you, listen to them instead of cutting them off. When an employee approaches you about a concern, spend some time listening to what they have to say instead of acting like it’s not a big deal. When you practice active listening skills, you’ll become a more successful leader for your team.

4. Forward-thinking

Where do you want your company to be a year from now? What about five years? The best leaders are always thinking about the future. It’s important that you think about what you want for your pharmacy and create a plan to help get you there. If you’re not looking forward, you will always be stuck where you are today, and you won’t be able to grow your business.

There are many leadership skills that, when combined, will help you lead your pharmacy unapologetically. By mastering the four skills above, you’ll be a stronger, more successful leader within your pharmacy.

Looking to take your leadership to the next level? Register for our free webinar, Pharmacy Leadership on Fire

Free Webinar: Leadership on Fire

Goals. We all know that they’re important, especially when running a successful business. But, how do we go about actually creating them? The process can be tedious, daunting, time-consuming and an overall challenging process for many independent business owners.

Regardless of the never-ending demand for your time as the chief of your pharmacy, dedicating the time and mental space to defining and outlining the goals you have for your pharmacy is vital. Goals help you prioritize through the day-to-day busyness that happens around your store. However, more importantly than simply having goals to work toward, is having effective goals. Goals that will drive revenue, increase staff and customer satisfaction, and ultimately make you successful. Not sure what makes a goal “effective”? Read on.

Your Goals Should Be: Specif

For goals to be effective, they have to be specific. When you set your goals, you must define the desired outcome expected from reaching each goal. For example, if you want to grow your pharmacy, a specific goal might be, “I want grow my pharmacy by hiring three new staff members by the end of 2015.” Goals should be succinct and phrased in no more than two sentences. They should establish what you’re trying to do, how you’re going to do it, and why you want to do it.

Your Goals Should Be: Challenging

The best goals push your boundaries and challenge you to do more than you thought you could. Challenging goals force you and your team to work harder. They give you extra motivation when you want to give up.

Tip: While everyone loves a good challenge; asking your team for something unattainable will hurt morale.

Your Goals Should Be: Realistic

Although you want your goals to be challenging, they should still be realistic. If you currently have two staff members, saying that you want to hire 20 employees by the end of the year may not be a possibility. Don’t take the challenges too far, and make sure that you can realistically implement your plans. Otherwise, you will exhaust yourself and your team before you see your goals through to completion.

Your Goals Should Be: Positive

Your goals should always be framed in positive terms. Avoid using words such as “hope,” “try,” and “should” when setting goals for your pharmacy, as those terms give you too much wiggle room. As human beings, we’re much better at approaching tasks when they’re positive and definitive. Instead, use words and phrases such as “will” and “are going to.” Use the power of words to succeed.Frame your goals in a positive way that makes you and your team to work toward achieving them. An example of negative language would be, “If I want to increase sales by 25% by the end of 2015, then I can’t give my employees extra benefits or allocate additional budget for marketing.” When you tell yourself that you’re not allowed to do certain things, you’re less likely to be motivated because you feel deprived or limited. Instead, focus on what you do to achieve your goals, and focus on the action items that will help get them across the finish line.

Your Goals Should Be: Flexible

Nothing is written in stone. Always leave room for flexibility when defining your goals. Although you may have your heart set on achieving a goal by a certain date, expect the unexpected. A key employee may resign, forcing you to redirect most of your attention to hiring and training a new employee, instead of adding to your team. When roadblocks get in your way, don’t be discouraged. Instead, take the time to re-adjust your goals based on what is realistic in the present moment.Ensuring that your goals are specific, challenging, realistic, positive, and flexible will give you accountability to continue working towardyour primary goal of growing your pharmacy.Looking to implement goals in your pharmacy but don’t know where to start? Download our free eBook, The Pharmacy Owner’s Guide to an Exceptionally Effective Implementation.

You took the time to research, define, outline and plan your new pharmacy goals. The whiteboard in the breakroom clearly displays your goals for everyone to see, you are proud. Six months later, the goals are mostly erased, and everyone has given up trying to re-write them. The excitement of striving for something has worn off somewhere between the 14-hour days and the consistent stress headache.

American writer, Napoleon Hill famously said, “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” In his book, Think and Grow Rich, he lays the foundation that every goal needs to be successful. The importance of goals goes beyond a feel good metric, goals drive results. Goals gave us the Pyramids in Egypt, the Hoover Dam, the locally-owned coffee shop around the corner, and even your community pharmacy.

If you consistently find yourself erasing your long-forgotten goals from the board, take a look at these six reasons you’re not reaching them:

You’re Not Flexible

You set a goal to increase non-prescriptionsales by 50% in the next six months with the help of a marketing campaign for a new product. You’ve organized plans and just before making the final push to introduce the product to your customers, your marketing director quits and leaves you hanging. Everything comes to a stop, and it doesn’t look like the product introduction is going to happen. You can wait to hire another marketing person, but if you do that, you won’t meet your goal.

On the other hand, you can tackle the situation yourself, delegate marketing responsibilities and empower your team to make sure the marketing program still runs as planned. An inflexible pharmacy owner would push off the goal and blame it on the person quitting. A flexible owner, on the other hand, would adapt and change course, doing what is needed to make sure the goal and deadlines are met.

You’re Practicing Weak Time Management

There never seems to be enough hours in the day! Your to-do list is filled with pharmacy operational responsibilities, running errands, picking up the kids from school, time at the gym, and date night with your spouse. With all these daily tasks, how is it possible to meet your goals and move your pharmacy forward? The fact is, everyone has the same 24 hours in each day and prioritizing those hours is what makes the difference. Can your pharmacy manager handle the errands? Can you fit your workout in during the morning hours? Finding the extra time in your day will help you schedule tasks that effectively help you achieve your goals. This is why time management is a vital skill for accomplishing even the smallest goals and helping to push your pharmacy toward success.

You’re a Habitual Procrastinator

Setting goals and putting ideas into motion is going to change the way you do things. Sometimes the added stress of your daily activities will make you want to postpone the progress necessary for reaching your goals. Procrastination is the enemy of completing your goals, but it must be conquered. Pick a start and end date to accomplish your goal, and then make sure to hold yourself and your team accountable to achieving it.

You’re Suffering from Poor Planning

Let’s say you set a goal to open a new pharmacy location by the end of the year. That’s great, but how are you going to accomplish that? You’re at point A. How do you get to point B? You must plan a strategy for how you’re going to accomplish your goal. Break it up into smaller goals and assign each one a deadline. Budget money for the new lease, hire a contractor for building renovations, apply for your permits, and hire staff. All of these are smaller goals that will help you accomplish the larger goal at hand. These smaller bite-size goals will keep you moving forward and keep you on top of your schedule.

You Have a Lack of Clarity

Setting a goal is fantastic, but for it to be effective, you must be clear with your intentions. Goals like, “I want to make more money,” “I want to learn a foreign language,” or “I want to open a new pharmacy location” are too vague. Not being specific inhibits you from breaking down your goal into steps. How much money do you want to make? Which foreign language do you want to learn? When and where do you want to open that new pharmacy? Once you have clearly defined those goals, you will be able to create an action plan for their implementation.

Your Drive & Motivation Are Slowing

You’re a pharmacy owner. You work long hours, and you lead a great team of employees. You’ve done a lot in your career, and you are fairly satisfied with your life. Is it possible that you are not driven enough for accomplishing your goal? The difference between wanting something and having enough drive to see plans through to completion is in the ability to sacrifice. Do you want to extend the south wall of your pharmacy to make room for additional aisle space but don’t have the capital to make that happen right now? How are you going to overcome that obstacle? You could take on investors, throw a paid health fair, or sell additional retail products. If you want something badly enough you’ll find ways to make it happen.

If you aren’t moving forward, you’re falling behind. The pharmacy industry is highly competitive and as an owner, you should be continually improving your brand, your team, and yourself. Setting goals is the first step in that direction, but it’s not enough. You need to formulate a plan and break down your goals piece by piece, so they are easily digestible. Remember, a goal without action is a dream. Don’t be just a dreamer. Be the pharmacy owner who overcomes obstacles, has a plan, manages time, and puts the wheels of success into motion. For additional resources on how you can effectively achieve your pharmacy goals, download this free ebook, The Pharmacy Owner’s Guide to Exceptionally Effective Implementation

When you think about the word “upsell”, you may think of sketchy salespeople trying to fill their pockets by selling you things you don’t need or want. Unfortunately, this does happen, but it’s not a true reflection of what it really means to upsell and cross-sell with your customers.

Although your primary focus should be to provide extraordinary patient care, it’s also important that you sell to become profitable and to keep your doors open. The majority of what you sell are prescription drugs, but you likely offer other products such as, over the counter medications, vitamins, and convenience merchandise. So, how do you sell these products and increase revenue without your customers feeling like you’re pushing products on them? The answer lies in upselling and cross-selling.

But first, what do cross-selling and upselling actually mean? To put it simply, cross-selling is selling a different product to an existing customer, while upselling is offering more of the same product or a more expensive version. When used properly, both of these techniques help you customize your customers’ shopping experience to their specific needs and potentially boost your revenue.

Increase Customer Satisfaction

This isn’t just a sales tactic; it’s a part of good customer service that can help you build deeper relationships with your customers by delivering more value. Let’s say when they come in to pick up their monthly vitamins, you tell them if they purchase two months at a time they get a discount. Or, if you want to cross-sell, you remind them that it’s flu season, and they can get their flu shot in your pharmacy without an appointment. You just exhibited that you are committed to your customers’ needs.

Increase Customer Retention

Retaining customers saves you money, especially when compared to the cost of attracting and earning new ones. When your customers feel like they are valuable, they will keep coming back. Each upsell or cross-sell opportunity can increase the lifetime value of your loyal customers, paying off for many years to come.

Increase Your Revenue

This one is obvious. Selling more merchandise, and more expensive merchandise, is more profitable. Whether purchasing a name brand product instead of generic or adding a pack of vitamins to their cold medicine purchase, when your customers makes a larger purchase, your revenue increases. And that’s good news for everyone!

If you are not offering additional products or services to your customers, you are leaving money on the table. Upsells and cross-sells are an easy win for growing your bottom line and accelerating your path to profit. As an independent pharmacy owner, you need to do what you can to stay competitive with the larger chain stores. There are lots of upselling techniques out there, and determining which ones to use will depend on your style and your customers’ needs.

To give you some fresh ideas, download our free eBook “3 Innovative Ways to Compete in the Pharmacy Market.”