Its Time For A Paradigm Change
Change is coming at us at from all directions.?With all the challenges facing the industry it’s easy for anyone to become overwhelmed, discouraged; and, dare I say burnt-out??
Perhaps a paradigm change will help you more effectively handle these challenges.?Years ago, it was my privilege to attend Brigham Young University and take a class from an impressive, but yet little know professor, Stephen Covey.?In 1973, the idea for his block buster book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, was not even a gleam in his eye.?But, some of the concepts he taught then ended up in his book.
One such idea was a concept he called, A Paradigm Change.?At the heart of this idea is to take the same facts, but look at them from a different perspective. In, The 7 Habits, ?Covey illustrates the concept by telling how he took a subway ride on a business trip to New York City.?On the ride a man with 2 young children was also in the same car.??The children were behaving badly, jumping on the benches and making a nuisance of themselves.?
Covey says he looked at the father with disdain wondering how it was he did not control his children.?As he did so the father looked up and realized what had been happening.?He apologized and explained that he and the children had just come from spending the night at a nearby hospital where their mother had passed away.? Instantaneously everything changed, even though, none of the facts had.?
So, you say, what’s your point? ?
The phone rings and Sally says she can’t come in today.?Patients give you anxious looks wondering why its taking so long to get their prescription.?Work loads are up but the home office still cuts back your hours.?If you own your pharmacy, you find yourself working longer and harder for less of a reward.
For these and numerous other reasons one often hears industry observers say the future of retail pharmacy is bleak.?But, is it really?
When I hear predictions that independent pharmacy is dead, I think back on the first sales calls I made only months after listening to Covey’s lecture on paradigm change.?Within weeks of graduating, in August 1973, I started working for the J. B. Roerig Division of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. My first task was selling a line of cough and cold products to independent pharmacies in North Dakota.?As I made my calls, I was shocked to hear so many owners complain about how bad the future looked for them.?The reason, the makers of Robitussin changed their policy and decided to let chain drug stores sell the profitable line.????
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For forty-nine years I have been told independent pharmacy is dying.??Yes, I know that since 1973 tens of thousands of them have closed.?And, in the past few years that same trend has even crept into chain pharmacy.
The facts can’t be denied, things are tough.?Yet, somehow, some owners take these same facts, but by looking at things differently, they find ways to make their pharmacies profitable.?I know this is happening because I visit them on my road trips and for the past two years I have interviewed dozens of them on my podcast show. You can listen to it at: www.PharmacyCrossRoads.com
Take, for example, Shahida Choudhry, PharmD, owner of The Palms Pharmacy in Tampa, Florida. She opened a brand-new, start from scratch, pharmacy six years ago and is doing so well she is already planning to open another.?But she does far more than fill prescriptions. Here's a link to her website: www.thepalmspharmacy.com/ and one to the podcast I did with her in March, 2022:
Then there’s Kyle McCormick, owner of Blueberry Pharmacy in the Pittsburg, Pennsylvania area.?He has gone to an all-cash model. That’s right, no PBM hassles. ?McCormick is meeting with so much success he is now helping others emulate his model.???Information on his remarkable pharmacy can be found on his website: www.blueberrypharmacy.com/
These owners, and hundreds of others, all have the same challenges as every other retail pharmacy but they have found a way to do "a paradigm change“?and find a new, more and better ways to practice. ?
I think you can do it too. Here's hoping something I've said here will help you do more and be better. ??