I was recently invited to speak at Profit Hunter workshop out in Chapel Hill where pharmacist from all over North America and Canada. It was called Pharmacy Owners Boot Camp, and I was honored to be asked to make a presentation. We at ECCHIC have recently developed a program where our proactive cost managers help independent pharmacist connect with the locally owned business owners and municipalities in a way that saves those businesses and organizations thousands of dollars a year and keeps the pharmaceutical business local. As you can imagine, my presentation went over well with this particular audience, and I invite you to watch a segment of it here.
I thank Tony DiRico, Founder & CEO of Profit Hunters, for including me. I also thank him for the interview he did with me, which you can see here.
The entire boot camp was filled with star speakers, but the star of the stars was Don Grove. Don owns J&D Pharmacy with locations in Warsaw and Sedalia Missouri. Don’s business is increasing at two times the national average of an independent pharmacy. His two presentations (How to Build Your Pharmacy and How to Make Money in Your Pharmacy, available for streaming or rental here) were textbook examples of how to compete against the CVS, Walgreen’s, etc., and the online pharmacies. It can be done, and it should be done, because only the local pharmacist can really serve the customers in the area because they are, first and foremost, caring neighbors.
Don’s message dovetailed nicely with mine, as I got to explain how everyone wins when you’re able to cut out the middle man and have business owners/municipalities deal directly with the local pharmacist. As I explain in this article, the small town environment is by its very nature a concise marketplace. Yet too often, small businesses and organizations get themselves into a situation that does not make financial or even logical sense (in this video I discuss a case study of what we did for a school district in Kansas that’s in a community of about 5,000 people). We see companies get entangled in these insurance programs that in reality not only charge premium prices for prescription medicines, but actually end up sending their dollars all over the country causing more paperwork and delays. Most egregious is those prescriptions are filled by mail order houses (at premium prices) instead of being provided by the local independent pharmacist right there in the community.
Finally, I thank all the speakers and attendees at this boot camp, and I’m grateful for the ask – not just because I enjoy speaking about this topic (which I do!), but because by getting out in these situations I learn a lot. Listening to what is really happening to a group like independent pharmacists really helps me serve all my clients better. Thanks again, Tony!
