Chapter 1: Good Customer Service

Customer

• a person or business that buys goods or services from a business

Customer Service

• 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

• assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or service

Good Customer Service

• should provide a positive, polite and caring attitude towards customers

Order, Dispense, Advise and Return of Goods

What are the four (4) Principles of Pharmacy Customer Service:

Establish a connection with the customer

• a positive connection established with the customers eases and hastens transactions, which brings about positive results

• the opportunity to establish this connection happens at the moment you face the customer

Excellent standard of care

• pharmacists follow medical standard of care such as evidence-based guidelines and protocols on dispensing medications

Excellent standard of care

• the standards must not compromise what is right and legal to what patients want, such as dispensing antibiotics without prescriptions

Excellent standard of care

• patients must be involved in the standard of care on having the right diagnosis or right pharmaceutical care intervention

Good Attitude and Empathy

• pharmacists should ensure maintaining ________ and _______ to patients amidst consumerism of goods, especially on health supplements which have no approved therapeutic claims

Professionalism and Loyalty

• includes clear, respectful, and accurate communication. This helps in accurately understanding customer needs and effectively conveying information, which minimizes misunderstandings and errors

Professionalism and Loyalty

• maintain professional branding in your attire and attitude in dealing with a patient to gain respect and earn loyalty from the customers, which is good for business

Anticipate, prepare and smile

• this method ensures that:

  • you are ready to handle carious scenarios and customer requests efficiently

  • you create a positive and engaging environment that makes customers feel valued and respected

Create a Positive Environment

• a positive attitude is the key to good customer service

• helps clear the mind to facilitate faster thinking, and smart and fast actions

• this mindset we show to our customers helps relieve the pain they feel from their illness, or the pain they feel for their loved ones who need the medicines you are dispensing

Listen to your customers

• this helps us know their needs

• let the customers finish talking before you speak

Attention to details

• paying closer attention to details is a crucial factor to winning the heart of the customer

• also involves being meticulous and thoughtful in every interaction and task

Interpersonal Communication

• it is a face to face communication between two or more people where they exchange information, feelings, ideas, thoughts and emotions

Verbal or Non-verbal

Interpersonal Communication can be __________ or _________

Pharmacy Environment

Barriers to Pharmacist-Patient Communication:

• physical layout identified as a major problem in the pharmacy includes high counters, glass partitions, inadequate space for counseling area, and other design flaws that make counseling difficult

Pharmacy-related barriers

Barriers to Pharmacist-Patient Communication:

• include lack of rigid training and formal education in patient counseling, on top of low confidence, lack of objectivity, poor counseling skills, inability to formulate structured questions to ask their patients, lack of knowledge, fear and conflict with the physician

Patient-related barriers

Barriers to Pharmacist-Patient Communication:

• some patients do not want to be counseled, are uninterest or sometimes in a hurry.

• some are embarrassed of being counseled about their medications

Informational barriers

Barriers to Pharmacist-Patient Communication:

• common problems are lack of management support on patient counseling activities, enforcement of the law for pharmacists to counsel and to manage information as a regulatory requirement

Miscellaneous Barriers

Barriers to Pharmacist-Patient Communication:

• these include concerns on liability, lack of documentation of medication profile for patients in community pharmacy, and lack of opportunity for more engagement with the patient

Intercultural Communication

• ability to effectively interact with customers from diverse cultural backgrounds

• recognizing differences helps in interacting with customers in a manner that respects their cultural context

Listen, Explain, Acknowledgement, Recommend and Negotiate Treatments

Mnemonic:

LEARN

LEARN

Purpose:

• this mnemonic allows pharmacists to build trust, open communication, and negotiate treatment with patients

SOLER

Purpose:

• Allows pharmacists to convey a sense of respect to their patients and foster their trust

Squarely face the patient use Open posture, Lean toward the patient, maintain Eye contact, and Relax while communicating

Mnemonic:

SOLER

ETHNIC

Purpose:

• pharmacists can use this to have patients describe their illness, which treatments they have tried, and whether they have sought advice or help from the folk healer. Both the pharmacist and the patient work congruently to encompas

Explanation, Treatment, Healers, Negotiate, Intervention agreement, and Collaboration

Mnemonic:

ETHNIC

BATHE

Purpose:

• allows pharmacists to provide brief counseling intervention, addressing psychosocial issues surroundings the problem which assess the problem and supports the patient’s needs and feelings at the same time

Background, Affect, Trouble, Handling, and Empathy

Mnemonic:

BATHE

The Patient Customer

Different Types of Customers:

• they are the ones who line up in the drugstore and patiently wait for their turn to be attended to

• they take time to listen during patient counselling and so they are able to receive important information about their medicine

The Talkative Customer

Different Types of Customers:

• quite candid in conversation are also common

• being talkative in the sense of being communicative is certainly a good thing especially if the customer is communicating the status of their health, how they are responding to their prescription medicines, and if they are experiencing any adverse effects with their drugs

The Demanding Customer

Different Types of Customers:

• the right amount of being demanding is an attitude that any customer must learn to have

• after all, the money you pay for any product or service is hard-earned money

The Unhappy Customer

Different Types of Customers:

• angry customers or unhappy customers are those who have had a negative customer experience with your business, resulting in frustration or dissatisfaction

• dealing with unhappy customers requires empathy, patience, and a proactive approach to resolving their issues

The Indifferent Customer

Different Types of Customers:

• this is a type of customer who walks into the drugstore and do not care at all whether you put out good (or bad) service for them