Whether it’s the daily afternoon rush or end of financial year sales, there will always be extra busy times in your pharmacy. Making sure you’re ready to handle a busy period comes down to two things: being prepared and remaining calm.
We’ve put together our top ten tips for being cool, calm and collected during a potentially stressful time.
Be prepared:
1. Have you heard the phase, ‘prior preparation prevents poor performance’? It’s true! There’s nothing worse than sale items not on display, or not scanning at the right price. Make a list and circulate with your team on what needs to be completed for your event, assign deadlines and note who is responsible for each task.
2. Make extra supplies easily accessible – you’ll definitely need till rolls, pens, bags, script in pads (and the rest) at some point!
3. Have a copy of the catalogue/sale details handy for reference, so you can answer any customer queries.
4. Prioritise tasks by placing notices on the noticeboard or send a staff email outlining the most important tasks and what should be done first.
5. Managers, brief your staff. If you’re a team member and you haven’t been briefed, you can always ask.
Remain calm:
6. Serve one customer at a time and always acknowledge waiting customers (thank them for waiting, but don’t apologise). When it’s busy, it can become overwhelming and we may inadvertently be a bit short with our customers. Take a breath, remember to ask your protocol questions and provide holistic advice at all times.
7. Support each other, even if it’s just a smile. Keep an eye on your colleagues, they may be dealing with a tough customer and need a hand.
8. Take your tea break even if you feel a bit guilty. Working on an empty stomach and sore feet isn’t good for you or your customers.
9 Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you don’t know the answer to a question.Don’t be offended by cranky customers, they might be having a bad day and they would be cranky at any person serving them, not just you.
10. Don’t be offended by cranky customers, they might be having a bad day and they would be cranky at any person serving them, not just you.
Do you have a tip you’d like to share with your fellow pharmacy assistants? Write it below in the comments!