With a trained representative focused on building relationships with community prescribers, pharmacies have the opportunity to significantly expand the way they do business.
Adding a trained and focused sales and marketing team member has the potential to pay dividends, Palm Harbor Pharmacy owner Nicolette Mathey, PharmD, explained during a presentation at the National Community Pharmacists Association’s 2022 Annual Convention. Specifically, by detailing and tracking even 5 doctors in the community, pharmacies can create opportunities to stock items that doctors commonly recommend to their patients or provide surgical kits for doctors’ clinics.
“There’s always more and more and more to do with your physical marketing and your digital marketing,” Mathey said. “But do all the prescribers in your area know all the products and services your pharmacy offers? Because you do more than you think.”
Mathey noted that often when talking about the field of marketing, people often think of websites or search engine optimization.
“But really what I like the most is physical marketing, so a floor doctor detailing relationships. But that can be intimidating, so we’re going to break it down,” Mathey said.
A starting point when approaching the doctor’s details is to move away from thinking about what the pharmacy could do for that doctor and focus instead on asking questions about what they do for their practice, Mathey explained.
“When we go, we ask a lot of questions. We don’t just tell them all about us and what we do,” Mathey said. “We ask the prescriber questions: ‘What are you currently prescribing for,’ ‘Are you currently prescribing for compounds,’ ‘Are you using any other pharmacies?’ Many of them ship compounds out of state, and this is an easy target in your area. You can go make that connection and that relationship, and tell them, ‘Oh, I can do that.'”
Mathey explained that by learning more about the specifics of the prescriber’s job and prescribing patterns, the pharmacy can better stock products specific to their patients’ needs.
“We work with a lot of podiatrists in my area, this was just our opportunity,” Mathey said. “So we were able to develop really strong programs around podiatry in that niche.”
Mathey noted that through her work with podiatrists in her area, she learned that there are many different types of podiatry specialties, from podiatry surgeons to other types of podiatry doctors. However, a similar problem arose in his discussions with all of them.
“There are different types of podiatrists, and a lot of them will send patients online for compression socks or online for wound care and things. I said, ‘No, no, no, don’t send your patients online. or Amazon or something”. Send them to us. We know everything you like and your protocol for your surgeries. We’ll make you the surgical kit, so send them to us, we’ll measure them, we’ll keep everything whatever you want in stock,” Mathey said.
However, Mathey noted that it’s important to strike a balance with the prescriber’s clinic in terms of what they have in stock to sell to patients and what they don’t.
“So I won’t sell shoes to patients if the clinic sells shoes. Whatever they offer, I won’t offer. That’s why it’s so important to partner with local prescribers in your area, so anything they can’t provide their patients who send in the retail, the product, the supplement, next to the prescription, they’ll send it. for us,” Mathew said.
However, the areas of focus will be different for each pharmacy, as not all pharmacies will have a significant number of podiatrists practicing nearby, Mathey explained. Regardless, the pharmacy’s marketing strategy must align with its patients, prescribers and payers if it is to gain traction.
“As you can imagine, every pharmacy we work with across the country is different,” Mathey said. “All marketing strategies are totally different for all these pharmacies. I really feel like no two are the same.”
reference
Mathey N. Marketing Representative: The Staff Role You Never Knew You Always Needed. Kansas City, MO: National Association of Community Pharmacists 2022 Annual Convention; October 2, 2022.
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