Remember your customer is king: Every pharmacy should set clear key performance indicators (KPIs) for customer service. Include things that mean more to your customers than you think, like waiting times and owings. 

It’s always good to have an understanding of what your customers think of your service. You could ask a third party to conduct a survey on your behalf, or run an anonymous online version, where customers are more likely to tell the truth. The best way to improve is by training staff and looking for innovations in workflow to reduce the impact on customers waiting longer than they might want to, or having to come back another time. 

Learn constantly

An entrepreneur never ceases to learn from your own mistakes or - even better - from the mistakes of others. Formal study is an effective way of examining lessons of business success and failure and should not be discounted. A four-year degree course makes us into a pharmacist, but a business degree or diploma can add valuable business learning. 

Think laterally

New ideas and initiatives don’t appear out of thin air, so it helps to develop your ‘blue sky’ or lateral thinking skills. Our minds tend to think segmentally because we mostly use only one side of our brains, while it is the other lobe that gives us the ability to think creatively. 

Try using a ‘mind map’ to help you think when embarking on any project. This can be done with a pen and paper, although digital versions of mind mapping tools are available. It’s amazing how a simple technique can help you offload your thoughts, experiences and learnings onto a blank sheet of paper.

Pause to reflect

• Think about what you currently do each day. Make a list of the key activities.
• Now tick those you positively enjoy doing, and put a cross next to those you do not. Consider how you might increase the number of ticks and reduce the number of crosses on your list. For the crosses, can you delegate tasks to others to free up time for more enjoyable work? And are there any items missing from the list that you need to make time for, which you would enjoy doing. Make notes of your conclusions.