When working in a pharmacy, one of the many ways to give good customer service is by learning how to sell and being both subtle and effective when you do so. It is important to remember that your pharmacy is there to serve the needs of the community, but it is also a business, and a business must make profits to survive. If your business is not profitable it will not be around for long and not only you but your community suffers the loss.

It is a common misconception that selling something to a customer has little to do with providing a service, but actually if you think about it, this has everything to do with it – when a customer comes into your pharmacy to make a purchase they have a requirement which you can help satisfy with good selling skills.

This does not mean selling items that customers don’t want or need, it means knowing how to ask the right questions. If this is done effectively, the outcome should be that the purchase they are making is appropriate for them and that you have met their needs. This is when you start to build up a relationship with the customer; they soon realise that you have their interests at heart and so you start to build repeat business for your pharmacy.

OBJECTIVES

By the end of this module you will be able to:

• Build lasting customer relationships
• Explain the difference between open and closed questions
• Identify features and benefits of products or services
• Recommend appropriate products to customers

Let's take a quick look at the history of the word sell.

The word first appeared in written English around 725AD, as 'sellan' and at this time had the wider meaning of giving and exchanging for money. The word also appeared in various forms in other languages, but the meaning of the word still centred on giving.

In recent times and largely due to being continually bombarded with unwanted approaches and hard sell telephone calls, selling has come to have a negative meaning, because it has focused on the seller’s advantage and profit. However, good selling focuses on providing goods or services which benefit the buyer.