Have you just started your pharmacy business ? Have you had it for years ?Do you know your bottom line?

by | Nov 13, 2013 | Blog

How many of you are so busy doing your day to day job that you are blissfully unaware of your bottom line? What do you clear after all  your costs on a daily basis ? What should you charge per hour if you were asked to carry out some work for somebody else? We are so down trodden by stories of pharmacists working for nothing and working for dispenser rates that we sometimes forget our worth.

I was sailing at the weekend with a project manager who works on many different projects and he said he charges £250 and hour ! That is great I  said  and when I challenged him , he detailed all his costs and justified his fee. It is about time that pharmacists did the same. Look at the cost of running your pharmacy and the cost of your staff and of providing a quality service. When you are preparing bids for work or to advise a GP surgery or CCG make sure you do not sell yourself short. I think many pharmacists would be shocked at how much their running cost are. Have you produced a robust business plan with solid projections and a budget. Start with your last  years figures and produce a detailed SWOT analysis to help you focus, develop robust projections and then feed these into your business plan for 2014. Make time to sit  down monthly and review your business plan and progress, feed in your actual figures, review and amend as necessary. If you are slipping behind then take time to find out why ? Ask you staff, carry out a customer questionnaire and action  your findings. If what you are doing is not working then change it. Standing still is not an option. There are many willing providers willing to take on your customers. Set  yourself  “SMART ” objectives and  if you achieve them easily then make them harder….drive up your bottom line.

Testimonials

Jackie is very knowledgeable, I have learnt so much from her in so little time. Thank you Jackie for being a fountain of knowledge!
Mahmuda Kahatun superintended pharmacist