How to improve the professionalism of cannabis pharmacy staff

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Cannabis dispensaries and retailers need to focus on delivering amazing customer experiences in order to stand out in an increasingly competitive industry. Delivering the best customer experiences is an extremely effective way of ensuring your pharmacy has a competitive advantage.

One of the ways you can give your pharmacy an edge when it comes to delivering the best customer experience is to make sure that your staff are highly professional in all customer interactions.

Below are some tips to improve the professionalism of your cannabis pharmacy staff so that your business stands out for all the right reasons.

Rent carefully

Hiring people can be a daunting task, but you need to make a commitment to finding the right people, not some capable body. If you want customers to come back to your pharmacy and talk to other people about how great it is, then you need the right people to create an environment that customers love.

Take your time, write very specific job advertisements and job descriptions, have conversations with lots of people and hire based not only on skills, experience and knowledge, but also on the basis of cultural aptitude. The best candidate on paper may not have the right personality or level of professionalism to create the customer experiences that you want your pharmacy to be known for.

Offer the right benefits

The world has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many people to work from home for more than a year. As a result, workers are looking for other perks and benefits. To attract the best and most professional talent, offer flexible schedules and options for working from home.

The Wall Street Journal reports that remote working is the new sign-up bonus. So be prepared to switch your approach from just offering sign-up bonuses to teleworking and flexible schedules.

Thoroughly on board

Once you’ve hired people, don’t introduce them to customers without guiding them through a thorough onboarding process. Not only do you need to understand the pharmacy’s day-to-day work-related processes, but also sales, customer service, and other soft skills procedures. You need to understand how they behave, what terminology to use, how to deal with difficult customers, and much more.

In other words, from the first day they work for you, you need to have clear expectations of your employees and provide them with clear procedures to ensure they have the appropriate tools to meet your expectations.

Pay more

Think of your own shopping preferences. Would you pay more for a higher quality product and a better customer experience? Lots of people will, and so it makes sense to pay more for higher-quality employees who can deliver the highest quality experiences to your customers.

The simple fact is that if you are not paying more than your competitors, you cannot expect to attract the best candidates for the vacancies. Show the best, most professional applicants that you understand their worth by paying them appropriately.

School and train your employees

You must thoroughly train your staff on all pharmacy processes, cannabis laws, compliance requirements, customer service processes, sales skills, and more. You also need to train them in all aspects of the products you sell.

In addition to all of this training, you need to train your employees to act professionally in all situations. This also includes understanding other people’s sensitivities.

For example, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet, and many people are still sensitive to social distancing and handshakes. Teach your co-workers to respect other people’s personal bubbles and avoid doing things that may make them uncomfortable.

Remember that training is not a one-time thing. You should continuously invest in the training of your employees. This also includes retraining if necessary.

Practice top-down behavior modeling

Behavioral modeling is part of what psychiatrists call social learning theory. Simply put, behavior modeling is a type of observational learning in which someone learns by observing what another person is doing and mimicking their actions.

Behavioral modeling training has become a popular training method for employees, helping employees build skills, learn positive work behaviors and habits, and improve performance. However, behavior modeling is not just about formal training. It’s about going the way and having the conversation. It starts with leadership and extends to every employee.

Recognize your best employees

When an employee delivers an amazing customer experience, take note of it. Recognition is important not only to show employees that you are aware of their efforts and value them, but also to highlight behaviors that other employees should model.

Recognition doesn’t always have to come with monetary or material rewards, so make a habit of thanking your co-workers and telling them when they are doing a great job. Your words can go a long way in keeping employees motivated, productive, and happy – and happy employees usually lead to happy customers.

Make your employees responsible for quality

Quality refers to both the products you sell and the customer’s experience with the behavior and professionalism of your employees. Use a post-purchase survey tool to collect feedback from your customers. You can install kiosks in your pharmacy to collect in-store feedback, or you can share a link to an online survey on your receipts or through email marketing.

How do you know if your customers believe your pharmacy is the best and your reps are providing the best experiences if you don’t ask them? Customer feedback data is critical to tracking how well your employees are doing in the eyes of your customers. It also gives you a way to identify and resolve problems to improve customer loyalty.

Key takeaways to improve the professionalism of cannabis pharmacy staff

You can’t expect employees to deliver the best customer experiences if you don’t hire the right people, guide them through a comprehensive onboarding process, pay them well, train them, recognize them, and hold them accountable for their behavior. Professionalism can be learned and applies to every employee at all levels.

Originally published on 10/15/19. Updated 07/02/21.