Lalkiya: Apalachin pharmacy is near Binghampton, New York. We do mainly a retail business with some compounding and we are going to start offering immunizations. We are a local independent that's over 50 years old.

CT: And as Cardinal Leader pharmacy you have access to the interactive training tool that Cardinal offers. What got you started using it?

Lalkiya: My employees are experienced and are generally well trained, but they still can use tips on working in certain situations. Since we don't have access to a professional trainer, and this tool gives everyone the chance to get a sense of what their duties are and how to interact with the other employees and with customers. And they can learn on their own and at their own pace.

CT: What do you and your employees think about the interactive nature of myPharmacyTrainer ?

Lalkiya: I personally think that the fact that it tells you exactly how to act in a situation with images and sound is very good. My employees see and hear what they are supposed to do. This creates very clear guidelines. As the pharmacy owner, I feel more comfortable that employees know what we expect from them. They've seen what we want them to do. The chains and big stores have professionally prepared guidelines and people who are there to train new employees. I can get the same results without having to have those resources.

CT: What are some of the ways proper training impacts your pharmacy?

Lalkiya: There are a number of different modules that we've found helpful. A good example is helping our employees understand the importance of charging the correct cash price so that we can establish a profitable baseline. All my technicians have trained on this to learn about the importance of correct prescription pricing.

There's also an important training tool for clerks, which helps them understand that they shouldn't just tell people where something is, but that they should be customer oriented and to take them to the item that they are looking for. This is a basic, but very important aspect of customer service and the Web training helps our employees understand this. The audio and video means that they can walk through an interaction like this and come away with specific things to say and do when they are helping a customer.

CT: What else have you learned that's helped you make Apalachin Pharmacy more successful?

Lalkiya: From the perspective of being a Leader pharmacy, it can teach you how to participate in this program successfully. For example, it helps you understand the importance of managing your inventory to increase your profits. Or how to find new revenue streams. Also we can see how important it is to cross sell OTCs, which is something the chains are good at and independents need to do more of. There's a unit called "Grow Your Front End Sales," and that's helped us understand the importance of promoting the products we sell when they are appropriate for a customer. My whole staff can learn about this. And getting back to the importance of going with the customer to help pick the product, helping select the product can be a good opportunity to improve your business in a couple of ways. Let's say you sell a generic OTC item that's got a better margin. If you go with the customer, you can show them the savings they will get and at the same time you have the chance to build trust and confidence, because they see the pharmacy staff taking an active interest and helping. As a pharmacist, this kind of interaction also allows you to learn important things about your patients. Maybe you have a diabetic customer who shouldn't be taking a cough medicine that they've selected. If you've been trained to go with them to select an OTC item, you'll find this out and you can advise them.

CT: So training is an important part of creating a high level of service in your pharmacy?

Lalkiya: Yes. We have to be different from a chain and providing this personal touch is the way. You have to make sure you have time to do this, but you also have to have developed the customer service skills through training.

Here are some examples of the screens Jay and his staff use in myPharmacyTrainer: