Inside: Independent pharmacies today overcome major challenges to keep the doors open. Here’s why you don’t want to skip recognizing the business milestones your pharmacy has achieved.
When’s the last time you celebrated an accomplishment at your pharmacy?
We’re not talking about birthday and Christmas parties. We’re talking business accomplishments, like reaching your revenue goals.
Business milestone celebrations aren’t just an excuse to have fun. They’re a good business decision.
Here are some business milestones you could celebrate:
- Opening a new pharmacy location
- Business anniversary
- Starting a new service
- Reaching your profit goals
- Reaching your patient quota goals
- Finishing renovations
You might think it’s a waste of time and money to gather together to celebrate a business milestone.
But actually, it’s a waste to skip the celebration.
Here’s why your independent community pharmacy should celebrate business milestones.
See how far you’ve come and where you want to go
Milestone markers line the side of every highway. Before GPS, you used those mile markers to measure your pace. So, you’d know whether you were at a good place to stop for food or if you needed to push the pedal to the floor.
Without the markers, you wouldn’t know how far you had to go or how far you’d come.
When you’re busy tending to the daily grind of running a business, you can forget to look up and see where you are.
Business milestones serve as signposts for you to gauge the distance your business has traveled and what it’ll take to reach your final destination.
Motivate you to move forward
Nothing is a better motivator than progress.
Research from the Harvard Business Review found that “of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work. And the more frequently people experience that sense of progress, the more likely they are to be creatively productive in the long run.”
Celebrating business milestones is a great way to recognize your pharmacy’s accomplishments. So you and your employees can feel a sense of progress.
Think of business milestones as energy boosters for you and your employees. The more milestones you celebrate, the more energy you’ll have to move forward.
Celebrate business milestones to keep yourself and your employees motivated.
Improve employee engagement
To truly engage employees, you need more than nice benefits and an end-of-the-year Christmas party.
Employees need to feel involved in the business in a meaningful way.
When you celebrate business milestones with your employees, you communicate that they’re integral to its success.
It makes them feel valued.
Celebrations also foster relationships and positivity, which are crucial to employee satisfaction and morale. Business milestones are a perfect excuse to bring everyone together for some well-earned social time.
Market your pharmacy
Some milestones are big enough to invite the whole neighborhood.
When you throw a community celebration for a significant business milestone, you make patients aware of your pharmacy’s success. And, you build their confidence in your business.
For example, a 50-year anniversary party will remind patients that your pharmacy offers unmatched experience and expertise. And, they’ll know they can rely on your pharmacy.
And, as a communal activity, the celebration further emphasizes your pharmacy’s commitment to your community.
It also reminds patients that your pharmacy is a part of their community. CVS and Walgreens can’t say that.
Set more business milestones
You can’t celebrate a milestone if you haven’t set a milestone.
It’s easy to become complacent with the status quo. And to continue doing things the same way you always have. Sometimes that’s simply a result of not having anything to work toward.
Setting milestones gives you goals to achieve.
Because if you don’t keep moving forward, you’re going to fall behind.
Make your work more rewarding
The moral here is age-old: Stop and smell the roses.
If you keep plowing from one goal to the next, you’re going to root up all the roses before you even have a chance to look at them.
And you may burn yourself out.
Your work should feel rewarding.
It’s good for your health, and for your happiness. Like walking out of a cold, stale office into the heat and warmth of the sun.
If you don’t stop for a moment to bask in your achievements, you’ll miss the reward for your hard work.
Make a good business decision by celebrating your pharmacy’s business milestones.
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