A WIN-WIN SOLUTION How $20 and a Competitor Visit Can Enhance Your Pharmacy
What if there were a simple, cost-effective way to spark innovation, improve service, and engage your employees all at once? Enter the Secret Shopper program, a creative approach that motivates employees to learn from competitors while promoting continuous improvement. This isn’t your average training initiative. With just 20 bucks and a trip to a nearby business, employees gain fresh perspectives, discover actionable insights, and develop a sharper eye for what makes a business thrive. It’s a win-win that transforms employees into critical thinkers and your pharmacy into a powerhouse of innovation. WHAT IS A SECRET SHOPPER PROGRAM? A Secret Shopper program is precisely what it sounds like: Employees shop at a competitor or similar business to observe their strengths and weaknesses. Here’s how: Give each participating employee $20 in cash and send them to a competitor. They could spend the money on anything they wanted, but there was one condition: employees had to come back with a list of what the other business did better than us, what they did worse, and any ideas they got during their visit. The best part? Employees can keep whatever they bought with the money, and you get insights into how your pharmacy can improve. All it takes is $20 to boost your team’s creativity, morale, and critical thinking skills! TRAIN EMPLOYEES TO SEE OPPORTUNITIES First things first, you need to understand that recognizing what’s “good” or “bad” in another business isn’t always intuitive. Employees need practice to develop their eye for improvement. We recommend running the program monthly at first, giving employees frequent opportunities to practice observing and analyzing. Over time, their skills will grow stronger, and your team will become better at identifying actionable insights. After about a year, you can slow the frequency but never stop entirely. The key is repetition — employees need to exercise this muscle regularly for it to become second nature. TURN IDEAS INTO ACTION One of the most exciting parts of the Secret Shopper program is what happens when employees bring their
ideas back. Because the suggestions come from them, employees feel a sense of ownership and responsibility.
For example, if someone came back saying, “The other store had music playing, and it made the atmosphere feel more inviting,” your response could be, “Great idea! You’re in charge of implementing that here — figure out what music we should play and make it happen.” This approach creates a positive feedback loop: Employees identify improvements, take ownership of implementing them, and feel rewarded for their contributions. It’s employee development disguised as fun, and it strengthens their sense of responsibility. The Secret Shopper program does more than just generate ideas; it changes how employees think. They start looking at every aspect of your pharmacy — customer interactions, merchandising, atmosphere — with a critical eye. This mindset shift naturally improves their performance on the job. ENDLESSLY EFFECTIVE YET FULLY FOOL-PROOF Running a Secret Shopper program might sound like a small initiative, but the impact is enormous. It creates a simple yet self-sustaining cycle of improvement, boosts employee engagement, and gives you valuable insights into how to stay ahead of the competition. So, why not give it a try? Empower your team, improve your business, and have a little fun along the way. Your pharmacy — and your employees — will be better for it.
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