I’d like to start with a disclaimer: This is not Wally World and no guards were held hostage during our recent visit to Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ. This was opening day and coincidently, I drove my family nearly 3 hours to visit this park a couple of weeks ago on what turned out to be the first open park day of the spring. In what could have (should have) been one of the best amusement park experiences of a lifetime, ended up with many twists, turns, and business lessons along the way.

Every year the U.S. experiences cough and flu season, and with outbreaks beginning as early as October, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has already predicted that this year’s flu season will last until May of 2016. There’s a good chance you’ll be impacted directly or indirectly by the flu this year as it is estimated that between 5% and 20% of U.S. residents get the flu each year. 

If you have young kids, you probably have a home filled with coughing right now. When talking to friends and professionals about giving kids medicine, it’s interesting to me that so many adults have vivid memories about themselves taking medicine as a kid. With 2 young boys of my own (age 4 & 7), it’s interesting to hear everyone’s Medicine-time fail stories when it comes to administering bad tasting liquid to their sick kids, so I wanted to share these tips to help lessen the stress of medicine time at home.

In the testimonials that I’ve recently heard, some of the common themes associated with giving kids medicine have included wrestling, a game of hide & seek, squeezing your kid’s cheeks open, and even tears from parents and kids when things get really challenging. If you are looking for a better solution, I’ve compiled 5 tips to consider implementing into your kids’ medicine-time routine.

There is an old saying, “You don’t get a 2^nd chance to make a 1^st impression”. Sure it’s cliché, but oftentimes the first impression a potential new customer of an independent pharmacy (or any locally owned business) is the signage above the front door. I’ve collected countless numbers of business cards at tradeshows where an independent pharmacy uses their store name alongside an old image of a classic mortar & pestle. While we all know this symbolizes the very root of pharmacy and quickly identifies with the public as a place to pick up prescriptions, your image could be perceived as a bit outdated with today’s customers, especially the Millennial generation.

You don’t need to wait for Paul Revere to announce that the U.S. has a new generation of consumers. This generation has already surpassed the Baby Boomers to become the largest in the country’s history at 75 Million strong. However, if Revere were to make another historic ride today announcing the arrival of the Millennial generation, you may expect to hear something along the lines of “Text if by Land, Tweet if by Sea”.

We all know that star ratings in pharmacy are tied to patient outcomes but the star ratings we are talking about are related to improving online reviews. We are clearly in an experience based economy right now, and the Millennial generation of consumers love to share those retail experiences online through social networks and online review sites like, Yelp. As a small business owner, you must be aware of your online reviews/ratings as this can make or break your reputation in your community.

Think about this for a second, 10-15 years ago you may have told 6-8 friends, family, & neighbors about a very positive or negative customer experience over a dinner party or on the sidelines of a youth soccer field. In today's world, each customer interaction has the potential to permanently be rated online for tens of thousands of people to see. Some of the more elaborate reviews such as "United Breaks Guitars" have gone viral with millions of views.