Dear Colleague,
Do you have an elevator pitch?
A while back, an elevator speech or pitch was a term of art used to describe what you do for a living to a stranger in a way they could understand and relate, in less than a minute or so. Just imagine you're on a moving elevator, and someone asks the inevitable, "What do you do?" Could you answer before the door opens at the next stop?
Most of us could. After all, how long does it take to say, "I'm an independent pharmacy owner."
But does that REALLY describe what you do? It tells the bare-bones story, but what you do as a community pharmacist goes much deeper than that elevator pitch.
There's not a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all term to describe a community pharmacy. Each is unique, shaped and molded by your guidance and innovation as owner. If your community were a jigsaw puzzle with every piece representing a business, and we took your pharmacy piece out of the puzzle, would the picture look different? It definitely would.
Every year, we ask our members to complete our Community Pharmacy Impact Census Survey. We do that because we know that each pharmacy, like each community, is unique. Aggregated and deidentified results of the survey are shared with policymakers and media, so they get a more complete picture of community pharmacy. We want them to understand that you do so much more than fill prescriptions.
Your pharmacy is an integral part of the community you serve. You not only run the pharmacy, but you and your staff live and shop where your patients do. Your kids and grandkids attend the local schools. And you financially support many local organizations and events. We’d like to know more about that. We want to hear about the services you offer. Please help us help you by sharing about your business, your services, and how you relate to the community you live in. Your responses give NCPA the color it needs to paint the picture of the critical role that independent pharmacists play in their communities, as health care providers, employers, and good neighbors.
We know you're busy, so they survey is short and requires no research on your part. It takes only 10 minutes to complete; you can easily do it on your smartphone or tablet. Please complete the survey by Friday, Aug. 13. We're counting on you to help us show the true picture of community pharmacy today.
Best,
B. Douglas Hoey, Pharmacist, MBA
NCPA CEO
