CASE STUDY: IMPROVING CUSTOMER

SERVICE AT SUNPHARMA PHARMACIES

DAYANGKU SITI ZULAIHA BINTI AWANG MARBAWI

(823574)
NUR LIYANA BINTI ZALKERI
(824111)

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (BSMH 5133)

MASTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
SUBMISSION DATE: 23 FEBRUARY 2020
Questions for Improving Customer Service in Sunpharma Pharmacies

1. What are the problems that Sunpharma is currently facing?

According to the case study, Sunpharma Pharmacy is a retail pharmacy that opened in 1998
in Slovakia. In 2009, they changed new management because of the founder sell their
company and the new management changed their place to another places that suitable for
their company. Their problems was discovered by Linda Dolinova which is their Human
Resource Manager. It’s started arise when Linda looked over the result from the mystery
shopper that conducted by a month earlier. The results shows that they have deficiencies
in customer services. Linda point of view says that it’s a normal if their can’t provide good
customer service skills since they were not trained in such things in school, on it but in
other hand, this skills are important for Sunpharma Pharmacy to strengthen their new
corporate strategy. Therefore, due to the problems that have been arise, Linda have been
thinking to meet their CEO to discuss and to convince their CEO to come out with decision
that can solve the problems. The first thing that we can see in this is, Linda have thought
that their staff need proper training regarding customer service since that customer service
in this retail pharmacy means that they are the person who have direct contact with
customers which is face to face.

2. Do you think training is the appropriate solution for the problems?

What we can see in this case study, their staff is lack of training regarding how to serve
their customer. Therefore, training is a one of solutions that company can use to make their
staff more knowledgeable and have compentencies to compete with their competitor. First
thing what human resources department can do is, to identify their staff knowledge and
skills so that they can know what training that suitable for their staff and also suitable for
different job and task. Other than that, coaching and counseling also can make better staff
in future. Since pharmacist been regarded as trusted medical specialist, the workers should
be knowledgeable regarding the effectiveness, side effect, prices, and know how to
differentiate the medicine differences according to different brands and also know
 customers financial problems and know how to suggest the products to them especially for
the old folks. To maintain their loyal customers, they have to provide the real information
and this is also can avoid any complaints and claims from customers. Other than training,
Linda identify more solutions that’s meets the problems so that their retail staff can serve
their customers better in future.

3. Describe the process that Linda used to identify training needs ?

In the whole view in this case study, what we can see in Sunpharma new store concept is
self-service which is every product was put in shelf so customer can view and see whats
the best from them regarding what brands they wants using the information in product
packaging but before buying, pharmacy staff will consult and give the best suggestion for
them. This concept will make customers more relax and easy to choose and calling for help
if their needs it. The products also the main thing to attracts customers, Sunpharma provide
wide range of products in lot of brands which is vitamins, cosmetics, sanitary goods, and
also personal health and hygiene.

To all this, what Linda can conclude is, first they have to improve in terms of recruit their
staff. They have to find staff that can always upgrade their knowledge and skills in
pharmacy fields because of the product will always increase and changing time by time.
So their staff should have sufficient skills and willing to learn. After the recruitment
process, what Linda planning to do is, send them for training to increase their knowledge
and skills in pharmacy fields. What human resources department have to do is, identify
what basic needs in training that they want to provide.

In terms in pharmacy fields, first thing they have to know the vitamins or medicine that
should be sell by them and also they have to know what products that suitable for each of
their customers. Staff should read products flyers and know how to identify the differences
between others products that they sell. Basically this how to increase the knowledge about
what pharmacy do and increase the sell.
The other training needed is, how to make your staff know how to deliver the information
and know how to analyze customers problems. Staff also should have good communication
skills towards customers so that customers can understand their explanation. It is good if
company can recruit a pharmacy student to be their staff this is because they learn it and
have basic knowledge regarding pharmacy fields this also to avoid any problem in future.
This is important because pharmacy also provide health screening in their store so it should
someone that knowledgeable to handle to read the results. Even though they think that they
can just pick any person to be their staff but its sure takes time because it’s not easy to
make people understand the products.

Through the company mission’s, Linda can find that they have to achieve company goals
they have to provide strongest customer service department. This is because of customer
service is the key to get loyal customers and to build strong relationships and to get wide
network.

The result from mystery shopper program shows that pharmacist lack of communication
skills, did not detect customer needs, fails to give adequate information on the product,
only half of the pharmacies provide a welcoming smiles and “thank for visiting”, no
pharmacist offered detail about the loyalty program and pharmacist slacked in physical
apprearence.
4. What specific competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes) does Sunpharma need to
support its strategic initiatives?

The specific competencies that Sunpharma need is in term of customer relationship. They
should emphasize on customer experience aspect. They should promotes superior customer
services. Based on the mystery shopper report, it mention that the thing that is lack is on
the soft skill. In order to effectively improve that, Sunpharma must groom their pharmacies
in term of knowledge and skills. The pharmacist should have the skills as personal advisor
and medical consultant. They should establish trusted pharmacist and patient relationship.
Customer Satisfaction Servey is needed in order to identify and understand the customer
needs and expectation.

The quality of services that they offer must exceed the competitor service offering. They
were on the right track when they offer more services such as complementary wellness
services such as blood pressure and cholesterol screening, fat measurements, and
dermatology advice.

Self-service element is the competencies Sunpharma need to support its strategic initiative.
Only prescription medications required the help of a pharmacist. This allowed customers
to examine the products on the shelves closer and at their leisure, reading the information
on the package and comparing brands and ingredients.

At traditional pharmacies, customers waited in line to speak with a pharmacist and there
was implied pressure to complete their transactions quickly, without purchasing additional
products. The open space pharmacies allowed a more relaxed atmosphere where
pharmacists could assist in selection of both prescribed and self-service products, after the
customer perused the aisles.

In addition to an assortment of OTC medications, the open space shelves contained

nutrition and vitamin supplements, cosmetics, common sanitary goods, and other items for
 personal health and hygiene. This is to satisfy the need of prescription and non-prescription
customer segment, whether it is face to face and over the counter or self service station at
the store.

They should create new value for new or existing customer with loyalty program. They
should advancing and design an attracting customer loyalty program that could maintain
the relationship between Sunpharma and their customers.

The differentiation from competitor could be one of competencies that needed. They should
maintain high quality product mix of hygiene and cosmetics and should target wider
assortment than industry average.

In terms of talents, they should high quality employees and develop effective recruiting
method. They should choose the right candidates especially a pharmacist which is crucial
for their business continuality. Besides, the important of high quality employees should be
prioritize by provide industries leading compensation and benefits.

In terms of development and leadership, Sunpharma should expand employee’s

knowledge, skills and abilities. This could be measure by their action in encourage
enrolling the program at Comenius University and in house trainings. This will indirectly
build a positive attitude of employee towards their works and in the same time increase
productivity in the workplace and contribute to company success.

5. What should Linda propose to the CEO, to show him that the benefits of a training program
would yield more than its costs?

Linda should purpose him a well-designed training system could help increase the
competitiveness of the company substantially. They should aim for goals of education,
which creating an environment that supports learning, and create a systemic approach to
the training activities, identify training needs, select the right mix of training methods and
the methods of assessing the effectiveness of the training process.

The company need to lay out what kind of training is needed and for whom, and also which
training methods would be the most appropriate and should try to combine “on the job”
methods with “off the job” training sessions. The company made an important step toward
developing a training system by their decision to use a competency approach. We created
competency-based job descriptions for all positions in the company. So we should also
think about competency-based training.

This should serve as a linchpin to employee training and development. It assists in

identifying the competencies for certain positions and helps to identify important
competencies that they should be focusing on and developing in the employees. It is these
competencies that should be integrated into the training system and learning plans. This
approach is also a way to ensure that they are training people in something that is really
important for their work. Developing these skills and characteristics should lead to
improved effectiveness and productivity, but more importantly, increased satisfaction for
our customers and patients will ultimately be reflected in improved sales results.

Regarding industry trends and the mystery shopping initiative, so both sides understood
the need for some kind of system that would provide continual training of employees in
the organization. The reports highlighting the need for customer relations skills or the
behavioral deficiencies in Sunpharma’s current pharmacy employees.

Building a coaching culture is a new innovative solution to enhance the benefit of training.
Similarly to mentor mentee approach, this program should be consist of 1 mentor or coach
and 3 employees. Its helps in term of sharing the experiences and effective way in handling
task given.

She could suggest the CEO electronic options are more affordable than traditional
training. E-Learning is usually associated with decreased material costs as all or most of
the training information is available online. It allows for flexibility and reduces travel costs
too, as employees can access courses remotely.

To make sure the effectiveness of the training, the test to measure employee understanding
of product and services. The employee in the customer services and pharmacist should the
test and obtain 85% for the test. The mandatory meeting for product and services review
must be held quarterly.