Trade shows are great for many reasons and not so great for a few. Some of the reasons they are great are they bring people together to discuss new ideas, you get to see old friends you haven't seen in a while, and the destinations are usually first class. The reasons they are not so great are they are extremely hard work, you learn so many new things it is often hard to prioritize them, and they are extremely hard work.

The Waypoint team prides itself on going to these tradeshows because it is a great honor to be invited and at the same time it allows us to be the eyes and ears for the community pharmacy owners who are not able to attend.

With this being said, we normally stumble across several ideas or observe certain things that are helpful for independent community pharmacy owners. We attended two of the largest tradeshows in Chicago over the past month and what we learned/observed may surprise you. Below is a list of those things.

1. Personal Vision and Mission Planning is a Must - we asked many owners where they wanted to be in 3 - 5 years and none of them had a clear answer. This means that more work must be done in this area because everything starts with a clear and powerful personal mission and vision.
2. Financial Independence is a Priority - many owners told us they want to focus on developing wealth outside the pharmacy. They then mentioned they were unsure how this would be possible with their current retirement plans. We talked to hundreds of pharmacy owners who said taking a hard look at their retirement plans is a must. Visit www.pharmacy401k.com for more info or to request information.
3. Tracking Patient Experience is Important - as many of you know by now, Waypoint is a proud vendor of Happy-or-Not technology. This was the hit of Chicago. This technology allows you to track how happy your patients are when they leave your pharmacy counter or your pharmacy in general. We are even working on a water proof version for drive thrus that should be available next year. We also have web smileys for those of you who want to track your online presence or even delivery service.

We hope that these 3 little tidbits of wisdom will help you in your life inside, outside and, hopefully, after pharmacy. There were many more things we learned but these seemed to be the ones we heard the most. Our next blog will focus on some of the more subtle things we learned while in Chicago. Our unscripted blog this week will focus on the funny things we heard and saw while at these tradeshows.