CBD sales are driving many pharmacies’ profits. Here are some tips to help increase your CBD sales.
CBD seems pretty ubiquitous nowadays. And you might be thinking the market is saturated. However, that is not the case. I speak with pharmacies every week that are not carrying CBD or carry it and just not seeing the fantastic results that other pharmacy owners brag about.
I have been able to help many of those pharmacies turn their CBD sales around with some simple tips that I will share with you. Here are the four topics:
- Change your mindset
- Leverage your dispensing records
- Bag stuffers
- Social media
Change Your Mindset
A limiting mindset shows up in several ways when I speak with a pharmacy owner.
1. I am not a CBD expert.
2. Other pharmacies are already selling CBD.
3. My community doesn’t want CBD.
Let’s take these one at a time.
I Am Not A CBD Expert
Yes, I think we can all agree you are not Dr. Alex Capano, first doctoral in CBD studies and leading industry researcher. However, you don’t have to be Dr. Capano to help your patients. People, in general, get really caught up on the word expert. Either everyone claims to be an expert when they clearly aren’t, or even highly educated people are afraid of the word for fear of being called an imposter. Here is my definition: if you know more about a topic than the person you are speaking to, you are the expert in that conversation.
Now, you don’t have to be an expert, but you should be educated. Many CBD companies offer education as a part of their service. In my opinion, no one does it better than Ananda Professional. They have an online university that helps you understand CBD as a clinician. Going through a course or CE of your choice will bolster your confidence. Don’t forget about your employees too. They should all receive an education.
Other Pharmacies Are Already Selling CBD
This phrase has now become the most common excuse I hear. I often hear it as ‘I don’t carry X brand because the pharmacy down the street carries it already.’ My response is: Do your patients go to that pharmacy? Are you trying to sell CBD to the entire community or your patients? Far too many pharmacy owners worry about what other pharmacies are doing instead of just focusing on how to serve their patients best. So my advice is to pick the brands and products you think are best, provide stellar outcomes, and sell them to your patients! Most pharmacies are sitting on about $100,000 a year in profit with only their patients as CBD customers.
My Community Doesn’t Want CBD
Much of the stigma around CBD has been dispelled. If you find that your community still believes that CBD = Marijuana, what an excellent opportunity for you! You can rise to the occasion and be the leader in educating the truth about CBD. Another way to tackle this problem is to order CBD products from a company that offers returns for unsold products. Many of the leading companies such as PharmaCanna and Ananda Professional do this. They believe in their products so much that you can return them if you can’t sell them. I have found that once you have a great product in front of a patient that is a good candidate, sales will follow.
Leverage Your Dispensing Records
Your patients trust you. They will listen to your recommendations. When you can use their Rx history to make a specific recommendation for a CBD product, the rate of conversion and getting the sale skyrockets. Here are a few examples of my favorite products.
PharmaCanna CBDream – a combo of CBD and melatonin
- Run a PMS report for all sleep prescriptions
- Call the patients and ask if they are 100% satisfied with their Rx
- Alternatively, you can consult in the pharmacy too
- Create a bag stuffer for the product and attach it to every bag
- Work with your staff to create a comfortable talk track
- Save off of wholesale prices when you order with the DiversifyRx group code HERE.
ZuRI CBD Cooling Muscle Gel – fast drying and non-sticky
- Run a PMS report for patients on monthly NSAID or opioid prescriptions
- Call the patients to ask if they are interested in a topical CBD product to help with pain
- You can create bag stuffers and ask patients when consulting too
- Save 20% off your first order with code PHSUM2021
Ananda Professional Women’s Products – combos to help with chronic pain or infections
- Run a PMS report for recent yeast infection or antibiotic scripts
- Call the patients and ask if their treatment was successful and if they are interested in any prevention products
- Alternatively, you can consult in the pharmacy too
- Create a bag stuffer or flyer (Ananda has some great pre-made ones) and hand it out to every patient
- Work with your staff to create leading questions so patients can be directed to a conversation with the pharmacist or other employee (since this can be a sensitive topic)
- Book a call with DiversifyRx’s dedicated Ananda Professional Rep Blake HERE
Even if you don’t focus on these products that I like, you can do similar procedures for other formulations of CBD. Having a system for identifying patients and then having a conversation is what will lead you to success.
Bag Stuffers
These are my favorite inside the 4-walls marketing tactic. Cheap, effective, fun, what more could you ask for? For all the details on bag stuffers, check out this past article. I have created some sample bag stuffers you can use and freely edit. They are in Canva, which you can get for free here. Just fill out the form below and you will get the link for the templates. You will need to copy the link to save it. Once you get the templates feel free to edit and you will need to replace the DiversifyRx logo with your own logo.
Social Media
Marketing CBD on social media quickly became a no-go after Facebook shut off ad accounts. However, time has passed, and much more is known about what you can and cannot do. I am no longer concerned about posting about CBD on social channels if you follow some simple rules.
- No paid ads or boosting for CBD, or where CBD is mentioned, or goes to a page where CBD is mentioned.
- Be creative! You can talk about the ailments and how your pharmacy has a solution without mentioning CBD. You can also use creative graphics, as you see below, that imply CBD.
- Live videos are perfect for talking about CBD!
Here are some creative graphics.
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CBD can be a great product that helps your patients and boosts your profits. It is a win-win situation. Here is the contact information for our current favorite companies.
Ananda Professional – Blake Medley Email or Book A Call
PharmaCanna – Ralph Jimenez Emailor call 561-425-5850
ZuRI CBD – Ryan Allio Email or visit their website HERE
Whichever company you choose, make sure they help you with education, marketing and they stand behind their products. I recommend a pharmacy carry 3-4 different brands. Most of the companies sell drops and creams, and then beyond that, some get creative.
Please ask any questions you have or if you need help getting started or growing your CBD sales in your pharmacy. We are happy to help. Contact us at [email protected].
