Healthcare (Pharmacy, Clinics, Hospital) & Wellness Industry
Health & Wellness Industry | Retail Business Experts
# The dire need
Action is good for the body and non-action is good for the mind. Lifestyles that tend to violate the essence of this principle for long also end up violating our natural states of a healthy body and mind. Our body and mind are not accustomed to hectic work and professional life schedules for too long. Nor for a relentless run for materialistic growth going unchecked for months and years. In the so-called ‘pursuit of happiness’, maintaining a healthy lifestyle goes undermined. The body and mind begin to start invoicing us in a few years.
Globally, an ever-increasing number of people are beginning to realize the need to address the needs of their body and mind. This phenomenon is evident in the increased number of gyms, yoga and meditation centres, fitness clubs, etc. There is also an increase in the number of people who go for evening walks. The demand for bicycles is at an all-time high. Now more people chose to take the stairs instead of elevators. Increasing cases of health disorders also act as a lighthouse.
Enterprises in the health and wellness sector
The scope of enterprises contributing to the health and wellness of society could be wide. The basic tenet is that health is curative and specific and wellness is preventive and holistic. For instance, hospitals come under the category of a healthcare enterprise. But a yoga or meditation centre falls in the wellness category. The same tenet applies to classifying products or product-based enterprises.
Challenges in the Health and Wellness Industry
# Lack of digitization
Being in the field of health clinic consulting, we have been witnessing that inadequate digitization of business operations remains a grave concern for traditional enterprises. And this also includes the ones in the health and wellness sector. The longer an enterprise takes to bid goodbye to its manual systems, the longer will it be its stay in a deprived position of improved operational efficiency. Its ability for precise planning and informed decision making will also be hampered. The absence of digitization also means greater reliance on physical labour. This means higher manpower requirements. Business activities are relatively slower in enterprises that are yet to embrace digitization.
# Not leveraging eCommerce
The cost of not embracing eCommerce in relevant ways is the biggest threat enterprises are exposing themselves to. Embracing eCommerce means incorporating those aspects of eCommerce that can help an enterprise expand its market accessibility and remain competitive. For example, virtual medical consulting is used to remotely reach out to clients/patients. Another example would be to offer the option of online registration and booking of appointments. Product-based enterprises develop mobile applications/websites for online customers. The challenge here is formulating a robust and competitive eCommerce strategy. Many enterprises plunge into the eCommerce mode but never see the anticipated results. This is because of poor planning and strategies that could help them leverage the power of eCommerce in ways that are relevant to their concern.
# Creating and Communicating a clear Brand Positioning
If it is not a first of its kind of a product or service, homogeneity of offerings tends to be a big constraint for health and wellness enterprises. The business model plays a break-or-make move here. Good business modelling calls for better market insights and a better understanding of customers’ needs and expectations, and a comprehensive assessment of the capabilities required to deliver. Customers need to be clearly communicated to help them easily understand what a brand stands for and what it delivers. And then it is about living up to those promises and expectations. For instance, any leading pharmacy brand realizes the significance of its brand positioning in the market. Their pharmacy services are dependent on their pharmacy operations. And they also know that poor operations or the absence of standard operating procedures for healthcare and wellness enterprises can prevent them from fulfilling their commitments.
# Poor Acquisition Efforts
In the age of eCommerce, it is a blunder to restrict customer acquisition only to the local markets. Today, growth and expansion is possible to new markets in nearby regions or even other states and countries. Enterprises in the health and wellness sector need to work more on the lines of glocal marketing strategies. If the focus is entirely on the local market, the marketing efforts must resonate strongly with the local customer base. It does not matter whether it is outdoor advertising or digital campaigning. Health and medical professionals need not necessarily be adept at business development. In healthcare and hospital consulting (business), our experts strongly feel that in difficult areas of business, availing the services of business consultants offering healthcare consulting services could save the day.
# Poor Services
Customer complaints are rampant in the diagnosis or medical consulting sector. The situation is worse in highly-populated countries or regions where the OPD sections of the healthcare enterprises are overwhelmed because of the sheer number of clients/patients. To get an appointment with any renowned specialist, sometimes patients may have to wait for days. There hardly is any follow-up with the patient/client after the consultation. Many clinics charge registration fees from the same client again and again citing ‘validity of registration’. The practical aspect of it is that a medical consulting clinic can handle only a limited number of clients/patients. But the problem is that most of these medical consulting clinics do not consider the patients who come to them for a cure or a diagnosis as clients. But gone are the days when these clinics could take even one client lightly. Poor service levels can no longer go unnoticed because of the internet and social media platforms. If the intent of customer orientation is present, standard operating procedures for healthcare enterprises could do the rest. For instance, in skin clinic consulting, experts know the significance of periodical follow up with customers regarding the treatment and effects. By developing SOPs for healthcare enterprises, businesses can ensure that service operations are duly executed on time and maintain the established standards.
# Building the Teams
A team in an organization includes everyone including the owner and the janitor. If a health and wellness centre had to be run in a manner that reflects the principles and morals of its owners, it has to be careful with who becomes a part of its team. The team members or the employees not only interact with clients but also with one another. This has a bearing on the work culture and the functioning of the organization. How the front line staff interacts with the outsiders affects the brand identity and public perception of the enterprise. Building a team is a demanding task. It involves professional activities like formulating a recruitment strategy, designing training and development programs, building a strong and transparent performance management system, and promoting a productive and amiable work culture. External assistance from a team of professional healthcare and hospital consultants are always of big help in this sphere of work.
# Location, Layout and Logistics
With more than 10 years of experience in delivering health clinic consulting services, we always maintain that location, layout, and logistics are three important variables for health and wellness enterprises. These factors play a big role in customer acquisition, conversion and retention. For example, the ideal location for a meditation centre would be one that is away from the hustle and bustle of the city. For a gym or fitness club, customers should not have a hard time arriving through moderate urban traffic.
A good layout plan ensures that there is an optimized utilization of the available space. This has to be done also keeping in mind the customer experience intended to be delivered.
For product-based stores, logistics become an important consideration. For example, an enterprise dealing in fitness equipment must have robust plans and strategies for managing its logistic and inventory operations.
# Quality of Trainers and Staff
In health and wellness, trainers and staff must be well-behaved, well-trained, and technically sound. Everything done in marketing would turn futile if the service delivery is a disappointment for clients and customers. In delivering health clinic consulting services, our experts witness from time to time that many business owners completely ignore the importance of customer experience. Honest opinions and feedback from customers are important. Not having a reporting and feedback system is a step further worse. In our health, wellness and skin clinic consulting services, we always stress that the challenge here is to realise and emphasise the importance of customer experience; not just the premium customers but even the ones who are on the basic plan.
Why YRC: a glimpse
We are a boutique retail and eCommerce consulting firm. We offer health and wellness business consulting services to businesses in this industry. Our services extend to retail pharmacy management consulting, hospital consulting, fitness club business consulting, dental clinic consulting, skin clinic consulting, etc. in the domain of business and management. We deploy an experienced team of healthcare and wellness industry experts. The team also includes retail pharmacy management consultants.
Market research is one of the foundational requirements in starting or expanding a business. Areas where market research helps are classifying the market segments, projecting the market size, assessment of competition, demand and price analysis, etc. In addition to these assessments, YRC’s team of wellness and healthcare business consulting experts shall also include recommendations and CTAs. These will be based on comprehensive studies and analyses in our healthcare and hospital consulting (business) services.
In business model development, YRC’s ultimate goal is to help clients build a strong business model. We help clients identify their UVP. Our team of expert healthcare and hospital consultants assist them in formulating the strategic framework of the value chain and network of internal capabilities. YRC’s healthcare clinic consulting experts help clients build the right business model.
As a part of our health, wellness and skin clinic consulting services, in business plan development, we help clients envision the commercial viability of their business. Our services shall cover estimation of the capital and initial investments, operational costs, costing, revenue projections, purchase and inventory planning, profit and loss projections, ROI and break-even analysis, etc.
In layout planning, our experts guide clients in preparing robust layout planning for their business. It could be pharmacies, health and wellness centres, warehouses, or fulfilment centres. This is done considering the unique nature and requirements of clients’ business. As a part of our pharmacy business consulting services, layout planning has proved to be useful to many of our retail pharmacy and healthcare pharmacy clients.
Embracing eCommerce in relevant ways makes a significant difference in the performance of enterprises in the health and wellness sector. For instance, in hospital consulting (business), we always preach that embracing eCommerce offers the flexibility to offer many services via the online mode. In eCommerce business strategy consulting for health and wellness enterprises, we help clients plan, define and incorporate their eCommerce business strategy. We work to ensure that the enterprise-wide transition from single channel to omnichannel is synchronized, smooth, and quick.
YRC offers SOP consulting services for small, midsize and large retail enterprises. Our services also cover franchises. In SOP consulting, we help clients establish the operational routines and ensure that standards of performance and output are consistently maintained. We design and develop the healthcare standard operating procedures (healthcare SOPs) for managing business operations. Our goal with developing SOPs for healthcare enterprises is to help clients become process-oriented enterprises, remain growth-ready and scalable, and consistently deliver a superlative customer experience via impeccable internal and external operations.
Franchising is a commonly used business expansion strategy in the health and wellness sector. In franchise consulting, our team of expert healthcare and hospital consultants help clients define expansion strategies, formulate business plans, assist in franchise partner search, draft franchise legal agreements, develop SOPs for healthcare enterprises, and define various audit processes.
To know more about our health and wellness business consulting services or if you have any specific queries, drop us a message and we will get back to you.
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