Beyond the 4Ps: using relationship marketing to build value and demand for pharmacy services.

More than a decade ago, Hepler and Strand1,2 introduced the concept that the therapeutic relationship between pharmacist and patient was an integral component of pharmaceutical care. They saw pharmaceutical care as “a covenantal relationship between a patient and a pharmacist in which the pharmacist performs drug use control functions (with appropriate knowledge and skill) governed by the awareness of and commitment to the patient’s interest.” 1,3 An empathetic and trusting pharmacist–patient relationship is now widely recognized as the cornerstone of pharmaceutical care. Far less appreciated, however, is how important the pharmacist–patient relationship is for successfully marketing pharmacy-based clinical services. Close collaborative relationships with patients, physicians, and other potential partners (i.e., other stakeholders in patient care) are the keys to creating and sustaining demand for pharmacy services on a long-term basis. Ideally, a network of mutually rewarding relationships should form the foundation of a pharmaceutical care marketing plan. In the pharmacy setting, interactions are increasingly anonymous, as more prescriptions are being filled through Internet pharmacies and automated refill programs. Pharmaceutical care, however, emphasizes a patient-centered focus that is mutually rewarding to all parties. Similarly, relationship-centered marketing focuses on the pharmacist-patient bond and represents a major shift in practice from traditional marketing, which emphasizes discrete (one sale at a time) and often impersonal exchanges between organizations and customers. In this article, we describe how to use relationship marketing to create and maintain a network of productive relationships with selected groups of patients and other partners to expand the delivery of pharmaceutical care services. The article also draws upon the first-hand experience of one of the authors (McDonough) and other pharmacists at Main at Locust Pharmacy in Davenport, Iowa, who used this innovative marketing approach to increase patient participation in a Weight Control and Wellness Program in their pharmacy clinic.