Customers will come into the pharmacy expressing some level of need. Sometimes this is not clear, other times it is expressed in a simple way. Sometimes they have not thought about their needs in any detail and require more guidance.

People often express their needs in terms of the symptoms they are experiencing. Customers may ask for something to treat their bad back, but there is a much more powerful level of need that we can look for. This is the desired outcome.

Outcomes are expressed in the things that these symptoms are stopping the customer doing or the things they would like to do. When a person complains of back pain, in part what they want to do is get rid of the pain, but probably more important motives will be to get back to normal activity. They may have had to reduce exercise, limit their gardening or have difficulty driving even short distances. They may be going on holiday and want to be able to walk around.

When people think about the outcomes they want to achieve, then the perceived value of a solution is much greater. This means that when customers have a concrete idea of their desired end result, they are more likely to pay for more effective solutions that will meet their needs very effectively. Asking a question such as 'What are these symptoms stopping you from doing?' can quickly lead you to the outcomes that a customer really wants.

Using open questions is important to obtain a clear understanding of the customer's needs. Open questions allow people to give more information in a more honest way. Closed questions give very limited information and people often give the easiest rather than most correct answer. Summarising is important to confirm your understanding to both yourself and the patient.

When we identify these outcomes, we are able to think not only of the present but the future: are there other solutions that may help to prevent the symptoms occurring in the future? Good customer service would be to provide a solution to our current problem and also a solution that meant the problem was less likely to return.