You know I’m a big fan of “systems” – accounting systems, marketing systems – pretty much anything that will make life faster, better and more organized.

I feel compelled to share this brilliant marketing / operations strategy Walgreens just deployed.  When I went to pick up my prescriptions this month, I was offered an auto-refill service.  What a idea!  It’s so brilliant and completely obvious that some Walgreens executive is probably knocking his or her own forehead with a big “D’oh!” With one minor change to their business strategy, Walgreens has been able to:

• Create customer loyalty – having an auto-refill service ensures customers will be coming back to Walgreens, not flipping between various pharmacies.
• Improve customer satisfaction - They’ve taken the task of calling in a refill off my plate – what a convenient time-saver for me!
• Increase revenue -Just this small adjustment of shortening the fill cycle by having patients come in every month like clockwork means more money for Walgreens. Not only are patients coming in more frequently, but they’ll probably pick up a few items while they’re there too.
• Reduce employee stress and administrative burden – I’m sure I’m not the only one whose occasional lack of planning has become Walgreen’ rush job. By creating this auto-refill option, employees can forecast purchasing, and fill schedules.

So if this idea was so brilliant, so obvious, why didn’t they think of it before?

I suspect Walgreens has had the idea for a long time but they didn’t have the systems in place to implement the idea.  If your business isn’t booming with business right now, I encourage you to take a hard look at all of your business systems.  Accounting. Sales.  Marketing.  Operations.  Sometimes minor tweaks can provide major benefits.  

My challenge for you today is to ask yourself, “What changes can you make today that will provide on-going benefits for many years to come?”  If you can’t think of anything on your own, ask your customers.  When I do customer interviews for my clients, we often uncover those “D’OH!” strategies.  Of course we should be offering service X!  Of course we should be highlighting product Y!  It’s amazing what you can uncover.