There was a little shop lot in Lucky Garden, Bangsar where the boxes are stacked from floor to ceiling, where walking about the store was difficult because the aisles were either blocked with boxes of merchandise on display or customers in line waiting to see the thin, nerdy looking but affable Mr. Ooi the pharmacist who runs AA Pharmacy.
He personally serves and advises every single one of his customers who come to see him in his shop with the care and empathy that a mother would give her children. Everyone seems to want to talk to him, consult him, see him.
When my turn comes, he listens intently to me and the description of my ailment then almost instantly returns with a cream or a bottle of something he thinks should work. He then proceeds to painstakingly explain the product and it's usage and he would have all the time and patience to answer whatever questions you may have. Then when you ask the price he looks at the label then gives you a discount without you even asking for it and off you go. Happy to have been served.
That was then. Now, about only two years later, he has since moved into the corner lot with two floors of retail space. Still his floors are hard to navigate with even more vitamin and supplement boxes piling high everywhere. The customers keep coming to ask him for a prescription, a recommendation, a word, an opinion or simply a smile. He readily gives each and everyone of them what they want and each will leave feeling thoroughly satisfied.
Sometimes I wonder if Mr. Ooi is the brand or his pharmacy? Whichever the case, all his employees tend to deliver a similar experience to all customers.
AA Pharmacy a relative newcomer to the Lucky Gardens marketplace, was coming into a fiercely competitive landscape, already 2 Chinese Medical Halls, 3 other well known pharmacies and scores of other mini mart and retail stores exist. Yet AA Pharmacy is arguably the most sought after, most Caring and acts more like a Guardian to the people of one of the choicest neighbourhoods in Klang Valley.
Lesson learnt from Mr. Ooi;
1. Love and revere your customers and your customers will trust you and confide in you. Once they trust you to confide in you, you have built an almost unbreakable bond with them.
2. Love your work, it shows when you interact with your customers in an authentic manner. When you love what you do, everybody benefits from the amount of knowledge you have to share on the business you're in. That makes you an expert in your field.
3. When you are faced with big brands as competitors, dig into your innermost core to find your passion and use that as your core value to win and keep customers. In Mr. Ooi's case his passion was excellence and he consistently delivered it through himself. Excellence seem to permeate all aspects of his business, from service to products and product range, pricing and promotion.
4. By osmosis or by example his entire staff force followed his leadership and service excellence and fair pricing became the business niche and strategy for AA Pharmacy to thrive in an already crowded marketplace.
When next in Lucky Garden, stop by to say hi to Mr. Ooi at AA Pharmacy, this yet to be married young man who went to secondary school in VI will not disappoint you.
Some of you who's been there might agree.
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