Useful links
Hannah Flynn reports.
1. Make a good first impression
ìPeople are making conscious and unconscious decisions on all the information they are taking in,î says theatre director Ron Aldridge, ìfrom your breathing and your face to your overall body language. This is because humans are expert at reading each other.î
First impressions are crucial to pharmacists, he says, as your customers will be deciding whether or not they want to come back –
and people make up their minds within the first 45 seconds of meeting you.
2. Improve your presence
ìYou can’t say, ‘I have presence and charisma’; those are not god-given gifts,î Mr Aldridge says. ìThey are skills other people say you have and can be worked on and improved.î
Mr Aldridge explains that the way you feel and the way your customer feels are crucial to bear in mind when trying to improve the way you present yourself.
Firstly, you must be aware that the way you are feeling will come across in the way you are speaking, he says.
Secondly, people don’t remember what you say for long, but they do remember the way they felt when you spoke to them.
3. Breathe properly
Most people do not breathe properly, says Mr Aldridge, but they can learn how. He suggests a quick exercise that can develop people’s breathing and takes only one minute a day.
He explains: ìBreathe in, and if your chest comes up you are doing it wrong. So, sit down and breathe in and feel your stomach move out. You can do this in front of the TV, in a meeting or in the car.
ìThen you need to count from one, as far as you can on one breath. Most people can get to 20 or 30 at first.
ìIf you try counting on one breath every day you should eventually be able to count to 60. Once you can do this, you are breathing properly,î he says.
4. Deal with tension – and your hands
ìThe first thing people do when they are feeling tense is clench their shoulders,î says Mr Aldridge, ìbut that is very noticeable. I suggest people clench their buttocks and thighs – this is known as the singer’s clench.î
Mr Aldridge adds that people are often unsure of what to do with their hands when they are speaking to someone.
He asks: ìWhen was the last time you got up in the morning and said to yourself, ‘What shall I do with my hands today?’.î
If this bothers you, he suggests placing your hands on top of each other and bring them to your chest as this makes you appear more open to being approached.
5. Explain yourself
Mr Aldridge says: ìProfessional actors practice until they can’t get it wrong, and pharmacists know their subject well, so you can’t get an explanation wrong. Pharmacists should work on that assumption.î
He recommends thinking about the clearest way you can explain something to a person before saying it. As you speak to more and more people, it should get easier.
6. Learn to speak in the major key
Listen to news readers as they are very good at this, advises Mr Aldridge. People listen to what they have to say as they are speaking ‘positively’.
He says pharmacists must make sure they keep channels of communication open, and one of the best ways to do this is to focus on how you finish speaking at the end of a line.
He explains: ìDon’t lose energy at the end of a sentence, go up to keep it positive. This will make people feel more comfortable as they know where they are with you.î
7. Keep an open face
Finally, Mr Aldridge says, pharmacists must ensure they keep an open face when they are approaching people.
ìAn open face means not letting your eyebrows fall,î he explains. ìI don’t mean walking around with your eyebrows raised to the sky, but keep a relaxed facial expression.
ìThis is used a lot by comedians but it can be used in all kinds of ways.î Using an open face will show you are offering help, Mr Aldridge says.
Theatre director Ron Aldridge was speaking at the annual CAMRx convention in Windsor earlier this month.