Thread by @cyberomin

Dear Nigerian businesses, you're are leaving a ton of money on the table just because you have refused to look at your data and try to make sense out of it. I'm not talking about ecommerce companies, I am referring to brick and mortar firms.

Class is in session, let's begin.

I will spend a lot of time talking about those in the health sector, especially the pharmacies.

Get your pen and paper and let's get started.

I had my first child 2.8yrs ago. Just like any new parent, I started this long running relationship with pharmacies. About a week after his birth, I bought a set of diapers for age 0-3 months.
The pharmacist took my phone number and signed me up for a loyalty programme.

If I ran that pharmacy, I would have gone the extra mile and collected the parents email. Mind you, this was my first child and I was as blank as a canvas. So any and every help was welcomed.

I would have asked a few more question and set things in motion.

A box of diapers contains about 180 units. Assuming the baby uses 4 pieces per day, this will come down to 45 days. That means, every 40 days, the new parent will get an SMS/email reminder urging them to restock. Trust me, this will be super helpful.

A few days after the first interaction, let’s call it onboarding, I will send the parent an email on “baby care tips” 1) bathing tips and techniques. 2) appropriate sleeping positions and patterns for new born.

3) nutritional aid and guide, this is assuming the baby’s mum isn’t lactating just yet. 4) fabric care tips for babies. Then up sell with infant formula recommendation or any baby care products.

Depending on the time of the year, we will send out tips or how to take care your new born around particular seasons; wet, dry and harmattan.

Towards the end of the 3rd month and also depending on the baby’s weight at birth, we will recommend the next diaper size via email and SMS. This could be something like “SELECT * FROM table WHERE baby weight >= 3 AND age > 3” where the first 3 is in KG and the next 3 in months.

Trust me, without proper guidance most new parents don’t know about this. As the baby grows towards the 6th month, we will send she appropriate formulae recommendations, follow that with diaper size and recommend common drugs for infant allergies.

If you do your job very well, you will quickly become the parents trusted advisors and go to store for any health and nutrition related issues for their babies.

During this phase, the “night cries” begins and it can be both frustrating and stressful. Providing tips on how new parents can cope with this phase can’t be overemphasized. They will thank for a long time.

By month 9, most babies begin their teething phase. This is almost always followed by stomach upset. This is your chance to recommend solutions like Grip Water and upsell them on that. You can recommend pacifiers too. Most babies do well with them.

Remember, you don’t have to recommend only SKUs that you stock. While the aim is to up sell and drive traffic, the grand plan is to build customer loyalty.

With all of this information you have about the family, you can start a monthly subscription service for new parents. It can be a combination of diapers, formulas, toiletries and common drugs + vitamins. It cost north of N50K for babies monthly supplies.

If you have a steady membership pool of 100 parents, that’s a N5M/month revenue stream. To even sweeten the deal, they can pay members fee a lá Amazon Prime that gives them access to a pediatrician and a monthly physical meetup. New parents love to connect with other new parents.

The great thing about this is also the word of mouth advert that this will generate. Free publicity. New parents trust fellow new parents.

Keep tracking the child’s age and milestones and be there for their parents every step of the way.

It’s the holiday period, kids are home, running, jumping and tripping too. Put together a “one-time” deal for home first-aid boxes; plaster, spirits, cold meds and any other thing that can go into a first aid box.

Tap also into these parents online life - start a Facebook group, pull your customers there and let them meet fellow parents. Help them by providing information that will help them become better parents.

My oldest kid is 2.7yrs today. I don’t know what happens from age 3 and above. But I am certain the pharmacy I patronize would have been a lot more useful to me if they did any of this.

Selah.

BTW, This is something @HealthPlusLtd, @MedplusPharmacy and any pharmacy chain can start doing almost immediately.

Considering how many people are asking, I may just hold that "Making sense of data" class again. Class size will be 5 persons. Fee N100K. Venue: My home. Who is in?

So, I decided to expand on this idea and made it into an article - Making sense of data: Pharmacy edition - cyberomin.github.io/startup/2019/0…. Enjoy.

In the last couple of days, a number of people have reached out and asked how they can make sense of their data; Pharmacies, Auto Mechanic workshops, Beauticians, etc. I'm planning a workshop in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

The workshop will be highly personalized and we will talk about everything and how to make sense of your data no matter your industry. Provide practical tips, guidance and mentorship sessions.

If you're interested in joining, please fill out this interest form - bit.ly/making-sense-o…. If you're yet to see the article, here's a link to it - cyberomin.github.io/startup/2019/0…