The HME180 Podcast – Episode 2 – Carole Martin with Davy Crockett Drug

Introduction: Welcome, you’re listening to The HME180 Podcast. Every month, your host, Sue Chen will interview the best of the best HME retailers who are fearless, innovative, and committed to their work. On this month’s episode, our special guest is Carole Martin from Davy Crockett Drug in East Texas.

Sue Chen: Hi, and welcome to The HME180 Podcast. I’m Sue Chen, your host. And I thought I would start this episode by sharing the mission of The HME180 Podcast and The HME180 Website, which is to empower human ability by empowering our independent pharmacies and independent HME retailers, because they are a vital and essential and important part of every single community. Because every person at some point is going to need them. Most care happens outside of the hospital setting, whether it’s after surgery, injury, illness, or just getting older when things aren’t working like they used to. You need your local community HME pharmacy or retailer. Imagine if your mom or dad have hip or knee surgery and most of its outpatient, and you get discharged with a prescription. And they say to you, “Okay, take care now.” And you leave and you are worried. How am I going to get around in the bathroom? The doctor wants us to walk around but how do we do that? What do you do? Do you go to Walmart? Do you go to Amazon? I mean that is horrible. With something as important as post-surgery recovery or taking care of your loved ones, you go to Davy Crockett Drug, and you will meet their wonderful caring staff, and you will meet the lovely Carole Martin and so I am so thrilled to have Carole Martin with Davy Crockett Drug, a wonderful community pharmacy, in Davy Crockett, Texas. Welcome to The HME180 Podcast
Carole!

Carole Martin: Thank you very much. Thanks for asking me to be on here with you.

SC: We’re gonna have fun. So I wanted to start by sharing your mission here. I want our  listeners to kind of hear about how you’re transforming your pharmacy and your community and also you and your husband’s lives. So first tell us about Davy Crockett, Texas, the history of Davy Crockett drug and how you and your husband came to the decision to purchase the pharmacy.

CM: This pharmacy was established back in 1961. So it’s been here a long time. It’s had quite a few owners. And my husband and I have four kids. And we were living in the big city of Houston, actually in a suburb named Spring. And he was traveling all the time. And I was working part time, actually with a large retailer. And so we decided to try to move to a nice little country area. And we chose Crockett. And then after being at home with four kids by myself, because he traveled Monday through Thursday, I decided I needed some adult interaction. So I walked into Davy Crockett Drug, they do have two other chains here. But I walked into Davy Crockett Drug and the lady hired me on the spot because there’s only like six registered pharmacists in all of Houston County. And she’s like, “Can you start tomorrow?”

So anyway, long story short, after working here for about seven years, she decided to retire and ask if we were interested in buying the drugstore. And we have fallen in love with just the whole area. I mean, it’s great for kids, it’s great for just small town – you can’t beat it. So my husband quit his job. And we both work here full-time. And that’s how it birthed us taking over it. And it’s been a great change. We are super blessed and the community is wonderful.

SC: Wow, wow. And so you really got to know Davy Crockett Drug and the community. And in that time there, you saw it as a pharmacy with potential for your lives. Not just that you wanted to have a livelihood, but where you wanted to make a difference is taking on a huge risk.

CM: Oh, definitely. Definitely. And with all the stuff going on, and I’m sure we’ll talk about that with the insurance companies, it was struggling and that was part of the reason of the previous owner wanting to sell it because she didn’t want the burden of having to try to make things work with all the new stuff that the insurance companies are putting on us.

SC: Well, let’s talk about that because I think your previous owner is probably feeling what a lot of independent pharmacies are feeling right now. I mean, passion to be part of the community has just been eroded with the DIR fees, the clawbacks, the reimbursements, and it’s been crushing for them. So you and James come in, and you’re like, wait a second, we see the landscape out there. But how? How did you take this on and have a different emotion around it?

CM: The store itself is in a great location, it’s been here since 1961. However, when you opened the door, it looked like it was still in 1961. A lot of the stuff that was the merchandise that was out were a little gifts that had collected dust, a lot of things, all the packaging of a lot of stuff, you know, like DME, the little bit that we had, was kind of darkened in color, it was all kind of old looking. And it didn’t look friendly and inviting. So it just like, look like old stuff hanging on the wall waiting to be sold. So we needed an updo. We needed to fix it and make it look more attractive. So that’s—we got rid of a lot of stuff, we tried several different things,
putting the Coke machine and trying to attract people like that. And that didn’t work, either. Everything was expiring. So we ended up having to, you know, that was shooting ourselves in the foot. So we got rid of that. And we’ve been looking for different ways to make money because we both know, you don’t make that much money on your prescriptions anymore. So we have found some good ways to add to the income to support our staff and support us being here in the community. So we’re, we’re, we’re workers.

SC: And how many? How long has it been now since you and your husband have taken over the pharmacy and started making these decisions?

CM: Eight years.

SC: Eight years. Wow. And so when you took it over from the previous owner, obviously, you said the front store, which is kind of an afterthought, it bring in things that would collect dust, and they told you to not get into HME that it doesn’t sell and it collects dust just like some of
this other stuff. Why did you change your mind?

CM: Because we weren’t–I  mean—she  had actually told us don’t do the vitamins and all the other stuff also, but the HME which cost too much to stock. And we did have, whenever she owned it, we had a medical supply company in town. However, they had that same look back from 1961. They never kept anything in stock, and they had to order everything. And whenever we came and figured out what was making us money, I mean, we’d have to sell like a lot of Cokes to make what we make off of selling a product that was going to sell that looks good that was not available here anymore, because the local medical supply company did shut down.

So we had gone to a trade show, or actually our little pharmacy convention and we attended a business building seminar, and this was one of the things that was in there that helped us think about what we wanted to do to change our business to make more profit. And it was kind of a no brainer.

SC: That makes a lot of sense. Because it sounds like you know, behind the counter, you don’t have a lot of control over your margins. 

CM: Not at all, not at all.

SC: But in the front of the store, you have control.

CM: Exactly.

SC: And so you’re now not just pharmacists, but you’re business people.

CM: Exactly.

SC: And you can put on your business minds with the front of the store because you can  control that. And the people are coming in anyway. And so you started to learn product categories that worked for you. And you mentioned the things that didn’t work because I think that sometimes they seem like it’s a go to like you said the soda machine and a food. Tell me about your experience there because you said you got to sell a lot of Cokes and they
expire.

CM: Oh yes, we had—I mean we were smart enough to put our favorite drinks in there. After everything started expiring, it’s hard to keep it stock because they had to supply it you had to wait for them to come in. And even with all the foods and stuff and we’ve done chocolates for years, but a lot of it would start expiring and we’re having to mark it off 50% off just to
get rid of it before it expires, and you’re losing all of that profit because why stock it if you’re not going to be able to make the money on it. And so that’s happened even with the little trinkets and stuff. It looks good as the first hot items. But I mean once it’s all dusted and— all it’s you know things change people’s desire for decorative stuff changes. I’ve tried the holiday stuff, the Easter, Christmas stuff. It just isn’t it wasn’t able to make us any money we would end up having to put it back out the next year and then update it and it just wasn’t doing it for so we needed something that can sit there be dusted look good and be able to help other people. So that I mean it was kind of a no brainer in order to do the DME.

SC: So then you are able to bring in some DME/HME products from your drug wholesaler. And how does that—so how does your store look today, now that it’s had the Carrol touch?

CM: It looks fresh, it looks clean, it is very organized. And we have a girl that’s dedicated to keeping everything in stock. And it’s, I mean, people like it, and they come in and we can help them. She knows how to help them. And y’all have given us a lot of tips on how to market things. And that’s really changed things quite a bit. So it’s good to have that. And then the other thing is, when we sell the product, we can order it and get it next day through our wholesaler. That is, that’s a big difference than having to go find the book, order it out of the book, wait to get it shipped. I mean, it’s here the next day. So that’s priceless.

SC: That’s great. So then your HME products comes as quickly as your a pharmacy or OTC, you just sell it and then you can get replaced at the next day.

CM: Exactly. But we generally have everything in stock, it may be special things that we have to order. But I mean, it’s pretty much we keep everything well stocked.

SC: And that’s a really important point, because HME products are need-based, you know, when somebody needs a bedpan, or bath seat, they need it now. And having it available to your community, I imagine is such a tremendous service.

CM: It’s one of the differences I think that it’s made is we have a lot of elderly population here. And their kids live out of town, and they work out of town. But they will come home, to see their parents on the weekends and say, “Hey, you need you need a walker, you need a bedside commode.” You—they see their struggles their parents have, we’re the only people that have it. And we’re open on Saturday. And we don’t take any insurance, by the way for any of these products. And the children come in and just pay cash for everything because they need it right then and there. Their parents have the need. So they just purchase what they want. But of course, if we weren’t keeping in stock, or if we were having to order everything the next day, we wouldn’t be able to make the sale. So it’s been a good thing for our pharmacy.

SC: Oh, that’s exciting. That’s great. And you mentioned your community. And so I looked up and I see that the population of Crockett, Texas is 6500. You said mostly older, but people come to visit their parents, also probably people from out of town passing through going to San Antonio or Houston. And so talk about your community because it sounds like it’s beyond
just your small population of 6500.

CM: Oh, yes. I mean, we have a lot of people that have cattle ranches here. We have the most cattle in this county than anywhere else in the whole United States. I mean, we have more cows than people here for sure. But we have a lot of people that have vacation homes or weekend homes, that they come and do a lot of hunting, a lot of hunting, you know, areas and stuff. And that’s it’s—really heavy in hunting season. We have a lot of people coming in wanting stuff for, you know, what they need at their places, you know, medication, suggestions, a doctor calling in a medication at the last moment. So we do get a lot of weekend, you know, visitors and stuff. That’s good.

SC: That’s great. And since now you’ve transformed the front end of your pharmacy, and it’s clean, and it’s inviting, and it has products that people actually need. It’s a destination.

CM: Oh, it is. It is and that’s, you know, one of the little things that y’all said to us was a cushion for your chair that goes into the car.

SC: [laughs] Yes.

CM: And we put that out there because y’all are like put it out there. But let them have the sample there for them to take it to the car and try it. I can’t tell you how fast those sold. Because the people are riding in the car having to make long trips, and they’re just—and they’re not overpriced. They’re well priced. We’re making money, y’all are making money. It just it works out well. But, you know, people are happy when they see that it’s something they it’s like a hot item or what is it a hot buy purchase. But you know, they if they look at it, like I could use that, and they’ll get it. So it’s—but you got to have the product in stock, you have to have it marketed correctly where they can see it. So it’s been a good win-win.

SC: And I think you make a good point there that HME products are not niche. They’re not just for people that are older or need a walker or need a bath seat. There are products that people use all the time. I mean, I know people that are hunters that use male urinals, you know. The seat cushion and all the things that they can use for their everyday lives.

CM: Yeah. And we sell it. We definitely sell it. It’s a good thing.

SC: So I want to share, talk a little bit about marketing because I would love for our listeners to hear what you’re doing. When we spoke On the phone a couple of weeks ago, you had just finished filming a video, a commercial on a rollator. And you said, “Oh, it was out of my comfort zone, I did something different—”

CM: Mm-hm. Very much so!

SC: I watched the video on Facebook, and I thought it was just wonderful. You are so charming. And a got so many likes and comments. So share with the listeners, what you’re doing with marketing and how courageous you’re being with these commercials and how you’re getting the word out. 

CM: It’s definitely out of my comfort zone. But it lets people know what we have. And my husband thought it’d be great for me to do like a different commercial every other week, and put it on our Davy Crockett Drug Facebook page, and we did the rollator. And it’s, I mean, we it had so many views. I was like, shocked. But because of that, I mean, wait, I think we did the commercial two weeks ago—we’ve sold four. And that short period of time, people are calling to say, “Do you still have them? Do you still have them? Are they still the same price?” I’m like, “Yes, they’re still here. We still have some.” But it’s made all the difference of them knowing because people were just like, “My grandmother needs that, and I can afford that price.” I mean, it’s made a big deal.

And then we also do radio advertisements. So people that don’t come to our pharmacy, show up here and said, “I don’t come here. But I heard your advertisement on the radio that you had walkers and bathtub needs and toilets, you know, toilet seats for people?” And I said “Yes, yes, yes. Come in, you know, we can help you.” And it’s been it’s been a great experience. And then we try to of course, talk him into changing into our pharmacy, I would have to offer that, you know, they’re coming in anyway. But it’s been a good thing.

SC: Let’s talk about that. So they’re coming in anyway. So now HME is a draw because you’re the game in town. And people need these products, like we said, and… are you taking Walmart customers away?

CM: Yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. And unfortunately for them, their pharmacists, they have a new one about every other week. They’re in and out. And the people here, being in a small community, they want that relationship with the pharmacist. And that’s important, it’s really important to have a good relationship with your pharmacy provider. I mean, they go over
there, it’s not ready. And they’re upset about that there’ll be ready in three hours, they go back three hours later, and it’s not ready. And I mean, we are like totally customer service oriented. We have a great staff, and we take care of people, all of our front desk, people know everybody by name, they just love that. We do curbside for those that can’t get out, you know, then have a hard time walking in. And I mean, it’s just–we’re blessed to be able to provide the service for everyone. But without the customer service, I mean, your business
will die. It will just die. 

SC: But that’s your heart and soul and passion.

CM: Oh yeah.

SC: That’s the extension of who you are. You don’t even have to try because that’s what you believe in, and your staff. And that is the night and day difference between you and that billion dollar company down the street from you: Walmart.

CM: Very true.

SC: And so in a sense, you guys are crushing them all day long.

CM: Yes, yes, we are. [laughs] Plus, for some reason, they can’t keep a lot of drugs in stock, so a lot of people are making the change to come over here because they don’t have it—I  don’t know how they order things. But they don’t ever get anything really the next day. It’s like two days later, and the people are out of medicine. So I mean, they’re calling us to say, “Do you have the medicine? Can we transfer the medicine?” And then when they get here, we’re like, “Why don’t you just change everything over here?” Then they look around and say, “I didn’t know y’all had all this stuff.” I’m like, “Yes, we do! You know, come in and see!”

But unfortunately, we were on the square where we’ve been since 1961. But a lot of people don’t know that we exist because Walmart is out on the loop. We have a sign right there. But generally we have really good relationships with our medical providers. So they’ll go, “Do you want it today?” And they’ll say, “Yes.” And they say, “Well go to Davy Crockett Drug, if not you walk in to Walmart.” So we’re the other pharmacy in town. And they are understaffed, so they are not able to provide the service like we do. But you know, we’re glad to provide the service and get the business and help the people and it’s really easy. We have the best customers. So we really do. We’re lucky.

SC: It sounds to me that you are being very ambitious and proactive. You’re being ambitious and proactive with your marketing, the radio, the commercials getting outside of your comfort zone, working with your referral sources to drive that business referral business to you and then engaging your customers on the store level. So you’re being proactive. You’re
not just saying, “Okay, come on in, let’s hope the business grows.” You are being proactive. And I think that’s a driving message that I would love for our listeners to hear is that so many pharmacies right now are just feeling a little bit paralyzed because they’ve gotten so beaten up with DIR fees and reimbursements and the competition. But it sounds to me that taking on the Carole Martin attitude of owning what you’re good at, which is amazing customer service, and then really working on the marketing to build that demand into your store. And it’s working.

CM: Definitely, definitely, because no one’s gonna just walk drive by the drugstore and say, “Oh, I wonder if they have this or that.” I mean, crutches, we get a lot of calls for crutches. And I’m like, you know, everybody probably has crutches. But either they don’t have the right size or anything like that. So they call in do you guys have crutches. And then once they’re in here, and they see everything, you know, that’s the best part. But for those that don’t come here, the advertisements are the only way they know what we do have. So you have to advertise, they’re not going to know you have seat cushions, or quad canes, or bathroom aids or urinals or all of these rollators, and the little knee scooter, they’re not going to know what you have if they don’t come into the store. So you have to make it possible for them to get the information. And we’re doing every way that we can to try to let them know. So if you do have anything, but I mean, there’s a lot of families, huge families, generations of people that live here, and they all say somebody needs something—”I heard something on the radio about Davy Crockett Drug, you ought to give him a call and see if they have it.” I mean, and that’s really the only way of birthing a new relationship with people you don’t know is getting the word out there to them. Though, it’s been it’s been good.

SC: And I liked the way you’re getting the word out, because it’s, it so speaks to the charm, and the uniqueness of you and your pharmacy. And so if I could just share with the listeners, when you did the commercial on the NOVA Journey, what I loved it says that we found James and I did, you know, kind of a power buy and we got a really good price. And so we have a budget friendly—I loved your word there. So you didn’t say “inexpensive”, you said “budget friendly rollator.” So and it’s such a good price that you can get two, you can use one and your car and take it to church, and you can leave one at home. And I just thought that that was so charming, but also educational. Because you’re educating the customer that with a rollator, they can get out and about more and that there is value to having two rollators: one in your car and one at home, because you’ll use it more.

CM: Definitely. And the hardest part is, I guess it’s pride. People don’t want to be seen thinking that they look like they’re not independent. But once you say you like we had, when I had met you at one of the shows, you had said the people need to know that it’s okay to have this you’re at this age, and you’ve got to have that to stop from having further injuries. And whenever your family sees that they need to know where to go get it. But it’s just been, it’s a hard avenue to step into of having to need aids. But when someone’s living at home by themselves, you have to have the aids; you need the aids. And the rollators are just going to be a part of all of our lives one day and, and it’s a short-term part. But when you have the right stuff in your home, and when you want to go to public, when you want to get out of the car and go into the store, and you don’t want to fall. I mean, you’ve got to have the right thing. And so people have just ended up having to step up to it eventually and put their pride away. But I mean, that’s a part of life for all of us one day, hopefully if we live to be old enough to get there.

SC: That’s right, God willing, we will all be using
equipment if we live long enough. And I think you said something about pride.

CM: Mm hmm! [laughs]

SC: And that is perhaps our greatest challenge is the
disease of denial. People not wanting to use a cane or a walker, and they could
improve their lives so much or prevent falls. But I feel like that’s where your
role as a community pharmacy, where they know you they trust you. They’ve seen
you in the commercial, they know your staff, that you guys almost more than
anyone can really chip away at that pride. Chip away at that disease of denial
even more than their own kids. If they come in and they’re hearing the message
from you and or your staff that’s going to resonate better than if their own
children tell them they need to use a walker.

CM: Oh, yes. And I mean, we have that relationship with
them. We know what works. And when we have the ability to see them struggling,
it’s like try a cane. Just—you need to do the cane to keep you from having an
injury and being hospitalized, because a lot of their friends are in the
nursing home, having to get recovery from their broken shoulder or the broken
hip or leg. And, you know, that’s not fun. But one little piece of equipment
can make your life easier. And we’ve got excellent, excellent choices for them,
of what they want. You know, we like to do the little fancy ones for the ladies
in the men have the camo or solid colors, whatever they want. But we just kind
of say, you know, and it’s also good for self-defense, if somebody’s doing
something, you can beat them off with a stick. [laughs] It’s a dual-purpose
thing. We don’t have much stuff going on like that. But, you know, it’s always
just good to have that security.

SC: So you’re bringing some lightheartedness to something
and adding a little bit of love and laughter and humor to something and that
just makes people feel better, which is, once again, something that amazing
community pharmacy can do that truly cares about you that the Walmart pharmacist
is never going to do.

And since you have such a wonderful selection, and you’re
getting customers coming in as a product, maybe share just a little bit about
staff training and having to engage your staff on these products, has it been
an easy transition for them to be able to learn about home medical equipment?

CM: Well, luckily, y’all have provided them with little
podcasts to listen to, and get the training that they need to be able to do it.
And we have people that we have dedicated for doing that. So one of them is
always here, a lot of the equipment is very–you’ve got your lower end, and
you’ve got your really nice and it’s decorated and people can see to get the
little extra things that go on there, the little carry bag. And it’s, it’s been
easy for them to do that, just because of having the podcast for them to look
and understand how to do things and to show people what it has on there that
they wouldn’t think that it would even have on there.

So and I mean, it’s, it’s an easy sell. Once they see it,
it really, really is the convenience. And I mean, you’ve given us some really,
really good tips on what to accent it with to help with the patient. And it’s
been really, really good. With a lot of the stuff not just with the walkers,
but with the potty chairs, everything. And I mean, we’re not on our own here,
swimming and trying to tread water, y’all are telling us, you need to do this,
and we’re doing it. So I mean, you can get all the products. And if you’re not
doing the marketing, and you don’t have anyone to teach you what to do, then
it’s you know, it’s not gonna be as efficient turning it over as it is unless
you follow the stuff that you guys are telling us. So that’s helped out a
bunch, a bunch.

SC: I’m so glad and we do provide a fun, easy training with
me. I get very enthusiastic in our trainings that’s quick and easy for your
staff to learn about the product. So I’m glad that you’ve used our training
videos.

CM: Exactly.

SC: Well, we’re coming to the end of our fun discussion and
I share with you I was like we’re just going to be a couple of ladies having a
good chat and about HME and independent pharmacies, which I always love talking
about. But maybe as we kind of come to the close of this podcast today. Maybe
give our listeners some words of wisdom or some inspiration for the pharmacy
because a lot of guys out there are going through tough times.

CM: You have to sell a lot of Cokes, you have to sell a lot
of antihistamines and nasal sprays and cough drops and a lot of rubber gloves
to make the same amount of profit you make from selling these items. And when
you first do it you kind of think, “Oh is it gonna sell?” You make it sell, you
make the product sell. And when you have a relationship with a lot of people
they’ll come in and say “I can probably buy it cheaper but I’m gonna get it
from you”. And I’m like, “Well our prices are competitive. You can check it
out.” But it’s it is what you make it work you put into it you’ll pay off. It
just—and it’s a beautiful thing. The products that y’all have come in—Ms. Nancy
came in, redid everything. If we had to do that we probably would not have done
it. It’s very intimidating, but the store looks beautiful. I mean everything
that y’all have done to it has just made it look inviting. I mean you cannot
walk into the drugstore and not see the product. It’s all there. And it’s really
nice. We have everything the packages is attractive, it’s very attractive. And
we have all the items, the rollators, everything is put together one deck
decorated to the hilt, and the other one is just plain, so they’ll figure out
what the pricing is. You know, the kids come in to get the stuff for their parents,
they want it to be nice. They will just deck it out. And it’s just been a good
thing. It really has. And then they tell other people where to go get the stuff
too, so it’s word-of-mouth, but there’s hope out there. You can find a product
that doesn’t have to be paid with insurance, which, we don’t take insurance, once
again, your profit is higher. It may sit there for a week or two, but when you
sell it, you make way more than you do from selling 100 prescriptions. And it’s
a win-win situation. So I can’t, I just can’t say enough good things about it.
It’s really good. It’s worth it.

SC: Well, just what you’ve shared, and spending this time
with us today, and sharing your wisdom and experience, I can already see is
helping so many people because we need independent pharmacies to survive. And
you embody our mission of empowering human ability because Ms. Carole, you are
empowered!

CM: [laughs]

SC: You are empowered,
and I love it, because you are sharing that with your staff, and your customers
and your community and that is just what we live for. That’s what we live for. Is
empowerment and to improve each others’ lives.

Well I would encourage our listeners to encourage whenever
you’re in West Texas, they gotta drive through Davy Crockett, Texas—

CM: East Texas! East
Texas!

SC: Oh that’s right, sorry, that’s right, you guys are in East
Texas. Whenever you’re in East Texas to come by and visit y’all at Davy
Crockett Drug and say hi to Carole.

CM: You bet! You bet! We’d
love to see y’all.

SC: Well, thanks
everyone for listening on this podcast today, thank you Carole for being our
wonderful guest. Yes, and stay tuned for our next episode in about a month, and
we look forward to further connecting independent pharmacies and retailers with
the mission of empowering human ability. Alright, y’all take care!

CM: Have a good day! Thank you!

Outro: A transcript and a copy of the visual companion guide is available on our website at HME180.com. Your host was Sue Chen, Chief Educational Officer of NOVA Medical Products. Our special guest today was Carole Martin from Davy Crocket Drug in East Texas. This podcast was produced and edited by Melissa Grace Klose. Our theme music was created by Rebecca Klose. Thank you for listening to The HME180 Podcast and we will see you all again next month.