Day Lewis’ Agnieszka Galbas won over the judges with her aptitude for building customer loyalty, promoting services and increasing the value of transactions

The first time Agnieszka Galbas of Day Lewis Pharmacy in London’s Balham became aware that her name was in the running for the Recognition of Excellence Awards was when she received a phone call from Training Matters, the magazine e that runs the initiative. Her area manager Mustafa Jafry had entered the Awards on her behalf following her nomination for a company award two years previously, and was right to do so: Agnieszka was named Winner in the Retail Skills category, sponsored by Precision Marketing Group.

Agnieszka has worked in pharmacy since she arrived in the UK from her home country of Poland in 2013. The move was a complete change in more ways than one: her previous jobs had been in banking and travel agencies. But she has clearly got to grips with it all at lightning speed, with the judges in agreement that Agnieszka stood out because of her sound understanding of sales and how they can be used as a way of promoting services. Among the praise heaped on Agnieszka was judge and Pharmacy Complete’s Mike Holden’s comment: “A great example of how to build customer loyalty, and increase the use of services and value of transactions. Something all pharmacies could learn from.”

Agnieszka’s grasp of the power of the shop floor was reflected in her entry, which described how she thought nothing of completely rearranging the store’s layout so customers were more easily able to find what they wanted. As she says: “An efficient store is a tidy one, where customers can clearly find products and see promotions.” She is also a deft link seller, for example highlighting to someone buying something for their holiday that they might want to look at mosquito repellents and other relevant products that they hadn’t even considered.

The importance of training is uppermost in Agnieszka’s mind at all times. In three years, she has completed medicines counter assistant and dispensing assistant courses, and become the pharmacy’s healthy living champion, weight management advisor and stop smoking consultant. It is little wonder that she has recently been appointed assistant manager, and it is a good fit given how much she enjoys training her support staff colleagues, both at her branch and at a wider level for Day Lewis. Agnieszka is not sure which way she wants to go next, weighing up the pros and cons of pursuing her management ambitions against the lure of doing a pharmacy technician course. She concludes: “I think, for now, I will just enjoy my job and get more experience. Working in pharmacy is so interesting and I love helping people and offering a great service – that is the most satisfying aspect for me and means customers feel like they have been served properly and so will come back.”