Accelerate September sales with Ferbz’s fast counter billing for pharmacies

Below is a step‑by‑step walk‑through of the fast counter billing process as it appears on the Ferbz dashboard. The example uses Shakti Pharmacy, a fictitious but realistic shop in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, with a daily footfall of 70‑80 patients and a September sales target of ₹3,20,000.

1. Log in to the Ferbz dashboard
   Open the browser, go to https://dashboard.ferbz.com/, and enter your credentials. The home screen shows the main navigation bar on the left: Dashboard, Billing, Patients, Automation, Broadcasts, Reminders, Reports, Wallet.

2. Navigate to Billing → New Sale
   Click Billing → New Sale. The screen presents a search bar for patient name or phone, a product grid, and a quick‑add field for custom items.

3. Select or create the patient

   • Type “Ramesh Kumar” into the search bar. The system pulls up Ramesh’s profile (Patient ID #4521) showing his last purchase on 12 August (Metformin 500 mg × 30).
   • If the patient is new, click Add New Patient, fill in name, phone, address, and optionally upload a photo of the prescription. All fields are mandatory for future automation triggers.

4. Add medicines to the cart

   • Click the Metformin 500 mg tile, set quantity to 2 (for a 60‑day supply).
   • Click Amlodipine 5 mg, quantity 1.
   • Click Insulin (regular), quantity 1.
   • Click Vitamin D3 1000 IU, quantity 1.
     The right‑hand summary updates total quantity, subtotal, GST, and grand total. For this mix, GST is calculated as 12 % on Metformin and Amlodipine (both taxable), 0 % on insulin (essential medicine), and 12 % on Vitamin D3. The system automatically shows:
   • Subtotal: ₹2,800
   • GST (12 %): ₹336
   • Grand Total: ₹3,136

5. Apply any discount or insurance claim (optional)
   If the patient has a senior citizen discount of 5 %, click Discount, enter 5 %, and the total adjusts to ₹2,979.

6. Checkout
   Press the bright Checkout button. A modal appears: “Generate receipt and send to patient via WhatsApp?” Click Confirm.

7. Receipt generation and WhatsApp send
   Ferbz instantly creates a PDF receipt titled Receipt_4521_2024-09-15.pdf. The PDF is uploaded to Ferbz’s secure storage and a shareable link is generated. The system then pushes a WhatsApp message through the official WhatsApp Business API (Gupshup) to Ramesh’s registered mobile number:

   Dear Ramesh, thank you for your purchase at Shakti Pharmacy.
   Your receipt: https://ferbz.com/receipt/abcd1234
   Your next refill is due on 14 October. We will remind you a day before.
   

   The message status bar shows Sent → Delivered → Read in real time.

8. Automation enrollment
   Because a sale just completed, Ferbz checks the Automation tab for any journeys with the trigger “Sale completes”. In Shakti Pharmacy’s setup, there is a journey named “30‑Day Refill Reminder – Diabetes” that is set to fire 29 days after the sale. The patient is automatically enrolled, and the reminder clock starts counting down. No extra clicks are required.

9. Verify on Reminders board
   Click Reminders → Board. A new row appears:

   • Patient: Ramesh Kumar (4521)
   • Journey: 30‑Day Refill Reminder – Diabetes
   • Trigger: 29 days after sale
   • Status: Scheduled (2024‑10‑14 09:00 IST)

   This gives the owner instant visibility that the reminder is queued.

10. Complete the sale and move to the next patient
    The checkout screen clears automatically, ready for the next patient. Because the receipt is already stored, the pharmacist can re‑print a hard copy later by clicking Print on the patient’s profile if needed.

Full Worked Example – September Rush

Shakti Pharmacy aims to sell ₹3,20,000 worth of medicines in September. Historically, 30 % of chronic‑care sales slip through because patients forget to return for refills. By using fast counter billing, Shakti reduces the average time per transaction from 4 minutes (manual ledger + handwritten receipt) to 45 seconds.

On 12 September, a patient named Anita Verma walks in with a prescription for Metformin 500 mg (30 tablets) and Amlodipine 5 mg (30 tablets). The pharmacist follows the steps above:

• Finds Anita’s profile (Patient #3890).
• Adds Metformin × 2 and Amlodipine × 2 (two months’ supply).
• Checkout generates a ₹4,560 receipt (including 12 % GST).
• WhatsApp message is sent instantly, and the “30‑Day Refill Reminder – Hypertension” journey enrolls Anita.

The entire interaction, from greeting to checkout, takes 48 seconds. Over the course of September, Shakti processes 220 such sales, saving roughly 13 hours of manual work compared with the old paper system. The saved time lets the staff focus on counseling, inventory checks, and upselling nutraceuticals, directly contributing to the September target.

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1. Time efficiency – The average counter billing time drops from 4 minutes to under 1 minute. For Shakti Pharmacy’s 70 daily patients, that is a saving of ≈ 3.5 hours per day, or ≈ 105 hours in September. Those hours can be re‑allocated to patient counseling or stock management, which directly improves service quality.

2. Revenue recovery – By linking each sale to an automated refill reminder, pharmacies capture the “win‑back” segment automatically. In a pilot, pharmacies that enabled the 30‑day reminder saw a 12.4 % increase in repeat orders from chronic‑care patients. For a September sales base of ₹3,20,000, that translates to an extra ₹39,680 without any additional marketing spend.

3. Reduced manual errors – The PDF receipt is generated automatically, eliminating transcription mistakes that often lead to GST calculation errors. Accurate GST (12 % on taxable items, 0 % on insulin) ensures compliance and avoids penalties.

4. Inventory control – Because each sale is recorded in real time, the Reports module can be filtered by product and date. Shakti can see on 20 September that insulin stock is down to 12 units and place an order before it runs out, preventing loss of sales due to stock‑outs.

5. Zero subscription cost – All messaging costs are deducted from the prepaid wallet. If Shakti tops up ₹2,500 (≈ 3,150 credits) at the start of September, it can send over 300 reminder messages (each costing 1 credit) and still have credits left for occasional broadcast promotions, all without a recurring monthly fee.

Overall, fast counter billing turns a traditionally labor‑intensive checkout into a click‑driven, data‑rich transaction that feeds directly into Ferbz’s automation engine, guaranteeing that every chronic‑care sale becomes a future refill opportunity while freeing staff for higher‑value tasks.

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Accelerate your September sales by moving to fast counter billing. Sign up in seconds, top up your prepaid wallet, and start ringing up patients with a single click. Every sale instantly triggers refill reminders, keeps your inventory in sync, and frees up precious staff time.

Begin your trial now: https://dashboard.ferbz.com/
If you have questions or need a walkthrough, email us at support@ferbz.com – our team is ready to help you set up the Billing and Automation flows that match your pharmacy’s needs.