Blog

Vivian Pharmacy is a New Plymouth-based community pharmacy owned and operated by pharmacists Catherine Keenan and Amanda Slaats. They have a team of 21 who focus on providing a high-quality service to their customers and have implemented impressive robotic technology to ensure they are as efficient as possible in their service delivery.

Catherine and Amanda have a long-standing relationship with the Unlimit team (formerly Velocite) and have shared a bit about their experience working with us.

What types of work have you done with Unlimit over the years?

We started off with receiving services for meeting tax obligations before moving onto ongoing business strategy and advice around forward planning and cash flow management. Unlimit also provide us with financial reports and have provided support through putting together a feasibility study to do with robot use in the pharmacy, advising on succession planning, and putting together our shareholder agreement when Amanda came on board as an owner. They have also supported me (Catherine) with personal finance affairs the whole time I’ve been with Unlimit.

How have our services made a difference to your business? Can you share any specific success stories or improvements?

Unlimit have helped with onboarding of Amanda through succession planning and the setup of a new shareholder. Also, the strategic planning side has been massive, meeting quarterly and having a full rundown each time. We turn up fairly blank, but the team manages to pull ideas out of them every time and then keep them in check and accountable to what we’ve agreed on. We have also received business advice on how to handle challenges, such as the discount pharmacies entering Taranaki, and suggestions on how to track the impact on our business and manage that impact. It is also really good to get perspective from someone outside of the industry & our business. The team is always very happy and quick to respond to any ad-hoc queries or issues that arise unexpectedly.

What three words describe your experience working with us?

Catherine: Knowledgeable, reassuring, responsive

Amanda: Approachable (whole team), professional, welcoming

What would you say to someone who was considering hiring us?

We regularly recommend Unlimit to people and tell them that if they don’t know the answer, the Unlimit team will find it out – you can’t go wrong going with Unlimit. You can be sure you will be welcomed, included, and given great advice. We have never been put wrong in the advice we have been given or felt rushed out of the room – the support has been invaluable and constant encouragement for continuous improvement helps to inspire us to keep going. It is great to have local people dealing with a local business who know the lay of the land Taranaki-wide, know the community well, and are familiar with and aware of what is going on in the business environment – knowledge which is invaluable.