Specialist Pharmacy Business Mentors

When I started coaching, I was not in a good place business and personally. I didn’t have any professional support and needed outside eyes to help steer us in a better direction, get us better organized and better equipped to deal with all the issues that were coming up. (Plus we had) a number of staffing issues providing us with additional challenges – not motivated or not doing the right thing. (We are now) working much more efficiently and fixed systems because of the things we learned in the program.

When I started the program I’d lost a bit of enthusiasm for work and the industry. By the end of the coaching, I feel much more enthusiastic and centred and I have a better idea of where I’m heading. Getting feedback has been very helpful with organizing the staffing, I’ve certainly gained more income with professional services and having more focus on that. I’ve also improved my time management skills. It’s given me more time out of the pharmacy when I’ve wanted it too. Having regular sessions offers accountability which is useful and keeps the bigger picture front of mind.

We’ve always had a good business, it’s about what streamlining what we already have and I think we’ve taken it to another level. Since doing the coaching I have better staffing levels and quality of staff and with sales and professional services increasing, that’s a positive. From a mindset point of view my attitude is in a far better place and attitudes are contagious.

I would recommend the mentoring program where your pharmacy has come to a bit of a standstill and you need to think outside the square, look outside for a bit of inspiration and some help.

Challenges I was facing that the coaching program resolved included staffing issues, dealing with staff, getting them to do the things that I wanted them to do when and how I wanted them to do it. This program put me more in control of my business rather than being run by the staff and being out of control of the business. Biggest thing has been a saving in time, it’s saved me a day a week and enabled me to do things in my personal life because I implemented what you’d been teaching, I wasn’t stuck in my business anymore. It’s helped me run the business better and have happier staff cos they all know what they’re doing and where they’re going. I was pleasantly surprised by how it increased their sense of ownership, made a far better team in the shop.

I’d also talked about doing the vision for years and never actually got around to doing it so a big plus was developing a vision and focus on the business. It’s given us so much as a team and the staff enjoy being part of the vision.

You don’t know what you don’t know but the big surprise is that this is about growth and self development. It’s about finding your strengths and building on your thinking and you tailor it to our business. You really do understand the pharmacy game well. The most important thing that people should know is that it will ultimately save you time and effort and organise your head so you can deal with the day to day stuff. I would recommend the program to other pharmacy owners because it really has helped me.

The next big key was the people piece: understanding what makes people tick, how to motivate, engage, mentor and lead them, reprimand them if needs be and understanding how to have the most functional relationships up, down or sideways and optimise that.

Before the coaching, I was stressed, didn’t have a lot of job satisfaction, poor work life balance and my productivity and output was below where they should have been. Fast forward 12 months and I probably have more on my plate now but have clarity. I am being productive. I feel like there’s a lot better communication in the team and my work life balance is balanced.

You’re very perceptive about what sort of person I am and you’re able to tailor your program, all the modules and all the learnings in it to meet my personality type, my strengths and weaknesses and the needs of my business. A lot more present at home, a lot more organized at work, don’t get bogged down, (I’m) alot more comfortable and confident dealing with every other person in our organization, I’m a lot smarter in understanding how to manage situations and how the dynamics work.

Would I recommend your services? Definitely. Being more organized and having more of a strategy around everything I’m trying to do, it was the the ability to approach each task or process with more thought, structure and strategy. Planning things not just seeing a fire and going to put it out….learning to look at what outcome I want to get and decide whether to let the fire burn out or not even bother with it, prioritizing and having objectives to aim for. Far more considered approach to everything. Now I feel like I’m in control of what I choose to do, when I choose to do it and why and actually deciding where my time is allocated, there’s a reason behind it and there’s a thought process.

I was disorganized, stressed and tired. I was disheartened with the industry. The challenges I was facing at the beginning of the program were mainly around the staff and the culture in the pharmacy and trying to make sure everyone was motivated and working as a team. I’ve developed the confidence tell the staff what I think, expect and would like them to do. Being a leader and showing leadership and setting the standard.

was quite excited by the program as it’s something that I’ve always thought about doing and never done anything about it. These are skills that we weren’t taught as a pharmacist when we went to uni and you don’t really get taught these sort of skills after that so it was a perfect opportunity. I guess the only hesitation was that you’ve got to put yourself out there and I’m the type of person that generally keeps to myself a lot which you can’t do as an owner or a leader , you have to be proactive and you’ve got to go out there and sometimes have to say things that may not want to be said or heard and that’s the skill that you get to learn and the techniques to do it. The sooner you do these things the better because less problems perpetuate from it.

The coaching has saved me a lot of time, Linda has been able to guide me in certain aspects of my personal life too, like spending more time with my family and spend my time at work more wisely, not just working in the business but working on the business as well and getting me organized in how I spend my time each day now.

The feature I liked best about working together was being able to catch up every two weeks cos that would often get me back on track. after each session I’d be going out there much more motivated. As a result of the coaching I’ve become more confident and able to deal with any staff issues that arise. In the past I wouldn’t have dealt with them straight away but now, with the tools that I’ve learned, I talk to the staff straight away, I’m now able to deal with issues quickly and effectively It’s also allowed me to go out to consult with the customers. I’m allocating my time better so overall I feel a lot more relaxed and I’m enjoying my work.

Yes, I would recommend your services as because I’ve noticed personally a big change in my life in that I’ve been a lot calmer at home, I don’t feel as tired anymore, I’m now using my time better, I’m more motivated when I’m at work. I feel more confident in having the skills to talk to staff about issues now- and that’s usually the biggest problem. When there’s things that go wrong, I’ve learned to deal with it straight away. That’s something that I’ve gained aside from time and my headspace.

When I started the coaching I was always putting out fires, relying on key staff to get me out of trouble. Now I have a more big picture focus and step wise approach to the problem. Before, I would’ve had stuff going on everywhere, dealing with it as it came through, now I’ve learned to be strategic instead of reactive. I feel more in control now and my stress levels have reduced. [it’s been great to learn] how to break a big problem into manageable chunks.

The specific feature i liked best about the coaching was the accountability and I would recommend your services.

• Be confident that no one is irreplaceable and I have strength and resources to replace them if needed.
• Increase in DAAs to $3000 and now have a strict criteria and process and tracking them meant know efficiencies in doing them, cut down time with new systems and more efficiency.
• Reduced my role from a 40 hours per week pw to 20 hours and I can still able to get all dispensing done in the role, when I’m there.
• Reduced and saved in time and wages, increasing efficiency and customer numbers because I cut down webster packing from a 38 hour full time job to a 20 hour part time job and reallocate roles for when they’re not packing websters. That’s been massive for the front of shop and they’re working much better together.
• Reduced error rate in packing websters from 8-9% to 4-5% using systems I’ve been taught through the coaching.
• Compared to a year ago, the savings in wages are about $2000 a month.
• Our staff have become a lot more engaged and more proactive and taking responsibility cos I’ve given them accountability.

I was at a crossroads (when I began the coaching), not sure which direction to take, to move forward in a discount model or a customer service pharmacist driven model. I needed to set and communicate goals and get staff involved in decision making, which I didn’t know how to do without guidance. Having the support of an external mentor gave me extra strength and support. Coaching definitely gave me more focus. I needed to be pushed to work on my business. Now everyone has a purpose.

Main challenge was with Staffing- personalities and dealing with situations. Coaching gave more insight and realization that I needed to be in control and set realistic expectations and be firmer in approach. There’s well and truly more accountability.

I also didn’t know financial figures well enough. Now I know what to look at and the implications of the figures are and so I’m able to teach staff, learned to set targets, cut down on expenses, save money and improve profitability .

I’ve come a long way since the start where I hadn’t set any goals for myself. I had no direction, the staff didn’t know what the overall agenda was of the pharmacy. They had no KPIs to work towards, they knew nothing about our figures at all. Now they have more transparency, they understand our philosophy is about always wanting to be a community pharmacy, that our primary concern is about community engagement and they’re always looking for strategies about how we can be engaged in the community. Would I recommend PPS services? Well and truly. Definitely!

When I started the coaching program I had no control with my staff but had motivation to get to the result. Now I have the direction and ideas and tools to how to get things done, I’ve learned to be more effective with staff, more persistent. I’m clearer on what I want, tell them and get a result. We now have the potential to grow the sales because we’re working on the right things and I have the tools to change my mindset and change what’s happening, as the business owner.

I would recommend PPS services. Now that I know you quite well and know the methods I would. I’ve been helped a great deal.

Having an outside person to talk to about a whole heap of different things who was not involved in the business, knows enough but objective and had relevant beneficial knowledge to help was what I liked best about the program. I found always learned something new each session. You’ve given me heaps of confidence and also heaps of different tools that I can use, especially the personal development tools so I could then use the business tools with confidence. Mindset changes, efficiency in work related and personal issues

I’ve experienced an 85% improvement in efficiency from 11 months ago. Knowing the goals and having clarity around what to achieve and how to achieve it and constantly looking at them has definitely helped.

I would definitely recommend the program.