Newcastle Permanent working with small business to kick goals
Starting out as a hobby the Posy Post was never meant to be a big business, more of a passion project for Brooke Cousins to appease her love of flowers.
Working in the corporate world at the time Brooke recognised a gap in the market for a flower delivery service that could be arranged online quickly and was more affordable.
Together with her sister-in-law Tracey, Brooke started the Posy Post out of a little old shed at her Kotara home, a location move to Valentine provided some breathing space, however word of the Posy Post spread quickly.
“The house kept being overrun by flowers and it got to the point where it just wasn’t working anymore.”
Realising something needed to change Brooke reached out to Newcastle Permanent Building Society to get some advice.
“We’ve banked with Newcastle Permanent from the get-go and it was a part of our business model to work alongside local businesses and services where possible, so that was the main reason we decided to go with Newcastle Permanent originally. I called their office and Mel from the Business Solutions team was in contact literally the next day.”
Taking a visit to the Posy Post’s new premise in Warners Bay for the first time, Mel explained how Newcastle Permanent has adapted how they work with their clients due to the events of 2020.
“Covid has made us realise how important that personal contact is when it comes to dealing with clients, so we're really focussing on delivering a personalised approach and close interaction between a client and their business manager."
“I really pride myself on wanting to get an understanding of what a client’s business is about and where they want to be, it’s not just about purchasing a premises or lending money, and that being the end of the transaction. I like to grow with the business and see them succeed.”
“I really care about my clients, and tend to get quite invested, but I get real pleasure from seeing businesses grow and achieve their goals.”
Seeing the Posy Posts new premises for the first time Brooke explains how important Mel and the team from Newcastle Permanent have been throughout the whole process.
“I really didn’t expect the level of service I received, very personalised and Mel’s been amazing. We’ve met together a handful of times in person, but we’ve spoken on the phone so many times and through email probably like a million times.”
“Mel was great in pushing things through really quickly, but it was the assistance with providing advice in terms of strategy in how we would approach and acquire the property that I found really helpful.”
“I literally had no idea what I was doing, Mel talked me through how the whole process would work and really held my hand through everything.”
Whilst 2020 continues to deliver unexpected twists and turns Brooke hasn’t let it get in the way of moving ahead with any of its business goals.
“Our delivery numbers change every day. Friday’s are our busiest day and we end up doing around 250 flower deliveries. Across the week we're doing around 1000 deliveries and it’s pretty consistently growing."
“We’re so lucky to have such a great team, we've got a team of around eight florists and ten delivery drivers along with the girls in the office.”
Brooke has plenty of big plans ahead so be sure to keep your eye on what's happening next.
This editorial is a sponsored post with the Newcastle Permanent Building Society and Visa. Visa developed the ‘Where You Shop Matters’ platform to support small and micro businesses and to recognise that our local communities need us most in difficult times, through drought, bushfires, and now COVID. Newcastle Permanent & Visa developed a partnership to showcase this in our local region. Check out visa.com.au/whereyoushopmatters for more information.