The Top Seven Benefits of Business Mentoring

There are many benefits to using a Business Mentor to help guide, develop and grow your business. Not only do they have a wealth of knowledge and experience, but they can provide strategies and make introductions that will add huge value to your business.

Managing Director and Founder of UK Business Mentoring Group, Joe Hinton gives his thoughts on the key benefits of having a Business Mentor.

Since forming UKBM thirteen years ago, I have mentored many owners from businesses of all sizes and industries. Whilst the challenges that some of those owners face are particular to the business concerned, there are common areas that I have found owners need support with.

It is worth pointing out that for the majority of owner-managed businesses, they started out on their own, doing something they were good at and then the business grew, staff were taken on, premises acquired, etc. However, along the journey, as the business has grown, the role of the business owner has changed. As staff are taken on, the owner has new responsibilities such as people management, leadership, financial forecasting, marketing, etc.

As the owner’s role develops, there is no one there to say, “You’re taking on staff now, you need management training”, or, “You need to grow your sales via digital marketing and this is how you do it”.

This is where a Business Mentor comes in and here are my top seven benefits of how a Business Mentor helps the owner of a business:

1. Providing clarity on the objectives of your business and how to achieve them

It may seem obvious, but knowing what it is you want the business to achieve and exactly what you want out of the business is our normal start point with a client. If we don’t know where you want to go, it’s hard for a mentor to help you get there. Once you know what it is you want then the mentor’s role is to help you to develop plans and strategies to get there.

2. Identifying what needs changing/improving in your business

A good Business Mentor will look at all areas of your business and discuss with you what is going well, what could be improved and what risks he/she see in the business. After all, there is little point in growing a business that has flaws as they will only serve to inhibit that growth.

3. Helping you develop as a business owner

A key part of the mentor’s role is to help you, the owner, with both your professional and personal development. That could include anything from helping you to manage your team and their performance more effectively to showing you how to understand your profit and loss account.

4. Someone you trust to ask questions, seek opinions or ‘vent’

Sometimes, even on a daily basis, something will crop up in your business where it would be good to have someone to ask or discuss an issue with, or even just ‘get it off your chest’! A Business Mentor is that ear, that person to pick up the phone to, to bounce something off and get a second opinion. The knowledge sharing aspect of a Business Mentor is something that can take away some of the day-to-day headaches of running a business.

5. Developing strategies to grow and make more profit!

As well as helping you with the day-to-day challenges of running a business, owners also want the Business Mentor to help them grow the business, or more specifically, make more profit, and that is one of the key benefits of mentoring. A Business Mentor will identify areas and strategies to help grow that bottom line.

6. Introductions to business contacts

A Mentor is an experienced business person who will have many contacts in a wide range of industries and expertise. Your mentor opening his or her ‘Black book’ for you can bring untold benefits.

7. Helping you achieve personal fulfilment

Helping you to grow as a manager/leader, becoming more confident, knowledgeable, achieving your goals and ultimately allowing you to enjoy a better quality of life with your loved ones.

Recently a client of ours gave us a testimonial of how we had supported him in growing his business and I think the last line of his testimonial sums it up nicely:

“There are no shortcuts to growing a successful business, but a good Mentor comes pretty close.”

To discuss how a Business Mentor could help you and your business, please contact us.

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Tel: 0845 680 3634