Local Business Mentor – What Do We Do?

Business Mentors Near Me – UK Nationwide

When I tell people I am a Business Mentor, not surprisingly I am normally asked ‘What does a business Mentor do’?

My standard response is ‘I help business owners to turnaround, grow or prepare their business for sale’. This is, at a high level what we at UK Business Mentoring do but is very much the end result, what does a Business Mentor do on a day to day basis with a client?

How We Deliver Our Business Experience To Clients

The dictionary definition of mentor is ‘An experienced person who advises and helps somebody with less experience over a period of time’.

Let me explain how we normally put that into practice:

Our initial involvement with a business owner is normally to help them by undertaking a full review of the business based on our ‘Zulu Business Model’ approach.

We spend time in the business, talking to all the staff and looking at fourteen key areas of the business such as financials, marketing, people management, processes, sales etc.

We also spend time with the business owner to understand not only their challenges and frustrations but also their longer-term goals. Having left and had time to consider what we saw and heard and constructed a presentation, we will come back and share our findings, observations and recommendations with the business owner.

After a full discussion with the owner we will work with them to prepare an action plan to address any issues found during the review – this is normally no more than one or two pages of key actions/responsibilities and timings.

Monthly Business Coaching and Consulting

The Business Mentor will then normally meet with the client on a monthly basis (more if required) to discuss progress with the plan and discuss and help with any challenges in implementing the plan. Of course, in between meetings there will be emails and telephone calls depending on the client’s individual needs.

Following this initial help with the more tactical side of the business we will help the owner decide on their longer-term business goals and the strategy they intend to use to achieve those.

We describe what we do as follows:

• Someone who understands the owner and their business
• Listens/questions/challenges/probes
• Explores options/alternatives
• Coach/Trains/Advises
• Follows-up
• Assist an owner in developing their business
• The owner’s ‘Unreasonable friend’

The last point, ‘The owner’s unreasonable friend’ is an important one. A client once told me ‘You are the only person who asks me the questions that maybe I don’t want to answer or tells me what I don’t want to hear’ Our duty is to help the client achieve their goals and grow their business, sometimes along the way we have to tackle difficult issues which can involve challenging the owner’s perception or actions – they always thank us in the end!

What is also important to us is that all our Business Mentors operate within our shared values:

‘Our Business Mentors will always work with and for the client to the benefit of the business and will at all times be honest and professional, act with integrity and respect confidentiality’

These are what we describe as our ‘non-negotiables’ our brand is all about putting the client at the heart of what we do and the quality of what we deliver. This is reflected in our pledge that ‘If a client is ever not satisfied that the Business Mentor has added value then they wouldn’t be expected to pay’ In ten years no client has ever taken us up on that pledge.

If you would like to discuss how a Business Mentor could help your business and receive a complimentary mentoring session then please get in touch.

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Telephone: 0845 680 3634