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How to Develop a Mentoring Plan

A mentoring plan is a way to clarify and formalize a relationship between a mentor and mentee. Once you’ve been matched with your mentor or mentee, you can outline the specifics of your roles and define guidelines for the relationship, such as meeting frequency and location. Then, work together to describe goals and objectives. After you’ve established a plan, revisit it twice per year and adjust it as needed to maintain good progress.

PART 1. Establishing Roles and Guidelines

1) Take time to get to know each other before you begin working together. It’s fine to have the first meeting between you and your mentor or mentee be all about getting to know each other and this may even help to forge a positive relationship. Choose to meet at a designated time and place. Then, spend about 30-60 minutes in casual conversation. Ask getting-to-know-you questions of each other to establish a rapport.
      • For example, ask your mentor or mentee where they’re from, where they went to school, what they like to do in their spare time, and if they have any pets.

2) Discuss desired outcomes for the relationship. When you first begin working together, plan a conversation to establish the basic goals you’ll be working towards. These can be broad goals that you narrow down later to pinpoint the mentee’s more specific professional objectives. Some things the mentor and mentee might list as goals for their relationship include:[2]

      • Increasing the speed at which the mentee learns their role and achieves competency
      • Fostering leadership development
      • Reducing stress and preventing burnout
      • Improving the mentee’s motivation and job satisfaction
      • Increasing the chances that the mentee will stay with the company long-term.

3) Identify each person’s responsibilities. Once you’ve established some goals, figure out what the relationship will involve by specifying what you and your mentor or mentee will responsible for doing. State these responsibilities clearly so there is no mistaking each person’s role.[4]

      • For example, if you are the mentee, you might write something like, “As mentee, I am responsible for seeking out opportunities and experiences to enhance my learning, communicating regularly with my mentor, and reviewing my progress regularly.”
      • If you are the mentor, you might write something like, “As mentor, I agree to provide support and encouragement to my mentee, provide feedback on my mentee’s progress, and meet with them regularly.”

4) Specify how often you and your mentor or mentee will meet. Try to meet with your mentor or mentee 3-4 times over the course of 6 months, or more often if desired. Meeting more often may help to promote good progress, especially in the first 1-2 years of your relationship. Other things to consider when planning your meetings include:[5]

      • Where you will meet
      • The level of formality of your meetings
      • What you’ll cover in your meetings
      • When you will meet again

PART 2. Outlining Goals and Objectives

1) Write down the mentee’s long-term career goals. Identifying the mentee’s ultimate or major career goal will help you to create clear objectives to work on. If you’re the mentee, discuss your career goals with your mentor and then state your career goal as a main objective of the mentorship plan. If you’re the mentor, discuss the mentee’s career goals with them to help them develop their ideas and then help them to turn this into a definitive statement.[6]

      • For example, you might write something like, “My ultimate goal is to become a tenured professor and move into an administrative role, such as dean or vice president.”

2) Express short-term goals for the next 5-10 years of the mentee’s career. These may include things that the mentee would like to accomplish within the next 1, 2, 3, 5, or even 10 years. List each short-term goal and the proposed timeline for achieving it.[7]

      • For example, you might write something like, “Earn a promotion within my first year of employment.”
      • Or, you might write something like, “Publish a book based on my research within 5 years.”

3) Make a list of skills the mentee wants to work on. Have a discussion about what skills are important for the mentee’s success in their chosen field. Then, make a list of these skills and identify ways that the mentee can work on them.[8]

      • For example, if the mentee wants to develop their leadership skills, they might do this by volunteering for special projects or committees, speaking up more in meetings, and reading books about leadership.
      • If you are the mentor, you may also want to suggest some skills that you think might be beneficial for the mentee’s career goals.

4) Identify professional development events for the mentee to attend. Include in the plan any workshops, conferences, or other professional development events that may benefit the mentee. Also, indicate when the events are being held and any important deadlines the mentee should know about, such as a submission deadline for a conference paper.[9]

      • For example, you might include in the mentorship plan something like, “Submit a proposal for the annual writer’s conference by January 15th.”

5) Plan introductions to contacts that may benefit the mentee. If you are the mentor and are at a meeting or event that your mentee is attending as well, introduce them to other professionals. Expanding the mentee’s professional social circle is an important goal for furthering their professional development and helping them to achieve their goals.[10]

      • Try saying something like, “Hello, Dr. Carlson! Have you met George? He’s our newest addition to human resources.”
      • The mentor may also benefit from introducing the mentee to people within their professional circle by renewing and strengthening their professional connections.

PART 3. Ensuring Good Progress

1) Evaluate the mentee biannually to check on their progress. Regular progress reviews will help to ensure that you’re making good progress, so set a schedule for these checks. If you’re the mentor, evaluate your mentee once every 6 months. If you’re the mentee, suggest an evaluation every 6 months by discussing it with your mentor and including it in your plan. During 6 month reviews, have the mentor and mentee revisit the mentorship plan, goals, and objectives to see what the mentee has accomplished or what they are working towards.[11]

      • For example, if the mentee set a goal to publish a paper by the end of the year, then by the first 6-month review there should be some tangible evidence that the mentee is moving towards that goal, such as having a paper accepted by a scholarly journal or at least have submitted a paper to a journal by that point.
      • If you’re the mentor, make sure to provide encouragement and feedback on the mentee’s progress. You can do this by making notes on what they have accomplished and put these notes into the form of a letter.
      • If you’re the mentee, identify any goals that you have not made progress towards and ask for guidance from your mentor, especially if you are struggling with any of your objectives.

2) Make adjustments to the mentorship plan and goals as needed. After reviewing the mentorship plan together, you and your mentor or mentee can make adjustments to the plan as needed, such as changing goal completion dates, modifying goals, or adding new goals. Use the notes that the mentor made during review and any concerns the mentee stated to adjust the plan.[12]

      • For example, if the mentee set a goal to attend 3 professional development workshops within the next year, but they have only found 2 suitable ones, then you might adjust the goal and consider it met.
      • Or, if the mentee has already accomplished one of their 2-year goals at the 1-year checkup, then you might set a new goal for them to work towards.
3) Review the plan together and have both parties sign it. Once you and your mentor are happy with the new or revised plan, you can both sign it to make it official. Ensure that you both agree to the goals and other objectives set forth in the plan and make any changes needed before you sign it.[13]

Source:  wikihow.com  ~ Image: Canva Pro

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You Need a Mentor. Here’s Where to Find One for Free

Mentors have a crucial asset new business owners lack — experience.

1. Mentors put statistics back on your side.

The survival rate of new businesses is understandably intimidating to entrepreneurs, but those numbers can change drastically when you add a mentor to the equation. According to a survey by The UPS Store, 70 percent of mentored businesses survive more than five years. That’s double the rate of businesses that choose not to have a mentor.

New small business owners often lack one fundamental thing — experience. It takes years upon years, and sometimes lots of money, to gain the business experience to run a successful company. Mentors give you the opportunity to draw on that experience right away — and for free.

Running or starting a business will never play out precisely as you planned. When you hit a roadblock, small or large, mentors with business experience likely have come across something similar before and know strategies to move forward. Harvard Business Review surveyed 45 CEOs with formal mentor relationships, and 84 percent said as a result, they have avoided costly mistakes and became proficient in their roles faster. In the same study, 69 percent said mentors helped them make better decisions, and 71 percent were certain company performance improved.

2. A mentor’s support and motivation can be invaluable.

It can be lonely at the top. Starting a small or medium-sized business means you don’t have a boss above you that supplies employee motivation and engagement programs, which can be vital for worker happiness and success. A mentor can often fill this void, acting as a coach to provide support, motivation, validation, and encouragement.

3. SMB mentors offer accountability for entrepreneurs.

A good small business mentor can help define critical tasks and guide your business goals — and more importantly, help the company hold itself accountable for meeting them. Not only does accountability help companies meet these goals toward success, it fosters a culture of self-reliance and self-confidence.

This is where mentorship becomes a two-way street. Maintaining consistent meetings with your mentor is the only way to ensure accountability. You must put in the effort to make the relationship work.

4. Working with a mentor widens your network.

Potential clients, employees, and other sources of advice — all these types of people, and more, can be unlocked when you have a business mentor. A mentor brings their own network of invaluable people, and those contacts could be at your disposal. Have a specific business problem? A mentor may know the right person to turn to for help. Looking for the perfect person for a new role in the company? They could also recommend a contact from their experience in the industry. Having a stacked contact list is crucial for your business in the long run.

5. Where to find a mentor.

There are several places you can look for a mentor.

    • SCORE: Partnering with the U.S. Small Business Association, SCORE is a nonprofit that helps connect small businesses with volunteer mentors of both active and retired executives and entrepreneurs across 62 industries. There are 300 chapters across the country, so you can connect with a local mentor to meet in person, or you can set up video or email relationships.
    • Local networking events: These events are designed to connect you to other business professionals. Look for conferences or networking events for both your specific industry and small businesses in general, and try to speak to as many people as you can.
    • SBDCs: Small Business Development Centers provide assistance to entrepreneurs and small businesses by way of training sessions and free business consulting. Host networks for SBDCs are located all across the U.S. and its territories. Search for a location near you by using a tool on SBA.gov.
    • Women’s Business Centers: The Association of Women’s Business Centers sustains a network of 100 business centers across the United States, each of which supports female entrepreneurs with mentoring, as well as training, business development and finance opportunities. The AWBC also runs conferences, which can be great places to connect with potential mentors. Find a WBC near you.
    • Veterans Business Outreach Center: VBOCs provide many entrepreneurial development services, including mentorship, to veterans, transitioning service members, National Guard & Reserve members, and military spouses who are starting or growing a small business. You can search for locations near you on the SBA.gov website.
    • MBDA Business Centers: As an agency with the Department of Congress, the Minority Business Development Agency works to promote the growth of minority-owned businesses, in part through business centers located across the country in areas with the highest concentration of minority populations and minority business owners.
    • Professional and trade associations: For a price, you can join a professional or trade association in your industry. Those dues go toward investments in many things, including education and networking — usually with experienced business leaders in your industry.
    • Social media: Don’t neglect your own personal network when it comes to finding a mentor. LinkedIn and Twitter can be great resources for connecting with other professionals and potential mentors.

No matter where you turn to find a mentor, connecting with the right one should be a key step in your business plan. The right mentor can guide you through tough business choices and help set you up for success for years to come.

Source: entrepreneur.com ~ By  ~ Image: Canva Pro

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Top Tips on Having a Mentor for your Small Business

Why should I have a Small Business Mentor?

You’re passionate about your business and love what you do, but the day-to-day running of a business is hard. It can also be a solitary job, with the stress of payroll, clients, and decisions about the next steps all on you.

One of the best ways to help yourself, and your business, is to get a business mentor, someone who has been there and done that to be your support.

HOW DOES A MENTOR HELP MY BUSINESS?
A mentor is someone who can help guide you during your entrepreneurship journey. Mentors can help you in a host of ways, including by:

    • Providing perspective
    • Offering practical solutions
    • Encouraging you to keep going
    • Providing key connections

Not enough? Small business owners report higher revenue and increased growth after working with a mentor.

WHERE CAN I FIND AN ADVISOR?
It’s important to take the time to learn about the many networks that can help you connect with a mentor.  Here is a few resources to help you find the right match:

    • Your personal network of friends, family, and community
    • SCORE, a national network of volunteer, expert business mentors
    • Business Advising, a program that matches small business owners with expert advisors
    • MicroMentor, is another program that matches small business owners with expert advisor
    • Business accelerators and incubators often have a mentor network.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I CONSIDER?
Here are a few more tips on mentorship and other ways to get the advice you are looking for:

4 Ways to Make the Most of A Mentorship

As a small business owner, your relationships with your community and your peers are essential to your success. Your fellow business owners can provide much-needed support and advice as you grow your small business. This is why many new entrepreneurs turn to a mentor who has already paved their own path.

A successful mentorship takes effort. Here are some tips on how to have a successful mentor-mentee relationship:

1. Have open communication. A good mentor-mentee relationship has open and honest communication. As a mentee, you should never be afraid to seek advice and honest feedback from your mentor. Mentors, part of healthy communication is the ability to listen. You are not there to lecture your mentee. Listen to their problems and give them thoughtful and relevant advice.

2. Learn to value expertise. When looking for a mentor find someone with the expertise you don’t have so that they can help you fill any knowledge gaps you may have. And don’t feel like you can only have one mentor. You may want to have one mentor who advises your business plan, one who gives you financial advice, etc.

3. Know your goals. Before establishing a mentor-protégée relationship, you should have an idea of what you want from the relationship, otherwise, your mentor may not know how best to help you. You should make sure you are picking a mentor who has the ability to fill the need. On the other side, mentors should make sure that they have the ability to fill your mentee’s needs before accepting a mentorship.

4. Understand this is a mutually beneficial relationship. Mentees are not the sole beneficiaries of mentorships. Mentors often get just as much out of the relationship, benefitting their own businesses. Engaging with mentees can help you develop critical communications and leadership skills and can expose you to fresh ideas and help you stay connected to new developments in your industry, ensuring your business stays relevant.

Source: cdcloans.com ~ Image: Canva Pro

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Business Mentoring Increases Small Business Survival Rates

The data shows that mentored businesses were 12% more likely to remain in business after one year, compared to the national average. This supports existing research that shows entrepreneurs with access to a mentor are five times more likely to start a …

Mentoring doesn’t just help young professionals gain the experience and wisdom they need in the workforce, it can also increase the likelihood of small business success.

That’s according to a new survey from SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors. The data shows that mentored businesses were 12% more likely to remain in business after one year, compared to the national average. This supports existing research that shows entrepreneurs with access to a mentor are five times more likely to start a business than those who do not have a mentor.

Working with a mentor at least five times greatly increases an entrepreneur’s likelihood of business success.

  • 30% of business owners (both men and women) who had just one interaction with a mentor reported business growth, a number that increased with subsequent interactions and peaked at 43% of business owners who had five or more mentoring interactions reporting growth.

Women entrepreneurs experience success when they are expertly mentored, regardless of their mentor’s gender.

  • Women entrepreneurs were just as happy and successful working with mentors of either gender. What mattered to entrepreneurs (of both genders) was a mentor’s helpfulness, respectfulness, listening skills and open-mindedness, accurate assessment of a client’s business situation, and ability to provide relevant advice.

The top three issues entrepreneurs asked their mentors for help with were:

  • Human resource issues (61%)
  • Growth/business expansion (59%)
  • Start-up assistance (53%)

“This data confirms what SCORE has learned over 54 years of helping 11 million entrepreneurs to start or grow their businesses – that mentoring has a significant, positive impact on small business success rates,” said SCORE CEO Ken Yancey. “We were surprised to find that there was no statistically-significant difference in our clients’ satisfaction rates according to whether an entrepreneur worked with a mentor of the same gender. Above all else, our small business owner clients want a mentor who listens to them, and who accurately assesses their particular business situation. They want a mentor who is helpful and who provides relevant advice in a respectful manner. SCORE’s 10,000 experienced mentors are happy to volunteer their time doing just that.”

Source: cpapracticeadvisor.com ~ Image: Canva Pro

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6 Must-Have Marketing Goals for eCommerce Stores

The right marketing goals are necessary to scale your ecommerce business faster. Check out these six actionable tips.

There’s no better time to get into ecommerce than today. The market for online goods and services is growing rapidly, and technology is getting better at meeting the needs and expectations of consumers.

But as profitable as ecommerce can be, you can never do away with competition. That’s why as an entrepreneur, it’s always wise to have marketing goals that can get more visitors to your shop, convert these visitors into customers and ultimately grow your business.

It’s easy to get lost in the din of ideas about ecommerce, so I’ve listed six marketing goals that you should definitely adopt for your store.

1. Optimize product pages for search engines

As more and more people hop onto the ecommerce bandwagon, it’s becoming more urgent for brands to invest in SEO or search engine optimization. Having the right optimizations in place, especially on your product pages, makes it easier for search engines to find your store and show it in relevant search results. Ultimately, this will lead potential buyers to your store and help establish its name in the niche it falls under.

It makes good business sense for many important reasons.

Gaining organic rankings offers long-term value. However, there’s a quicker way for your store to show up on the search results, and that is via paid ads. For a price, your store can get a high placement on search results and get a traffic boost — a great complement to your organic SEO efforts.

2. Capture leads through social media

Online shopping has become an indispensable part of the new normal, and businesses that use multiple social channels ultimately sell more products than those that don’t.

A great place to start social media marketing is Instagram. It’s a business-friendly platform, especially with its features that let sellers tag products on their posts. With Instagram, brands like yours can easily turn ordinary browsing into a convenient shopping experience for users.

You can also capture leads through other social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. But before you settle on a platform, check first if your target audience uses it. It wouldn’t be wise to stretch your time and resources on several social media sites if your ideal customers use only a couple or so.

3. Collect email leads through signup forms

It’s normal to have store visitors who may eye certain products but aren’t ready to make a purchase. These visitors usually need a little more convincing or nurturing, and this is where a signup CTA and email sequences come in handy.

With a signup form, you can collect people’s information and then send them messages and deals that could persuade them to buy. You may use a mix of different signup forms, such as popups and static opt-in boxes.

When someone fills out your form, they’re basically giving you permission to contact them. You should take advantage of that by having email sequences ready. Your emails should aim to nurture your leads, counter any buying objections they might have and eventually lead them to make a purchase.

4. Boost sales through upselling and cross-selling

Upselling and cross-selling are powerful tools to increase the value of a customer’s purchase. Plus, they could help customers know more about your offers even if they don’t immediately buy.

Upselling is when you offer a better and more expensive product than what the customer is looking at on your product page or checkout page. Meanwhile, cross-selling is when you suggest an additional product that can improve the customer’s experience with the product they have in their cart.

Let’s say you’re selling bags. On every bag product page of your store, you can try to offer upsells by displaying one or two more expensive bag designs close to the main product’s images. This way, shoppers will have more options and could decide whether to go for the cheapest bag or the one with the best features.

For cross-selling, an example is offering travel accessories, like a sanitizer bag tag or a neck pillow, that go well with travel bags.

Amazon is one of the most popular platforms that actively offer upsells and cross-sells. Next time you shop on Amazon, pay attention to their product recommendation sections packaged as Frequently Bought Together, Similar Items and Top Picks For You.

5. Reduce abandoned carts

It’s common knowledge among online entrepreneurs that up to 97 percent of store visitors are there simply to look around and click away. That’s why it’s not surprising that abandoned carts are a common problem for ecommerce. In fact, cart abandonment rates could go as high as 87 percent, which should spur your goal of reducing these incidents.

You must assess what could be stopping shoppers from completing their transaction. It could be due to a complicated checkout page, limited payment methods, lack of trust badges or other issues.

You can minimize potential problems by displaying badges and logos shoppers can easily recognize, such as those of cybersecurity companies like Norton and McAfee.

You can also offer multiple payment options on your checkout page to accommodate shoppers’ preferences. Consider PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay and credit card options like Visa and MasterCard.

6. Build customer loyalty

Did you know that it’s far less expensive to sell to a past customer than acquire a new one? This is why brands invest in customer retention, and one way to do this is through a customer loyalty program.

Rewarding loyalty can benefit both your customers and your brand. With it, you can give customers compelling reasons to purchase and repurchase from your store. And if your rewards are one of a kind, they’ll likely spread the word to their social circles and help you with word-of-mouth marketing.

Rewards can come in the form of discounts, freebies, waived fees or exclusive items. The key point is to create offers that can inspire loyalty and increase your customers’ lifetime value.

As an ecommerce business owner, setting goals and taking action — especially for marketing your brand — are what will help you scale. You can’t go wrong with the goals listed here, but be sure to keep track of your niche, monitor your progress and adjust your strategies as needed. Hopefully, the six insights I’ve shared have helped you understand how important marketing is and the many different ways you can strengthen your ecommerce brand.

Source: entrepreneur.com  ~ By: Steve Tan ~ Image: Canva Pro

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