In
a competitive business environment, businesses today need to strive
for efficiency and cost saving. Consultants, particularly in the
field of marketing and business management, are becoming more
and more common. Students from school who have completed a Bachelor
of Business or similar degree or qualification are starting their
own consulting 'practices' and are assisting businesses with their
wealth of 'theoretical' knowledge.
In these days where a university education is almost mandatory,
there are many 'business consultants' who've never been frustrated
by limited budgets, depressed by an uncooperative and unmotivated
team, or confounded by unforeseen circumstances that have to be
worked around. These consultants can often be left floundering
when they come into contact with business issues that deal with
a substantial component of emotion that the texts didn't deal
with.
Robert Townsend defined consultants as 'the people who borrow
your watch to tell you what time it is and then walk off with
it. In contrast, the 'business mentor's aim is to teach business
owners by showing how, rather than just 'doing it' and leaving.
The mentor also helps business people understand that there's
more to success than just knowing what to do to reach a goal.
Mentors must be able to guide their clients in 'who they need
to be, to do what they need to do, to have what they want to have'.
Mentor & Entrepreneur
A trusted guide with whom to share all our hopes and aspirations,
confident that they will adapt to our daily needs, adopting the
role of stern taskmaster, library of knowledge or persistent motivator,
but always as educator, in order to help us reach and grasp our
dream.
Steve
Leach
Business Coach & Mentor
In essence, a mentor should be:
Someone
to be accountable to. It is often too easy for business
owners to neglect the management and marketing of their business
through recurring postponement of tasks. Sharing of your goals
with your Mentor means that if you don't complete them and your
business marketing lapses, your mentor wants to know why.
Someone
to help you refine your ideas into practice. You have
great ideas... some you will be able to put into practice easily,
but others will be raw and need refinement to implement. Your
coach has a vast knowledge of almost every marketing strategy,
what makes them work and what confounds their effectiveness.
Someone
that has a wealth of ideas to grow your business. For
when you've just 'run out of ideas' on how to sell your products
and services. But at all times, your coach will endeavor to make
your contact educational, so that you understand the principals
and can apply them for the rest of your business life.
Someone
that has the contacts you need. When you need contacts
for your business, equipment, investment advice, or just growing
your library, your mentor has the contacts and knows where to
find the information.
Someone
outside, looking in. After a while, you find that you
don't see the business with the same clarity that you used to.
Like living next to a busy road; after a while you don't hear
the traffic. Your mentor is there to take a fresh look at you
and your business. He knows what to look for and most importantly,
sees what your customers see. And he will always give you feedback.
Business today is a race for productivity and uniqueness. It is
a race that has few rules. Yet so many business owners try forcing
a path through the thick undergrowth of 'trial and error', 'traditional'
thinking and 'lack of information'; exhausting themselves far
short of their finish line. The tragedy is that many business
owners have run the race before you, creating an excellent freeway
of knowledge and experience. ACTION International's business coaches
and mentors, have studied the race for business success and for
a small fare, runs an express limo service down the success freeway.
