Discuss how often you will get together. Will you meet for lunch once a week or for an hour in your office several times a month? It is important that you create an actual meeting schedule and stick to it. Without a set schedule life will get in way and you will cancel more meetings than you attend.

Next, set some guidelines and limitations. How often can your mentee call? Is it OK for them to call your cellphone or should they go through your secretary? Can they drop by office anytime? Can they call you at home after 5pm?

Set some goals for mentee. Assign them homework, give them a task. The relationship must be more than just chewing fat. The point is to help mentee grow, personally and professionally. Give them a list of books to read. Recommend seminars they should attend. Have them outline their business goals in writing, then you set milestones and hold them accountable for reaching them.

From your side of fence, don’t be afraid to share your successes and failures. Let your experience be their guide. Help them identify opportunities and avoid pot holes that you may have hit along way. Don’t be embarrassed to tell truth, especially if it can keep your mentee from making same mistakes you did.

As a mentor you should also introduce your mentee into your circle of friends and associates. Sponsor them into Rotary, take them to luncheons, and introduce them to others who might also help their careers.

Being a good mentor also means that you are a confidant; your mentee will share not only his business problems and goals, but also his personal feelings, his secrets, his plans, and his angst. Respect mentee’s privacy. Your discussions should not be fodder for your next poker night. When something is told in confidence, respect that or get out of mentor business.

One final point, a successful mentor/mentee relationship should not be a temporary relationship, but one that in ongoing, that grows and evolves until day you are no long mentor and mentee, but peers.

My own mentor, who probably has no clue that he holds that spot in my life, started out as an investor in one of my companies. As our business relationship grew so did our friendship and I found myself calling on him many times for advice. We eventually became business partners and today we are peers.

I tell him he is entrepreneur I want to be when I grow up.

He tells me to shut up and pay for lunch.

That’s how process should work.

Here’s to your success!

Tim Knox

4.Products Promote products you use and believe in. Promote these on your signage and make sure all team recommend them and are consistent in their recommendations. i.e. “we use x growing media when potting our plants up” “we recommend x polishes to care for your furniture.”

5.Inform For example, in garden centre, inform your customers that you select plants that are hardy and have been acclimatised to local weather conditions. There is a perception in marketplace that often plants, in many garden centres, are distributed nationally and are not hardy.

6.Celebrities Promote local celebrities, recommend products they recommend and get them into your store whenever possible.

7.Sponsorships Sponsor local relevant events. Be seen to be involved with local clubs and charities. Do not be shy in getting your name promoted at such events.

8.Guarantees Have a risk reversal guarantee on products that you sell. Risk reversal means that whatever they do, you will replace product if it does not meet their expectations. In my experience some store owners grasp marketing opportunity it provides, whilst others worry they will be abused. Risk reversal is a marketing strategy and should be looked on as such.

9.Training Ensure all your team are trained in customer service and product knowledge. Trust comes from retailers who are confident. Confidence comes from those who feel they have capabilities to sell professionally.

10.Trust And finally, brainstorm “trust” with your team. I am sure they could expand on above list and expand trust marketing tools in your business.

Over last four articles we’ve taken you on customers’ journey through your business. The key is to walk your store in customers’ shoes. As retailing becomes more competitive, you will constantly need to evaluate what your doing. The days of setting up your business and keeping it looking same for long periods have long gone.

Customers today soon get bored and are looking for new stimulation from your business. Bored customers leave businesses. Don’t play safe, it’s least safe thing you can do in today’s market.