About business mentoring
What exactly is business mentoring?
Mentoring sits between coaching and consulting. A mentor brings relevant experience and shares it directly, offers a point of view, challenges your thinking and helps you navigate decisions, whilst keeping the responsibility for the business firmly with you.
It is not therapy. It is not a training course. It is not advice handed down from a distance. It is a structured working relationship with someone who has done what you are trying to do and can help you do it more effectively.
How does this differ from business coaching?
Business coaching typically focuses on helping you find your own answers through structured questioning. The coach rarely offers their own view.
Mentoring draws on direct experience. I have spent thirty years in frontline commercial roles and have built businesses of my own. When we discuss your positioning, your pipeline or your sales process, I bring a perspective that comes from having navigated those situations personally.
In practice, the sessions use both approaches. Sometimes the most useful thing is a question that challenges your thinking. Sometimes it is a direct perspective from someone who has been in a similar situation. The balance depends on what the moment requires
What is the difference between a mentor and a consultant?
A consultant typically analyses your situation and delivers recommendations, often in the form of a report or a plan. The work is largely done by the consultant and handed to the client.
A mentor works with you over time, helping you build capability rather than delivering a solution. The goal is that you leave the programme genuinely stronger, not dependent on continuing support. You own the systems we build together. You understand why they work. You can maintain and develop them without me
Do you work as a coach, a mentor or both?
Primarily as a mentor, using coaching methodology as the way I work. The distinction matters because it shapes expectations. You can expect me to share my perspective and experience directly. You can also expect structured, purposeful sessions with clear outcomes rather than open-ended conversations that do not go anywhere.
The programme
What does the programme cover?
The programme builds five interconnected capabilities: strategic clarity about who you are for and what makes you different; bespoke market intelligence about your competitive landscape; a consistent approach to generating new opportunities; a more effective sales process for converting those opportunities into clients; and practical AI capability that accelerates the work and stays with you permanently.
These are built in sequence, one at a time, at a pace that works around your client delivery commitments.
What does a typical session look like?
Sessions are structured conversations with a clear purpose. We are not talking about your week. We are working on a specific aspect of your business.
A session might focus on refining your positioning, reviewing the market research, working through a specific sales challenge, building out a stage of your lead generation approach or thinking through a significant business decision. Every session ends with clear actions and a defined focus for the period ahead.
Sessions are delivered via Zoom and typically last between 60 and 90 minutes
How many sessions are included each month?
This depends on what makes sense for your business and your capacity. For most clients, two sessions per month provides the right balance of momentum and time to implement between meetings. Some clients prefer weekly sessions during an intensive early phase and monthly sessions once systems are running smoothly.
We agree the rhythm that works for you rather than imposing a fixed structure.
What support is available between sessions?
Email support throughout. If you are facing a decision, stuck on a piece of copy, unsure whether a prospect is worth pursuing or want a second opinion on anything, just email. You are not waiting until the next session to move things forward.
How long does the programme last?
There is no fixed minimum beyond the initial trial period. Most clients work with me for six to twelve months, which is typically the time needed to build and embed the core systems. Some continue beyond that with less frequent sessions as an ongoing sounding board. Others complete the core work and move forward independently.
You are not locked in. The programme continues for as long as it is delivering genuine value.
Is the programme delivered online or in person?
Primarily online via Zoom. This works well for structured mentoring sessions and means geography is not a constraint. For clients who prefer occasional in-person sessions, that can be arranged depending on location.
Suitability
What kind of businesses do you work with?
B2B professional and technical services firms, primarily in the UK. The common thread is businesses that sell expertise: technical consultancies, IT and software businesses, management consultancies, creative and brand agencies, specialist advisers, solicitors, accountants and similar firms.
What these businesses share is that they win work through relationships and reputation but have not built systematic approaches to generating new business consistently.
What size of business is the right fit?
Typically businesses generating between £500K and £10M in annual turnover, with an owner or director who is directly responsible for business development. Smaller businesses often lack the margin to invest at this level. Larger businesses usually have internal marketing and sales capability already in place.
If you are outside that range, it is worth a conversation. The fit depends on more than turnover.
I run a sole trader practice. Is this relevant to me?
Yes, if you are billing at a level where the investment makes commercial sense and you have the capacity to implement. The programme has worked well for sole practitioners who are technically excellent but generating work inconsistently.
Do you work with businesses outside the UK?
Occasionally, where the client is operating in a similar professional services context and where the time zone allows sessions to run comfortably. Most clients are UK-based.
I am at an early stage. Is the programme right for me?
The programme is designed for established businesses with existing clients and some track record of winning work, not for businesses at the pre-revenue or early startup stage. If you are in the first year or two of trading, the priority is usually finding product-market fit and generating your first clients, which requires a different kind of support.
My business is quite specialised. Will you understand my sector?
The bespoke market research I conduct before the programme begins is designed specifically for this. I research your competitive landscape, how businesses in your sector position themselves, what is working and where the gaps are. You do not need to spend sessions educating me about your industry.
Beyond that, the core challenges across B2B service businesses are remarkably consistent, regardless of specialism. Positioning, pipeline, conversion and retention work the same way whether you are an environmental consultancy, a software implementation firm or a brand agency.
Investment
What does the programme cost?
£1,500 to £2,000 per month, depending on the scope and frequency of sessions. This includes all mentoring sessions, the bespoke market research, implementation support, AI capability building and email support between sessions.
What determines where in that range the investment sits?
Session frequency, the complexity of the market research and the scope of support required. We agree the right structure in the discovery conversation before any commitment is made
What is included in the monthly fee?
Mentoring sessions at the agreed frequency. Bespoke competitive research before the programme begins. Implementation support and review within sessions. Practical AI capability building applied to your specific business. Email support between sessions. Any documents, templates or working materials produced during the programme.
Can I start with a trial period?
Yes. We can structure the first two to three months as a defined trial with a clear review point. You will have a good sense within that period of whether the approach is right for your business, whether we work well together and whether the investment is producing value.
Do you offer a money-back guarantee?
Not in a formal sense. What I do offer is a straightforward commitment: if after a few sessions the approach is not delivering value, we stop. I would rather end a programme that is not working than continue taking money for something that is not genuinely helping you.
How do I pay?
Monthly by bank transfer or standing order in advance of each month. There are no annual contracts or long-term lock-ins.
What return on investment can I expect?
That depends on your starting position, your sector, your implementation and your market. What I can say is that most clients see meaningful time recovery through AI capability within the first few weeks, which covers a significant portion of the monthly investment before any new business is generated.
Beyond that, the financial return comes from clearer positioning reducing price sensitivity, a more consistent pipeline reducing reliance on referrals, and better conversion reducing wasted effort on proposals that go nowhere. The combination tends to compound over time.
I can share specific examples from past clients in our discovery conversation. I prefer not to publish financial claims on the website because results vary significantly and I do not want to create expectations that do not fit your situation.
Getting Started
How do we begin?
With a discovery conversation. We talk about where you are, where you want to be and whether the challenges you are facing are ones I can genuinely help with. If we are a good fit, I explain what the programme would look like for your specific business. If we are not, I will say so directly.
There is no obligation and no sales pressure. It is a straightforward conversation.
What happens after the discovery conversation?
If we decide to move forward, I spend a few days conducting bespoke research into your market and competitive landscape. You do not wait around during this period. I deliver the research report and we review it together in our first working session, which forms the foundation for your strategy.
How much time do I need to commit?
Two to three hours per week on average: sessions plus implementation activity between meetings. Some weeks more, some weeks less, depending on where you are in the programme and what is happening in your business.
The programme is designed around the reality that client delivery takes priority. Business development activity is built to fit around that, not compete with it.
What do I need to do before we start?
Nothing beyond our initial conversation. I do the market research before we begin, so you do not need to prepare briefing documents or background material. The starting point is your knowledge of your own business, which you already have.
Results And Expectations
How long before I see results?
It depends on what you mean by results. Most clients see meaningful progress on clarity and positioning within the first month. The AI capability that saves time tends to show results within the first few weeks. Qualified new business interest typically begins to emerge within two to four months, depending on the sector and the starting position.
Sustainable growth takes longer. Building a reliable pipeline and embedding new habits and systems is a six to twelve month process for most businesses. Anyone promising faster results than that is worth questioning.
What results have other clients achieved?
I am cautious about publishing specific claims because results vary significantly by sector, implementation and market conditions. In our discovery conversation I can share relevant examples from clients in similar situations to yours.
What I can say is that the most consistent outcomes are: clearer positioning that makes sales conversations easier, a more predictable pipeline that reduces the anxiety of feast-famine cycles, improved conversion rates, better use of time through AI capability, and greater confidence in the business development process.
What if we are not making progress?
We talk about it directly. If something is not working, we identify why and adjust the approach. If the issue is implementation, we look at what is getting in the way and what a realistic pace looks like. If the programme genuinely is not delivering value, we stop. There is no benefit to either of us in continuing something that is not working.
Simon's Background
What is your background?
Thirty years in frontline commercial roles, including senior positions at GEC, Oracle, Infor and Lawson, where I led sales and marketing teams responsible for significant revenue generation across professional and technical services markets.
Following that, I built three businesses of my own, which gave me a very different perspective on what generating new business actually looks like when you are also responsible for delivering the work and managing everything else that comes with running a small firm.
I have been mentoring B2B service business owners since 2020 and am an approved mentor on the government's Help to Grow Management programme.
What qualifications do you hold?
ILM Level 5 Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring. Member of the Association of British Mentors. Currently working towards Individual Accreditation with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council at Practitioner level.
The qualifications provide the methodological rigour. The thirty years of commercial experience provides the context that makes the methodology useful in practice.
Do you work with other coaches or mentors as associates?
No. Every client works directly with me throughout the programme. There are no associates, no handoffs and no junior practitioners involved in your sessions.
Still Have a Question?
If there is something not covered here, the easiest thing is to get in touch directly.
Or if you are ready to explore whether the programme is right for your business, book a discovery conversation. It is a straightforward, no-obligation discussion about where you are and what it would take to get where you want to be.