Are you wondering how to get some return on investment from a corporate mentor program? Here are 4 Key measurable benefits of a mentor program that provide ROI you can measure, and if you add masterminding systems into the formula you can make more sales and create more happy customers:
- A good mentor program effects on-boarding so new employees stay longer. Measure how many, and how long employees stay. ie; 12 weeks, 6 months, 1 yr., 2 yrs. When measured you will see how this benefit translates into reduced hiring costs. How much does it cost you to hire an employee? How many did you hire last year for existing positions and for new positions?
- Training is enhanced with effective mentoring and employee’s learning curves increase so employees are more productive and happier. This is measured by measuring work performance. How do you measure and track your different groups work performance? Do you need a system? You can learn how to measure productivity on line or with a consultant. You can track things like sales, customer service call length and repeats, shipments per day, forms per day, etc. Measure it consistently to improve. Watch how your mentor program reduces things like customer service call times and repeat calls.
- Communication and information flow is expanded so employees are more informed, happier, satisfied and therefore more productive. You can track employee satisfaction with surveys and measure improvements. Some companies measure employee satisfaction once every five years, others more often and some never. Employee satisfaction translates into improved performance and employee retention — both measurable in dollars if you put in the systems to track employee hiring costs and productivity.
- Future leaders are identified thereby managing talent asset succession. Tacit knowledge (knowledge that cannot be written down) is transferred from the mature part of the workforce to the future leaders. We’ve found that young people love mentor programs. Old people resist them. They don’t know how to mentor, are worried about time requirements put on them and doubt the benefits.
Train your mentors and utilize them to identify the best future leaders. Those that are identified as the future leaders will develop a sense of loyalty and stick around longer. They will pass on the knowledge as well. Your culture becomes one of learning in collaboration and the sense of belonging is developed. This learning process moves throughout your work culture, so you build healthy workforce and add longevity to you business.
Leaders control the growth of your company. Mentor programs help them lead more effectively and communicate better with the team. Your leaders are responsible for growth. When they are given the tools to lead, and properly trained people to work with, your company grows.
When you add masterminding systems into your business learning environments you can improve sales and customer service dramatically. Assemble mastermind systems for your sales people and your customer service people. Have your sales teams and your customer service teams meet daily at the end of each day and talk about every call they made. The wins, the challenges, what he said, what she said, what worked, what didn’t, etc. Keep the meetings as short as you can but allow enough time for each person to share the important details of each call they made that day in round table discussion. The learning curves for each team member increases rapidly and they perform much better.
You might get some negative response to this idea at first, but after 2 or 3 months each member will see the value and realize the benefits. Sales people buck daily meetings but when they see sales increase they buy in. Your company sales will grow and your customer service will be the best in class. Customer retention will be better than ever. Customer acquisition is usually much more expensive than customer retention. Give them the best service and you will see them come back again and again and recommend you to their friends.
I was part of a young sales team where all the sales guys were under thirty. We met every day sharing every sales call with the team. There were 4 sales guys and a manager. He was under thirty too. All of our competitor’s sales teams averaged an age over 40. We kicked their buts after 2 years of meeting daily. We increased sales year over year by 30% while I was there in it was one of the toughest economies Alberta ever saw in the mid 1980’s.
I helped a paper company set up a masterminding system for a new customer service team. The company just opened in a new market and a customer survey told them the competitors had more knowledgeable customer service people. We set up a daily pow wow’s where the 4 team members, and their manager, met at the end of every day and discussed each important CS call. The learning curves of each Customer Service person increased rapidly, and effectively, so the next time the survey was done, the issue never showed up and the company achieved 1/3rd market share within 3 years of entering the market. Masterminding works really well to increase learning curves, engagement and accountability.
The ROI from an effective mentor mastermind program comes in the form of cost savings for people hiring and development, and is enhanced by increased customer service, resulting in customer loyalty and increased sales.
FindAMentor.com can help you with culture assessment and effective implementation. We can help you with training mentors and implementing mastermind systems. We offer the only ISO recognized mentor training available in the world at this time. ISO-17024 compliant. We can help you measure program effectiveness and employee satisfaction with our surveys.
If you think you might be interested in starting a mentor program on your own and want a free mentor program consultation, please go to the Contact Us page and fill out the form or go to the corporate MMP (Mentor Mastermind Program) section at FindAMentor.com for an affordable on line solution to book a demonstration with us.
Thank you for reading. Have a great day.
Mike Garska,
President. FindAMentor
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