What should you look for when choosing a paid for mentoring service? We interviewed Matt Clayton (pictured) from Celestine Consulting to get his top tips.

Matt Clayton runs Celestine Consulting, a Business Mentoring and Health & Safety Consultancy business based in Staffordshire. The business offers mentoring on a commercial basis both from clients direct and through a variety of enterprise organisations. Matt started life as a tax man and has worked at the RBS as a Bank Manager and Capita as a Sales Manager. For the last 10 years however, Matt has been a self employed health and safety consultant and mentor.

Like many mentoring companies, the business also does some voluntary mentoring (Matt estimates about 20%) to support businesses just starting out, he says, "it's part of our Corporate Social Responsibility, we try to help people where we can". However, primarily its mentoring services are commercial. He said there is sometimes a perception that it's a very expensive service, but that in reality it can cost as little as £150 a month for a business to gain regular support from a company like Celestine including a face to face meeting and phone or skype calls. Matt says there were a variety of reasons why a business might consider paying for mentoring services as well as seeking a volunteer mentor, he says:

"If a business has plans to expand and grow it can be worthwhile sourcing paid for services so that you can be sure of consistent and regular support. A volunteer mentor can be fantastic as a sounding board and source of experience, however with a paid for service the expectations are, quite rightly, different in terms of availability and return on investment"

Here are Matt's top ten tips for businesses considering commercial mentoring services:

1. Find out their level business experience and knowledge. Ideally a well rounded mentoring service should have business experience in the areas of marketing, legislation, financials and business planning. Ask what level of knowledge they have and for examples of when this has been applied to previous clients.
2. Ask about sector experience. What experience and contacts does the mentoring business have in your sector? and how can this be applied to your business? Matt says, "for instance I was the franchise lead for the RBS, so I know I can help with franchise models, but other mentors may have strengths in other areas".
3. Get references. Find out who their current and past client base is and get references if possible. How much did they work with those clients, and how specifically did they help them?
4. Shop around. Interview 3 or 4 mentors and/or mentoring organisations before deciding who to work with. One organisation might have a breadth of knowledge in financial planning but it could be marketing experience in your sector that is critical for your business at this stage.
5. Network to find your support. Matt has connected with two of his mentees on the online IOEE forums, and says that being supportive on those has been a great way to network, he says, "we've been able to really help a new hairdressers that specialises in Afro Caribbean hairstyles via the IOEE, we've signposted them to a much cheaper source of support when developing their website which has saved them a great deal of money, and we've also helped with marketing and social media expertise too".
6. Don't ignore the chemistry. Just because this is a paid for service, it doesn't mean that some of the qualities that would appeal as a volunteer mentor shouldn't apply. Do you think you can develop a good working relationship with this person? Is it someone you feel you can trust? Is there a good rapport?
7. Ensure there's a free initial consultation. Mentoring organisations need to understand more about your business before they can identify how and if they can support your business. Equally you need to know how they can support you. Therefore it's good practice for there to be a free consultation where both parties can find out more and decide if this can lead to a business relationship.
8. Consider the level of support you need. The amount of time a business requires is likely to be different dependent on need. One business might be going through a period of high growth, whilst another may just want to speak to their mentor once a month. Think about what kind of mentoring relationship you need to take your business to the next level.
9. Get the agreement in writing. Again it's good practice once both parties are clear about how the relationship will work for this to be outlined in writing. If there's to be a monthly retainer it's important to know what the ongoing costs are, how long it will last, and what the arrangements are should either party want to end the agreement at any time.
10. Source a range of support. There is a wealth of support available from many different sources if you know where to look, from volunteer mentors, commercial mentors, and professionals from the public and academic sectors too. The support doesn't need to be mutually exclusive, and the most successful businesses will learn everything they can from those that are willing to help with their expertise.

The IOEE has a membership base that includes volunteer mentors (read some of our fantastic case studies from previous months to find out how many have supported small businesses), new start businesses, growing businesses, and business support professionals offering both volunteer and commercial services. Enterprising people from all sectors and stages of start up and growth are invited to join and share knowledge.

There are also range of activities from the IOEE that aim to connect businesses with the resources and funding that will get move their business to the next level, these include Get Started, the IOEE bank mentoring scheme and Meet A Mentor. To connect with others and hear about these and many more initiatives, activate your IOEE membership today.