Mentor Insight No. 5 - David French
““The support our Mentor (David French) gives us....has been invaluable””
David is a former large business Director and Marketeer with a career built mainly in the drinks sector, working on brands such as Smirnoff, Foster’s Lager and Marston’s Pedigree. He has extensive people, leadership, commercial, financial, operational and governance experience. He also has a MBA to his credit.
Prior to retirement in early 2018 David was a Director at Hall & Woodhouse (located in Blandford Forum) with responsibility for the beer business. This involved the brewing, packaging, distribution, sales and marketing of the Badger brand. Under his leadership a new brewery was built and Badger grown significantly in the UK and internationally. Since retiring David has become a Dorset Business Mentor, a Trustee of Weldmar Hospicecare, a Primary School Chair of Governors, and continued as a pension scheme Trustee
David, responding to our invitation to offer an insight into his experience of mentoring, demonstrates some of the great advantages of this form of business support: not just its universal application irrespective of the size and stage of your business, product or service, but the way mentoring adapts wholly to the personality and construct of ownership to offer an empathetic and encouraging, objective and considered form of personal support that empowers you to fully own the growth and development of your business.
David writes:
“Since completing my Dorset Business Mentor training in March 2018 I have been fortunate to mentor a variety of companies, each in a different stage of development and market sector, with differing opportunities & challenges. Likewise each mentee has an individual personality and I am delighted to say all are a pleasure to mentor and are rewarding.
My first relationship was a startup at the time, Dorset Seaweeds, who produce Liquisea an organic natural plant growth enhancer made from seaweed sustainably harvested on the Jurassic coast. At our first meeting their trial production was fermenting in the garden shed. The business has blossomed (apologies for the pun) by focusing marketing on the internet. Mentoring included guiding them through writing a business plan, defining the brand, testing different marketing approaches, pushing on sales progress, pricing and developing management information for the business.
In contrast I mentor Charlie Bowden founder of Pickled Ink, agents for illustrators of children’s books. Mentoring time has focused on understanding the purpose of the business for Charlie, covered how to manage her remote working team, refining the cash flow model and working out how to find and support aspiring artists in disadvantaged parts of the world.
Chrissy & Karl at From Dorset With Love produce award winning artisan preserves, crafted with love in their kitchen in the heart of the Dorset countryside. The task was to help plan the next stage of growth, deciding where and when to invest next; production plant, people, marketing, new products, which new channels of trade and customers to pursue and how. They have also defined their roles to help achieve a more balanced life. Lately it has been about COVID-19, forecasting the impact and setting actions to counter such as grow the internet business.
“The support our Mentor has given us since we started using Dorset Business Mentors has been invaluable to both Chrissy and I, not only with the business side but also that of our personal side, making us plan for the future of our business as a team. We’ve been able to pick our business apart and break it down in to areas that we never thought existed and has got the best out of us both and created a stronger more understanding team which we were missing previously”.”
While each of the businesses highlighted are different and, for that, a not a-typical slice of Dorset’s small business community, when I start a new mentoring relationship I seek to understand where the business is at now, where it is in the business life-cycle, broad financials, and whether there is a plan. It is just as essential to get to the know the business owner/s personally; their purpose, why are they doing this/ the ambition, relevant context that may affect how they approach decision making. The best I’ve had so far is ‘to make enough money to buy an Aston Martin’, that I understood! Next; what’s the plan, the financial numbers in more detail, and the marketeer in me wants a clear understanding of their business proposition and brand, what is unique and special about it. Developing this level of understanding is critical to being an effective mentor in each case.
On a practical note, I always consider where to meet. It differs dependent upon topics to be discussed and mentees circumstances it has varied from an artisan coffee shop to a garden and a factory. There are times when meeting at the place of work, whether that is office or home is appropriate, and there are others where it is advantageous for the mentee to be away from the workplace; to relax, to freely talk and be away from potential distraction.
I have huge respect for mentees’ entrepreneurial spirit. To mentor is to be in a privileged position; to be a candid friend, to listen, to reflect, to be open minded, to help shape & steer and be a sounding board. It is a relationship of trust and confidence, and I find as I’ve got to know my mentees I find I am often helping them balance demands of a business with family.
If you are thinking of being mentor it is rewarding, stimulating and keeps the brain active. I was attracted to being a Dorset Business Mentor by the chance to give back, the professionalism and ethos of the Dorset Business Mentors programme, the training, quality of fellow mentors and because it is very affordable for mentees.”
If you would like to speak to one of our Programme Managers about mentoring, or if you would be interested to know more about being a mentor, please do give us a call on 01305 221 268 or contact us here.