Business Acceleration Program (BAP)
Our primary program is the Business Acceleration Program - 4 (BAP-4). This provides 4 sessions with a Mentor, spread over an agreed timeframe. The program consists broadly of the following but this is an indication only and it will vary depending on the business issues that need to be addressed.
Session 1 Information gathering, diagnosis and Actions Plans
The first session enables the Mentor to learn about your business in detail. Where it has been, where it is now, where you want it to be in the future and the key issues. The Mentor will help you diagnose and prioritise the key matters requiring most attention, look at the financial situation, and prepare an initial Action Plan to be worked on by you prior to the next session.
Session 2 Review of Action Plan and Goal Setting.
The second session fine tunes the results from the Action Plan and starts the process of establishing the key financial and business development goals. Additional items may be added to the Action Plan.
Session 3 Strategic Fine Tuning
The third session again reviews the Action Plan, fine tunes it and more importantly works with you to create the strategic direction for the business to take. This may cover the financial, marketing and planning key areas.
Session 4 Assessment of Progress and Future Direction
In this fourth session you and your Mentor will review every item within the Action Plan and set an ongoing program to follow. The strategic goals will be revisited and the key steps needed to achieve them will be determined.
Flexibility. The description of the session activity above is a guide only as each Client's needs are different and the process of assistance will vary depending on many factors. The key factor is that the Mentor is there to help YOU to overcome the issues and to help put in place a plan to grow your business profitably.
Shorter Business Acceleration Programs – (BAP3) and (BAP2) These are simply two or three sessions with a Mentor that will cover the same as the BAP4 program but in less detail. The Mentor will seek to help you to diagnose your business and then establish a fundamental Action Plan
Evaluation Program – 1 (BAP1) The single session comprises a quick diagnostic and some suggestions as to a course of action. This may suit a start-up business that wants to assess the viability of product or service and how to bring it to market or a business that has a single issue that needs to be resolved.
Ongoing Mentoring Ongoing mentoring is available after the last session of a BAP program. It is often the case that after the initial sessions there is a need for regular ongoing mentoring support. This is available and meetings can be scheduled on a regular or irregular basis in agreement with your Mentor.
What does it cost?
Small Business Mentoring Service (SBMS) is a not-for-profit Association. As the Mentors give their time for free we are able to hold our program costs to an affordable rate that is used to cover the cost of administration and any of the Mentor’s out-of-pocket expenses.
The program costs are as follows and include GST.
BAP-4 $300 for 4 sessions (recommended)
BAP-3 $240 for 3 sessions
BAP-2 $180 for 2 sessions
BAP-1 $95 for a single session
Ongoing Mentoring $75 per session
In addition to the program cost shown above, SBMS policy entitles Mentors to charge you directly for reimbursement of travel over 40km return (the first 40km return is included within the prices above). SBMS's current maximum rate is 63 cents /km. Within this, each mentor can set their own policy which is shown in their C.V. on the website. So, if appropriate, please discuss this with your Mentor when setting up the first meeting. If long distances are involved, consider minimising any travel charges by perhaps meeting half way.
Note: There is no additional charge should you wish to change a Mentor. You pay for the number of mentoring sessions regardless of who the Mentors are. |
What does it cost?