SCORE Westchester Monthly Volunteer Newsletter for Engagement

SCORE Staff
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More and more of our chapters in The Northeast are putting out a monthly or quarterly newsletter. It’s a great way to keep the chapter engaged. 

Four areas I wanted to emphasize from Westchester’s letter. 

  1. Publicizing open chapter positions 
  2. Reaching out, one on one, to every chapter member with the objective of improving members experienced.
    • The Leadership Team conducted one-on-one interviews with all Chapter Members. The goal was to get feedback on Members’ experience – positives, negatives, recommendations for improvement. We then devoted the 3/16 Chapter Meeting to reviewing the results.
  3. A volunteer spotlight
  4. Tools to facilitate co mentoring. 

Thanks to David Kellogg and the Westchester NY team for all they do. 

- SCORE Northeast RVP, Mark Cutler

 

Chairman’s Letter #4: Chapter Lunch! Member experience. Spotlight on John Chester. And much more.

March 21, 2022

Dear Chapter Members,

We’ve made it to Spring! Please continue to send your stories and ideas to me or our editor, sonya.liu@scorevolunteer.org.

 

Join us for a Chapter lunch on April 21! We changed the date due to a conflict with Spring Break. No business, purely fun and getting to know each other outside of Zoom. Courtesy of the Chapter.

Restaurant 25 North

974 E. Boston Post Road

Mamaroneck, NY 10543

914-698-2597

Valet Parking available, courtesy of the Chapter

 

Open Chapter Positions

  • Webinar Presenter – Share your business expertise in a one-hour webinar. You bring the knowledge and the presentation, we will help you with everything else, including preparing slides. Time commitment – a couple of hours preparation, 30-minute dry run, one-hour presentation and Q&A. Contact rick.peterson@scorevolunteer.org to brainstorm ideas.
  • New Mentor Coach – You will be paired with a new Mentor to help welcome them into the Chapter; bringing them up to speed on training, process, and, most importantly, co-mentoring with them for several sessions and giving feedback. This role is critical to a new Mentor’s experience in the Chapter. Contact jim.oshea@scorevolunteer.org
  • Marketing Chair – Oversee Chapter Marketing efforts, working closely with me and our agency, Gosling Media. Time commitment: a couple of hours a week, plus a one-hour meeting every two weeks. Contact david.kellogg@scorevolunteer.org
  • Leadership Team (LT) Member – Help set and implement priorities for the Chapter. Take the lead on a specific effort. Time commitment: a couple of hours a week olus a monthly one-hour meeting. Contact david.kellogg@scorevolunteer.org 

Improving Member Experience – Highlights

The Leadership Team conducted one-on-one interviews with all Chapter Members. The goal was to get feedback on Members’ experience – positives, negatives, recommendations for improvement. We then devoted the 3/16 Chapter Meeting to reviewing the results. (Thank you to all who participated.) Here are some of the key takeaways: 

Member experience positives:

  • Enjoy helping other people, connections with other volunteers, smart colleagues, co-mentoring
  • Successes with clients, feeling motivated by motivated clients, seeing progress, having learning opportunities, the variety of clients and different stages of business
  • Jim, Noelle, and Amy are doing a great job matching clients and mentors!

Recommendations for improvement:

  • Opportunities for closer connections to other Members
  • We will be having more in-person meeting opportunities like the April 21 Chapter Lunch! Stay tuned.
  • If you are looking for a Co-Mentor with specific expertise to help a client, reach out to Noelle at carr@scorevolunteer.org and she can suggest a Mentor to contact.
  • Coming soon! Group chats/meetups on specific subject areas/interests; “birds of a feather” meetings; opportunities to hear success and horror stories; new member networking sessions
  • Co-Mentoring, Co-Mentoring, Co-Mentoring!
  • Sharing a list of all mentors’ expertise – This is available now on Engage, (enter Chapter 306) and will soon be added to our new shared drive.
  • Bonus Tip: Search in Engage to find Mentors with a particular expertise and background. If the expertise you’re looking for is not available in our Chapter, the national database of 10k+ volunteers will turn up someone suitable. And please check that your own Engage profile is up to date!

Member onboarding

  • We have been working hard on onboarding! Andrew and Ira intake our new volunteers. From Ira: “The process for accepting new applications has been greatly improved. Everyone is assigned a coach who will understand what they need to do. We are stressing co-mentoring going forward.” Let us know if you would like to be a Coach!

Feedback on mentoring (quality control).

Among the proposed solutions:

  • Mentor-to-mentor feedback
  • Experiment with Peer Review sessions 
  • Co-mentoring  – This encourages feedback/ sharing of different perspectives
  • Offer more “Mentor Education” opportunities
  • Client feedback
    • The NPS survey is sent out after the first and fourth sessions with each client and is a useful way to learn what they are thinking.
    • We may experiment with personal follow-up with clients.
  • Client issues
    • Frustration with getting funding help for clients – Since this can affect every client, we will prepare a new fact sheet for Mentors and clients.
    • Clients who think their mentor will do the work for them – We need to make our expectations of clients explicit. Ideas included drawing up simple guidelines for mentors to share with new clients, and getting more detailed information on client backgrounds to assist Mentors’ preparation.
    • How are Mentors handling situations where the client has no chance for a successful launch? “We are enthusiastic and supportive, but if the writing is on the wall, we are honest without being devastating.”
  • Questions about how clients are assigned and accepted
    • Noelle and Amy have been matching clients’ needs with Mentors’ expertise. If you are receiving too many client assignments or not enough, please let them know! They are happy to make adjustments.

 

We heard some great ideas and will be implementing many of them. Was there an issue you raised that was not addressed? Please reach out to me to discuss (david.kellogg@scorevolunteer.org) 

 

We keep talking about co-mentoring, but how do you do it? Great news, we are rolling out the "SCORE Mentor Sessions Westchester Chapter” Google Calendar to facilitate co-mentoring! (The Engage Calendar is now officially discontinued.)

  • How does it work? Enter your upcoming mentoring events in the Chapter Calendar with your contact information. When you see another mentor’s session you’d like to join, reach out and ask to participate. The Chapter Roster is a good resource for getting in touch as well.
  • You are also welcome to email your upcoming mentoring sessions to Noelle directly and she will add them to the calendar.
  • For help navigating to Google Calendars, setting up appointments, etc., please reach out to Noelle at noelle.carr@scorevolunteer.org! 
  • Quick tip: You can toggle back and forth between your personal calendar and the chapter calendar. Make sure the client session you add is displayed on the chapter calendar if you are open for co-mentoring! 
  • Another useful resource: Google Calendar - How to Set Up Appointments
  • Co-mentoring is a great way to connect with other mentors, add new expertise to your client sessions, and give and get feedback! We heard loud and clear that community and connection are critical to improving the Member experience.

 

Volunteer Spotlight

John Chester - Mentor

  • John will have been with the chapter for ten years this month! He is retired after a successful 35-year career in Wall Street firms. Don’t miss his webinar on March 30th (details below)! You should also reach out to John for co-mentoring with clients who need support on developing a full business plan, financial planning, and getting financing.
  • From John: “I was part of the Tuesday mentoring group pre-pandemic. Connecting with these capable people was one of the things I enjoyed most about volunteering. In addition, every week you meet different clients who have unique stories, backgrounds, and skill sets. 99% are great to work with, so it’s been a pleasure. 
  • “I was pleasantly surprised at how great Zoom has been for working with clients. I had a client at the beginning of the pandemic who started a business and had revenue around $100k. I have now been working with him for 2 years, and he still calls and emails all the time with questions and emergencies. He’s a really smart and capable guy - this year revenue broke $1 million!
  • “I often work with clients who are not numerically oriented. It is very rewarding when you see the lightbulb go on, and they are able to present themselves well to a financial institution. It is still a major challenge to get financing for small businesses and we do our best.” 
  • John enjoys playing both guitar and golf and has a ten handicap!

 

We would love to hear your story! Please email sonya.liu@scorevolunteer.org to submit ideas for future issues.

Upcoming Webinars 

  • Selling through Storytelling – Wednesday, March 23 at 1:00 PM on Zoom (SCORE NY Metro Area)
  • Today’s consumers buy more than a product; they buy into the story behind the product. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to make your customer the hero in your brand's story, improving your storytelling and online sales all at once.
  • Small Business Financing and Financial Planning: A Beginner’s Guide – Wednesday, March 30th at 10:00 AM on Zoom (SCORE Westchester)
  • Presented by our own John Chester, and hosted by our own Arnie Sternheim.
  • What kinds of capital are available to the small business owner? How does she figure out how much she really needs, and whether the money she has been able to raise is enough? 
  • This webinar examines the pluses and minuses of owners’ investment vs. borrowed funds and uses the case study method to build Financial Plans – based on real-life examples – that illustrate how the owner can understand, forecast, and manage his financial situation over time.

Launch 1000. Westchester County’s Launch1000 program is accepting applicants through April 13. They are also offering a Dual Language Cohort this year (English/Spanish). See flyers and info session details for more. 

This is an intensive program for new entrepreneurs who are ready to invest ten hours a week over six to eight months. It is a good option for a client without much business experience who would benefit from step-by-step, immersive, action-based learning. I have two clients who went through the program and found it very useful. It’s also good for networking with other entrepreneurs.

 

Useful Resources 

 

Interesting Reads

 

My thanks to each of you for all you do for Westchester’s entrepreneurs.

Best,

David Kellog, Chairman

P.S. Thanks as always to Sonya Liu, editor par excellence. Sonya.Liu@scorevolunteer.org

 

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