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I’ve Mentored People for 20 Years. I Use These 4 Steps to Help Them Advance

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Published 10/9/2026 3:00:00 PM

I've Mentored People for 20 Years. I Use These 4 Steps to Help Them Advance

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Key Takeaways

The best mentors treat every conversation as a two-way exchange, asking questions that sharpen the other person’s thinking while staying open to having their own views challenged.
A four-step process of building self-awareness, gathering feedback from five people, separating perception from reality and refining your defining stories creates growth for both mentor and mentee.

Early in the evolution of social media marketing, I was interviewing a recent college graduate for an entry-level position. During the conversation, I found myself explaining how organizations were beginning to embrace social media as an important marketing channel. I spoke confidently about how brands could connect with consumers in new ways and believed I had a strong understanding of where the industry was heading.

Then something unexpected happened.

The candidate began building on several of my points and offered insights that went far beyond anything I had discussed. She understood the platforms, user behaviors and emerging trends at a level I simply did not. While I had learned about social media through corporate training programs, agencies and industry experts, she had grown up immersed in these platforms every day.

Within minutes, the dynamic shifted. I stopped trying to teach and started asking questions. What platforms were gaining traction? How were younger consumers using them differently? What trends did she see that marketers were overlooking? By the end of the conversation, I realized I had learned far more than I had taught.

That experience eventually inspired a reverse mentoring initiative where younger employees shared expertise with senior leaders. More importantly, it taught me a lesson that has shaped every mentoring relationship since. The greatest value of mentoring is rarely the advice being shared. It is the perspective being gained.

Stop treating mentoring like a one-way conversation

The best mentors enter conversations with the belief that they have something to teach and something to learn. They understand that every person sees the world through a different set of experiences, challenges and assumptions. Those differences often create insights that would never emerge otherwise.

This shift in thinking is important because it changes the goal of the relationship. Instead of trying to provide the perfect answer, great mentors focus on helping people think more clearly. They use questions to uncover assumptions, identify blind spots, and encourage deeper reflection. At the same time, they remain open to having their own perspectives challenged. Curiosity creates better mentoring conversations than expertise ever will.

The framework I use to create growth on both sides of the relationship

Over the last 20 years, I have coached and mentored people across every stage of their careers. One thing I learned early is that mentoring becomes far more effective when it is tailored to where someone is in their professional journey.

The challenges facing an employee in their first few years of work look very different from those facing a senior leader. Early in a career, individual wins and setbacks can feel defining. Later in a career, experience often provides a broader perspective that changes how people evaluate opportunities and challenges. Because of this, I rarely begin a mentoring relationship by offering advice. Instead, I focus on creating a deeper understanding of the individual sitting across from me. The process generally follows four steps.

1. Start with self-awareness

Most people are eager to discuss goals, promotions and career aspirations. I prefer to begin somewhere else. The first step is helping people understand themselves more clearly. We explore strengths, development opportunities, motivations and long-term aspirations. The objective is to establish a baseline understanding of who they are today before discussing where they want to go tomorrow.

This step creates value for mentors as well. It forces us to listen carefully rather than assume we already understand someone’s challenges based on our own experiences.

2. Gather perspectives you cannot see yourself

One of the most valuable exercises I use involves gathering feedback from five people within the individual’s network. I encourage them to compare that feedback against their own self-assessment and look for patterns. Where do the perceptions align? Where do they differ? What strengths appear consistently? What development opportunities keep surfacing?

Many professionals spend years relying exclusively on self-reflection. Feedback introduces perspectives that are often impossible to uncover on your own.

3. Separate perception from reality

This is where many mentoring conversations become transformational. Whether we agree with feedback or not, perception influences opportunities, relationships and career progression. The goal is not to debate what people think. The goal is to understand how others experience us.

I encourage people to resist the urge to explain or defend feedback immediately. Instead, sit with it. Look for recurring themes. Ask yourself why multiple people may have reached similar conclusions. Some of the greatest career breakthroughs happen when people stop arguing with perceptions and start learning from them.

4. Refine the stories that define you

Every professional has stories that shape how others perceive their leadership potential. These stories often involve successes, failures, setbacks, difficult decisions and lessons learned. Yet many people struggle to communicate them effectively. The final step focuses on identifying those experiences and learning how to share them with intention.

When people can clearly articulate what they learned from challenges and how those experiences shaped their growth, they become far more effective at communicating their value, leadership style and potential.

Treat every mentoring conversation as leadership practice

One reason mentoring accelerated my own career is that it gave me an opportunity to practice leadership long before I had a leadership title.

Early in my career, I proactively sought out coaching and mentoring opportunities because I knew I wanted to become a people leader. Those experiences taught me how to listen, build trust, provide feedback and help others navigate challenges. More importantly, they taught me how to influence people without relying on authority.

Many aspiring leaders spend years waiting for a promotion before developing leadership skills. I would argue the opposite approach is more effective. Develop the skills first and let the title catch up later. Mentoring allows you to practice leadership every time you help someone. By the time formal leadership opportunities appear, you have already developed many of the capabilities required to succeed.

The question every mentor should ask

Before ending any mentoring conversation, ask yourself one simple question. What did I learn from this person today?

That habit changes the nature of the relationship. Mentoring stops being an exercise in sharing expertise and becomes an opportunity for mutual growth.

Every mentoring relationship begins with the assumption that one person has knowledge to share. The most powerful mentoring relationships end with both people seeing something they could not see before. That is why the best mentors ask more questions than they answer and use the experience to mutually grow.

Effective product pages help online shoppers decide whether an item fits their needs and what buying it involves. A beautiful photograph gets attention. Product details such as dimensions, available sizes, delivery details, and a clear price help turn that attention into a purchase.

Even established retailers miss these basics. In its benchmark of leading U.S. and European retailers, updated in March 2026, Baymard Institute rated 52% of desktop sites and 62% of mobile sites “mediocre or worse” for product-page usability¹.

Product-page changes can affect revenue, too. In a 27-day test for Life Pro Fitness, agency Media Contour made product images, key details, and buying buttons visible without needing to scroll. Testing vendor Wingify reported that the revised page generated $0.67 more revenue per visitor than the original².

If you are building a new store, follow the five tips below as you create your product pages. Have those pages ready before running ads that send shoppers to them.

If you already have an online store, choose one product page to improve. Reference these steps to check whether it answers shoppers’ questions and lets them add the right item to their cart.

1. Answer shoppers’ questions in the product description

Identify the main question a shopper needs answered before buying. Look for questions customers ask repeatedly or misunderstandings behind returns. For a new product, start with fit, compatibility, or what is included. Confirm the answer against your product specifications, then put it near the start of the description.

For example, consider a pet-supply retailer selling a dog harness. Someone choosing their first harness needs measurements and adjustment details to judge the fit. Someone replacing a harness they already own needs to recognize the same model and size. The page should make both tasks straightforward.

Also, use consistent labels and units across similar products to make comparisons easier. Include limitations, such as incompatible models or items sold separately, so shoppers can rule out an unsuitable purchase.

In e-commerce platform BigCommerce, for instance, online sellers can use the product description and custom fields—additional facts such as material or compatibility—to present these details. Preview the product page to check that shoppers can find the information they need.

Then, use those same facts to help shoppers recognize the item in search results. In BigCommerce’s page title field, use the product name and a relevant detail, such as its model or material. Avoid repeating keywords or giving every product the same title.

2. Give every product image a question to answer

Plan your gallery around what someone needs to inspect. Show the whole product, a useful detail, and the product in use. For example, a lighting retailer could photograph a lamp beside a chair to show its scale and how it lights a reading space. A close-up of the switch shows how someone would operate it. Together, these images help shoppers picture using the lamp at home. Keep written dimensions available as well.

The same Baymard overview describes how shoppers use images to judge size and can struggle when photographs lack a familiar reference.

If you sell a bundle, make clear which pictured items are included. For products that need assembly or demonstration, you might even consider creating a short video. Add alt text: a short description of the useful information in an image. Screen-reader software can read that description aloud or present it in braille. Keep essential instructions available as text as well.

BigCommerce supports product images, images for variants such as different colors, and YouTube-hosted product videos. Check that your gallery presents the right item as shoppers change their selection.

3. Make choices, prices, and recurring charges clear

Keep size, color, quantity, and purchase options close to the buying button. Label them plainly, show the current selection, and make unavailable choices recognizable. If the size options fit on the screen, show them as labeled buttons, such as S, M, and L. This lets shoppers see which sizes are available without opening a menu, as the Baymard overview explains.

Place helpful links beside the choice it explains. For the dog harness, for example, consider putting a measurement guide beside the size selector so shoppers can check the fit before choosing. Keep it visible or provide a clearly labeled link that works by touch and keyboard.

In BigCommerce, online sellers can configure choices such as size and color through product variants and options. Then check that the displayed price and availability match the shopper’s selection. For multipacks, show both the pack total and the unit price. Make the full pack price easy to find so shoppers know what they will be charged.

If you offer subscriptions, let shoppers explicitly choose between a one-time purchase and a recurring order. Put the recurring charge, delivery frequency, and change or cancellation terms beside that choice so shoppers can compare the commitments before selecting. Confirm that these terms match how your subscription service works. Select a subscription yourself and verify that checkout shows the plan, price, and frequency you chose.

4. Make sure delivery, returns, and reviews are easy to find

A shopper who needs an item by a particular date wants to know whether it will arrive in time. Show a delivery estimate for their destination. Put a short explanation of shipping and returns near add to cart, with links to the full policies.

Show shipping fees or explain how they will be calculated. Clearly describe return windows, fees, and exclusions that matter for the item. If pickup is offered, distinguish stock at the selected location from stock elsewhere. Avoid presenting an estimate as a confirmed promise.

Also consider making reassurances that are specific to the purchase. Using the dog harness as an example again, you’d want to explain whether a shopper can exchange it if the fit is wrong and which conditions apply. That answers the practical concerns that a badge saying “Shop with Confidence” leaves unresolved. Use only promises your business can honor.

Customer reviews provide another way to assess the product. Show the review rating, text, reviewer’s display name, and date on the relevant product page. If reviews come from another service, name that service. These details help shoppers understand whose experience they are reading and how recent it is.

5. Test the path from product page to cart

Shoppers need to know that the page has registered their choices and whether adding an item succeeded. Open your chosen product page on your phone. If a required option starts unselected, try adding the item before choosing it. The page should tell you what to select or explain why “Add to cart” is unavailable.

If the product has options, choose them, then change one selection. Check that the price, availability, and any option-specific images match. Add the item. While the request is processing, the page should make that clear. Once it succeeds, a confirmation or the cart itself should show what was added. If an error occurs, it should explain how to continue without losing other selections.

From there, make sure to check the item’s quantity, options, and price in the cart. If you chose a size or color, return to the product page and check whether it still shows that selection. These checks help catch a wrong selection or an uncertain result before a shopper encounters it.

Shoppers who cannot use a mouse need to select options and add products using a keyboard. To check that they can, repeat the steps above on a computer without the mouse. Use Tab to move forward between controls and Shift+Tab to move back. A visible outline or other marker should show which control you are about to use. Press Enter to activate links and Enter or Space for buttons. In a drop-down list, such as a size selector, use the arrow keys to move through the options.

Shoppers who need larger text must still be able to read product details and reach Add to cart. Use the browser’s Zoom control to enlarge the page to 200% and try the same steps again. Check for overlapping text or controls that disappear. Across all these checks, record anything that prevents choosing the product, adding it, or correcting a mistake.

Keep improving one page at a time

Clear facts and images help shoppers judge the product; clear choices, terms, and working controls help them act on that decision. Choose one issue from your review to fix first. Give priority to a problem that prevents adding the correct item to the cart. If shoppers can add the correct item, address an unanswered question that could lead someone to buy the wrong product.

Record what you changed and when. If you have sales reports, compare purchases and revenue for the product over equal periods before and after the change. Note any promotions or changes in visitor numbers that could also explain the results. Customer questions, order corrections, and return reasons can help you check whether the same misunderstanding persists.

For more examples, explore BigCommerce’s product-page guide, then apply the same review to the next product page.

¹^{Product Page UX 2026: 10 Pitfalls and Best Practices}^{(Baymard Institute)
2}^{Media Contour uses split URL testing to improve the revenue from product pages}^(Wingify)