More questions answered about Train the Trainer

Vin said...

Hello..

Thank you for your piece. My wife and I found it to be very
helpful and an interesting different perspective on the MMI and Peak
Potentials.

You see, my wife and I just finished the MMI in Secaucus, NJ
Dec.1 to
Dec.4, 2005. We were very excited while we were there, but at the
same time
disappointed by the time spent pushing the other seminars, always
as you stated
just before the breaks. We were also leary/weary about the
length of the MMI and
the lack of sleep. When they say intensive they really
mean it. You see we
bought the Platinum Level of the Quantum Leap Program 2
hrs. after the weekend
ended, and part of it didn't feel right. After my
wife came across your blog, I
initially became upset and defensive because
we just spent 13.5k. After reading
more of what you had to say and realizing
that you weren't tearing it all down
but giving what seemed to us as an
objective perspective (having gone to a
number of the seminars yourself)
pointing out the positives as well as the
negatives, we re-thought the
entire weekend and experience. We decided to cancel
the Quantum Leap program
at this time, knowing that if we go to another seminar
we'll have the
opportunity to buy it then if we so choose. We just didn't like
all that
pressure. Speaking of more pressure, we got a follow-up call from
Martin,
the person cancelling the Quantum Leap, who was helpful but still trying
to
sell us another combination of seminars (much like the 2 for 1 they were
pushing at the weekend). I told him that I didn't like the pressure there
and
waan't appreciating it here. We hung up with him stating that I had a
deadline
of this friday (Dec. 16th) or I wouldn't be able to get the deal
and would have
to pay the standard price. That leads to my question here.

Getting to my
point, I'm teacher and a psychotherapist and am
looking to offer more along the
lines of training with my clients and am
looking to affect a larger population
than I do right now. From what you
wrote about "Train the trainer" and what Rob
spoke about, I'm not sure that
I would be getting anything more out of it than
the marketing piece, and my
focus is not just on that and not on making 20k a
weekend. My focus would be
primarily on providing value and good information to
my clientele. But I get
a bad taste in my mouth regarding the push for just
getting "butts in the
chairs".
Is the "template" worth going to the seminar
for? I get the
impression from what you wrote about this seminar that it's not.
Could you
please respond to this question for me either here or at my e-mail
address
of vin1956@yahoo.com?

We did, however, receive much benefit from
MMI
and the overall mood and attitude was very uplifting. We are excited about
applying the different accounts/jars to our finances and see what happens!

Well, my wife and I would like to thank you again for the time you took
to post this blog and for helping us to rethink the whole experience and
just
shelling out all that money for the Platinum Quantum Leap Program.

Thanks and hope to hear from you soon, preferably before this Friday,
Dec. 16th.

Take care,
Vin

Inside Investigator said...

Hi Vin,

I appreciate your honest feedback, and can directly relate to
your concerns. I would love to just give you the template, but there could be an
obvious copyright infringement on doing so. There are a few ways I feel you
could benefit from the Train the Trainer, and a few reasons why I might
recommend you look elsewhere. Hopefully the information I can provide you with
is useful. To start with, the following is a list of lessons I found helpful
from Train the Trainer:

Stage Positioning - Where to stand to keep your
audience engaged. I have not done a significant amount of research on this
issue, but I am almost certain that this subject could be found in several other
books and seminars.

Involving the Audience - It makes sense to engage
your audience with questions, have them do written/expressive activities to
share, acknowledging them with appreciation for their contributions, and
physically move with regularity to not get stuck in the boredom of seminars. I
felt these were very useful techniques when taken in their purist form, and when
tailored to my own style.

Sales - As information providers we do often
forget that not only do we need to be paid for our services, but we also do want
to expand our message to affect more people. Although this can obviously be
taken to a more abusive point, it is helpful to understand that it is okay to
sell to people on your seminars, programs, and products. It is true that you do
need more people in your room in order to affect them. That being said, I
believe it should be done much more tactfully, and I have witnessed some guest
speakers do it with grace. During presentations you may often hear reference to
other company offers at appropriate times. For example...."when you are deciding
what type of seminars you want to put on, you should always identify your target
audience. We do have another program that addresses 'finding your target
audience', but for now we will assume you already have a group in mind". Period!
Then at the end of your presentation, you casually mention "if anyone is
interested in any other programs we have to offer (such as the seminar mentioned
earlier), we have a table set up at the back with more information, and where
you can sign up" or "if anyone would like to hear more about our xyz seminar,
then you are welcome to stay for a 10 minute informational session". This was
very unintrusive, I felt, and still led to a high level of satisfied repeat
customers for many presenters. They do touch on these methods during the Train
the Trainer, but add in many more high pressure sales techniques which may or
may not work. I think it is up to the individual to decide what they are
comfortable with. I do not like the idea of using seminar time that people have
paid for to further sell them, but casual mentions without extensive detail does
seem like an excellent way to place the idea in people's heads.

Provide
Free Information - This is something I have embraced whole-heartedly. If you
give people free information, they trust you, consider you to be an expert, and
want to learn more from you. Not to mention the side benefit, you are
immediately helping people. Newsletters (paper and internet), websites with
useful pieces of information, brief radio interviews or announcements, etc.,
with just a casual mention in the end of who you are and where you can be found.
No further advertising of yourself is needed. I love this technique and it seems
to already be working well for one business area I am working on.

These
were the areas of awareness that I obtained from the Train the Trainer which I
can recall off the top of my head, and plan to directly utilize. Now, the
following is a list of the primary reasons I would hesitate to recommend Train
the Trainer to my close family and friends:

The Style - It is still 4
full days and one additional evening of sleep-deprived heavily sales oriented
"seminar". In my opinion, the "real" content could have been condensed into one
day. There is a lot of justifying, sales pitches, unrelated activities, and
going-nowhere time filler talk that extends the program to an unreasonable
length. This costs the attendees significant time, sleep, and money. The
financial burden includes meals out (even if you are local, there is not enough
time to go home) and travel time in addition to the hefty seminar price tag.

Not Presentation Ready - I assumed that we would have a chance to really
present in front of others, and time to put portions of our own presentation
together. Many attendees really have no idea what they even want to present on,
so it is really about the "template". Unrelated ice breaker activities took up
all the time that could have been used to practice presenting your own seminar.

The Template still needs Customization - They claim that the template is
all you need. Your actual content is not important. Although I will surely find
some opponents on this one, I definitely disagree. Although everyone could take
some good points from it (like the involving the audience and sales sections
mentioned above), the template is definitely heavy on the sales side and low on
providing information. This to me would provide a seminar that may be worth the
content, but not worth the time it took. Also, each person has their own style.
It was obvious when several people tried to follow the template that it did not
flow at all naturally. They needed to create their own style. Flow is essential
to a good presentation.

There are Many Other Options Out There - There
are tons of great books and seminars out there on how to present, speak, draw an
audience, etc. I wish I had more specific workshop experience to recommend, but
the Peak Potentials seminars did wipe out my "education" jar for the year. This
brings me to another important point. Their seminars are on the expensive side
and take a lot of time. In my opinion, small half day seminars for a fraction of
the cost, that focus on specific areas you wish to address, would be money
better spent. In addition, books are an excellent learning tool for only $20 a
pop, can be read on your own time, and there are a ton of them out there on
every subject. I recommend www.amazon.com the most, as the reviews they provide
are very helpful, and the free shipping and low cost books save me a trip to the
big block book stores. I have in fact been reading several related books, and
intend to add some reviews to this site in the near future. If anyone reading
this blog could post their reviews on other seminars they have attended, or
great books they have read on this subject, I highly encourage it as well!

That is Pretty Much It - Although different people take different things
from presentations, the above noted awareness's were the only messages that
helped me from the entire four days. Although these were often expanded on in
many unnecessary ways to fill up time, or as they call it "accelerated
learning", I received and took home this knowledge within about an hour on each
topic (keep in mind train the trainer takes up 40 hours on up). The accelerator
appeared to be busted, as the learning pace seemed to be going about 15mph the
entire time.

On a side note, I am really glad to hear that you found the
Millionaire Mind Intensive useful for your finances and your energy. I highly
recommend finding a "jar system" that really works for you, so that you will
consistently keep it up. I still utilize mine for all of my finances, but have
yet to find anyone else who has kept it up. I use my finance software to track
the jars and it works simply and beautifully for me. Others I spoke with tried
to just use the jars for their spare change, and obviously it had little impact.
Also, don't be afraid to adjust the % on the different jars. It is best to do
this to suit your personal situation and your spending habits, and it still
keeps you on track.

I hope that this information will help you to make
the best decision for you. Happy Holidays!

Vin said...

Hello Inside...

Thank you again for your input, and timely at that! I
appreciate it. I find meaning in this type of intelligent analysis/review. It's
also comforting to know that other's share similar thoughts, feelings, beliefs,
etc.

The information that you provided is very helpful in whether we
pursue further trainings with Peak or not, especially, Train the Trainer. It
seems that you've given me information that is part of the format for the
template (if not actually part of it) with the first four headings of your
response. Do you actually think that the template (materials) itself is actually
copyrighted or the the seminar itself, or the names "Peak Potentials", T. Harv
Eker? I'm looking at the "Attitudes of Wealth" handout with the declarations,
and on the bottom it says c T. Harv Eker, 2005. Personally, that wouldn't stop
me from making a copy of it and giving it to someone who could possible benefit
from it. It still gives him the credit of creating it. It would be great if you
felt you could give me a copy of the template and were comfortable in doing so,
however, it's fine if you don't. Let me know how you think/feel regarding this.

As I stated in my initial inquiry, I don't know that I want to spend all
that time again. Seems like a lot of "fluff" with not much substance or "value"
as Rob and Harv both stated is important to provide. It seems to me like there
should be more than 15% content (as Rob espoused) to a presentation/seminar, as
opposed to 85% context. 15% just doesn't seem like that much value for the buck,
if you know what I mean!

Also, it still kinda erks me when I recall
staying later one evening for the Train the Trainer pitch, and the whole
"insider" bit about just "sipping tea" and not working that hard during the
experiential pieces of a seminar. Also, how they wanted us to feel like a part
of the "insiders club" when they mention the sipping of the tea the next day in
front of the whole group, like the rest missed out on a secret handshake or
something the night before that we were privy to.

I just don't
necessarily think it would be a valuable experience if most of the content of
Train the Trainer is based on "the" template and could really be summed up in
less than one day. At any rate, we'll have to decide the direction of our
course.

Thank you again, and best wishes to you and yours for a Healthy,
Joyous, Peaceful and Abundant Holiday Season.

Sincerely,
Vin

Inside Investigator said...

Hi Vin,

Unfortunately, yes, it is illegal to copy material from another
organization without their direct permission. But I should emphasize to you,
since I wrote the initial blog, I tried utilizing the "template" in a practice
setting. It did not flow or work for me in any way, so I have since filed it
away. I am only utilizing the lessons I noted above, which were not actually
taken from from the template, but mostly from the guest speaker they had. For
me, the "template" adds a Ginzu Knife salesman approach to an informational
presentation. Don't hesitate to really look around at other programs or books.
Also, if you have seen some presenters that you really enjoyed, find out where
they received their training.

I don't know why I didn't think of this
before, but I think the following may answer your question: Train the Trainer is
going to teach you to do presentations exactly like the ones presented by Peak
Potentials (Rob, Harv, and David's style), in the same format. If you like that
style, then Train the Trainer may be worth it for you. If it wasn't your cup of
tea (excuse the pun), then this isn't the right seminar for you.

I hope
that gives you more clarity. Also, if you do continue on with any seminars (from
Peak Potentials or not) or you do read any good development books, I welcome
your future posts.

9:52 AM


Anonymous said...
At TT1, do
they explain how they justify saying that there are only 75(pick whatever number
to limit the seminar to)seats available and yet almost everyone in the room
who's got any sales training knows this is a strategy to get people to buy by a
perceived limit on availability(Caldini). How do they explain the lack of
integrity with this? I have bought courses (Warrior, etc.) long after the
limited number had been exceeded(days after). I was wondering how they explain
my perception of a lie in their sales presentations to get people to buy
immediately?

Inside Investigator said...

Excellent question. They stated during Train the Trainer that you can limit the
number of seats to start with, to say 75 seats. If more people want to sign up
then you expand the capacity of the seminar. They feel that it is not a lie,
since you are limiting the seats up front. However, as you point out, if they
have full intention of expanding the seminar once that 76th person wants to sign
up, it would in fact be a lie. Not to mention, they said to never book the room
or venue, the date, or the speakers in advance of sales. Just sign people up and
give them a date and location later. This allows you to pick a venue that will
accommodate the size, to cancel if there aren't enough people, and to find as
many speakers as you need at that time. So, how will they know the limit on the
number of seats, if they haven't even picked the seminar hall, the date, or the
content. So I guess in answer to your question, they feel it is not a lie
because at that moment, in their heads only, there is a limit on the number of
seats. I agree with you, it is misleading, and a deceptive practice.