Mentoring For Free: A Review
By: Mark Worthen | Posted: 19th August 2005
*Mentoring For Free: A Review*
Mentoring For Free is a training program that can also be
used as a recruitment tool for network marketing
distributors. The owner is Michael Dlouhy, a 26-year veteran
of the network marketing industry. Mr. Dlouhy also gives
away an e-book, Success in 10 Steps and sells an audio CD,
Colors to Success.
This review of Mentoring For Free suggests that the program
offers valuable training for network marketers provided a
few caveats are kept in mind. The advantages and
disadvantages of the program are as follows:
*Advantages*
* Mastermind Call - The Saturday night Mastermind call
provides an opportunity to achieve personal growth with a
group of network marketers who are, for the most part,
caring and sincere.
* Personality Types - The description of the 4 personality
types, while not unique, is a valuable heuristic, which I
found improved my ability to quickly tailor my presentation
to prospects. I'm a psychologist so I think it says a lot
that Mr. Dlouhy's description of the personality types was
so helpful.
* Compensation Plans - The overview of comp plans and the
relationship between personality types and comp plans will
help many people make a better decision when choosing an MLM
or in working their own comp plan (although see below for
the other side of the coin).
* How to Talk with Prospects - Mr. Dlouhy and others talk
with live prospects, which can be educational although see
my opinion about his practice below. The general discussions
about talking with prospects are very helpful.
* Relationship Focus - Whether you like this aspect of the
program might depend on your personality type. Thus, because
I am a "Yellow/Green," I think the focus on building
relationships is the only way to go! *Disadvantages*
* Live Prospecting Calls - I realize this might be a
minority opinion but I don't like the fact that with this
program and other training programs, prospects are called
while dozens of people are secretly listening to the
conversation. I strikes me as voyeuristic and a violation of
privacy. But if you don't mind this approach, you might see
this as a big positive. Be aware that if you sign up for the
free e-book, order the CD, or try the free version of the
prospecting system that you could very well get a call from
the person whose link you clicked on, then Mr. Dlouhy will
come on the call ("I've got the author of the e-book on the
line"), and dozens of people will be listening to everything
you say.
* Policy & Procedure Bias - Mr. Dlouhy emphasizes reading a
company's Policies & Procedures (P&P), which certainly makes
good sense, and he offers advice for identifying rules that
could jeopardize a distributor's financial success. However,
it seems more than a coincidence that the type of Policies &
Procedures Mr. Dlouhy advocates is nearly identical to the
P&P of his company and he seems to find fault with the
majority of other company's Policies & Procedures.
* Comp Plan Bias - Similar to the P&P bias, many companies
are found to have bad comp plans when reviewed on the calls.
Company names aren't mentioned but callers sometimes have an
idea of the company and it's also clear that the company Mr.
Dlouhy--and at least half the participants on the
calls--represents has a good comp plan.
* Not Completely Generic - If a participant to the calls
finds that his or her company's P&P or comp plan does not
fit the recommendations made on the calls, there is a
natural tendency to want to join a "good" company with a
trusted sponsor. It's also a natural tendency for such a
person to want to sign up with a leader whom they have come
to know and trust. Mr. Dlouhy is an obvious choice for many
participants since he clearly knows a lot about network
marketing and he has a charismatic personality (I mean that
in a good way).
To be fair, Mr. Dlouhy states that he will always refer a
person back to the person who invited them to Mentoring For
Free (the system uses affiliate links to track visitors to
the websites) and I have no reason to doubt him. At the same
time, people have the freedom to join the company of their
choice. Consequently, they can say, "no thanks" to the
person who invited them to Mentoring For Free and sign up
with Mr. Dlouhy's company (VitaMark). This might be
particularly true if the person who invited them on the call
is with a company that has a "negative" P&P or comp plan in
Mr. Dlouhy's opinion.
* Strong Personality - Although I found Mr. Dlouhy to be
likeable and engaging, he is a "Red/Blue" personality type.
Consequently, he dominates the calls to some extent. He
often is not very open to feedback; particularly when
participants express--in a sincere, polite manner--concerns
about his biases.
*3 Phases*
I went through three phases during my participation with
Mentoring For Free:
1. Excitement at a very good educational program, which also
looked like an ideal way to find new distributors for my
business and train them;
2. Disillusionment and jealousy when the above negatives
became apparent;
3. Respect for an ingenious viral marketing strategy that I
suspect others will emulate in the near future.
In summary, I'm glad I participated in Mentoring For Free
for a couple of months. I learned a lot and it gave me some
great marketing and training ideas for my own business. I
recommend it provided you keep the above caveats in mind.
About the Author:
Mark Worthen, Psy.D. is a Phi Betta Kappa graduate of the
University of Maryland's Honors Psychology program. He
earned his Doctor of Psychology degree from Baylor
University after serving as a Clinical Fellow, Department of
Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. In addition to his work
as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Worthen collects an extra
paycheck every week as an Independent Associate with USANA
Health Sciences. http://Mark.Usana.com
About the Author
Occupation: Doctor
Mark Worthen, Psy.D. is a Phi Betta Kappa graduate of the University of Maryland's Honors Psychology program. He earned his Doctor of Psychology degree from Baylor University after serving as a Clinical Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. In addition to his work as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Worthen collects an extra paycheck every week as an Independent Associate with USANA Health Sciences. http://Mark.Usana.com
Contact him at
http://Mark.Usana.com
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Tags: building relationships, prospects, e book, marketing industry, network marketers, network marketing, mentoring, personal growth, psychologist, comp plan, comp plans, audio cd, personality type, caveats, mastermind