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November 2002 Product Development Technique
Mentor Programs
As usual I almost always do something myself before I try to teach it to
someone else and this topic is no exception. I started my mentor program
back in January so I now have 10 months experience to tell you about.
And yes, even though this is not a physical product, it is a product.
What are the benefits to you?
Mentor programs are a way to help more people in a cost effective
manner, my consulting fee is nothing to sneeze at. This allows me to
attract more participants to the program because it�s a bigger bang for
the buck
It's an additional Revenue Stream for your business.
You can multiply yourself. When you are on the phone with many people
your knowledge is being sold at a cheaper rate, but in more volume.
Similar to doing a speech with potential customers in the crowd.
You create better results for people because you are with them over time
This in turn will create an ever expanding group of people who will
promote you more enthusiastically and credibly because they actually got
good results.
A mentor program provides a group of people under your control for back
end product sales � They are a more qualified and ready group for back
end product sales and recommendations. (You better be darn careful not
to recommend something that is junk or you will lose their loyalty.)
Benefits for Mentees
Access to a credible source that really cares about their success.
Help with the hundreds of decisions that face them.
Networking. -- Many mentees are making deals with other mentees because
they have a complimentary idea.
Synergy � Part of the program to this point is that I talk to mentees
while other mentees are listening. A tremendous number of ideas are
presented in any one session. When I�m talking to Joe, Dan is listening.
When I talking to Dan, Joan is listening, etc.
Discounts � on things they were probably going to purchase from me
anyway.
Freebies
Income Potential
Pricing -- Corporate mentoring can command a higher price from $4500 per
year to $15,000 a month or more. Small business mentoring can be $2500.
Individual mentoring can be $1000 or more a year. All these figures are
just made up but they are generally representative of the relative
amounts you can get depending on your market. Your notoriety, the
service you're offering and many others factors will determine how much
you can charge.
Pre-requisite Sales -- My mentees must have about $300.00 worth of
learning materials before they are allowed into the program. This helps
to insure their success and keeps them from being lost and wasting time
with simple ideas they could easily learn on their own.
Back end Products � Mentees are prime candidates to purchase other
products and services from you and to recommend your products and
services to others.
How to Get Mentees
Recruitment � Try to get the "right" kind of mentees.
Here is my overriding principle- Your mentor program will help quality
people get better and achieve more. It is unlikely you will take
non-quality people and turn them around. (I�m not doing any kind of
judging of people here. I just know that certain types of people have
little chance of success in my program.)
Put notice on your website
http://www.GreatInternetMarketing.com/mentorprogram.htm
Put notice in your Ezine
Tell people about it in person
Tell them about it on the phone
Use affiliates to recruit for you (You must be careful that they don't
recruit people that have little chance of success)
Payment
I originally started out letting people pay monthly. I found that this
did not work because people were spending their last nickel to join and
thinking they were going to be rich at the end of the month. They didn't
have realistic expectations and they didn't have the money to build
their sales system.
Now people pay for six months or one year in advance with no refunds. I
have found that this makes for a much more committed mentee who is
infinitely more likely to get good results. I feel like I'm doing them a
favor by pre-qualifying them because it does neither one of us any good
if they don't get results. Sure I get some short term cash flow, but the
long term effects of people telling others that they didn't get results
(even though it wasn't my fault) will hurt my program.
Occasionally I will cut deals, but I make the people write all the
checks in advance and I tell them I'm going to deposit them no matter
what happens. I try to avoid making these deals because the accounting
is a hassle and IN GENERAL I get a lesser quality mentee who is more
likely to drop out. But if I think a person is really serious, I'll make
exceptions.
Communication with mentees
Mostly email announcements
Sometimes it�s easier to call with an answer to one of their questions
than to type it.
The only mail I use is to mail them a tape of any sessions they may have
missed.
Here's what my mentees get
Welcome Email and teleconference schedule
Initial two hours of phone consulting spread out over two or four calls
Unlimited email access to me for questions
Two TeleConferences a month (this may increase to three or four as
program grows.
Discounts 25% off all products and services.
Freebies � Teleseminars, Books, PDF files,
Private membership site (this e-magazine you are reading)
Discussion board
http://www.GreatInternetMarketing.com/forums
Scheduling:
Theory- If I booked myself solid on the phone and I only told someone
what I know from the past, yes that would be helpful to them, but think
of this. If I didn�t leave anytime to work on my own system and learn
new things, my value to the mentees would DECREASE over time. So I must
leave time to both rest my mind and to learn new things.
On my mentee and consulting calls I try to book one call mid morning and
one call mid afternoon Monday through Thursday. This gives me the rest
of the time to work on my own things and room to fit in urgent
situations for my clients and mentees. Since much of my speaking is on
the weekend, I leave Fridays open to work on my stuff, rest my mind a
little or to travel.
I alternate mentee teleconferences from 1:00 PM Eastern time to 8:00
Eastern time. They are usually on Wednesdays, but that is not carved in
stone. One time I had to reschedule the call because I had to fly that
day.
During the 90 minute call, I do a topic for about 30 minutes and then I
interview individual mentees for the rest of the time. The topics aren't
in any order. I just pick something that I think they need to know
about.
Right now, here are the fees for my program.
$1500.00 six months plus pre-requisites
$2500.00 year
$3000.00 per month unlimited phone consulting
If you would like to join visit
http://www.GreatInternetMarketing.com/mentorprogram.htm
Other upcoming topics
Back to November 2002 Index page
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