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    • « John Stossel & Walter Terry Tackle Unhinged Learjet Liberal RFK Jr. | Home | Mindjet’s Public Relations Damage Control Machine Revs Up »

    Mindjet Disses Promoter & Drops The Ball On One Of It’s Own

    I saw the picture and I could not keep from laughing. He finally did it. Crazy bastard. But who knows? Maybe this is what it takes to get a company’s attention these days. 

    Certainly being a professional about it yielded no results, so why not something outrageous?

    He calls it “Mindjet Training Hell” because after months of blatant disrespect by Mindjet Senior Trainer Matt Mansinne, Kyle McFarlin goes “Howard Beale” on Mindjet and Mansinne by doing his version of “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

    Only McFarlin made his point with wit and style by hanging a hand-lettered cardboard sign around his neck, dressing in his best suit and standing like the homeless at a street corner, pleading to get the MIA Mansinne’s attention with “Will pay to be MindManager certified” and waving over $1,500 to entice Mindjet’s Mansinne to turtle out of his shell.

    Did you catch the money fanned out in his left hand? And he looks pissed. Well, I would be as well if I had to resort to such shenanigans to get Mindjet’s attention after all he has done to promote them.

    The only thing he has ever done is promote Mindjet and their flagship product at every opportunity and . . . 

    This Is The Thanks He Gets

    What drove him to this point? Go read his latest blog post with the stultifying details and out-and-out disrespect a representative of Mindjet has heaped on him. But for starters, how about . . .

    And not one of them were returned by Mansinne. Not even a curt “Thanks but no thanks.” Nothing.

    Now, McFarlin is not some untrained schlub looking for some crumbs from Lord Mansinne’s plate. He’s the most requested trainer for Gyronix’s ResultsManager training modules. He has a sterling rep with everyone he’s trained, from C-suite execs, to department heads to the workers and all have given him a glowing review. 

    I’ve written about his training prowess several times in this blog and when my 30 plus days of publicly kicking the tires on ResultsManager was up, he trained me to get me up to speed enough to take Gyronix on as a client.

    So with that kind of proof he can do the training, you would think it would at least merit a response, wouldn’t you?

    Now for those of you who don’t use the products, ResultsManager is an add-on to Mindjet’s MindManager. So in order for him to be certified on best practices of ResultsManager and get the kind of raves reviews for that work, it goes without saying he has to be skilled in MindManager best practices.

    To this point, that’s been an unofficial designation and in what has become a Joseph Campbell-esque Hero’s Journey, he was just seeking an audience with Mindjet’s Great & Powerful Oz so he can get certified for something he can already do.

    Plus, McFarlin’s going to pay this nimwit at Mindjet for the privilege. ‘Course at this point, the nimwit should probably consider waiving that fee in the interests of patching up public relations that has more holes in it than a cheap hooker’s stockings.

    3 words for Mindjet and Mansinne . . .

    Un.Freakin’.Real.

    Hey Mansinne . . . give the guy a break. Since McFarlin’s already got best practices for MindManager down, you probably won’t have to stop chewing your cud and interrupt your busy day of rearranging the deck chairs on your own personal Titanic to certify him.

    See, you don’t need to train him, he’s already got the training. You just need to extend him the courtesy of answering a couple of questions, taking his money and wave Mindjet’s version of Pope-signs over him and make him official.

    Kyle . . . why don’t you get an online petition put together and we’ll all sign it and SEO it, then FedEx it to Mindjet’s CEO so he’ll HAVE to look into this issue of negligence?

    Or . . . post Mansinne’s email address and we can cram his Inbox so he’ll have to pull himself out of that cranial-rectal inversion long enough to answer I.T.’s question about freeing up server space.

    I’ll tell you this . ..  I’m inside a lot of companies and I know from experience that if Mansinne is dropping the ball with someone who is ALREADY a qualified to do their training, then he’s equally negligent and MIA with the customers and clients.

    Mindjet stakeholders would be wise to conduct an investigation as to where else he’s dropping the ball. I promise you, this is not an isolated incident.

    Frankly, I gotta wonder why McFarlin’s gone through all this trouble. If this guy treats him this way before he came under the Mindjet umbrella, can you imagine what a nightmare this Mansinne would be to work for? Can you imagine the daily hell of that job?

    But I do know what drives his relentless pursuit — this certification is what he needs to get to the next level of his professional career. It’s not his fault that a thoughtless troll has decided to block his path for 7 months just to feed some self-importance jones.

    A couple of months ago I had some high hopes that Mindjet would be getting it’s act together internally, but I fear it has not come to pass and the prospects of such look dimmer with each passing week.

    They seem to have this air of  . . . entitlement. You can see it in the decline of their newsletters over the past 2-3 years because they’ve gone from useful to smarmy and so self-congratulatory that I’m surprised arms aren’t being broken from the pattings on the back — but hey, at least it’s branded well and in color, too!

    We all have our priorities.

    Sure they’re the only game in town for full-featured electronic mindmapping, but do they have to act like the buying public needs to genuflect at their feet?

    But, as we all know with companies — as within/so without. If they’re dysfunctional and damaged internally, then that’s how they function with their customers.

    ALWAYS.

    So if I was the CEO or Mansinne’s immediate boss, I’d be checking up on him. He’s not only let McFarlin down but I promise you, training clients and prospective customers are having similar problems and until today, when Mindjet does the collective gasp in horror as they check their Google Alerts — he’s gotten away with it.

    An ex-Mindjet employee makes the case here, Mindjet Should Listen to their Customer Evangelists and it looks like the blogosphere is starting to take notice.

    Mindjet . . . clean-up on Public Relations Aisle 1!

    * = and McFarlin, you smug @#$%^ — I had to go to Wikipedia to find out who “John Galt” was. Hey next time you want to wield your superior intellect, how ’bout a Wikipedia link for us mouth-breathers, eh?

    Like what you read? Then click here to buy me a coffee.

    By Walter |

    Topics: Marketing Mishaps, Pet Peeves |


    To Read More Like This, See . . .

    2 Responses to “Mindjet Disses Promoter & Drops The Ball On One Of It’s Own”

    1. Phil Fenton Says:
      August 9th, 2007 at 8:45 am

      I feel your pain. Last year I sent out at least 15 e-mails just trying to get ANYONE from the training/certification department to call me back. I think mindmanager is an extraordinary tool and I want to be certified in it, but apparently they don’t want me to be certified in it. Just goes to show you. Just cause you want something, doesn’t mean you’re gonna get it.

      ===========================================
      Walter’s Comments:

      I agree with the extraordinariness of the product. However, areas of the current backoffice need a lot of help with communication skills.

      > Just cause you want something, doesn’t mean you’re gonna get it.

      Conversely, victory always goes to the one who doesn’t give up. If you’re still interested in certification, I suggest you contact Kyle. Since he’s got MJ’s attention, it may be a good time to renew efforts.

      Hope you get what you want this time.

      Walter

    2. Kyle McFarlin Says:
      August 10th, 2007 at 5:44 am

      Phil,

      I echo Walter’s suggestion you contact me about the certified training, so here is a link to the contact form at my website:

      http://visualstrategist.com/contactus.aspx

      I’ll make sure they get back with you!

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