Mano Marketing ripoff, life was put in danger, scam artist, demeaning to my intelligence, horrible working conditions, safety was put on the line Indianapolis Indiana

The obvious comment made by Katherine herself being guised as an ex-employee is quite an example of the type of treatment by Mano Marketing's upper management. Who wants to work for someone like that? If I am so stuipid, dumb, and uneducated with tendencies to place blame on others, then why am I now a full charge accountant of a company? I must not be that dumb. It is pathetic to use people who are ignorant to make money. That, in itself, is pathetic. Call me when you are a real business person. The reason that these upper management people head Mano Marketing is because they themselves are not smart enough to do anything else but the wierd things they do. I'm sure that if Mano Marketing's clients knew just how they market, they wouldn't do business with them. These people are definitely a joke of the business world. If anyone reads through these remarks, please listen to these comments. Do not let yourself fall prey to ANYONE who tries to use you for cheap labor. I'm still getting the word out to as many people as possible since I don't want anyone to go through what I went through. I've never felt so demeaned in my life.

I'd agree with you Shannon that any employer that makes you sit in a hot a*s car with broken parts and hoods for co-workers while trying to sell pizza coupons in shady neighborhoods is probably not too good an employer.

I also agree with whoever posted that successful people don't constantly blame others for their mistakes. I would brush myself off, look for something better, and move on. Mako and most companies in general don't want informed employees or customers. If they make you mad or frustrated, they don't give a s**t. That means that they don't have to deal with you anymore. They want people who will sacrifice themselves on an altar just so doofus at the top can have a longer vacation. That's how I see most employers and companies in general.

At the first interview I wasn't so much as given a second to breath without Katherine butting in and going on and on about irrevelencies.

I was told that they were looking for a marketing management role, not a stupified foot soldier to go around and throw coupons at people. I spent 30K a year for 4 years so that this wouldn't be my fate... its called university.

I have nothing agianst Katherine personally. I'm sure she's good at what she does professionally too... she runs a meat market that turns over employees left and right. The fact remains that I was lied to... I am not a stupid person and how dare you testify to that effect, you have no idea who I am you presuptuous p***k.

I listened and am very keen to say that at no point were the terms... sales, door to door, coupons, or anything to that effect even as much as uttered. If you want to defend her double talk and ability to avoid the truth it's your right, but calling me names exemplifies the caliber of people that should indeed work there. I am simply trying to help people avoid the waste of time that I experienced.

If you want to sell crap door to door, more power to you, but this should have been disclosed in the advert and if not there the first interview, and if not there then before your henchman tried to shove me in the car and put it off until lunch. Be honest in your highering practices and you'll get employees that cherish and actually enjoy what they do instead of young kinds who got fooled, hate it, and don't have the nerve to cut their losses.

I just got hired by a top national builder and am making 65K a year first year out of college... tell me again how I'm not Mano Marketing caliber?

Katy,
I find it very intersting that you say you moved to Oklahoma but you list your address as being in Lafayette, Indiana.

I also have a rousing suspicion that this may in fact be Katherine Zeinz herself that wrote this letter. Everything about it sounds as if it was taken word for word from a morning "meeting."

The funny thing is that I do not remember anyone named Katy that worked for Synergistic and Mano Marketing and the only girl that was there ever from Oklahoma most definitely never attended college.

Anybody reading this should read other rebuttals to other Granton Marketing companies. You will be amazed to find many that are almost exactly like this in both content and tone. The people that defend these places just keep spouting off the same exact things over and over that are said in impacts and morning meetings. Everyone that does not like the company is just wrong in their opinion.

Also, I remember Katherine going over the same thing several times in meetings. She does say that they do direct marketing. However, if anyone looks up what direct marketing is, there are actually many different types including putting papers on car windshields and hanging flyers on doors. The point is is that the hiring practices are misleading. She will never tell you that you are doing "door-to-door sales." If you believe that it is such a great job and has such opportunity, then why can you just not DIRECTLY say it.

Just one more thing that I have forgot to mention in my other post. For some reason getting your final "security check" is almost impossible. I don't know if their is some legal action that can be taken against these companies, but they feel that if you leave, they can keep you money. I know that this is absolutely illegal.

Note: I write this rebuttal as the head of sales for a marketing research firm, and a former corporate trainer and independent distributor at Synergistic/ Mano Marketing in Indianapolis. I am no longer with Mano solely because I had to move to Oklahoma for familial obligations.

I googled Mano in an attempt to update myself on how my old friends were doing. Never did I expect to have been made privy to such outlandish, uneducated and misleading remarks as are posted on this terribly misused website. I only take the time to write as I feel it my duty to make right some of the wrongful accusations posted by individuals who find console for their lack of success in life by blaming others.

To all who have written in attack of Mano Marketing, know that I understand how much easier it is for you to deal with failure in the type of group environment encouraged by this website, and that it is only human nature to compensate for your inadequacies and lack of understanding by placing the blame on external, unassociated circumstances - like a job opportunity you simply didn't understand.

The individuals who log on and chat here are the same kids in school that got a failing grade in class, and felt better about it when their friends did, too. Or blamed the teacher for making the test unfair. That's simple-minded and pathetic.

I now run the sales division for a successful marketing research firm. I owe this 100% to the training and development offered through Katherine Zeinz and her very honest, successful organization. MOST IMPORTANTLY, everyone who submitted a 'rip-off report' here has commented on feeling taken advantage of during the day of observation, or 'misled'. In every first-round interview, it is CLEARLY stated and REPEATED that the first level of training with the company revolves around DIRECT SALES - to people at the business and residence level. I feel silly needing to say this - but isn't that your fault for not knowing what DIRECT sales is?

Again, your fault! To everyone who simply ignored or missed this very vital explanation, learn how to interview: it involves LISTENING to the prospective employer AS MUCH AS bragging about your own qualifications when it's your turn to speak. As a former trainer, there was nothing more annoying than taking someone out to the field with me during my business day who had no clue what we were doing - simply because they didn't listen to what Katherine said during the first round interview. That fact dispels all of the myths written by people claiming to have been misled' about their Days of Observation. It was all black and white, and those unhappy people chose to go ahead with something about which they were unclear.

Learn How To Listen. It's just that simple.

To set the record straight, Mano Marketing is not owned by any other company - it is an incorporated business owned and managed privately. The Manager and Owner, Katherine, began building her company years ago in San Diego by seizing the opportunity to run her own company when she graduated from college. This is the exact same opportunity with which she presents to every single person she encounters at Mano- including myself. I was in NO WAY misled about the mission of the sales side of the company. Direct Advertising is the oldest and proven most-successful form of selling a product. How were you misled by the word DIRECT?

Both my father and my grandfather built multi-million dollar corporations from the ground up - and in what way? Visiting strangers and informing them of their product. They were literally ecstatic at the idea of my learning how to TRULY WORK to get where I want to be, and asked to meet Katherine right away - they viewed her as someone who holds the same hard-working principles as themselves. To this day, I still seek Katherine out for counsel, which she offers regardless of whether or not I am in her company. It is her PRINCIPLE to help others in achieving their goals. Mano Marketing is about building and training people - once that is accomplished, the sales aspect comes naturally to those who really try to learn. It's people with the 'get rich quick, and without working hard' mentality that waste time posting sob stories on these websites.

The intense, personalized training I received from Katherine and her top trainers helped me to learn the skills of managing others, but first and foremost, managing myself. When I applied for the job I currently hold, it was stated to me by the VP of the company that I earned the position BASED on my experiences with direct sales and team management. My direct sales and training management history put me over my competition. Because Mano Marketing was my first job out of college, that is all I have to thank for the strength of character and general tenacity that I developed - two essential traits that landed me a career in management.

To dispel the last 'claim' made by others, there are no scams WHATSOEVER involved with Mano Marketing or any other Granton Marketing company. Think for a second: ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO REASON THAT INTERNATIONAL CORPORATIONS, AKA CLIENTS OF GRANTON MARKETING, WOULD RISK WORKING WITH A FRAUDULENT COMPANY???? Is it reasonable to believe that massive companies like Papa Johns, Cinemark Theaters, The Chicago White Sox, Tires Plus, etc. etc. would put their names on the line and risk losing everything by participating in a scam? Of course not - Again, I ask you to rely on your own common reason, and not the bitter words of people who must blame others as opposed to taking accountability for their own laziness and lack of success

Thanks for reading, and I hope I was able to do justice to many of the aberrant claims posted on this website.

I think I was actually at the same interview process as you Shannon. My experience was pretty much as Shannon described for the initial contact.

The second 'interview', shadowing a full day, is where they claim the top few candidates are invited back where, in fact, I have a hunch that it's just a guise for them to become more reputable in appearance.

After surviving an hour of listening to blaring bad music originating from somewhere in the back, inane small talk with their 'larger than life' secretary, and some kind of creeping chant/drumming I was last to be paired up of the six unquestioning, newly graduated bunch. Every time Katherine popped out of her office she introduced the person one of us would shadowing as the 'top producer. How many could they have? At least six!

However, having been brought up by a rather in-your-face Scottish man, known to me as 'dad' and some of that rubbing off on me I decided to act on my suspicions. Taking his advice I committed to nothing before I had all the info. Despite the 'top producer's' intial protests to answering my questions, I let him know that without the answers I wasn't taking one step out of their crappy lobby, let alone get in his car and away from my escape route. He just kept trying to avoid them by trying to postpone it until lunch.

So the questions came at him... and this baby faced kid, pity him for he got suckered worse than us Shannon, started giving in to my questions. I essentially got him to admit that what they do is not marketing... all it is would be considered door to door sales of coupons... in a frigging two piece suit in 90 some degree heat. Christ I was sweating walking from the parking lot to the 'office.'

I am sorry to hear that they got you as far as lunch, but I'm glad you uncovered their lies. I am happy to say that this company isn't worth the 20-second first interview they hold and would, without hesitation, advise anybody looking into employment with this company to tell Katherine to piss off. My only regret is not getting the secretary's number before I left! Call me!

I worked for Synergistic Marketing/Mano Marketing for seven months. I have to agree with everything that Shannon has said here and has been said on every other Granton Marketing/DS-Max (Cydcor) posting. If you want to know about the company check those postings. This posting is a warning about some of the people in the office. Katherine Zeinz is the manager (or owner if you ask her) of the business. This can be found on some of the careerbuilder.com postings. The leader you are referring to is Jason C. He just turned 22 years old, but definitely seems much older. He is the "top leader" in the office and what everyone else should strive to be like. If he is the top leader then why has he been a leader since May of 2004. He has definitely not been promoted in the "average" time that you are told it takes to get promoted. His big thing is Step 8: Take control. He is Mano's equivalent of the office bully and wants every single person to do exactly what he is doing. Start to do your own thing and he will want to talk with you about your "attitude." He will try to use all sorts of mind games and tricks, and never answers a question. He is very good at changing the subject and turning the question into a question back at you. Ex: How are you paid? Jason-Well how would you pay someone that does this job. Nothing is ever answered directly at all. If you go on an interview with him or work at Mano, start to assert some authority and control. I'm sure he will not know how to act except become an even bigger bully.

One thing that I noticed while working at this office is that Katherine likes to use the same impacts very frequently. Almost every 3 weeks the rotation starts. Same stuff about how much money she makes, how you can open an office anywhere you want (lie), irrelevant impact on Michael Jordan and Bill Gates, and the exact same meeting every Thursday where you are asked to come in early to go over the management training program just like the week before.

I think the one impact that ultimately led to me leaving (besides not making any money and constantly misleading to my DO's and retrains) was the impact about how you should never take a day off, even if one of your relatives is in the hospital. What can you do for them? Go out the field and get your mind off of it. Another one of my favorite sayings of Katherine's was that she never missed work for being sick. She would walk around outside and get fresh air instead of lying around in her germs. Wow!! I didn't know that the advice from a doctor could be so wrong.

Anyway, this is more of me just saying some things that made me upset instead of exactly what goes on in the company. Like I said, it operates exactly like any other Granton Marketing/Cydcor company does. If you want me to answer any questions, feel free to write me at bjames9999@yahoo.com