5q group Mike Keselnbak ECA MArketing Bait and Switch, Smoke and Mirrors and NOT WORTH IT Rochester Minnesota

Thanks for your feedback, Kearston.  We are sorry that you had a bad experience at the training class.  While the vast majority of people have a good experience at the class and choose to work with us, there have certainly been a couple dozen people over the past few years who have chosen not to work with us.  And we use their feedback to try and make the class better.

In spite of that, there will still be a handful of people that will continue to be unhappy.  I’m sure during your years as a manager at Federal Financial Group you experienced that first-hand.

You are obviously unhappy and I doubt there is anything we can do to change that, but I wanted to clear up a couple of inaccuracies in your post.  Just taking them in order:

In your bullet #1, you said attendees never get to see how the 5Q system works.  The whole point of the 10-hour class over 2 days is so you can see EXACTLY how it works.  From front-to-back…from marketing to meetings.  That’s why you have to take notes in the instruction manual you receive at the class (one of your complaints in your bullet #3).  It’s true that we SHOW you how to do it more than we teach you how to do it.  But the point of the class is for you to be able to see the whole thing before you decide whether or not you want to put the time in to learn it.

In your bullet #2, you said that “by signing up you MUST move any and all contracts you have with other carriers to ECA MARKETING”.   That’s a little misleading.  You don’t have to move ANY contracts (in fact, you aren’t even allowed to) in order to attend the training class to see how everything works.  You’re a great case in point.  You didn’t (and haven’t) moved any contracts…and yet you were still allowed to attend the class and see everything.

It’s true that you have to write any fixed business we help you close through ECA Marketing (meaning those contracts have to be moved to ECA).  But again, you don’t have to move any contracts to ECA until after you’ve seen everything and can make an informed decision about whether or not you want to work with us.  And we are very clear that you get to write all of your securities and money management business anywhere you want (and we even show you how to close more securities and money management business as well).  You are not by any definition of the word “captive”.

In your bullet #3, you said you didn’t get to keep your notes from the class or talk to others that were there.  C’mon, Kearston, we saw you talking to others that were there.  The attendees talk among themselves all the time during breaks…they oftentimes exchange business cards to keep in touch after the class.  You all ride the bus together from the hotel to the meeting room. You all eat dinner together.   Do you really expect people to believe that you weren’t allowed to talk on the bus? Or at dinner?  Or at the hotel?  Or at the airport?  Or once you were back home?

It’s true that you don’t get to take your notes home with you.  All notes go in the manual you get at the class.  It was clearly explained that if you decide to work with us you get YOUR manual with YOUR notes mailed to you.  If you don’t decide to work with us you get to keep whatever is in your head.  We explained that the reason we have that rule is precisely because we DO SHOW YOU EVERYTHING…and managing the notes is our way of being able to show you everything we do from front to back and still keep things proprietary if you decided this isn’t a fit for you.

In bullet #4, you seem upset about some off-color language at the training.  It’s true that happens.  And we try and manage it because we know some people are offended.  But Mike is passionate and excitable.  And while we certainly apologize if you were offended, others should know that off-color language is a possibility.  If that’s a deal-breaker then the training class isn’t for them.

Your last two bullets seem to be personal attacks on Mike so we will leave it at that.

We’re sorry that you weren’t allowed to come on board with us.  But you had to know that years as a manager at a competitor would be problematic.

Like we said, most people enjoy the class, and we hear all the time that they definitely learned a lot and found it all worthwhile.  Again, we are sorry that you weren’t part of that group.