5 Things NLP Schools Dont Want to Ask You - By Topher Morrison

5 Things NLP Schools Don’t Want You to Ask

Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................... 1 Question #1.......................................................... 3 Question #2........................................................ 12 Question #3........................................................ 19 Question #4........................................................ 24 Question #5........................................................ 30 Conclusion ......................................................... 35 Second Edition, Revised February 12, 2007


Introduction

If you are interested in learning NLP you will find no shortage of trainers. Simply enter “NLP” into any search engine and you will be flooded with options (13,800,000 available options according to Google’s latest results). The more sites you click on, the more they’ll all start to look alike. You’ll hear phrases like, “Identify strategies,” “learn to anchor,” “overcome procrastination,” “gain rapport with anyone!” and the list goes on and on. You’ll also hear about how the programmes are certified by various organizations like the American Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming, or the International Association of Neuro Linguistic Programming, or the Association of Neuro 1


Linguistic Programmers. They will all sound like they are affiliated with the most prestigious organizations and some will even lead you to believe that their organization is the only legitimate organization out there. No doubt about it, the more you research NLP schools, most likely, the more confused you will become. This e-book was created to help clear the waters. It won’t tell you who to learn from, it won’t tell you what school to attend or which organization is better than all the others. That’s for you to decide. But it will give you some ideas, a guideline if you will, that will help you to make the most educated decision when you finally decide to register with whatever organization you choose. It will provide you with 5 basic questions you should have answered before you enrol into any programme, but in actuality, it will give you over fifty questions to ask yourself or the NLP school you are interviewing. Ask them all and good luck in your pursuit of personal evolution!

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Question #1 How long should it take to master NLP?

Quite simply? A lifetime. But how long should you expect to sit in a class and learn from a qualified instructor in order to walk out of the room and competently serve yourself and your potential clients is another answer. Before we answer this, we should first explain the various levels of NLP:

NLP Practitioner Certification As a practitioner of NLP, you will receive the first half of the entire body of knowledge. You will 3


have a basic understanding of human behaviour, how to identify behavioural patterns and establish rapport. You will be trained on increasing your level of sensory awareness to notice non-verbal cues in others most people overlook. You will practice the skills of stimulus response and learn how to create emotional triggers in yourself and others. With most schools, you will walk away with a solution to the age-old problem of what to do when, “a part of you is in conflict.” And you will learn how to structure your language in more effective ways so that your words create the thoughts within others and yourself that are supportive of where you or your clients want to go in life. It is important to remember that if you truly want to master the art and science of NLP you will also want to complete your Master Practitioner training so that you have the entire body of knowledge at your disposal.

NLP Master Practitioner Certification As a Master Practitioner you will receive the entire body of knowledge in NLP… or at least the entire amount as defined by your trainer. While most 4


practitioner courses teach roughly the same information, the Master Practitioner Course is a completely different story. In fact, you could quite easily attend several different Master Practitioner courses and receive copious amounts of new information at each one. This is because NLP is both an art and a science. If it were just a science you would learn the same thing at every course. But because it is also an art, the trainers are allowed to add whatever they like to the curriculum so long as they meet the standards required within their certifying body. I personally feel that a course that has gone outside the walls of NLP to learn new and exciting forms of change are the best.

NLP Trainers Training This course certifies you to teach NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner Courses, but you may not certify your students as trainers of NLP. This can only be done by a Certified Master Trainer of NLP. It’s been said that if you want to master something, learn how to teach it. I agree. Even if you do not want to become an NLP Trainer and offer certifications, the information you will receive in this course will last you for a lifetime, for the 5


topic of NLP is simply what you learn to teach, you will still walk away with great skills on presenting, provided the course is one of quality. How to ensure it is one of quality will be discussed later in this book.

NLP Master Trainer Certification This course is sadly very subjective. There are only a few institutions that are offering the Master Trainer Certification, and in most cases it is not determined by your level of skill so much as the relationship you have established with the Master Trainer. This has both positive and negative consequences. Generally speaking, this programme is more of an apprenticeship than a seminar. And the standard that has been set in the NLP community is to have 2 Master Trainers agree for the award of the title. The positives with this program are that you can directly be mentored by an individual considered amongst their peers as the best of the best. The downside is that it leaves for an almost ‘nepotitious’ style of promotion. If you are to train under a certified Master Trainer, ask them how many years they studied for the certificate under the individuals who certified them. If it is anything under 2 years, 6


and/or certified by only one Master Trainer, then most likely the certificate was awarded through friendship, not through hard work. You may have to dig deep here and do some math on your own. Don’t be afraid to ask to see their Practitioner, Master Practitioner, Trainers Training, and Master Trainers Certificates. Reputable Master Trainers will have this information available and be willing to share it. If they come up with ANY excuse whatsoever for not being able to provide copies, they are most likely not a legitimate certified Master Trainer. Having discussed the various levels of NLP training, let’s talk about the styles in which these courses are taught: There are basically two styles of learning with regard to NLP: The first style of learning is spread out over a long period of time. Usually one evening a week for six months, up to one year or one weekend a month for six months up to one year. This type of schooling will assure that you learn the information at a pace where you are certain to understand it. There are however, three major drawbacks with this style of education:

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Drawback #1: Most people drop out before they ever finish because it takes so long. Drawback #2: It’s very difficult to make sure you attend every single course, so you may end up with ‘holes’ in your education. Drawback #3: You spend a major portion of every training backtracking what you learned at the previous training. You see, despite what you may believe about your ability to learn, unconscious minds don’t like to learn slowly, they respond better to quick learning. Here’s a great analogy. I’m sure you’ve seen those cartoon books where if you thumb through the pages at a fast rate the images on each page culminate in a moving cartoon. Imagine though, looking at one page each day for 365 days in a row. By the end of the year, will you be able to remember what you actually saw? Most likely not, at best you will remember the major characters but not remember what they started doing so long ago. This is very much how the unconscious mind learns, if you go so slow, it may not recognize the shifts taking place, it doesn’t mean they aren’t their, but the level of conscious integration may not be as high.

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The second style of learning is commonly referred to as the accelerated learning programme or ‘immersion technology’. This is where you take anywhere from one week to 21 days out of your life and immerse yourself in the knowledge. Like the previous style, this too has some advantages and some drawbacks. The advantages are that you tend to learn the information much more effectively. You can expect a higher level of knowledge, but the drawback is you may not walk away with as high level of comprehension as the slower courses. This does not seem to be a factor in long term success however. The key is to immediately start to apply the knowledge you have learned, and in a very short time, you can expect to have your comprehension catch up with you. The downside here is that if you have signed on with an NLP school that has poor follow-up support, you may not be able to get the answers you need. Make sure that before you enrol into a course you ask the school what type of follow up support they offer. Do they charge for it? Is there a limit to what type of support you receive? These are all important questions to ask, 9


and most of all, before you ask these questions, get names and numbers of people who have attended the programme so that you can contact them and ask them about the follow-up support they have received. When you do this, don’t just ask them, “Did they give you follow up support?” because the previous student may answer with a “no” and that may not be a poor reflection on follow-up support from the school… perhaps the student never asked for support. So instead, ask them if they’ve ever had to ask the school questions after the seminar, and if so, did they respond to them? And if they did, who responded? Was it a sales person or a trainer? What kind of response was it? Was it effective? Did they feel rushed off the phone or did the school spend enough time with them? These are all great questions. Also, don’t just ask these from the people the school refers you to. Do your research online, search for Blogs that rate the trainer if you can find them. These will be very informative. The downside to the accelerated format of course, is that you will most likely have to take time off from work in order to attend. While it may be

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inconvenient often times it is well worth the sacrifice. So which one should you choose? Long term classroom style or immersion? That’s entirely up to you. Usually one works better for you based on your lifestyle. Once you’ve answered the remaining 4 questions of interest, you will most likely have your answer.

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Question #2 Which certifying body is the best?

This is a simple question to answer. None. In the world of NLP certifying bodies there is no “best.” They are all private entities with their own special interests. In fact, in many cases, the school of NLP you are going to also owns the certifying body that has ‘approved’ their school. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are bad or dishonest, but if they aren’t forthright with this information, it does indicate a certain level of dishonesty in my opinion. Make sure you always ask the school you are considering, the following question: “Who owns the certifying body that you are recognized by?” 12


Below is a short list of some of the major NLP certifying bodies. There are more than just these, and just because they are not on this list, does not mean they are not a credible organization, likewise; just because they are on this list does not mean they are credible either. The Global Organization of NLP & The British Board of NLP www.bbnlp.co.uk

The American Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming www.abnlp.com

The Society of NLP www.purenlp.com

The Association of NLP www.anlp.org

The World Wide Institutes of NLP www.aainlp.com.au

National Federation of NLP www.nfnlp.com 13


With the exception of ANLP, each one of these organizations either offer training in NLP or is owned by an NLP Trainer that offers NLP trainings from their own school of another name. This is perhaps the most confusing part of the NLP community. An NLP school can be recognized by their own certifying body, and yet they have authorized other schools to train and certify their students under their certifying organization as well. This is where so many people get mislead. If you call a certifying body, and ask them for the name of a good school, they will most likely give you the one that they own. None of these organizations can be truly impartial, no matter what they say. They will always have an interest for you to get trained by them or one of their accredited training schools; not because they are the best training school out there, but because they make money if you go with their institute or one of their affiliates and eventually join their organization. By the way, most of these organizations offer reciprocal certification. So if you are certified in one, you can be certified in all of them. There are some exceptions to this, and some groups may 14


require you practice actively in the profession for a certain time, but if someone has a certification by any of these organizations it in no way means they are competent, skilled, or the best. It does however indicate they have passed a certain standard, so to have a certificate in one of these organizations is still better than not having one at all. Now just because they can’t be impartial does not mean they aren’t credible. Out of all the organizations mentioned above, ANLP is the most non-biased simply because they do not offer their own NLP trainings, and their owner, Karen Moxom does not offer NLP certification programs either. Does this mean that if you contact them you will be directed to the most credible NLP trainer? No. But they are very objective, and can congruently say that they have your best interest in mind. It should be noted by the way, that some of the other certifying bodies make a point NOT to promote their own training school that they own, while others blatantly use the certifying body to direct business to their own NLP school. For example, Toby & Kate McCartney, the owners of BBNLP and GONLP are also NLP Trainers, but 15


nowhere on their website will you be able to find any solicitation for their own NLP school. They make a strong effort not to self refer from their own certifying body, and they do this very well. They are objective and are able to discuss NLP and approved schools without ever mentioning their own private school. In fact, to my knowledge they make it a policy not to recommend their own school when someone contacts them through the BBNLP contact information. Their school is clearly separate from their certifying body. If you contact BBNLP and tell them you looking for an NLP school in your area, they will direct you to the closest approved school and never mention that they have their own school you could go to. For me, this speaks very highly of their ethics as a certifying body, and as NLP Trainers. Compare this to the ABNLP which is owned by Tad James. The vast majority of the links on this website direct you to Mr. James’ personal website where you can learn all about his training programmes and buy his products. Every single link on the ABNLP website takes you to a page that in some way, is owned by Mr. James! At the time of this printing I could not even locate an approved trainer who is certified through ABNLP 16


by this website. I contacted their organization 4 separate times and asked for an approved school in 4 different locations, and each time I was sold Tads seminars and not given any names of any other school. While completely legal, it certainly portrays a vast difference in ethics as compared to BBNLP’s policies of referring. And of course, then there is the opposite end of the spectrum. Some NLP schools can’t get approval through any of the major certifying bodies so they offer their own certifications. Once again, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they aren’t a good NLP school, but it must make you wonder why the main certifying bodies won’t approve their training programmes. So in part we come back to the simplest answer. Which certifying body an NLP school is affiliated with virtually means nothing. Don’t let it be a factor in deciding which school you select. However, the way in which these organizations communicate to you can indicate whether you would want to associate with them. Do they try to ‘strong arm’ you into enrolling? Do they imply that they are the only ‘official’ organization out there? Is the NLP school you are considering upfront with 17


you that they own the certifying body that they are recognized by? These are all important questions to ask, and there are many more factors that are much more important when choosing a certifying body.

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Question #3 What should I look for in a Trainer?

The answer to this question will lie mainly in personality than qualifications, but we’ll discuss both. Obviously a Master Trainer title would indicate more experience than a Trainer but from what you’ve read in Chapter 1, you’ll remember that many times someone can have that certification without it meaning that they earned it. They could have just been friends with the Master Trainers before them. So don’t rule someone out just because they aren’t a Master Trainer. What’s more important than the title is how long they’ve been training. And, how long were they a Practitioner/Master Practitioner before they started 19


training people in NLP. Ask to see their certificates so you can check the dates. They should have these on file. It’s not uncommon for someone to attend a Practitioner, Master Practitioner and Trainers Training programme all in one setting. And while this doesn’t mean that they can’t be a good trainer, it does indicate that they are still a novice. The upside of this is that you will get a training for a good price because they are just starting out, the downside is they will not be able to answer all of your questions. Well, actually, that won’t keep them from answering the questions sadly, but they may not be the right answers! If you want to use NLP in a private practice, and your trainer has completed their Practitioner, Master Practitioner, and Trainers Training certification back to back you can safely assume they have very little experience with actually performing one-on-one NLP sessions with people. This should be a ‘red-flag’ in your selection process. How will they be able to effectively answer your questions about one-on-one sessions if they aren’t proficient in one-on-one sessions themselves? 20


Perhaps even more important than their qualifications or experience as a NLP Practitioner or Master Practitioner, I would recommend exploring two other areas: Teaching style and personality. Any successful trainer should be able to provide you with a demonstration video of their talents and skills or have videos for sale that showcase their talents. At the very least, they should have testimonials from people who can vouch for them. But ideally, get a video so you can see if you like their training style. This is true in any industry. Do you like a serious pragmatic approach? A comical fun approach? An esoteric spiritual approach? These are important things to know about your trainer before you commit to paying them any money. The last thing you want is to be stuck in a seminar for 7 days or a year with a trainer who doesn’t interest you or resonate with your learning style. Second, and the most important of all is personality. Do you connect with the trainer? Do you like them? There is really only one way to know this and that is to speak with them on the 21


phone before you enrol. Are they willing to take a few moments out of their day to get to know you? If the trainer isn’t willing to speak to you when you are a prospect do you really think they’ll treat you any differently once they have your money? I can assure you that if you can’t speak with them prior to your enrolment, the likelihood of them being willing to speak with you after the seminar is over is very small. The rebuttal from most trainers unwilling to speak with you before hand of course would be that if a trainer has time to speak to everyone before they sign up they must not be very successful, and there is some legitimate argument to that case. But what is more important to you? How successful the trainers business is or how successful the training will be? If they are too busy to speak with you before the seminar, then they are most likely enrolling so many people that you will show up at the seminar with several hundred students surrounding you. And this type of education is best done in a smaller scale anyway. When you are one of 200 or more students you will not be able to get the type of direct attention you deserve for your investment. Make sure you can speak with them before you enrol. It will give you a chance to get to know them and make sure your personalities 22


mesh well. The reason why this is so important is simple: You will unconsciously adopt some of the personality traits and characteristics of the person who trains you, so make sure that they have the type of personality you would be happy to reflect because this will happen without you even being aware of it.

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Question #4 What is a fare price to pay for an NLP training?

Well in most cases, you get what you pay for. As a general rule, the cheaper the seminar, the cheaper the quality of training materials. Unfortunately, the standard of quality for most NLP courses is very low but there are exceptions out there. Don’t be afraid to ask the school what you get for your money. Do I get a binder? How many pages? Is it black & white or colour? Is there a slide presentation at the seminar? Do they have handouts at the course? Are there follow up materials available? Do you sell products at your seminar so I can continue my learning? What will the student to assistant ratio 24


be? Can I record the training? If not, do you sell recordings of the training? Does the tuition include my certification fees? Does the tuition include any study materials? These are all great questions to ask and the answers will help justify the costs. Another factor in the cost of the training is how long the course actually is. You could see two seminars advertised for a Practitioner Certification and both of them could be $3500.00 but one is 6 days and the other is 7 days. You would think that the one for 7 days may be longer and more for your money but what if the 7 day course is 6 hours a day and the 6 day course is 10 hours a day? When you ask them what the hours of the event are, find out if there is a lunch included or if you work straight through. If there is a lunch, how many hours for lunch? All of these detailed questions will help you to get a better notion of what it is you are actually getting for your money. As far as a standard price there really is none. In the U.S. the prices usually range from as little as $795 upward of $6000. In the U.K. seminars range from as little as $600 for the low budget programmes to £3500 for the high priced 25


programmes. Don’t get caught up in the cost though, focus on the value. Frankly, no matter how much you spend for the tuition, the changes you will experience in your life as a result of attending a high quality NLP training will more than out-weigh the initial expense. When looking for programmes, I usually recommend avoiding the cheapest programmes. Usually one of two things happens when you go to the cheapest seminars. #1: They are terribly organized, unprofessional, and lack quality customer service. #2: You will be surrounded by several hundred people and lose the personal touch. Before making the investment, also find out what the refund and exchange policy is. If you sign up for a seminar, and then cannot attend but wish to roll over to a future programme is that allowed? If so, what are the administrative fees involved? If you decide to cancel before attending what is the refund policy? Are their any cancellation fees? If so, how much? How soon can you expect a refund? How many refunds have you had to offer

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in the past 3 years? All of these are great questions that need to be asked. Reputable organizations will have a transfer policy but their will be an administrative fee to transfer the programme. This is only fair. These schools create their budgets and reserve training space based on the number of commitments they have. If students start dropping out last minute, this could become quite costly for the school. Cancellation fees are not uncommon either, and most reputable organizations will have one. The amount of money will depend upon the amount of pre-study or training materials they offer. In most cases, the cancellation fees will have to cover the costs of training materials and administrative support they’ve paid while you were on the roster. So make sure that you are committed to attend before you make the deposit. Be wary of special prices as well. Most seminar companies offer you “buy today” specials and motivate you to take action and make your decision immediately. The reason for this is simple, they are in business to make money, and statistically, when someone is contemplating 27


enrolling into a NLP training, they will usually make a decision within 3 – 7 days from making their minds up to go. So they know that if you hang up and comparative shop, they most likely will lose you. You must realize that if they are offering you a special “buy today” price because you called, or you are attending an introduction workshop, that special price is an illusion. 99 times out of 100 you can call them back the next week and get the programme for the exact same price they quoted you. Simply tell them, “I’m willing to enrol, but only if you give it to me for the price you quoted last week.” If they say they can’t do that, then respectively decline and tell them you are going to keep searching then. At that point, they will have a change of heart and give it to you for the previously quoted price. DO NOT let yourself be swayed by high pressure sales tactics. And to be fare, if they tell you that they won’t offer the seminar price, and willingly let you go, you may seriously want to rethink your position, call them back, and pay the higher price, because they are operating from a true place of integrity.

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If you are wondering why the schools use these incentives, it’s very simple. Because it works. You would think that society has evolved to realize that these special discounts are fake and they wouldn’t fall for it, but sadly, the majority of the population still believes they are getting a special price and until the buying public stops falling for it, the schools will continue to do it. The most reputable organizations realize this, and will be frank with you about their discounts. The best schools do not high pressure you or make you “buy now” because they know that if you do your due diligence and compare their schools to others, you will be back, and if you don’t come back, then you’ve obviously found a school more suited for you. The highest quality schools are concerned about your education and would rather you attend another reputable school that works better for you. Sadly, this is a very hard culture to find in most NLP schools.

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Question #5 Why do I want to learn NLP?

The answer to this question, of course, is very personal. But when you have the answer, you will be better prepared to select the right NLP School for you. Here’s why: Historically there are 4 main reasons why someone would want to attend an NLP training. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Personal Development Add skills to your therapeutic/coaching career Add skills to your educational/teaching career Develop effective communication skills for business 30


Now the reality is, most people come for more than just one, but when you have identified the main reasons, this will help you to choose which school is the most appropriate for you.

Personal Development: If you are going to attend the NLP training for your own personal evolution then it’s important to make sure your instructor has had success with one-onone sessions. So the NLP Trainer who has completed their Practitioner, Master Practitioner and Trainers Training back-to-back will most likely be lacking in the skills necessary to assist you in creating the most powerful transformation possible. They just don’t have enough experience yet and they would most likely not be a suitable fit. Whereas, the trainer who has had several years as a Practitioner/Master Practitioner before they were certified as a trainer will have more experience in helping you toward your transformation.

Add Skills to Your Therapeutic Career: For the same reasons mentioned above, the person recently trained in Practitioner, Master 31


Practitioner, and Trainers will not have the experience necessary to answer all of your questions about what to do when something (as it inevitably does) goes wrong. You will want to seek a trainer who has more experience.

Add Skills to Your Teaching Career: If you are a teacher or your profession is in training and development, and you want to use NLP to enhance your skills from the front of the room, then the therapeutic experience of your trainer for the most part, is irrelevant. What’s important is that they have mastered the skills of NLP from the front of the room. In this case, the trainer who has moved rapidly through Practitioner, Master Practitioner, and Trainers Training would be able to serve you quite well.

Develop Effective Skills for Business: There is probably no sales training course that is more effective than a NLP Practitioner Training. I’ve heard amazing stories of self employed people, salespeople, and entrepreneurs skyrocketing their careers after they attend an NLP training. So if this is your endeavour, look for the following in your trainer. Do they have sales 32


experience? Have they sold anything other than NLP training programmes? Do they offer specialized training programmes with sales and NLP? Have they done any corporate training? This last question about corporate training is a big one. If you want to learn from your trainer how to sell more effectively to business, and they have no experience conducting NLP seminars in businesses, then they will most likely not be the best trainer for you. I would suggest finding a trainer who has been successful in the corporate world, and knows how to market themselves to companies. Ideally, the right trainer will possess somewhat equal amounts of knowledge in all of the areas mentioned above. The reason is simple. You may think you are coming to the NLP Practitioner course because you want to evolve personally, and then as you go through the seminar you will realize the applicability in your career so to have a trainer who can easily shift from a business mentality to a therapeutic modality, and an educational modality at will. If they are lacking in any of these areas, it doesn’t mean they are not a good trainer, it simply means you may have to do more leg work on your own after the program has 33


ended. The most reputable NLP trainers can make these shifts quite easily.

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Conclusion I truly believe that if you are educated upfront, you will make the best choice for you, and that choice is something very personal. So speak with people who have attended NLP Programmes. Speak with various NLP schools, but ultimately, make the decision on your own. You’ll know which school is best for you. I speak with people on a regular basis about which NLP school is best for them, I would be happy to consult with you as well. This consultation is given to you regardless of whether I have an NLP certification scheduled or not. Frankly, I do them very rarely. So most of the time, I will not have anything scheduled. It doesn’t matter, I’m happy to offer my insight, and even recommend other NLP schools that I feel are reputable and effective with their message. I’ve been in the NLP community for a long time – not as long as some, but longer than most. And I like to think that I can give impartial advice. I have some rather unique business philosophies that challenge the traditional “sell them while you can” mentality. I truly want to make sure that you are 35


enrolled into the best possible NLP programme for your money. My belief is that if I help you to enrol into the right programme, and that programme is not mine, then in the future if there is a match between you and I, you will naturally want to attend. I believe in abundance. I believe that there is enough business out there to go around and I’m willing to share with you names and numbers of other schools of NLP. There are a lot of great NLP schools out there; unfortunately, there are a lot of them that are not so good. Having someone to help you decipher between the two can be priceless… I would be honoured to be that person for you. You can reach me by email at: [email protected] Or by phone at: 1 (813) 258 4372 U.S. 44 (0) 7913 688 336 U.K. Until we speak, take care, dare to dream, and make each day an epic adventure!

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5 Things NLP Schools Dont Want to Ask You - By Topher Morrison

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