I am hoping that default samples can be found with a button but either way it will be available.  Instead of having you go to the dummy account, here is what the observer letter currently looks like:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear (Observers Name),

I would appreciate your feedback and assistance. I recently completed an online behavioral style assessment known as The Platinum Rule and was intrigued by what I found out about myself and how I interact with others.

Part of the assessment system includes having others complete an assessment on me, as they see me. So, I thought it would be enlightening to see how you and some of my other friends and colleagues see my behavioral style.

This is an investment on my part and I would very much appreciate it, if you took the 3 to 4 minutes to fill out an observer assessment on me through the link below.

 

Just to let you know, your answers to the individual questions are not revealed to me. I will get a chart that plots the overall perceptions with no names attached. At the end, I will receive a 33-page personalized Behavioral Style Assessment Report based on the collective feedback.

 

Rest assured, your email will not be sold or traded in the future for any reason and you will not be contacted unless you request it.

I respect your opinion and appreciate your responses. So please be as candid and sincere as possible – answer to the best of your ability. I appreciate your time.

Please note that this email is coming from Assessments Now, an authorized user of The Platinum Rule and licensed from Tony Alessandra and Associates. Full disclosure and contact information can be found at: https://assessmentsnow.com/privacy.asp?privacy=platinum

(Your Name)

Complete the observer profile for (Your Name)

If the above link doesn’t function in your email software, copy/paste the following into your browser address box:
www.sample.abc/observe.asp?OBlink=0

View the System Requirements

P.S.– When answering the questions about (Your Name), please answer them as you know (Your Name) in a (Work/Social/Family) setting.

P.P.S.– Please DO NOT FORWARD this email. This link is specific to the person named above. Forwarding it to other users will make the assessment invalid.

P.P.P.S.–Rest assured, that your email address will not be sold, traded, or contacted in the future for any reason unless and until you DIRECTLY request that we do.

1. One of my students used the second choice for observers. That is, sending a private e-mail. The strange thing is that the system generate the same link to all e-mails you create. Yes you are importing a universal link to use in your Outlook (or other email program) – otherwise if you want individual links, then you have to create them individually through the system as a unique link must be associated with a specific email and name. How can you then track who has answered? You can’t – that is the drawback of using this option but often the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. It forces the sender to explain in his or her words what they are asking of others. This feature was a request from another customer of Tony’s as a result of ways to deal with firewalls without any extra difficulty of having to involve an IT department. It is also a way to get around issues of observers who do not have access to individual email accounts but can get on a terminal. Finally, it really does guarantee confidentiality and privacy which is definitely an issue for some people and some organizations. (See third note.) Associates have no way of knowing who or how many observers have been sent out anyway.

2. The choice “For Follow up only” was shown in the “send invitations” list. Shouldn´t that option be locked when you send out assessments for the first time? In a perfect world yes, but that is not how the system works. The system developed had four categories but only three (to my knowledge) had ever been used by any of Tony’s customers. I too had not used it as I felt it “overloaded” the graph. After giving it some thought, I decided to label this fourth option as something unique to our site. That is why it is marked “For Follow-up only”. So far, it hasn’t seemed to be an issue and I do not plan on investing additional costs to myself. However, if I get any serious complaints from the Associates, I will consider removing permanently. Clients if they are interested in follow-up would then have to purchase a new assessment and manually compare the two graphs.

3.   Associates have a “similar” option as the observers who can use a universal link. It is called the “Invitation Link” and you can create two at any point in time. It is NOT turned on for most of you because if you create it (and it can be easily removed) anyone can use it and take the assessment and use up one of your credits. The better option, if you have quite a few people to send it to, is to import the names and emails via an excel spreadsheet. This feature is also off by default so let me know if you want either of these features turned on. We had thought about using the excel spreadsheet for your members but decided that the universal link had more advantages AND if they really wanted to get someone’s input then typing it in individually so that it could be track was a better approach.

To ease any concerns that you might have:

There no way anyone could EVER gain access to our actual computers. They are hidden behind firewalls and are on a VPN. Your clients data is not and will not be accessible to anyone. They people are not seeing any data they are just attempting to manipulate it via the web.

When the 60 days are up – clients are given an option of extending the time for an additional $9.95 for 60 days with full observer capability or $5.95 for 30 days to just access the data. Unfortunately, you as an associate CAN NOT extend it or purchase an extension for them – they have to do it.  They will be asked for a credit card to submit  and  the extended time will follow immediately

If the time has passed what messages do clients receive?

Clients receive the following message after 30 days when they click on the link “Invite Observers”:

It is now the end of your 30-day observer assessment period.
You can extend the observer assessment period for another 30 days for $5.95 by

clicking here

Observer assessments are an important part of The AssessmentsNow Assessment process because it gives you a 360-degree perspective on how others see you.

Clients receive the following message after 60 days when they try to log in:

I’m sorry. Accounts are accessible for 60 days after initial activation. Your 60 day period has expired. But don’t panic! If you wish, you can extend your account privileges for an additional 60 days AND extend the observer assessment period for another 30 days, all for only $9.95, if you just click here.

Another handy feature is if you DO want to send individual emails but there are lots of participants, you can inport them from an excel spreadsheet so that it is not a long manual exercise.

Both of these features are turned off (default) so let me know in an email if you want them turned on for you and I will do it.

Yes, they can use a central system and what might make even more sense is to use a “universal” invitation link that you set up so that they can just log in for any computer, use the URL you provide and sign up.  As long as they remember their username and password — keep it simple, they can also log into any computer anywhere (just by going to www.AssessmentsNow.com and using the member log in button.)  They will have to put in an email address – the system requires it but it could all be the same (even a fake one works as long as the usernames and passwords are remembered.)  This link needs to be monitored as anyone who knows it can use it and take the assessment from your credits and system.

The default has this feature turned off.  If you want it on, let me know.  Then when I notify you, you can sign into your admin panel for your associate account and look for “invitation link” tab on the left column.  Click on the tab and you can create your own special link – explanations will be there.  You then give out that link to those you want to take it.  It is NOT sent to anyone by the system.  You have to manage that part.  Be careful to “erase” the link after you are completed with your project or it remains active and others can use it if they know the link. 

My raving fan said I might want to be a little more high-level/intellectual for this new group – for example, not do the celebrity exercise (many of the docs do not even watch TV – I don’t either, so I can relate ) and she said probably good to do less role playing (the scripts in your training material like the office conversation) and more of discussing real life situational challenges they face and how to use the PR to help.

Given the group, your observations make perfect sense.  I too never use the “celeb” exercise. I use the examples in the book more as case studies not role plays.  I think real examples either as cases or role plays (which most participants hate by the way) is excellent if you can get it.  Another option that takes little effort is to use one of the cases that might relate to the group and “personalize” it to the organization.  As you know, I have found that “No Free Lunch” is an amazing case study if you can divide the group up into the four types and see how each type would “resolve” the issue.  Seeing the different assumptions, values and “answers” coming out is amazing.  As usual – it is all in the debrief.  Another variation is from an MBTI exercise I have used.  Divide them up by quadrant and tell them that they have all been selected to go to a conference to present a joint paper.  Unfortunately they have just received word that the budget has been cut and there will only be funding for all less one person.  Have them problem solve and determine their solution – using one of the real people – not abstract.  Debrief the process they used, assumptions, criteria they used to make the final decion.  This really brings out those that are task versus relationship differences. 

If you can get someone to give you a couple of REAL scenarios before the course the better.  That way they can be “confidential” and you don’t end up with a pregnant pause waiting for someone to give an issue that they have.  Having your own “stories” can be very useful.  So if you could draw from past sessions that might also be quite powerful.  I love to tell the story that really made a difference and to this day makes me continue to do what I do.  True story with some of the dialogue changed because it has been about a dozen years or so ago.  I was working with a group of scientists “down east” in a small well knit community doing Platinum Rule (in a social styles format but same model) as part of a two day communication skills training for supervisors with the government.  As you can imagine most of them where Thinkers (no Relaters at all).  The morning of the second day one of the participants came up to me and said:  “You know it really hit me what you said yesterday and I realized that my admin assistant is a Relater and she probably really thinks that I am a jerk most of the time.  I never tell her how much I think she does a great job.  She has been sick this week so I drove over to her house last night and told her that my style is such that I may be abrupt and quiet and critical but I could not manage without her.”  I asked her how she responded.  He said, “She looked at me like I was crazy and said it was no big deal but she had a big smile on her face.”  He smiled at me and added:  “Maybe there is something to this touchy feely stuff after all…. but I am not changing.”  I responded:  “And you don’t have to – just learn to be more flexible, which it sounds like you are doing.”

Some trainers have told me that using an exercise of how each type would set up their office space is a fun way for them to understand the four quadrants.  I  still like to use the what each type wants from meetings.  We talked about this in our training to make sure we cover off all the needs of participants.  At the beginning of a class, I have even taken the agenda in one training and torn it up.  I then asked each person to quickly write down on a post-it note their immediate reaction.  Then I collected them, read some of them out and discuss how we all have different needs.  (I then reassure all types that we will be following a set format but it will be flexible enough for us to cover areas that are of interest to everyone.)

I have sent out a reminder of an assessment that I want a client to complete. They haven’t received it yet and that was a few hours ago.

You need to determine if they got the first invitation? If yes, then that means it had gotten through at least once. Otherwise it could be a server problem. Have them check thier Junk folder. If they haven’t received the reminder (should be almost immediately) it is because the ISP considers something coming from AssessmentsNow.com as spam and dumps it. I have the same problem, I NEVER could get my regular email to work and so I use an alternative one instead.

There is nothing we can do about this as more and more people and ISP are putting up road blocks – even if you white list the site, it may not work. We have put in systems to try to work around this for associates. Go to: View Distributed Assessments and look for

Select a group from the list below

	Are your members not receiving emails Click Here.
	Send reminders to multiple users Click Here.
	Delete multiple users Click Here.
	Add multiple users to a group Click Here.

click on

Are your members not receiving emails Click Here. and follow instructions

For members sending to observers – they can use a link and import it into their outlook with instructions and send it out. Their instructions are as follows:

You have TWO options to send out observer invitations.

First, in the fields below, simply type in the observer’s first name and last name, their email address, and how you know them, and click “Invite Observers“—that’s it. The rest is totally automated. You can also send reminders out at a future date.

OR

You can send a link to observers via your own email program (e.g., Outlook, etc.) click here.
After you click on the above link, type in your message to your observers and send the email.
You could cut and paste the default invitation email copy into your personal email program, if desired.
Make sure not to delete the supplied link when adding your personal message to your observers.

Everyone has taken the assessment, but I did not let them see their results. I am bringing their results/report to the seminar. My questions are:

1. If I switch the tab to allow them to view results after the seminar, how do they see the results – i.e. do I send them a link? An email? Does the system notify them? No the system doesn’t notify them. Tell them at your seminar that the results will be released on XXX and that they should log into the system to send out more observers, generate their report etc.
2. And how long will it be available for them to see? (They are still getting more observes.) I seem to recall 30 days. From the moment that they complete it they have 30 more days to invite observers and then another 30 days (60 in total) to access their site. If after that time they want to extend the time – they can purchase another 30 or 60 days for a minimal fee. The system prompts them if they try to log in or invite observers after the time limit. You CAN NOT extend it or purchase an extension for them – they have to do it.
3. And what does “”archive” mean? If you have a whole bunch of clients and it becomes cumbersome to keep track, you can put them into archive and they “disappear” from your records – BUT of course you can pull them back in. My recommendation is NOT TO use this feature. I have a few hundred in some of my accounts and don’t archive