Working as a professional trainer can appear wonderfully glamorous from the outside, BUT the reality of earning a living this way is a lot of hard work and there are no short cuts. Beware of the daft ad copy suggesting 6 figure income from attending “boutique courses” and always do proper research before deciding on who to train with.
Also my advice is to stay clear of courses costing thousands without checking the terms and conditions and the trainer’s professional reputation. Remember “certifications” are NOT “qualifications” and in twenty years I would only recommend a handful of trainers to clients.
Ok, now for some of the dreaded questions often asked before and during trainings –
1 “If I can’t attend the full 3 days, can I have a video of the training?”
Most people don’t appreciate that editing footage takes considerable time and money, if its to be done properly… One of my pet hates is people paying for a training and then skipping key parts of the training. Its like walking into the cinema halfway through the movie and then wondering what nothing makes sense!
2 “What exactly will we be doing each day?”
This is usually asked ahead of the training where people are focused on information at a forensic level. Yes, I appreciate its useful to know what the workshop theme is, but when people ask this question usually they are IMO way too focussed on information rather than listening and watching.
3 “Can you keep me posted about the next event?”
I fully appreciate that not everyone can make specific training dates, BUT some people endlessly entertain “the idea of attending a training” but never commit the time. I had one customer cancel attending the first training, so I moved her to the one the following year and then a week before the event, she wanted to cancel again as it wasn’t “convenient” BUT could I send her the manual! You can guess the response
4 “Will I be a qualified X from attending this event?”
Unfortunately certifications are often misrepresented as “qualifications” and course prices get hiked to ludicrous levels with the promise of more and more grandiose certifications. Worse still now there’s a trend of multiple certifications and workshop attendees cite as “qualifications” on their websites!
5 “I only learn from the material presented in this way”
One of the worst groups I ever taught had a core of member who insisted on only doing certain exercises and refused the idea of anything that did not conform to their expectations. Most such individuals don’t of course work professionally as coaches and/or trainers, but love the idea of the status associated with attending such courses! Fortunately this behaviour is rare…
I run trainings from all over the globe and most groups are an absolute delight to work with. Of course if you run trainings for a living, you will inevitably encounter one of the dreaded five questions mentioned here!
