I mentioned in the last post that I think how you present yourself and information online matters the most especially when you participate in a forum like this one. The reason - you never know when a member of a board like this is going to want to hire you to train them.
Quote:
The Scenario:
A member of a board you participate on has decided that she wants to ramp up her training a bit and go to the next level. She's narrowed her choice between you and two other trainers. This member knows that you're a knowledgeable person and have gotten good results with other clients. But she can also say the same for the other trainers.
She also happens to internet savvy and decides to do a Google search on all the trainers' user names on the board. To narrow down the possibilities, she adds the word training to the search term. What can she find when she does this? Unless its a private board/site, this member can find out a lot. In this day and age, pretty much everything you post online is searchable and can be viewed by anyone.
When she does her search on you, the potential client finds that in the various threads you've posted, you're always respectful of the person, treat them well no matter how poorly the question is asked/opinion is given and give them valid reasons as why things may not work or work for them. She finds you are professional and courtesous.
With the second trainer, the potential client finds trainer 2 has a thread on another board. The trainer is making fun of people on the board where they met, and that others on that board have taken comments out of her threads and posted them to make fun of her. It leaves a really sour taste in her mouth. She decides that Trainer 2 is not getting her money period.
The search on the third trainer shows several threads where he's extremely argumentative and sometimes even comes across as hostile even though he's just trying to help. Although she's gotten useful information in the past from this person, she decides that she doesn't want to give him her business because she wonders if that's how he treats his clients.
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I hear arguments on the various boards that people need to toughen up and not take things so personally. There is a tendency to forget there is a person behind the words. But let me ask you this - would you present information to a client in person in such a way that it would make them feel attacked? The answer, I hope, is "No." I think everyone wants repeat business and you want that client to refer other clients to you. So how you present information is important and should be a consideration whether you are just typing an answer on the screen, writing a letter to another person, or talking to them on the phone or in person.
And just to show y'all how easy it is to find out info, I did a few searches on trainers' names here on JP with the word training added to it. Here's a sample of some of the information I found.
Bipennate - 4050 google searches. He's active on forums at the following Fitness.com, Oxygenmag.net, Fitfriends.com, menshealth.com, jpfitness.com, strength training forum at infopop.
Also searched Bip by his name, and another 1150 entries came up on google. And apparently he has a side job as a dermatologist in Athens, GA
Chris Correia - had 3130 Goggle hits He's active on on JPfitness, fitfriends, powerathletesmag.com, workoutmanuals.com
PowermanDL - had 7710 google hits. He's active on wannabebigforums.com, musclewithattitude.com, extreme-physique.com, bodybuilding.com, fortified-iron.com and has 13 videos on Youtube.com
Leigh P. - She's active on the weight-loss.fitness.com forum.
When I search her name, Her web site and blog are the first things that come up about her. But I also see that she's active on Liftforlife.com, fitness.com, and mentioned in Bip's and Bill Hartman's blog. I also found another username she uses.