Coaching, the Internet, and "Prospective Clients"

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a person interested in coaching. Trying to sustain my excitement, I replied back and spent my time planning a training program for my new runner. Since Marie and I haven't been marketing our business, I was surprised and delighted that someone found my name on the RRCA coaching site and contacted me.

Through the next week, I emailed back and forth with my client's father. She would start at the end of August and I would train her for two months. I was a little wary that I never received the client's name and her father gave me very little personal information about her, however, so far we had just been emailing so I figured I would wait and see what happened.

The next week, I received an email through the RRCA website, titled "COACHING SCAM". The email stated that an email scam was circulating and RRCA coaches were being contacted by a man wanting coaching for "his daughter". An alarm went off. Could it be that I was being scammed? These things only happened to other people, right? Wrong.

Through a few more emails, I found out that the person I had been emailing was a scammer. Enraged and more than a little pissed off, I tried to handle the situation by contacting the authorities. They'd be able to do something. So I called the Ann Arbor police department. The first woman I talked to was very pleasant and just transferred me to another, very unfriendly person who in a few words said she was unable to help. Unbelievable.

As someone who is planning on offering online coaching to clients, internet scamming is something that we will probably come into contact with more than once. However, there are some precautions we can take to prevent it from going too far: Contacting clients in person or by phone, getting as much information as possible about clients, and being more aware that scams are possible.

Someone who wants coaching has to be aware and do their research as well. Finding a certified coach through a website like RRCA is one way, and finding out as much information as possible about your coach will help you find the best coaching services you can get.

Scams happen all the time, and it doesn't seem like someone would get far by contacting coaches, but it does happen. This is a good lesson both for coaches and coachees: make sure you've done your research, and if possible, meet with the person you are planning on taking on before anything else.