Not for everyone... after reading reviews we decided to meet with Tom. His personality was "unique" to put it lightly but we opted to hire him anyway. Mistake... his approach made us feel uncomfortable and like we were in trouble all the time which our dog seemed pick up on, making training difficult. After 5 of the 10 trainings we decided it just wasn't a good fit, our dog had not progressed as we had hoped, and we chose a different trainer. We hoped he would understand and we might get $500 back for services unused but no... this upset my wife but I understood as we had signed a contract, just had hoped for a better outcome all around.
In conclusion, I recommend you trust your instincts, if you don't feel it's a fit from the first interview it doesn't get better and you want this to be an enjoyable learning time. Do NOT pay in full up front, you will not have any recourse if it doesn't work out and have to eat it.