A careful definition of what you provide your customers—horse and human—can set you apart from other barns and be the backbone of your marketing efforts.
By Jennifer Paulson
As a horse trainer, you work in a service business. Your services range from training and maintaining show horses to providing care and feeding to them for your customers. It’s important that you ask yourself, “What do I offer that makes my customers’ lives better (horse or human)? How do I help them achieve their goals? What about my business gives me an edge over someone else or another hobby?”
The answers to these questions, you’ve uncovered many marketing opportunities as well as your “value proposition” or your “unique selling proposition.”
What It Isn’t
A few key mistakes can take you down the wrong road when identifying your value proposition.
First, don’t go too inward. Focusing only on your viewpoint of your business is a recipe for failure. You have to connect your potential customers with what you provide for them.
Second, don’t find yourself in the weeds, digging into the nitty-gritty of your processes. Keep it simple so anyone can understand, especially a newcomer to your barn or to the sport.
Third, target your customer. Create an avatar of the horse owner who best fits in your barn, and do what it takes to appeal to that person. For example, if you only want to focus on starting colts, all of your messaging, images, videos, etc. should focus on people who buy and sell young horses. Don’t waste time marketing to parents of youth riders.
What It Is
It might seem easy to come up with what value you provide your customers, but you must take a deep dive into your business so it’s compelling and truly sets you apart.
Think about no-fit or poor-fit customers, and remove them from your process. Fringe customers either offer no revenue or high effort that isn’t in line with the value they provide your business. Once you’ve done that, move to the perfect-fit customers and those who are good, solid fits. What do they want from their horse trainer? What challenges do they face that you can solve? What do you provide that they can’t get from another trainer? Stay focused on what the customer thinks is important—don’t make it about you. You have every right to be proud of your accomplishments, but if they don’t help your customer, then they don’t need to be part of your value proposition.
Write It Down
Your statement must be short and to the point. You’ll edit it down to the fewest words possible so it’s punchy and direct to your customer. Start with a statement that acknowledges your customer’s problem, then offer how you can solve it.
Many say it’s as simple as, “We help X do Y by doing Z.” Here are a few steps to get there.
Talk to your current customers to find out why they chose you over another pro. What have you helped them with the most? This valuable input can set you in the right direction. They might even identify key factors that you don’t notice.
When crafting your statement, keep it simple. This isn’t the place to note every aspect of your business; you can put all of that information on your website and direct potential customers to look there to learn more.
Once you’ve written it out, test it! If you have three versions, send them to your employees and current customers to see which best represents your business. Accept the feedback, and then re-tool your proposition to a perfect fit. Check back on the relevance of your value proposition often. It should change and evolve as your business grows and your customers’ needs change.
Sample Statements
XYZ Colt Starting: Building a Solid Foundation for Your Horse
XYZ Colt Starting puts the right start on your young horse for a long, successful career as a performance horse.
123 Performance Horses: Teaching Sound, Safe Horsemanship
123 Performance Horses teaches riders of all levels safe riding and training techniques that last a lifetime.
ABC All Stars: Your Barn for Reaching the Stars
ABC All Stars gets you to the top and pushes you to your greatest potential as a reiner, rider, and person.
Build your value proposition, and watch your marketing—and your business—flourish!
