Six suggestions that will entice customers to choose your barn as home for their horses.
By Kaycie Timm
When it comes to selecting a training facility, your potential customers face a multitude of options. First impressions can mean the difference between gaining a new customer and developing a negative reputation. So how can you create an enticing atmosphere that’ll keep current clients happy and attract new customers? Present a pleasing facility by making your barn attractive, safe and functional, and avoid common blunders by adhering to these simple standards.
We spoke with non pros, owners, and pros—Leslie Weibel, Lyndsey Jordan, Rick Clark, Patrick Flaherty, and Kole Price—to see what really matters when attracting customers to your barn and keeping them for the long haul. Here are the six top tips.
Part 1: Make Cleanliness a Priority
Part 6: Create Separate Spaces
Make Cleanliness a Priority
Why it matters: Cleanliness is king in pleasing customers. From a simple facility to an elaborate complex, keeping things tidy can make all the difference. “You just don’t realize how disgusting everything gets from being on horses all the time,” shares non pro rider Leslie Wiebel Duke. Her current trainer, Adam Hendrickson, keeps his facility spick and span through routine practices, such as rinsing horses daily and cleaning tack on a precise schedule.
Non pro observations: Speaking of trainer Robin Schoeoler’s facility, Lyndsey Jordan, another non pro, shares, “Everything is clean and pristine, and there’s no question the horses get top-notch care.”
For many riders, a well-kept facility instills confidence in the level of care their horses will receive.
“If I walk into a barn and the place is disgusting, that just shows me that person either doesn’t care or doesn’t have enough time,” Duke says. And, keeping things tidy presents an overall professional image, which entices potential customers and reflects well on everyone associated with the barn.
“If you’re running a business, your work area needs to be kept clean,” Rick Clark says, a non pro rider who’s been involved with the NRHA since 1994.
Professional perspective: “The most important thing is cleanliness,” shares NRHA Professional Kole Price. “It doesn’t have to be the fanciest place, just clean and practical.”
Price stresses the importance of keeping everything—from stalls to tack—spotless at his facility in Leland, Illinois, where he specializes in training 2-year-old, Futurity, and Derby horses. He refuses to compromise his high standard for hygiene. His schedule involves cleaning the stalls and the barn aisle every morning—before customers arrive—and again in the evening.
“You have to stay on top of it in a working environment,” Price says.
Read the rest of this article at the links above.
