Ep 46: Managing Customer Expectations as a Trainer
As a horse trainer, one of the most challenging parts of managing a business is managing customer relationships. One of the most common errors trainers run into is mismanaging their customer’s expectations.
If you are in a service-based business, you’re in a people business. In some way or another, you are always representing and selling yourself. Your job is to do what you say you’ll do, and always treat your customers with honesty.
Setting Realistic Expectations
As a horse trainer, it is imperative that you are truthful and upfront with your customers. It is your job to help your customers have realistic expectations for what they are willing to put into their horse’s training.
A lot of times, customers will want to send you a horse, pay you money, and have you fix their problems. But, that’s simply not the way it works.
Most of the problems customers encounter with their horses will come back to their abilities as a rider. Their horses don’t understand what they’re asking because they’re not asking in a way that they can understand.
When someone comes to pick up a horse that has been in training, I always show the customer what I can do with that horse and how they respond to me. But, this doesn’t always mean that the horse will respond in the exact same way when the customer gets on the horse.
The best way to help your customers experience consistent results with a horse is to educate them. Your customers need to fully understand your program and your training philosophies so that they can carry these philosophies on with their own riding.
Educating Your Customers
If you’re selling a product or service, educating the consumer is everything.
I want my customers to see me as a resource.
So, I provide a lot of free information and free help.
Of course, there are some services that I do have to charge money for because I have a business to run, and my time is worth something. And you, too, deserve to be paid for your time and your experience. Your time is valuable, but in turn, you need to be a valuable resource to your customers.
Being Transparent in Your Training
Whether you are training a horse for someone else or training one of your own horses to be sold, the more transparent you are and the more information you give someone, the better off you’ll be.
This includes providing information on what you believe to be the horse’s weaknesses. If you don’t disclose this information upfront, you will create unrealistic expectations with your customers. Avoid concealing the weaknesses because, odds are, your customer will likely encounter the same challenges when the horse goes back home at some point.
Creating Lifelong Customers
If you own a training business, you are going to rely on two things to keep you going:
Return business
Referrals
If you don’t have returns and referrals, it means that each customer has to be a brand new customer. And, I believe that well will run dry eventually.
Getting referral business does not mean that you can’t ever have a bad experience. I would be willing to bet that no one in a service business has ever made every single customer happy. If you have an unhappy customer, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are less valuable. It just means your program might not have been the best fit for the customer’s needs.
So, accept the fact that you’re never going to make every customer happy. Sometimes, the experience will simply not live up to expectations; but, most of the time, this is because you did not do your part in helping the customer understand the expectations.
Building Credibility as a Trainer
When you’re starting out and beginning to put yourself out there, people are going to be skeptical.
When people question your ability, you answer by producing results. Do what you say you can do, but be honest about it. Set realistic expectations for what you can do for them.
You can’t live on your resume. Your resume and reputation might get you opportunities, but the only way to get more opportunities is to continually provide great service. You have to show up every day and deliver. Do your work and always try to provide extra value to your customers.
“Be Your Best Horsemanship” is brought to you by Classic Equine, Martin Saddlery, Better Horses Network, Purina, Healthycoat, CINCH, Starbar, and Clarifly. These brands have been part of the Phil Haugen Horsemanship team for many years, and their products continue to play an integral role in the success of our performance horse training program. To support these brands, visit our Sponsors tab.
