All horse business owners are salespeople. If you don’t believe me, your business probably isn’t growing the way you’d like it to.
If you’re a riding instructor, your job is to sell people your riding lessons.
If you’re a horse trainer, your job is to sell people your training techniques.
If you’re a stable manager, your job is to sell people your stalls, arenas, pastures and other amenities.
You’re a salesperson. And if you don’t take the time to learn how to sell, you’ll have trouble finding clients. And if you want to raise the bar a bit in your sales pitches, you need to know two things like the back of your hand:
Your market and your assets.
A good salesperson knows his or her market
What makes potential clients tick? If you’re selling riding lessons to Grand Prix competitors, your sales pitch will be different than if you were selling riding lessons to little kids who want ponies.
If you know what potential clients are looking for, you’ll be in a much better position to convince them that your farm is the perfect solution. You’ll be able to frame your horse business in such a way that they cannot resist.
Learn their pressure points. Are they strapped for time? Concerned about amenities? Starving for a little community? Know what they need and give it to them.
A good salesperson knows his or her assets
What do you have that other people want? These are your assets, your bargaining chips, and you can’t sell people on your horse business if you aren’t intimately familiar with them.
Assets and markets go hand in hand. If they don’t align, your clients will go somewhere else.
For example, maybe your horse business is equipped with five state-of-the-art arenas. This will appeal to high-level competitors and serious professionals, but it won’t matter diddly-squat to once-a-week riders who just come to the barn to have fun.
Or maybe you have 50 lesson horses. Quite a feat. But it won’t matter if your focus isn’t on riding instruction.
Know your assets, and use them to meet your market’s needs.
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About the Author: Laura Jane Thompson is the Chief Equestrian Officer of Riding Instructor University and the Feature writer for the horses section at Suite101. She believes that any horse business can succeed provided its owner practices smart strategy.
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