Gaining more clients???

S

SamW

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18 January 2008
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Good morning you lovely lot
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I would like to pick thine brains please if you could be so kind.

Basically to cut a long story short I have set up my own equine business which is still in the very early days. I am having hells job in building up any new clients. Now I understand that with the credit crunch people don't have much cash to spend so I have lowered my prices taking this in mind but it really isn't picking up anywhere near as well as I had thought it would.

I have adverts about online, I have posters in local and non local tack shops etc etc etc but nothing seems to be happening.

Anything else I can do guys? I have a website (not sure if I am allowed to post the link on here so won't just yet) and I am building up recent case studies and also customer statements etc which will go on the website.

I also have a trade stand booked in June to promote my business further but I am just really dissapointed that nothing is really happening.

Any ideas guys? I gave up my job to plough into this and money is now running very low without much of an income so I'm starting to panic a bit!!

Thanks for reading, and thanks even more if you have any advice

xxx
 
Don't put your business web address in a post S: read H&H Forum terms and conditions.

Don't know what your business is but I guess as a "newcomer" you need time to build up a reputation. Owning a horse is expensive enough without taking a chance on a newcomer. I imagine you built break-even timeframes etc into your business plan so as long as that was realistic you should be ok in the medium to long term.

Depending on what your business is (vet? tack shop? alternative treatments? trainer? groom? livery yard?) could you hold an open day for people to come along and sample your wares? If you can find a good human interest story to link this to, you should be able to get the event into your local paper. Ask the reporters along too. Or you could try the same approach with local radio, giving an interview on a hot topic that links to your business. Have you approached your local riding school to do something innovative there? What about a free demo with a quiz (about your business) and a prize of a free lesson to the winner? You need to do some sharp lateral thinking but it really does depend on what your business is. So come on, own up, what do you do???
 
Dont know what your business is but I am an Artist and I always have leafelets and I have designed and printed my own T-Shirt with my strapline and images and website front and back.

You need to advertise 3 ways at the same time I am told that way people become familiar with your name and yourbusiness cant be more specific as I dont know what you do!!
 
Hi pm me and I can suggest a few things, but need to know what the business is first. I am a marketing person by trade.
It is a tough old market to enter to be honest...lots of big players established already that have big marketing budgets to spend on advertising and exhibitions...credit crunch...well I feel people are still spending money on the whole. Lots of horse stuff is word of mouth but there are things you can do to get some money in without huge outlay...been there, seen it, done it myself!!
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

Sorry, I didn't mean to miss out the bit about what I am actually doing lol. The business is natural horse training
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Will PM the link to my website to those who have asked - thank you

xxx
 
Natural horse training as a business is quite difficult to enter these days. There are so many established people around, and it really depends a lot on the chemistry not just between you and the horse, but between you and the owner.

From my experience, you are not just competing with the good NH people out there, but also have to deal with the preconceptions people have made after meeting the not so good ones. I have dealt with quite a few NH people in the past, and there are people who are very good at what they are doing, and people who are just... well... what should I say... not so great... to the point that, may I say, even without getting those certificates they had, I consider myself being better at coping with my horse in a natural manner than they were (which really shouldn't be the case). People like that have really annoyed me in the past, and I don't even get a NH person to come down anymore because the last one just really just took the p***, was more scared of the horse in question than I was, and I still had to pay the fee!!!

So, with people like me, you'd have to be amazing for me to trust you. Maybe do a few exhibitions/roadshows to show people how good you really are???
 
Building up a client lists takes time and the very best advertisement is word of mouth. Apart from that, if you can, sell your services on ebay, maybe gift cards for whatever it is you do, and a website is a must and does work.
 
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