What is Customer Service?

Over the years I've read many articles trying to explain "What is Customer Service?" and many are spot on. They talk about the experiences we all have shopping for a car, or buying a gadget at the local gadget superstore. Some of these business' get it and some of them don't. Personally, I've avoided the ones that don't, or actually became rude if I felt I had to visit their store. By rude, I mean aggressively avoiding salespeople and snapping at them if they caught me.

This leads me to a story that I hope will begin to define customer service for you by showing you what it is not. This is not about consumer products where loyalty is short lived at the drop of a hat. This is about potentially longer relationships that are really worth a lot of money, if managed properly.

What is Customer Service in the Horse World?

I'm lucky enough to be married to one of the most charming people in the equestrian world. She has decades of experience with horses and spends much of her life passing her knowledge on to students and friends. She seems to have been born with the customer service gene. She listens, educates, puts the customer first. But most of the people I've met in this world are not like this. I'm not sure why.

The horse business is hard work. You're up early every day to feed and turnout the horses. This can happen two or three times a day some days. And horses don't do well when you decide to skip a meal. They need a lot of care. Much of this is handled with cheap labor but some barn managers / trainers do it all themselves when they just break into the business. I've had horse at home, it's BRUTAL.

One of my wife's closest friends has figured out "What is Customer Service". She runs a 50 stall barn in the Cleveland, OH area. This barn is packed full of very wealthy clients, for the most part. She charges a premium for her services; which includes boarding, extra care and training. Yet, for this premium price, she is able to retain these customers for years and years and has a long waiting list for entry into her barn.

I've been to this barn and watched her go, go, go. Seemingly involved in everything, yet it became apparent that she also delegated very well. In fact, she has no problem retaining her employees in an environment that is known for the hard work, and often the low wages. It's incredible. When my wife stops by for a visit when we're in town, she has no problem setting aside an hour to make my wife feel like the most important person in the world.  Hmmm. Here's a link to her site, she deserves it.

"What is Customer Service" not a common question in the horse world

Something you will see very often in the horse community is zero customer loyalty. Not every trainer has the personality or business savvy of my wife's friend up in Cleveland. In fact, I've watched my wife hop barns 2-3 times a year with her close group of friends. Yes, when she's ready to move, her friends move with her. Hmmmm.

When we moved to Atlanta, I've had to ask myself "What is Customer Service" more and more. The first barn she was in started off great. The owners had parties regularly and I thought that maybe she had finally found a place that was sane. Unfortunately, I found out that my wife had not been telling me some of the goings on at this barn. The woman who owned the barn with her husband was yelling and screaming at customers, Huh?

In case you didn't know, some of these people pay tens of thousands of dollars for these horses, and then pay well over a thousand bucks a month for the boarding, training and the health of these animals. That's a lot of money. Doesn't that make them the boss?

If anyone questioned her choice of cheap feed or her recommendation to apply chiropractic therapy to a horse every two weeks, she would melt down and berate her customer in front of everyone. When she melted down on my wife, that was the last straw. My wife isn't green when it comes to caring for horses and has managed her own 50 stall show barn at one time. So she found another barn and took a good number of the friends/customers with her. My wife's friends may not know that they are asking "What is Customer Service" each time they move with her.

I should also note that there were some serious health issues with the horses and non-disclosure of some pre-existing conditions in horses she sold to her clients. That didn't help matters.

So, my wife was stuck trying to re- define customer service at a new barn. She became the sole trainer, and the barn manager was busy getting his farrier license. The care for the horses was slipping and with a 2 year old at home, my wife couldn't spend the time required. She tried but I had to put my foot down.  And eventually the solution presented itself. A charming young horse couple, trainers who wanted to break out on their own. So, they took the lease on the facility and assured my wife that she and her students could stay. When I first met them, they appeared to have answered the question, "What is customer service?"

The problem was clear almost immediately. The had two customers and my wife had seven and more on the waiting list. In other words, my wife's barn was full, and their bigger barn was empty. You'd think that in this scenario these two would have been happy to have them to help with the cash flow. But, no. This young guy, with no customer service or business running experience, began yelling at customers and eventually yelling at my wife (a seasoned veteran with far more experience than he).

Did I forget to mention the inflated egos in the horse world? The first lesson in "What is Customer Service" is that you have to detach your ego and listen to the boss....your customer.

Here's another interesting thing to consider. I often get aggravated at my wife because her horse friends / clients call her at all hours of the day and night. She doesn't really make any money doing this so it disturbs me a bit. But, she's great at customer service. She's there for them. On the other side of the equation is this new couple. One day early on, one of my wife's friends at the barn called them on a Monday (the day the barn is closed) to get a phone number of a farrier.  They screamed at her for calling them on their day off! Her horse was out of the barn 2 days later. More cash flow down the drain and no waiting list. What is customer service?

Too bad this guy doesn't get it. My wife just told me everything that has been going on their over the past months (she knows this sort of thing upsets me). All of her clients just turned in their notice, yesterday, that they would be leaving at the end of the month. They are telling him, indirectly, that they are not loyal. Nor do they have any future potential value to him. In fact, this community is so tight, that the news of this sort of move will get around and hurt his business even more.

I hate to point the finger solely at him, because his girlfriend probably has a lot to do with his attitude. Tough partner to have in a business. An emotional relationship tied into something that requires objectivity. I don't recommend it.

So, once again, on to a new barn. Hopefully, this one will be better than the last. But my experience tells me that there is yet another adventure in customer loyalty out there. Hopefully, this time it will be a positive one so I can share the details. What is Customer Service? I hope you can find the answer in between the lines.

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