Melissa and I do a lot of checking before a horse gets to step off the trailer at our farm, and our "pre-vetting" helps assure us that both the client and the horse are a good fit for our way of doing things. Because we are pretty fussy on the front end, we usually deal with nothing but great clients and great horses.
That said, we have dealt with our share of unreasonable requests during the "get to know you" phase with potential clients. Here are few examples !
1. I'd really like to send my horse but your rates are too high. Your farm is very elitist, and I don't see how you sleep at night charging as much as you do (no bull...someone really said this to Melissa on the phone).
Our emailed response went something like this.
Unfortunately we don't have a money tree in the backyard. We charge what we charge in order to make a fair living and pay for our overhead and (large) capital investments. We're full with a waiting list (this blew the caller away). There are lots and lots of cheaper options out there and you probably ought to check some of them out (we even recommended a couple).
Unbelievably, the SAME caller called back six months later, and this time she condescended to paying our asking price, minus ten percent.
Let's review.
No.
End of review.
Sorry. Still full. For you, honey, we're ALWAYS going to be full !
2. When we come visit for four or five days, we'll bring the kids, our camping stuff, their dirtbikes, and all our pets and extended family. You won't mind, will you ?
Hell NO ! C'mon over ! Would YOU mind if I boarded my [insert animal of choice] at your house and I showed up in your backyard for a long weekend unannounced with twenty of my closest friends and family, a keg of beer and my 4-wheelers ? Get a life, get a new brain, and find yourself another boarding facility !
Well, honestly.
Hope ya'll have a great weekend !
Carrots
4 days ago
3 comments:
Ah, the joys of customers (or potential customers)! The good news is, you guys do such a great job that you have a waiting list and can afford to turn away such "business"!
There is some business out there that truly isn't worth the cost. We've been asked each of those questions in various ways by enough potential clients that we use them as "veto" questions.
That said, one has to be careful about WHO is doing the asking before leaping to conculusions ! We've had our share of shippers make various unreasonable requests as well as extended family and in rare instances, friends of the family looking to retire a horse.
That is NOT the same monkey as the clients asking the question themselves.
Ah, I was so relieved when we stopped public boarding. I don't do people so well. Now we only board horses that are sold on payments, horses sold with a "training package", and mares/foals here for breeding. What a huge difference. Still get some funny requests, like the lady who wanted to make sure her colt did not witness the actual breeding because she wanted him to be a "good gelding". No problem, but it sure seemd funny!
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