Customer Service and Thank You’s

It’s a rainy day here in Delaware. I’m sitting here thinking about the upcoming shopping season and trying to figure out what I might like for Christmas. Kurt wants a list and I really have no clue what I want. My favorite things are stuff for the horses- bits, bridles, blankets and other essential items. I have been organizing my tack rooms (um, I have a whole room in my house for tack) and I realize that I need to cut back and not add to my pile of tack Why do I keep looking at ebay then????

As I procrastinate on my actual work that needs to get done I was reading one of my favorite blogs and came across her great article on customer service- http://www.trumbullmtn.com/2011/09/customer-service/ I have never shopped with Trumbull Mountain but I really enjoy their blogs about saddle fitting and I have heard great things about their service. It started me thinking about the companies that I really thing provide excellent service.

Do you have companies that you really love to support? Stores that you prefer to buy from? Good customer service is really important to me and I have no issue spending more money to get good service. I will also avoid any companies that I don’t believe give good service.

For gorgeous tack you must shop with Five Star Tack http://fivestartack.com/  Jaime donated some amazing bridles to CANTER and supports several thoroughbred rescues with part of her proceeds. I emailed her recently looking to buy some horse size browbands for the cob bridles that she donated. Most of our guys tend to have heads that are between cob/horse so bridle fitting can be a challenge. Jaime got my email and looked to see what she had that would fit the bridles she donated to us and then sent me two browbands for free. I was very willing to pay but she insisted that we have them. I have bought several bridles from her but I will continue to support her business because the customer service is top-notch and I really appreciate her support of the various thoroughbred retraining groups.

I love shopping with Smartpak. I think their customer service is always amazing. I could say the same for VTO Saddlery.

I have to give a shout out to Gina Perilla http://www.ginaperilla.com/ who does all my saddle fitting. She has always given me excellent customer service even when I buy saddles off of ebay instead of from her

Kurt and I had a super trailer buying experience with Risa at Happy Trails Trailers http://www.happytrailstrailers.com/. She spent a lot of time going over all the options and listening to us to figure out what exactly we wanted in a trailer. We drove her crazy with all of ou questions and she was so patient. Kurt and I have some serious love for our trailer. We never met Risa in person and the trailer was built and shipped to us but we felt comfortable with the long distance transactions because of her great service.

My local Amish tack shop (Mast Harness) is a staple in our community and I have been shopping there since I was a kid. They are always willing to help me out when I go in there with things that I want but can’t find. I also get all my lead ropes and lunge lines made there.

My hay guys are the absolute best (no, I won’t share their info with you cause they are my secret ) and I adore them. They are older farmers who have been in the dairy business and now beef cattle. They have went above and beyond for Kurt and I so many times. They are the type of people who will bring me hay knowing that I can’t pay them right at that moment and they tell me not to worry because they know that I am good for it. They have beautiful hay but they give us a great deal and they always call to check in with us to see if we need anything before winter comes.

Pat and Catherine both help to run the farm where all the CANTER Del Park horses are at in Centreville, MD and I don’t think that I could operate the Delaware Park program without them. They strictly have CANTER horses and a few retirees. I routinely call them with all sorts of requests- can we take more horse, horses are leaving, horses being dropped off, one more horse on the trailer than I thought and plenty of other pain in the butt stuff. They just make it happen and I LOVE them for that. We all know how important it is to have great farms to take care of your horses. I don’t worry about the horses that are there and can just focus on my horses. I know they do all the worrying for me They treat those horses like they are their own and bend over backwards for CANTER. Nope, not giving you their info either. All mine

I love these two statements that Nancy makes in blog about customer service-

To be in a customer service job you truly need to truly like people and truly want to help them … not because it’s your job and you get a pay check at the end of each week, but because it’s the right thing to do.

and

The best thing about my job is that I know most of my customers truly appreciate my efforts and take the time to say so in a note or email long after the sale is finished.  When people are treated with honesty and integrity it usually comes right back to you.

Something that I learned very early on in the horse business was that good customer service is what allows you to be successful. The horse world is such a small world as we all know It seems as that though we are all interconnected no matter how far away we are from each other. If you always go above and beyond to provide good customer service than the word gets out and you will continue to have success. Your reputation will build through that good word of mouth and new customers will seek you out.

I think that those of us at CANTER have seen our resale program take off because of the customer service that we try to provide to each of our potential buyers. You know that you are doing a good job when you have all your customers commenting on your blog about their wonderful horses and then they go and tell all their friends about how awesome the CANTER program is That is a win for everyone involved. It sure makes me feel appreciated and I thank all of you for your comments and updates on your horses. They will still all be “my horses” because each horse that comes into our program will always considered part of the CANTER family.

If you see a CANTER volunteer walking the backside of the track please stop them and say thank you. I can’t tell you just how much all of the CANTER volunteers give to this program to ensure that horses end up in good homes. Our resale program is just one small component of what we do. We place so many horses through our track listings with the help of the many volunteers who give up their weekends to walk the track. I have some amazing volunteers at Delaware Park who bust their butts to help the trainers. I know our other tracks have equally amazing volunteers helping out. I always think a thank you goes a long way to making sure everybody feels as though their great customer service is appreciated. I think I will be sending some emails out today just to let people know that I appreciate what they do.