Scheduling hoofcare appointments

Managing and scheduling hoofcare appointments to free up your time

Just home from work, about 30 minutes before dinner … My wife had a romantic dinner planned. Eagerly anticipating the evening, I went to the office to return the days calls. “Dinner in about 30 minutes” she said with a smile. Plenty of time …
About halfway through the calls, the “dinner bell rings” … “I’ll be right there” … and continued the calls, laughing with clients and making appointments. About thirty minutes later, I came out to a candlelit dinner on the table, a bottle of wine and soft music. But she wasn’t there. Wondering where she was, I sat down to have a taste.

Delicious, I poured a glass of wine and took a sip …

Yuck! …         It’s water …          I’m in trouble …

My priorities were in the wrong place; thinking business was most important  .. . And I was told differently …
In no uncertain terms!

I decided to be a farrier because it offered a lifestyle and the freedom to choose … to be able to align priorities with values …  
She was right!  This wasn’t part of the dream we were pursuing.

It took time to smooth that one over.  
But it started a quest for ways to make the business run more efficiently and effectively with out disrupting our at home time.


[gn_heading style=”1″]Family is most important with the business supporting the family.[/gn_heading]

 Lessons learned:

• Family is first, business second. We work to live, not live to work!
• A poorly managed and run hoofcare business costs you and everyone you’re close to.
• Excess time spent on the phone is not productive time, it comes from a lack of planning. 

[gn_heading style=”2″]Designing a procedure for scheduling appointments and answering calls will put you in the drivers seat.[/gn_heading]

Solution:

• Know and set your priorities.
• Policies and procedures help a business run smoothly, without constant attention.

Policy:

• Don’t pick up calls that interrupt important tasks or time with clients. Let them go to voice mail.
• Listen to the calls when convenient and doesn’t interrupt something important.
• Plan your response and think of several options before returning the call.
• Make the calls brief.
• Have a regular time for returning calls. 

Let people know:

• How to contact you, how you operate and when to expect a response.
• Tell the client “To avoid the frustration and inconvenience of waiting for a return call, you would like to schedule their next appointment before leaving the barn”. Some clients will even welcome scheduling for the entire year!
• Tell the client “It’s difficult to accommodate changes to the schedule and rescheduling may postpone the appointment 2 weeks. So let me know early if a change is necessary.”
• Put every one on the same hoofcare cycle (the number of weeks between visits) to avoid scheduling nightmares, overloaded days and excessive driving.
• Listen to calls during the day. If it’s a lost shoe, you may be nearby.

Instead of responding on someone else’s schedule, and putting significant events on hold … you can respond on your schedule, keeping the priorities you decided were important.
But …
Once your hoofcare appointment is set, make sure and show up. If you don’t, you’ll have to deal with more phone calls and schedule juggling.

This has worked so well through the years that it usually takes about two calls a week to maintain a very full schedule with very few problems. The calls that do come are mostly from prospective clients.

Use this idea for managing and scheduling hoofcare appointments!
It works, adapt it to your business and use the time saved to build a more profitable practice or spend time with your family.  

You’ll be glad you did!

Here’s to your successful business!