Running a barn, whether for boarding, lessons, or events, is a rewarding experience, but it also comes with its fair share of challenges. Barn owners often encounter operational and financial pitfalls that can affect both the business’s efficiency and profitability. However, most of these issues are avoidable with the right strategies in place.
Here are five common mistakes barn owners make and tips on how to avoid them to ensure your barn runs smoothly and profitably.
1. Underpricing Services
One of the biggest mistakes barn owners make is underpricing their services in an effort to stay competitive. While it may seem like a good strategy to attract more clients, underpricing can quickly erode your profits, especially when accounting for the high costs of feed, bedding, labor, and maintenance.
How to Avoid It:
Do a detailed cost analysis of every service you offer—boarding, lessons, leasing, and clinics—and make sure your rates reflect the actual costs involved. Factor in not only direct costs like feed and labor but also overheads like insurance, facility maintenance, and marketing. Additionally, consider offering tiered services where clients can choose between basic and premium options, allowing you to cater to a range of budgets without sacrificing profitability.
2. Neglecting Horse Care Tracking
Overworking horses or failing to stay on top of their health needs can lead to increased veterinary bills and, worse, longer recovery times that take valuable horses out of lessons or lease programs. Horses are the backbone of your business, and neglecting their care can have significant financial and operational repercussions.
How to Avoid It:
Develop a system to track each horse’s workload, feeding schedule, and health care routine. Ensure every horse has adequate rest days, regular vet check-ups, and that their nutritional needs are met. Assign responsibilities for horse care to specific staff members and hold regular check-ins to ensure no detail is overlooked.
3. Inefficient Scheduling of Lessons and Staff
Poor scheduling can lead to missed opportunities, overworked staff, or underutilized instructors and horses. It’s easy to lose revenue if your lesson calendar isn’t fully optimized, or if staff schedules aren’t aligned with peak demand periods.
How to Avoid It:
Create a structured schedule for both lessons and staff that maximizes everyone’s time. Group lessons are an excellent way to ensure instructors’ time is used efficiently, while offering private lessons during off-peak hours can help fill gaps in your schedule. When it comes to your staff, ensure you’re scheduling shifts that meet the demands of your busiest hours, and avoid unnecessary overtime that can inflate labor costs.
4. Failing to Communicate with Clients
Communication is key to client retention, yet many barn owners struggle to keep clients informed about lesson schedules, billing, and upcoming events. Clients expect prompt, clear communication, and failing to deliver can lead to missed lessons, unpaid invoices, or dissatisfied customers.
How to Avoid It:
Develop a clear communication system that ensures clients receive timely updates about their bookings, invoices, and important events. Automated reminders for lessons or billing due dates are a great way to keep clients informed without adding to your workload. Make it easy for clients to contact you with questions or concerns, and ensure you’re responding promptly.
5. Not Tracking Financial Performance
Many barn owners focus so much on day-to-day operations that they lose sight of the big financial picture. Without a clear understanding of your business’s financial performance, you may miss opportunities to increase profitability or overlook areas that are draining resources.
How to Avoid It:
Regularly review your income and expenses to identify which services are most profitable and which are costing you money. Break down revenue streams—lessons, boarding, clinics, and leasing—and analyze their performance. By doing so, you can adjust pricing or invest more in areas that generate the most revenue, ensuring your barn remains financially sustainable.
How EC Pro Can Help
EC Pro is designed to help barn owners avoid these common pitfalls and streamline their operations for greater success. Here’s how EC Pro can make a difference:
- Accurate Pricing Management: EC Pro helps you track costs for every service and ensure your pricing reflects the true expenses, from boarding to lessons, so you never undercharge.
- Horse Care Tracking: EC Pro enables you to track each horse’s health, workload, and care schedule, ensuring that no horse is overworked or neglected, reducing the risk of costly vet bills.
- Optimized Scheduling: EC Pro’s intelligent scheduling system helps you maximize lesson bookings and staff efficiency by automatically filling in gaps and preventing double bookings.
- Automated Client Communication: With EC Pro, you can set up automated reminders for lessons, billing, and upcoming events, ensuring clients are always informed without adding to your workload.
- Comprehensive Financial Tracking: EC Pro provides detailed financial reports that allow you to see exactly where your revenue is coming from and where expenses may be too high. This insight helps you make data-driven decisions that improve profitability.
By avoiding these common mistakes and leveraging EC Pro’s tools, you can ensure that your barn runs more efficiently, your clients stay engaged, and your business remains profitable year after year.
