For the farrier industry, poor communication with clients remains a top issue that may significantly damage a practice. It can lead to the loss of business that’s severe enough to cripple one’s livelihood. Clients and prospects often cite “not returning a phone call” as their main gripe with farriers. Many of those offended fail to realize that the inactivity is intentional.

Some farriers who no longer want to work for an existing client or aren’t interested in taking on a new one elect not to respond to queries at all rather than close the communication loop. This may be easier, but there may be consequences.

Applying the Cowboy Code

I spoke about this with Bob Smith during a Live Q&A session based on his 2021 International Hoof-Care Summit presentation. This is our 8-month alternative to the onsite Summit in Cincinnati this past January. You can find these sessions at IHCS2021.com. Through March, we presented topics on better basics, and the subject of operating a business fits well.

As the 2021 Burney Chapman Memorial Lecturer, Smith spoke on employing the Cowboy Code into your life and work. This code is 10 guiding principles of ethical behavior derived from the American Old West. During this session, an attendee asked how to fire clients.

The owner of Pacific Coast Horseshoeing School in Plymouth Calif., says the first thing is to not ignore the situation and allow the silence to “fire” the client. Not only can it hurt your reputation, but it can hurt…