How you schedule your hoof-care clients can have a direct correlation to the health of your bottom line. Effective and efficient scheduling enables you to accommodate more clients and make more money.

San Martin, Calif., farrier Mike Hayward, APF, maximizes his efficiency not only by scheduling multiple horses at each stop, but by assigning locations to specific days of the week.

“I’m very specific about the days when I’m in different areas,” Hayward says. “On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I’m in the Woodside, Portola Valley area. On those days, I can be a little bit more flexible because if I can’t get to it Monday or a client reschedules, then I can move them to Wednesday or Friday.

“Tuesdays, I’m down in the Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley area. If a client wants to reschedule, they know they’re going to have to wait another week. Thursdays, I’m in the East Bay, South Bay areas, which is where I live. So, if something comes up there, I can always stop in on the way home or I can have people haul to my house on weekends.”

When the appointment is over, the client is set up with the next date that fits their shoeing schedule, which ranges from 5 weeks to 8 weeks.

“If I see the client when I leave, they get a business card with my next appointment written on it, so they know exactly when their next date is,” he says. “If I email a bill, the next appointment is always on it.”

What scheduling strategies do you have? Please share them in the comment section below.

Discover more scheduling tips by reading “Boost Productivity With Better Scheduling” in the May/June issue of American Farriers Journal.

Do you have a helpful tip that could benefit other farriers? Send them to Jeff Cota at jcota@lessitermedia.com.