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At a team meeting last spring, our team was faced with a difficult question, "How can we offer a workshop that will get better attendance?" The team has had problems filling workshops. After lots of brainstorming and discussion, the team decided to host a consecutive three-day workshop in Columbus. The team believed that Columbus was a draw for stable operators and we could offer some extra activities to attract them. The two activities that we added were a tour of the new Galbreth Equine Facility at the OSU Veterinary Hospital and a two-hour computer session entitled "Horsin' Round the Net." Nathan Watermeier from the ANR office facilitated the computer session for us. The result of our change was a full workshop! Twenty-five students from different horse management positions in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania enrolled in the course. Additional inquiries were turned down so we could maintain an interactive teaching environment. The curriculum for our workshop included an understanding of the horse industry in Ohio and its potential, developing a mission statement for their business, planning and organizing the business, discussing the need for control measures, staffing and hiring personnel, working with employees and others to resolve conflict and the importance of creative problem solving. The team put an extra emphasis on marketing stable services in each of the five functions of management. The idea to put more emphasis on marketing came from a team tour. We visited several stable operations in Pennsylvania. One evident fact on each farm was that horses are a retail business and marketing is a major factor in all aspects of the horse business. This is very different from the traditional farm business. Input from previous participants and studying the preferences of horse people led us to believe our approach would work- and it did! An additional reward was attracting people from other states because our advertising crossed state lines. We asked participants three questions at the end of each day and shared the results the next morning. Participants appreciated the quick feedback and corrective action. They saw firsthand the benefits of listening to your customers. We also asked each participant to mail us their mission statements. Several have been returned with extra notes of appreciation for a great workshop. We plan to offer a workshop next winter and to continue to support the Ohio equine industry. |
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