Show And Tell To Sell

Give people more information though Case Studies and make more sales

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Horse Business eZine - Equine Business Marketing Tips for the Busy Business Owner

Delivering ideas, inspiration, and practical marketing information specifically for Equine Related Businesses.

November 2007; Issue #11 Joni Solis, Editor
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If you are trying to sell people on your horse training methods or have people sign up for your horse riding classes it would be a great help to be able to give people a way to preview the benefits of your services. If you are breeding horses you may want people to understand how you raised and conditioned your young horses before offering them for sale. Or if you produce a horse product you might want people to know about the before and after - what the horse or rider gained in the use of your product. For all of these you should consider writing case studies.

Case studies are reports that cover a certain time line and the important areas of what you want to communicate to your readers about what took place. Like how learning progressed for the horse or student during its time in your lesson series. Or how you handled the foal’s upbringing and the results gained in their mental and physical conditioning and training.

OK don’t panic now it doesn’t have be hard to write or highly technical. Think of it as being more like keeping a simple diary. The best way to understand what I am talking about is to read some case studies that deal with horses and their training. While you are reading these think about how write ups like these on your business product or service could be of immense benefit to your company’s success. Or the studies could give you clues on where your service or product needs help.

• Example Case Studies of wild horse training
• Case studies on horse feeds from Spillers
• Equine Reiki Case Studies
• The Buqi healing system case studies

These last two links below are to horse blogs (diaries) about the horse owner’s progress in training their horses.

• Diary of a Young Horse Daily adventures while breaking in my young horse.
• Training The Horse A journey with horses

Developing the case study narrative

You want your narrative to be a highly readable factual story that unifies and summarizes key information gained on the focus of the case study. This story/diary needs to be fairly complete in order for the reader to understand what took place regarding the case. You might need to include information about the horse or person’s physical and mental condition before, during and after and maybe even the vet’s report before and after. Note the student’s progress through the training or healing process. And report on what the client (the student or the horse’s owner) found different - better or worse, and note key quotes from the human client.

Keep your writing clear and have someone proof read it before posting if possible. Make your paragraphs short for easier reading and you can place some of the key statements in bold to draw more attention to them. Don’t abbreviate words because this can cause comprehension problems.

Add photos, videos, or graphics for illustration purposes

Clear detail photos of the horse or person can really add to your reader’s understanding and interest. If you can add video with audio that is even better. Take a lot of photos and then post the ones that help you tell the story the best. If you are training horses you would want to post action photos or videos showing how the horse can do the manurer or go though the obstacle. If because of your saddle fitting service the clients horse won a ribbon at a horse show then post a photo of the horse, client. and ribbon. If your special herb recipe gives horses shinny coats and brings out the gold in Chestnut/Sorrel colored horses then post before and after photos with dates.

Who benefits from posting case studies:

• Horse healers - equine veterinarians, horse acupressure, massage therapy, equine chiropractic, equine energy works, and other healers
• Horse trainers - clicker trainers, natural horse trainers, traditional horse trainers, friendship horse trainers, and other horse trainers
• Horse breeders - all horse breeds, horse dealers
• Horse product companies - horse feed makers, horse supplement companies, horse grooming equipment producers horse health product companies, and other horse related product businesses
• Horse services - horse Riding Centers, therapeutic riding centers, saddle fitters, horse rescues and sanctuaries

Why do case studies:

1. To better educate your potential clients about the benefits of your product or service.
2. To have a way to convince people about the effectiveness of your horse training or conditioning methods.
3. To help establishing yourself or your company as an expert in its field
4. Gain credibility and respect. To be thought of as reputable company or business person.

Do case studies and then display them

You can post your case studies in your blog, on your website, and in your company literature - flyers, ebooks, special reports, white pages, brochures, yearly reports, etc…

So please consider the Show and Tell method for helping your business succeed. If you have anything to add about case studies please leave a comment below. Thanks!

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