IMPROVE INDUSTY CUSTOMER SERVICE

I READ with interest both the news article on bringing people into the horse world and Pammy Hutton’s column regarding hands-on training (23 July). I’d like to add that one of the industry’s biggest problems is customer service.

Without clients to teach, coach, or train, the industry would, in part, cease to exist, so why do we continue to allow poor customer service to happen?

Too often centres rely on reputation alone, or solely the quality of their end product. Ingrid Klimke doesn’t stop practising her halts just because she receives a mark of 10. Why then are centres and their administrative staff so poor at improving the pre-lesson client experience?

They appear to have forgotten what it is to be a client, from booking processes to distance travelled, before even getting in an arena. They are the “front of house” centre representatives yet the lack of communication, incomprehensible emails and poorly written social media posts do nothing to improve reputation.

While the industry is not an academic one, educational standards remain of utmost importance; the next generation of BHS Stage 5 centre managers must be capable of high-level presentations, including a literature review, and the ability to communicate in times of major incident or emergency whether written or verbally. Office administration staff must be able to communicate well, too.

Training centres can and must take more responsibility for this, and it should start from the moment someone starts their career. It would stand them in good stead if they were to ever leave the industry for another, too.

Vicky Davis

Chichester, West Sussex