Equitherapy
In today's society, everyone seems to want to get in touch with their inner child—so it's no surprise that horse riding is a popular way to do just that.
Equitherapy combines the psychological theory of rational emotive behaviour therapy with therapeutic riding techniques. A trained therapist will run sessions with equine-assisted to provide a safe, nurturing, and therapeutic environment. It is beneficial for young people with emotional disorders and behavioural challenges. The combination of physical activity and emotional support is shown to help certain conditions such as anxiety and depression and help treatment to improve emotional regulation and self-control skills in children and teens.
6 Simple Steps to Starting Your Equitherapy Practice
Starting a new business isn't easy. It can be a lot of work. There are dozens of things to think about and decide before you get started. The biggest challenge is that your phone will start ringing with new leads every day as soon as you start looking for clients. It's not easy to know what to do next or which lead will be your most profitable, so we wanted to create a guide to help you out. We've pulled together our best tips on finding clients, setting up a business structure, and more. So, if you're ready to get started and build your equitherapy practice, read our guide right now!
1. Determine What You Want to Do
The first step in the process is to figure out what you want to do for your equine therapy clinic. This is not an easy task. If you're a professional horse trainer who has a stable full of horses, you may be able to see your way through this. However, if you're a beginner who hasn't had much experience with horses, the task can be downright overwhelming. At this point, you'll need to take a few deep breaths and go to work.
The best way to make sure that your horse clinic is profitable is to write down all the details of your business plan. But, first, you need to make sure that you cover all the aspects you think are essential. For example, the business plan should include your purpose, mission, goals, services, target market, target demographic, marketing strategy, product, staff, finances, legal issues, insurance, clients, and your products.
2. Identify the Market
The first thing you need to do is determine where you want to locate your equitherapy clinic. This is usually decided by the type of services you want to provide and the type of horse you want to treat. You should determine what kind of services you want to offer, what age group of horses you wish to treat, and what kind of demographic you want to target. The market is constantly changing, so you should ensure that you know what's going on. If you don't, your business may be obsolete. Once you have determined where you will set up your equitherapy clinic, you need to determine what services other clinics offer. Do they provide the same services? Do they provide the same age groups of horses? What demographic do they attract? Do they specialize in certain types of horses? These are what you need to learn before starting your equi therapy clinic.
3. Start Building Your Business
You will need to make sure that you can get a lot of followers and subscribers. Then you can start marketing your business through YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Make sure that you track how many people follow you on these platforms. You will want to post something at least once a day on these social media platforms, and you will also want to keep up with new posts.
It will be essential for you to promote your equine-assisted services in other places. First, you should try advertising your therapy services in your local newspaper. If you don't know where to place ads, you should look in the Yellow Pages. It would also help to place your ads in the newspaper's business section. You can also look online for other options to advertise. Another way to advertise your horse therapy clinic is to post your ad on websites such as Craigslist or Kijiji. Posting your ad on sites like that can be helpful if you want to be seen by many people. Once you have started building a following and started marketing your business, you will want to create more videos. You should use the same tactics you used when starting to build your audience.
4. Develop a Winning Sales Pitch
A winning pitch is something that convinces your potential clients to pick up the phone and call you. To develop a winning pitch, you first need to know your prospects. Once you've identified who these people are, what's unique about them, and how they can benefit from using your services, it's time to refine your pitch.
You should identify the type of product or service you will offer your prospect. Then you have to understand what makes them unique. After that, you need to be able to articulate your message. The next thing you need to do is make your pitch short, concise, and to the point. You can add a little bit of humour if you want.
A successful sales pitch combines psychology, salesmanship, and common sense. These three elements are the core of any successful pitch:
- You need to be aware of your prospects and clients. It helps to know what they like and what they don't like. You can find this information by talking with them, visiting their homes, and reading their mail.
- You need to identify their needs. How are they going to benefit from using your product or services?
- You have to create an appealing message.
Don't be afraid to be creative. A good sales pitch should be unique. It should include a short introduction, a clear statement of your product or service, and a closing argument that will convince your prospect to buy from you.
5. Find Clients
Once you've decided what to offer and how to price your equine-assisted service, you must find clients. This step can be the most challenging part of starting a small business. So many people have tried to start a small business but didn't have the time, money, or knowledge to get it off the ground. But if you don't know anyone interested in doing business with you, you're going to need to build your network.
What clients are saying about your equine-assisted therapy works will always be valuable information for you. This is because, while you may not be able to see the potential clients yourself, your clients are often the people who can. There is a huge benefit to getting feedback from clients in all business areas. Still, the most important thing to remember when seeking feedback is that what they say doesn't have to align with what you think.
If you want to start your own equine-assisted business, you need to do some research to find out what clients want. You should be looking for people who can tell you what they have liked or disliked about a particular service or product. If you can find someone who has a problem with something, you can usually find someone who will pay for the solution.
6. Close the Sale
So, what does it take to get people to buy? We all know about people that if you can get them to feel something—anything—they're much more likely to purchase the equine-assisted therapy service from you. Now, that doesn't mean you need to have some unique trick up your sleeve to get them to feel that emotion. It's something as simple as a picture of a happy horse or a sad one that can move people and help them make a purchase decision. You could also try a video of a happy horse or a sad one.
When you've got a good product, and your message is clear, then it's time to close the sale. The last step in the persuasion process is to get the prospect to do something they would not normally do. This can take the form of a phone call, email, or face-to-face meeting. The point is to ensure that the prospect is moved from an "undecided" state to a "committed" state. Once the prospect is committed, the salesperson has to deliver the solution's benefits to the client.
When you decide to offer equi therapy as a service, you must consider who your ideal customer is. What is the market need? If people don't have a horse but would like to own one, what type of horse would fit their personality? If they want a horse that will help them meet a goal, how will your clinic help? If you can answer these questions, it will help you choose the right type of horse.
The goal of this post was to provide you with a template that you can use to build a successful equinetherapy business from the ground up. There are no shortcuts here. This is a marathon, not a sprint. While this course was designed for a general audience, it is also relevant for those who have worked with horses before and wish to return or those new to equi-therapy and wish to start. However, with all this in mind, make sure you aren't stranded if you take a loss. Find out how insurance can help cover your back here.