BHB Challenges Trainers to Get on The Right Track
The British Horseracing Board (BHB) today launches its marketing information series for racehorse trainers, ‘The Right Track’.
Research carried out by the BHB has shown that owners consider a friendly yard, a caring approach, and good communications key factors in their choice of trainer. But an emerging concern is the worryingly high owner “churn rate” – the numbers giving up horse ownership each year. This is partly down to increasing competition for the leisure pound and partly down to the owner experience failing to meet expectations – either way, it is a situation the BHB hopes to remedy with this month’s launch of The Right Track.
Developed in liaison with the National Trainers Federation (NTF), The Right Track will be sent out to all 535 licensed trainers in the UK. The eight-part series is intended to provide trainers with practical, relevant advice that is easy to put into practice and will help them improve their business marketing and especially their relationships with owners.
Jackie Hutchinson, the BHB’s Industry Marketing Manager and editor of the series, explains the thinking behind the initiative.
“Trainers are running businesses in a modern world and, like it or not, good marketing and PR are key to any business success nowadays. An owner is a client and, in any business, client communication is all-important. Racing competes with a multitude of leisure activities and when the economic climate looks bad you have to work harder to keep your customers. Racing is no different – we’ve got to make sure we do everything we can to keep people involved.”
Rupert Arnold, Chief Executive of the NTF, emphasises the importance of developing a marketing mindset.
“This is an important development on two fronts. We need to retain existing owners and attract new ones to horse racing, and trainers need to be given more tools to help them with this task. Some of them are excellent at it and I think these are the ones who have learned that if you look after the owners you’ve got, they soon become your most powerful salespeople.”
Michael Harris, Chief Executive of the Racehorse Owners Association, also welcomes the move.
“One of the most important relationships for the future of our industry is that between the racehorse owner and trainer. We’ve long recognised that owners welcome regular communication with their trainer – the maxim ‘no news is good news’ does not apply here! However, we also acknowledge that many trainers are not practiced in marketing, communication and relationship building and are unaware of the impact that such skills can have on their business. Our message with this series is yes, training winners is important but there are many other things you can be doing to make your business profitable and to keep your owners loyal to your yard, as well as to the sport of racing.”
The first edition of The Right Track will be sent to trainers during the first week of December. The series will also be on the BHB website, which can be found at www.bhb.co.uk/righttrack/.
ENDS
For further information, contact: Jackie Hutchinson, BHB Industry Marketing Manager, on 020 7343 3324; [email protected]
Notes to Editors:
Studio shot photograph of materials is available electronically.
