A poorly arranged schedule can take on a life of its own, causing a lot of wasted time and aggravation for you as well as your customers. Many farriers face scheduling challenges every day. Most of these are due to not thinking about all the variables that can affect your schedule.

There are five aspects of scheduling that must be taken into account to avoid scheduling problems. The five dimensions can easily be remembered by using the acronym T.A.R.D.Y.

T Is For Travel

The first aspect in scheduling is “Travel Time.” Many farriers are not realistic about travel time between appointments. How long will it actually take you — with traffic, lights, speed limits, etc., — to travel to your next location? For example: Customer A is 20 minutes from Customer B. In this case, the variable seems easy to figure out. But don’t underestimate the time. If you do, you’ll find yourself rushed — and increase your chances of getting a speeding ticket.

A For Appointment

The second aspect is “Appointment Time.” Are you and the customer in agreement on the appointment time? Does anyone else need to be there? If so, they need to be in agreement on the time as well. (Beware that the more people attending an appointment, the greater the chance of a scheduling problem.)

I would also make sure that your personal and business calendar are in the same appointment book or computer program to avoid scheduling conflicts as well…