Monkey See, Monkey Do
I’m doing more videos for work, and rather than do them at my home range, I’m filming them inside of my local indoor range, because that’s the type of range where most of our readership goes to shoot. This range and I have a unique history. I moved to SW Florida to help open it up, and the management at the time was… less than competent, something that’s all too-common in the retail firearms business. Fortunately for all involved, the current ownership is more clued-in, and seem to be doing a better job running the place.
One thing I remember from my time working at that range was how few of the staff carried concealed. I was the only manager who carried every day, and most of the sales staff went unarmed as well. The range officers carried, but they did so using battle belts and retention rigs and looked like they were a plate carrier shy of shipping out for Kandahar that day.
Let’s think about this for a second. What is THE most profitable item at a range? Training. Aside from using a bay that you might be renting to customers, training has zero overhead, as there is no inventory involved. After you pay your trainer, every dollar that comes in is profit.
What’s the second-most profitable item in a gun store? Soft goods (belts, bags and most importantly, holsters). The problem there is that the sales velocity of those items is PAINFULLY slow, and you have to have a “we stock everything” approach to holsters, because not everyone carries a G19. That being said, the profit margin is much better on this sort of thing than guns or ammo, and it should be encouraged. In addition to this, the person who buys one holster and uses it tends to buy more holsters, as they see the need to tailor their gear to their gun and lifestyle.
Let’s tie these two together. What’s the #1 problem facing the firearms training industry? People not getting any training after they get a concealed carry permit. And why should they, when they walk into a gun store and see people who should have “Timmy” on their name tag instead of their real name, or people who have no idea how to carry on a day in, day out basis.
Imagine walking into a gym staffed with fat, lazy slobs. Would you trust them to give you good advice on how to work out? What about a bookstore full of mouth-breathers? That wouldn’t be my first choice for finding a good commentary on Shakespeare.
But every day, people walk into gun stores and buy gear from people who have no first-hand knowledge about what it means to carry concealed every day and take a firearms training class beyond the bare minimum.
If a gun store wants customers who are engaged in the concealed carry lifestyle and who buy things like training, holsters and other profitable items, that store needs to be staffed by people who live that lifestyle and know what they are talking about. It’s as simple as that.
Comments are closed.
You said it all. My experience with gun stores runs from nationally known experts and authors (Phil Peterson, editor of The Standard Catalog of Military Firearms, to name just one) down to the criminally incompetent (names withheld to protect the guilty and avoid a lawsuit) and even a fraud, liar, and crook. Way too many fit your description. You are correct.
Well said.
My experience over 40 years in the gun world is that the worst salespeople in retail sales work in gun stores. I agree with this article in general but specifically note that these folks will not get up off their chairs to show a customer an item for sale or help them correctly select what they need. And that is if they own the answer at all, which they usually don’t. In my area we had a modern, well built and designed range which even included an indoor 100 rifle range. They tried to sell memberships but I suspect that attempt ended in failure and eventually they closed up shop. I am firmly convinced that the reason was the staff attitude which was nose up snooty and unfriendly. Sort of look at me and where I work. I must be better than you or any customer.
The folks who took over had suffered a fire at their previously successful range and they moved into the large facility. Almost without exception shooters and the staff agree that they are doing a better job than the failed owners. Hope they make it.
That is a HUGE problem. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve gone into a gun store, found what I was looking for (on my own, of course) and then stood there waiting at the register, credit card in hand while the proprietor talks about fishing or drinking or something else with one of his good buddies who hangs out in the store.
While I was still instructing, a gentleman approached me who quite literally decided out of the blue to open an indoor range gun store. Fortunately he knew what he “didn’t” know and recruited quality folks to train and run the retail portion. The result is a professional, well run business with a great rep for honesty and knowledge…This is not rocket science…applying standard business models does bring results…it is unfortunate that many places just get their FFL and local occupational license and think they are good to go.
I’m comfortable with saying that most people work in a gun store because they think it would be cool to work somewhere surrounded by guns.
And, to be fair, there is a certain truth to that. It’s FUN unboxing Les Baer 1911s or LWRC rifles.
The reality is, though, that you are working in a shoe store, except you can be arrested if your inventory.