Priority Number One Your Store’s Persona

If you’re a one-man or woman shop, your store’s persona (i.e., how it’s perceived by others) is going to be based on your character and personality. If your strength is in knowing all about guns but you don’t tolerate people very well, this will be reflected in your business. On the other hand, if you love people, don’t know any strangers and happen to like guns, too, you may be doing a little better than Store One. If your success and growth necessitates adding team members, either correcting a bad reputation or maintaining a good one will be a challenge. It should be priority number one.

Don’t Be This Range

Having grown up in the country, I had no concept of a dedicated gun store or gun range until I moved to an urban environment. We bought guns at the hardware store and shot them in the pasture. My first trip to an outdoor gun range with a new AR was not a pleasant experience.

First off, I was told the ammo I had couldn’t be used on the range because it was full metal jacket. Huh? Okay, so I bought some of their ammo and it wouldn’t feed reliably in my gun. When the range was called cold and I couldn’t eject the round in the chamber so I could put my gun on the shooting bench with the chamber clear, the range officer took my rifle and started whacking the charging handle on the shooting bench. He was pompous, rude and disrespectful of my property.

After my visit, I heard complaints from others and vowed not to go back to the range. A few years later the business changed hands, and I heard through various sources their attitude toward customers was much better. It took me a while to try it, but now it’s one of my favorite places to shoot. New ownership with new attitudes made all the difference in the world.

While shopping for a new gun in those early days, I encountered more than one salesperson who made me feel like a piece of dirt blown in by the wind because I dared to ask questions and didn’t know exactly what I wanted.

Maybe you’ve run across these places, too. Fortunately, things have improved greatly, and new shooters and seasoned shooters alike are welcomed into most, but not all, places that sell guns, accessories and services they need.

Having someone who is non-intimidating set the tone for a newcomer’s visit to the store is an amazing way to transition visitors into customers.

It’s no accident things have changed. People don’t shop at stores where they’re not welcomed unless there’s no other option. If a store doesn’t have shoppers, it won’t be long before it’s hanging up an “Out of Business” sign.

In today’s climate, where we have millions of first-time gun owners seeking and purchasing firearms, it’s more challenging than ever to be able to relate to women and men who have no previous firearms experience. The guidance they need is much more than, “Here, try this one. It’s a popular model.”

After-sale support for new customers is often more than just picking the right ammo for the gun. They may need instruction on how to operate the firearm and certainly instruction in basic firearm safety rules. Having personnel in your store who are aware of — and can patiently and with knowledge address — these items and other questions from new gun owners is extremely important.

Learning From Experience

When my son and I opened a gun shop, we were well aware of the stereotypical gruff “gun guy” who knew how to relate to guns, but not people, and we were determined not to have any of those types working in our store. Knowing what you want and making it happen can be challenging. We were fortunate in the quality of people who came our way looking for a job. Our business started as a training business and morphed into a gun store.

Because we hired instructors, we were a leg up in getting people who knew how to relate to someone who knows absolutely nothing about a gun. Every one of our salespeople was geared toward helping someone find just the right firearm for their needs and their body style, including any handicaps or inherent weaknesses.

Knowing how important it is to present good customer service with every transaction, we were careful who we hired, conducted ongoing training on how to relate to customers correctly and talked among our staff frequently about things we’d done right, things we’d done wrong and how to improve.

One thing that helped us in developing and maintaining a good customer service attitude was the number of customers who came into our store, a little apprehensive at first, would tell us stories about how they’d been treated poorly at a store in another part of town. Every time one of our employees heard these negative experiences, it reinforced in them how important it was for us to be different, to be the store who cares.

Sit-Down With A Facility That “Gets It”

Enough about my experience. I spent some time visiting with Skyler Thomas, manager at Freedom Shooting Center in Virginia Beach, Va., and learning about his facility’s top reputation and how they work to earn and preserve the level of wide-ranging acceptance from customers.

SI: What’s your store’s philosophy regarding customers?
Thomas: Our philosophy toward customers is to exceed their expectations.

SI: A lot of people try to do that. How do you do it differently?
Thomas: Our driving principle is to enhance the customer experience, and we let this idea guide our entire operation. It’s a relentless effort toward finding a solution so customers (or our “guests”) leave with a positive experience. And, equally as important, they return because of the positive and engaging experience. In our industry, you can buy a GLOCK anywhere, which forces the need for a retailer to ask, “Then why from me?” Keep striving for a better answer each day, and you’ll see folks continue to do business with you.

SI: How do you screen new hires to ensure they’ll fit into your environment?
Thomas: We evaluate candidates on their entire body of work. Our team and the combination of its culture and diversity are the keys to our success. We strive to lead as ambassadors for outdoor sporting and shooting sports. Interpersonal interaction and customer service-focused responses during the recruiting process allow us to evaluate the candidate’s potential. We’re looking for teammates who demonstrate a genuine concern for the needs and experience of our members and guests.

SI: What employee training do you conduct, if any?
Thomas: We have an extensive on-boarding training program for our new team members, which is followed by an intensive on-the-job training period as well. Additionally, our team conducts training daily, and we also train with our entire team at our monthly meetings they all attend. Our team meetings are what allow us to establish ideals, such as the “Ideal Characteristics of the Freedom Team Member” — character traits the team collectively values in a fellow teammate.

SI: Has the recent surge in gun buying translated into more customers getting training?
Thomas: The latest spike in the market has translated to increased participation in training courses, which is one of the most exciting and positive outcomes of this surge in our industry. We all have the opportunity to nurture long-term relationships with the new entries into the market and act as stewards for the things we’re all so passionate about. Our industry should feel a great sense of responsibility to ensure we foster this same passion in all of the new participants so they, too, are excited to be advocates for the shooting sports.

SI: Anything you’d like to brag about the way you do business?
Thomas: Our team is outstanding! Everyone on the Freedom team is a great ambassador for our organization, industry and community. Our mission statement is to promote responsible gun ownership and to attract new people to the shooting sports industry. We live out our mission statement; it’s illustrated by the diversity amongst our team and their passion for our community.

“You can buy a GLOCK anywhere, which forces the need for a retailer to ask, ‘Then why from me?’”

Skyler Thomas Manager, Freedom Shooting Center

Having someone who is non-intimidating set the tone for a newcomer’s visit to the store is an amazing way to transition visitors into customers.

After spending a couple days at a writer’s conference held at Texas Gun Experience and watching the staff in action throughout two very busy days I asked Bryan Rastok, the store’s marketing manager, to explain to fellow dealers the key to maintaining a culture with quality people.

He said, “We work hard to get gun enthusiasts with a passion for customer service as staff. This place is simply a lot of fun. There’s so much cool stuff to do and talk about it makes working here a true hobbyist’s dream rather than a job. Being family owned and operated, Texas Gun Experience is a company where staff feel integral, and together we are doing great things.”

In 2021, regardless of the continued uncertainty, make sure your store or range does great things. Developing and maintaining a friendly, welcoming team is a perfect place to start.

Click To Read More Shooting Industry January 2021 Issue Now!