4 Things Needed For A
Successful Safety Campaign
Image: ivanko80 / Adobe Stock
You don’t need me to tell you: sales of safety-related gear can make a significant impact on your bottom line.
Dealers quoted in the “First Off The Shelves” feature were quick to sing the praises of this profitable product segment.
“Out of all the stuff in the shop, they’re probably the easiest things to sell, maybe other than ammo,” stated Tim Van Leiden, owner of The Gun Guys in Ottawa, Kan., when discussing sales of eye and ear protection.
Centennial Gun Club’s Dave Neely added, “We go through this stuff like crazy. It’s hard to keep it on the shelf sometimes.”
With this in mind — and June being National Safety Month — you’d be remiss to not promote a safety campaign to customers. Here are four things you’ll need for a successful safety campaign.
1. Celebrate With Safety-Related Awards
One way to get a successful safety campaign rolling is to get employees engaged. Present safety-related awards to employees — and guests.
Is there an employee who recently went above and beyond to ensure safety on the range, or at the counter? (How many near-misses have their been with employees finding live rounds in supposed “unloaded” firearms?)
You can select a worthy employee or encourage a nomination process from your team.
For range operators, is there a regular range guest who demonstrates a commitment to safe gun handling or sharing safety tips with others? This could be a unique way to honor a regular at your range and foster more loyalty.
Be sure to promote these awards on social media — it not only demonstrates your commitment to safety, but also to developing a sense of community.
2. Get Your Product Assortment Right
This is a no-brainer: You can promote sales of safety products all day long, but if you’re not up to speed on what (and crucially, what isn’t) selling for your demographic then it’s not going to translate to increased sales.
As Stephen Hall, founder and president of Lock It Up Safe Company, shared in “The Gun Safe Market,” giving customers a good variety to choose from is critical.
“Giving our guest base a variety has helped win trust and increase conversion,” he said.
Hall shared Lock It Up offers its guests a robust “good, better, best” perspective to encourage sales.
3. Seek Out Local Partners
Larry Hyatt of Hyatt Guns recounted a partnership with SnapSafe, which created Hyatt-branded safes. It’s been successful — and has led to opportunities with local partners.
Hyatt relayed, “We’ve offered several promotions in partnership with local law enforcement where we sold the safes at our cost.”
Relating to the first point, developing strong ties to the community is an astute move for any business — especially when our industry is so frequently attacked from anti-gun politicians and corporations.
4. Follow-Up!
At the 2023 NSSF Marketing & Leadership Summit, Southwick Associates’ Rob Southwick and Ben Scuderi presented key findings from their First-Time Buyers Report (which will be released in full at the Range- Retailer Expo next month).
One of their observations could certainly be added in to a safety push: following up with first-time guests!
According to the report, less than 10% of first-time gun buyers expected a follow-up from their retailer. It turns out, 80% of them were contacted — leading to 95% of them revisiting the store.
If that doesn’t “move the needle” to elevate follow-up efforts, you should reevaluate your commitment to growing your business.
(For more Summit insights, see Ashley McGee’s story here: shootingindustry.com/5-takeaways-nssf-summit.)
Bringing It All Together
Taking advantage of ready-made opportunities — such as National Safety Month — to promote your brand, product assortment and commitment to safety is, simply, “good business.”
It also represents an opportunity for your store to continue developing inroads with new customer groups and more.
Agree/disagree? Let us know! editor@shootingindustry.com
