Which is why I’m suggesting you should carry a Bushmaster or RRA or something lower-tier. You’ll want to have ARs in stock in order to generate accessory sales and you won’t be able to do that with Colt. The Armory in Va Bch hasn’t had a single Colt in stock in over two years! However, they sell the living hell out of Bushmasters and Olympics. Bob’s in Norfolk laugh at me when I ask about getting a Colt but they’ve sold plenty of Bushmasters and most recently a lot of the M&P15s. Bob’s turns their entire AR stock over weekly!
If you absolutely don’t want to sell BM, DPMS or Olympic then S&W might be a solution for you?
Here’s a thought: Don’t overlook selling follow-on gear to the guy that shops for or sells his Colt, BM, Glock, whatever on the net and needs someone to do the transfer. Save him a buck on the gun and make him a follow-on customer forever for gear and ammo. You are going to do ammo, right?
As most know, my main business is tactical so adding some AR’s to it is kind of a no brainer for me. If they don’t sell in the store, they will sell online.
I am going to approach the hunting market slowly (maybe special order everything per customer) just to get a feel for what is popular.
The average house hold income in my area is about $30K so these are not well off folks. I am going to try and cover the lower end hunting market first before I jump into nice shotguns and such.
I am currently a Distr. for Blade Tech and BH (which gives me CQC holsters). Since Ohio is new to the CCW thing, I will address that market as best I can.
I am one deep here (read no employees) so I don’t have to worry about any employees giving out false info. My intention is to fix a lot of the problems people find in gun shops (staff that doesn’t know anything about the gear they are selling and coming off as AHOLE). This last one, might give me trouble though.
Sabre was going to be my low end company. They technically aren’t low end as they make great barrels and use mil-spec steel, but they are priced to compete with BM.
I might pick up the S&W AR’s as well since I think STAG puts out a good product.
Grant, I don’t know how Ohio does it in regards to bidding. I would on the bid list of all agencies, hitting sales from all angles.
Concerning LE sales, aside from contracts from the agencies themselves, individual officers may be a market. The surefire lights/holders, boots, etc.
You have two extremes in LE, those who buy everything whether or not they can even use it to the ones who “if it ain’t issued, I’m not buying it”
Do clinics on cleaning, etc to bring people in, just to get the word out on the business. You can run your business how you see fit, but I think ones that charge for mounting a scope when they just sold the rifle and scope are missing something.
Good point. I have already done some low light/no light classes at the local gun club that was is filled with local police. So I am working on the contacts thing as we speak.
I agree on screwing customers that just bought a weapon and an optic from you.
I think Sabre and S&W are excellent choices! I’ve been very happy with the Sabre stuff I own and they do make great barrels. That Sabre mid-length barrel I own is positively outstanding.
Please, don’t degrade yourself to pawn shop status…
Great job, some smaller agencies may not get that training at all. It starts there and next thing you know they are buying carbines from you along with all the support items.
Speaking of the hunting market, Grant, I’d check out what the local places (from small places to Wal-Mart) are selling. That should give you an idea of what is popular in your area. You may be able to use that information to find a niche to exploit.
Of course, you can’t go head to head on price with a Wal-Mart, but you can offer customer service they can’t. A local shop here told me when people ask him if he stocks a Remington 870 Express, he says nope - try Wal-Mart. He says he’d pay more than Wal-Mart sells them for.
I grew up in Ohio and if you are going to serve “hunters” then you might have a niche. It always seemed the “hunters” would buy a shotgun for dove/deer season, sell it back to the shop at a loss and buy it again the next year. Just an observation on the market.
