I can't rep him, but I *love* printcraft.
1. Do you guys use the same tailor?
2. Get a room.
I can't rep him, but I *love* printcraft.
Hohn I am sorry that many people want to bash your idea without offering an alternative. I would be glad to work in your new shop, let me know when and where. A small amount charged to fondle a selection of guns is a fabulous idea. Count me in. Let me assure you that the reason most of us like the 1500 and Gander Mountain isn't because of the prices, but because we have a good chance of fondling a lot of guns without having to get a salesman to show it to us. One serious modification to your idea that would sell tons of guns is to make them accessible to customers. Your new shop could have a wall of guns on display, each gun would be cabled to the wall, but still able to be picked up and held. Customers could walk up to the wall and fondle guns, and the salesman can be out from behind the counter assisting them. The guns would be hard to steal (they are cabled to the wall) and your salesman can help with questions that the customer has about a particular gun. I don't have a MBA and my english skills aren't great, but I think you are on the right path. Good luck, finally someone really wants to help customers, for that I say $5 is well worth it.
Little different context at the 1500 though. There's food, interaction with a variety of vendors, thousands of like minded folks. That's more of a fee for entertainment purposes than to have an opportunity to shop, IMO.OP,
I admit I jumped to the end, but my is the strategy of differentiating your business on service, experience, atmosphere, etc. has to be moderated by what your customers are willing to accept and what they expect.
The market research data from this forum of gun owners suggests that the volume of customers willing to pay to coonfinger merchandise is too small to support a profitable business. Remember One of Porter's 5 Forces is the availability of substitutes and there are plenty of shops that would not charge the cover.
BTW, I wouldn't pay to look at any merchandise, well maybe the Indy 1500
I guess everyone is different. I do respect your perspective. It just doesn't work for me. When I realized you had to take a number in Gander I walked out. I had purchased two guns in there before they instituted the "take a number" bit. They were the only ones local who had what I was looking for. I no longer consider them an option for my money. Besides, some of the things I have heard their salespeople tell customers would either infuriate you or make you die laughing depending on your personality.You sir have your first customer! When I walk into any store, be it a gun shop, clothing store or grocery store I know what I want so being forced to wait for service because someone is just looking pisses me off and wastes my time. I just purchased a new gun at (gasp) Gander Mountain because the local owned shops did not have what I wanted and "could not" order it for me. I had to take a number and wait ~20 minutes to spend a good deal of money, pissing me off. However, the people who worked there were nice, polite, friendly, worked quickly and thoroughly to complete the transaction. In short if waiting times for serious buyers was eliminated at a place I'm spending hundreds of dollars I would be a repeat customer.
I do my browsing online, at gun shows and at the shooting range.
Exactly. There are times when I may be window shopping today in anticipation of buying in the future. You burn me now and I most certainly won't do business with you again, even if it's years down the road.
When we were building our house we needed to buy furniture for it. An unnamed store blew us off and treated us poorly because we were just looking that day, not actually buying. As a result, they lost a VERY large sale when it did come time to buy.
That your THEORY would work well.......if you were the only game in town.
You would not be however, and people would not pay somethin for nothing. They prefer to get everything for nothing. You are asking/expecting to go the complete opposite direction that a consumer is "taught" to.
signatures are free
I guess everyone is different. I do respect your perspective. It just doesn't work for me. When I realized you had to take a number in Gander I walked out. I had purchased two guns in there before they instituted the "take a number" bit. They were the only ones local who had what I was looking for. I no longer consider them an option for my money. Besides, some of the things I have heard their salespeople tell customers would either infuriate you or make you die laughing depending on your personality.
Yes and no. Only engineers that offer services directly to the public must be licensed by taking the ABET-approved courses.
I work for a private firm and hence need no license whatsoever.
But thanks for the heads up. Or scare tactic, whichever.
One theme that keeps coming out of Hohn's replies is SERVICE. I'm still waiting to hear how his store will differentiate itself from all the other stores on the service aspect.
For $5 (or $10 depending if you have an appointment), do I get to sit in a nice overstuffed leather chair, sipping a well aged single malt Scotch whisky, puffing away on full bodied cigar whilst models that look like they walked out of the latest James Bond movie deliver to me the firearms I selected on an iPad based menu system for me to coonfing ... er, I mean peruse?
I've never run a business. I'm finishing up my MBA, and I have some ideas that have occurred to me, but I'm not any kind of expert. You might think it presumptive of me to think I know how to run a gun shop. That's OK.
The problem with most gun shops is that they do a terrible job of separating coonfingers from shoppers and real buyers. How can you tell the difference? Appearance? Past transactions? None of these are reliable indicators.
How do you give your most valuable, serious customers fantastic service by not wasting a crapload of time on tire-kickers that want to shoot the breeze and do little else?
I think you can do it by charging for time. If I am a gun shop owner that has good advice to offer and lots of different guns for you to grip and fondle to find what works best for you, then that time is worth something-- to BOTH of us, proprietor and customer alike.
So instead of trying to make money on selling guns (cranking up prices), you sell guns at lower prices and sell SERVICE to make up the difference.
How would you like to go to a shop and not have to wait in line as much, if at all? To not fight some other customer for attention? To KNOW that you are going to get individualized service?
It takes a change in how you look at the business. You are not a 'gun shop' per se, but rather a 'personal defense consultant'-- and like other consultants, TIME and expertise is what's for sale.
Here's how I'd work it. First, you have to split the store into two parts: the 'gun' part and the 'everything else' part (ammo, holsters, powder, whatever).
Then you set up a refundable cover charge for the gun part. Come on in and look all you want for $5. But you will waiting in line behind those folks that paid $10 for an actual appointment time and individualized attention. Expect good service, just at slightly less priority.
The customer that is actually interesting in buying will pay the $10 because it's cheap for the vastly improved experience when spending a big chunk of cash. Those who want to look around can still do so, just expect potentially less service for $5 if you don't buy anything.
Those who never want to buy anything are not likely to pay the $5 at all and will go mess with some other shop.
Price your guns and ammo at competitive prices so people know that it is SERVICE they are paying for. IOW, no $700 Glocks.
Best of all, because the customer got great service AND a good price, they are likely to come back. It also makes it far less likely that you have as many people come in the door that just want to handle guns. These people expect the retailer to give them a bunch of time for free! Time on non-paying-gawkers vs paying customers is not equally valuable. Reduce the gawkers and give the real customers a better chance at the TIME that is so valuable.
$5 is low enough that folks who aren't necessarily buyers but are serious lookers can still afford it. It's just enough deterrent to filter out the very bottom feeders.
Competing purely on price is a loser. Anyone can call around and price check. You have to win on SERVICE. You can deliver to the customer a superior overall experience this is a much better VALUE.
As any waiter will tell you, good service is worth money.
Your $10 customers get the best service possible, and the $5 customers get far BETTER service than they could get at any "free" shop because they won't have to compete with nearly as many lookie-loos for employee attention.
I came up with the basic idea for a music store because they are the WORST stores of all to deal with. Pity the guy trying to demo and buy a premium guitar.
Interesting. Some will pay $15 to get in a show and spend the same in gas to get there and yet the idea proposed is shot down. Entertainment vs. ... what?
Now this ^^ is a great idea.
Is Dalmore to your liking?
Whoa cowboy - there is a big difference between claiming to be an engineer and claiming exemption from licensing by being an employee of a firm that may have a Certificate of Authorization. This is no scare tactic, just a matter of law. Again, this depends on your state laws. Claiming to be an engineer (as an individual) either written or verbal when you do not hold a license is illegal in my state. I don't know, maybe your state law permits such claims.
Regardless, back on topic - let us know how your cover charge works out when you open your gunshop. Good luck.
In the state of Indiana there is NO provision for state certification - period!
I worked as a Professional Engineer for about 40 years for the same company before retiring - never had a license although did work on many million dollar projects.
Whoa cowboy - there is a big difference between claiming to be an engineer and claiming exemption from licensing by being an employee of a firm that may have a Certificate of Authorization. This is no scare tactic, just a matter of law. Again, this depends on your state laws. Claiming to be an engineer (as an individual) either written or verbal when you do not hold a license is illegal in my state. I don't know, maybe your state law permits such claims.
Regardless, back on topic - let us know how your cover charge works out when you open your gunshop. Good luck.
Larry, your input echos the commentary of others. I think the emerging consensus is that this is NOT the way someone would expect a gun shop to be run.