Selling high-tech: Why should you sell the latest whiz-bang products? Customer demand and generous profits!

Shooting Industry, August, 1999 by Roy Huntington

High-tech is changing our lives and the way we do business. As we rush toward the new millennium, high-tech products are being introduced into the shooting sports at an incredible rate.

And for good reasons. Customers are demanding them and there's a generous profit to be made.

The rocket-like advances in technology over the past five years have enabled real computers and GPS devices (with a built-in cellular phone, no less) to become pocket-sized. You now can enjoy satellite communications during your Alaskan hunt, 200 miles from anywhere. When you finally find that big buck at the end of the day, you can call the wife and kids back home in Alabama from the comfort of your cot while you watch TV on the mini-dish brought into camp by the guide.

Am I stretching the picture a bit here? Well, let's hope the TV in the hunting camp never happens, but all the rest is here and it's selling. The steady growth of computers in the workplace, at home and even in the family auto has driven the demand for advanced technology. The blend of the old (steel and wood) with the new (plastic, electronics and miracle metals) in the field of hunting and firearms has been a natural progression.

High-tech is especially important to the next generation of customers. Your younger customer base has grown up on a steady diet of video games, electronic gadgetry and a world surrounded in "high-tech" running shoes, car tires, sunglasses and even breakfast cereals.

Increasingly, hunters are exposed to new technology whenever they pick up an outdoors magazine or walk into a gun store. Night sights, laser sights, red-dot sights, GPS, micro-miniature two-way radios, night-vision equipment and even electronic powder scales are commonplace on dealers shelves today.

Doing High-Tech

"I call it 'affordable technology' and you can't beat it for easy sales if you take the time to sell it," said Eric Beorne, the 46-year-old owner of a small retail firearm and hunting store in the Pacific Northwest. "High performance today comes in small packages and is priced such that no one would have believed it possible five or six years ago."

Beorne has used high-tech to build his business and strongly believes it's important for dealers to keep abreast of new advances in the industry. But, he says, many don't.

"The cost of personal computers has plummeted and performance has skyrocketed," said Beorne. "Look at the GPS of seven or eight years ago. They were the size of a suitcase and cost $5,000. Now they're the size of a pack of cigarettes and cost a hundred bucks. They perform 10 times better to boot.

"I got into the business in the late '80s so I didn't have the strong background in the 'old school' of how a gun store should look and interact with its customers. Coming from a background well-versed in business computer systems, I brought that familiarity of technology with me when I turned my shooting hobby into a business."

To maximize his high-tech business, Beorne has a staff that's comfortable with the latest technology.

"I have two employees in the shop who are young and don't hesitate when they see something new come along," said Beorne. "They reach right for it and start pushing buttons and trying to figure where the batteries go."

According to Beorne, when it comes to technology, that kind of "No Fear" is important in a shop.

"When you've got a customer base who drives 1968 Buicks and thinks a pump shotgun is pretty high-tech, you're going to have your hands full helping them make the transition to laser rangefinders and Global Positioning Systems," said Beorne. "But, I promise if you take the time to introduce them in small steps, like showing them a small, high intensity flashlight like the Streamlight Scorpion, and explain how advances in technology make such things possible, you will soon have them interested."

Many of your customers probably already have a cell phone, perhaps a GPS, or use these things at their work. When they find them in their hobby, used in such a way as to be an obvious asset to their sport, they'll become involved. Especially if the technology is affordable and easily understood. That's where the savvy dealer comes into the digital picture.

What Should You Stock?

High-tech might be defined as anything that uses modern technology to accomplish a task easier, faster or more reliably than before. Products like rangefinders, red-dot sights, electronic compasses, night vision and personal radios handle old chores with ease.

Today's shooter can buy a laser rangefinder for under $200 that can reliably give them the range to a target out to 600 yards within one yard! Just five or six years ago that same technology cost $3,000 to $4,000, was three times as heavy and used four times as much battery power. That's a money maker!

"The new generation of laser rangefinders, coupled with optics, sells easily. The Bushnell Yardage Pro 400 sells at retail for around $200 and handles the majority of a hunter's or target shooter's needs," said Beorne. "The Oregon Scientific Weather Monitor/Altimeter gives a customer in the field a chance to predict the weather using barometric pressure. The various electronic compasses, electronic ear muffs, entry-level night vision from Moonlight Products or Tasco, keep interest high and sell easily in my store."