The profits of employee training, the making of a gun salesman

Shooting Industry, Dec, 1989 by John J. Woods

The Profits Of Employee Training, The Making Of A Gun Salesman

Having a well trained, knowledgeable and effective gun salesman behind the counter can be the seedbed of solid profits for a retail shooting sports operation. In contrast to that, few things can lose sales or customers faster than a person behind the register who knows virtually nothing about the products they are trying to sell. There is no substitute for a well trained employee.

Many shooting sports retailers think that time spent on employee training is a wasted effort better used for checking in new stock or making up displays. In fact, employee training is a prime profit making activity. If appropriately planned and executed, employee training can pay off in mega bucks.

When was the last time you were in a store and overheard a retail clerk giving out incorrect product information? Maybe the salesperson was simply unable to answer basic questions about product specs, use, or even whether or not an item was in stock. If this happened to you, chances are you left the store in disgust with some resolve never to return. But what if that's happening in your store, to your customers?

Recently a friend relayed a story about visiting a gun shop while on an out of town business trip. In the process of checking out the handgun stock in the display case, he couldn't help but listen to a customer making an inquiry of the gun salesman near the rifle rack.

It seems the customer was asking about a Browning Model 71, a limited edition lever action copy of the old Winchester rifle brought out a year or so ago. The customer spotted the rifle in the rack and was asking about the chambering. The salesman replied, "oh, that one only comes in .35 Remington, I think." He never offered to demonstrate the gun or verify the chambering, which of course is the .348 Winchester. The customer left the store with his money in his pocket.

Two things are evident from this example. First, the salesman lost a chance for a potential sale by not offering the rifle for the customer's inspection. Secondly, the salesman's general ignorance of the product in the rack probably left the buyer with little confidence in the salesperson or likely the store as a whole. Such mistakes on the selling floor are common, but can be avoided by establishing an effective employee training program.

Employee Selection

If you haven't already interviewed and hired a new gun salesperson for your shop, then your first consideration should be in selecting an employee whose interests are geared to the shooting sports. Ideally, the person behind the gun counter should like guns, use guns, shoot on a regular basis, and hopefully be actively involved in a shooting sport. They may be a competitive shooter, a gun collector, or a hunter, but they need to know guns and shooting from a personal interest viewpoint.

One of the key elements any gun salesperson should have is enthusiasm. Personal interest and excitement about anything spreads like wildfire to others. There is probably nothing more basic to salesmanship than enthusiasm for the product, and in this case the sport as well. As you screen potential employees, learn to look for enthusiasm. It is a contagious condition that can result in profits.

Employee Orientation

Once you bring a new employee on board, several things are immediately crucial. First, the employee must be made to feel like a team member. If other employees are on staff, then make introductions. Make them feel welcome and at ease.

Before you embark on any kind of formal gun sales training program, make sure in house particulars are completed. Get any new employee paperwork out of the way. Get them signed up for payroll, insurance programs, other benefits, and all company related business. This will take care of the new employee's personal concerns, so they can concentrate on learning and doing their job. This part of the new employee training process, too.

Employee orientation is an important first phase of training. Give the employee a complete walk around the store pointing out the location of all the merchandise carried in stock. The quicker the new person knows the layout of the store the faster he can begin to point customers toward merchandise they want to buy.

Many retail operations have found it helpful to put together an employee handbook. This can be a formal printed document or simply information sheets filed in a three-ring binder. This latter approach is more flexible, and allows for regular information updates, additions or changes.

The employee handbook is a survival tool. It can contain a lot of information helpful to the new employee. First, it can cover company rules, regulations, employee conduct and information on how the business functions. Working hours, dress codes, holidays, and such information can be included. The more an employee knows about his work environment the better worker he becomes. A simple map of the sales floor layout is a good idea.

Establish a Training Plan

There are many possible approaches to training a new employee to sell guns and related merchandise. It should be laid out in a logical format and in a sequence that makes common sense for your business operation. You can't expect a new salesperson to jump out on the floor to sell merchandise they might not be completely familiar with. That would be retail suicide.