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Creating Customers for Life

By John Bocker, NSSF Security Consultant Team Member

I remember buying my first shotgun shortly after my eighteenth birthday and the fun I had heading to the woods with my older brother. Since he was former military, selection, training, and education with my new shotgun was quick and somewhat easy. Enjoyment and confidence certainly followed.Several years later, still prior to the era of the online world we now live in, I was faced with the challenge of purchasing my first handgun. Research was completed by way of the supermarket magazine rack, but, most importantly, I relied on the knowledge, expertise, and experience of the gun counter salesman.Then, providing great customer service was the key to driving a successful retail business, beating the competition, and creating loyal customers for life. Fast forward 30 years and consider what has changed in firearms retailing and how FFLs today need to sharpen their edge to be successful.

It’s still that great customer service I experienced before the internet gave me so many choices.

That means that, as a modern firearms retailer, you need to consider how you want to be attended to when you make a potentially life-changing firearm purchase.

What steps should you take now to create the “feel-good” shopping experience that fulfills your customer’s emotional needs and keeps them coming back?

  • Educate your staff about the level of customer service expected from them.
  • Greet and meet every customer, offering your name and asking theirs.
  • Lead by example.
  • Teach your sales team to really listen to each customer.
  • Fulfill their needs.
  • Thank them for visiting your store!

A little TLC goes a long way. If you can figure out how to have every customer leave your store with a warm and fuzzy feeling versus being rushed, you create the potential for a life-long customer. Don’t you like spending money with people who make it a fun and rewarding experience? I do. So make tomorrow your first day of super customer service and avoid the pitfalls from this recent video (and becoming the next viral posting on YouTube).

John Bocker is an NSSF Security Consultant Team Member and the Managing Director at JB Group, LLC, based in Denver, Colorado. JB Group is a business security and strategy consulting organization specializing in ATF/FFL compliance and protecting FFLs against unexpected losses resulting from burglary, robbery, unnecessary risks, and internal control failures. Call John at (720) 514-0609 for more information.