Making the Gunsmith Shop a Success

The most basic requirement for running a successful gunsmith shop (which, incidentally, is very different from a gun shop) is to convey to the public the idea that you have a well-organized, clean, business establishment. The message must be that you have a "no-nonsense" shop. The shop itself must always convey the image of efficiency, competency, and order. This primary effort at salesmanship is directed toward gaining the respect and trust of your customers.

If your shop looks like the blacksmith shop on the old television western Gunsmoke and you look like Festus, you’ve lost right there! You can’t have tobacco juice in one corner of your mouth and piles of junk in the corners of your shop, and you can’t expect a customer to willingly entrust his $500 or $5,000 firearm to the grease monkey of yesteryear. It just doesn’t work in today’s market. Your image and the perception by the customer are of critical importance.

Image Is Everything Creating the proper image is not difficult. It begins with your first contact with the customer. Start by wiping your hands or better yet, use a good commercial hand cleaner before you handle your customer’s gun. It doesn’t matter whether your customer drives up in a rusty old pickup and has been out in the pasture (and still has a little of that stuff on his boots) or if he’s come directly from his multi-milliondollar office in his new Mercedes.

The fact that you care enough about his gun to wipe off your hands first gives him the message that you respect him and his property. This will come back to you in the form of respect and confidence from your customer. Next, take a page from the commercial airlines and go to "smile school." Greet your customers with a warm, genuine smile. After all, you want them to feel welcome in your shop, for they are! You want them to be there and you want them to comeback many times.

There are a few "don’t s" in this business, but one of the most important is to always keep your customers’ guns out of reach where they can never be touched or picked up by other customers. You’re the guardian of someone else’s property, and you must protect it just like it was your own. This is important to a potential customer. He needs to know that when he leaves his firearm with you, it will be cared for properly. This is a basic part of your image as a competent professional.

Keep in mind that your personality will play a major role in the successor failure of your shop. You might be the best damned gunsmith in the world, but if you are impatient, cantankerous, and hard to get along with, you’ll have nothing but trouble. Your customers won’t tolerate dealing with anyone other than a friendly, courteous person.

To put it another way, if you have a competitor down the street who is equally skilled yet has a more pleasing personality, who do you think will eventually get the majority of the business? The Customer Is Always Right Always make a conscious effort to be pleasant with your customer, even if he is being difficult. Often your courteousness and gentlemanly manner will help the customer to change his attitude. Avoid correcting a customer if at all possible.

If he tells you that his old Savage .22 rifle is super rare’one of only 20 made’just smile, admire his rifle and assure him that you can do the job required (if indeed you can). Don’t correct or argue with any historical data or statements about accuracy or quality that your customer makes. Allow him to remain the authority. I once’and only once’m ade a customer madder than hell when he told me: "You know, they don’t make "em like this anymore." I replied, "Nope, they saw the error of their ways.

They stopped making this line of junk and moved on to better guns. Both his statement and mine were true and correct, of course, but my statement was certainly not good salesmanship on my part. Needless to say, I saw the error of my ways and have learned over the years to smile and swallow a lot. Always try to refrain from telling or showing the customer just how smart and knowledgeable you are.

As long as they are harmless, there is nothing to be gained by shattering or destroying the images or ideas that a customer has about his favorite firearm. This is part of the romance of his

gun and its importance to him. Another way you can make the customer feel important is to call him when his job is completed’d on’t make him call you. Your customer will respond to this personal touch. Also, it will mean that guns are picked up much quicker and the bill will be paid that much faster. Your Shop Is Also a Sales Tool It’s always a good idea to keep several examples of your work on display and available for the potential customer to see first hand.

This will reassure him that you can do good work and will allow him to judge the quality of your craftsmanship for himself. Just as a picture is worth a thousand words, an actual example of your work will work wonders as an aid in bringing in business. I would also suggest that you purchase some of the reproductions of old gun-company signs and calendars that are currently available. Use these items as decorations for the walls of your shop.

They’re attractive and they give the customers the feeling of old-time quality. But don’t overdo it. Keep in mind that you have a gunsmith shop, not a museum. Use just enough items to make the place attractive. With too much, you will spend too much time talking about your "displays." Your time is not only valuable, but it is extremely limited as well. You need to spend more time working than talking.

Golfers Are Not Shooters Joining a golf club might be a good idea if you’re an insurance salesman, but it’s a waste of time and money for a gunsmith. The folks that play golf are not shooters. Remember that your business is guns, not golf; so if you want to join a club do so, but make sure that it is a gun club. If you don’t have a local one, start one. Your association with a gun club is very much like the golf pro playing golf with his customers. And it can be just as rewarding.

If you join a gun club, you’ll be amazed at the number of people you don’t know who shoot and own nice guns. An association of this type gets your name and charming personality before a whole new group of potential customers. It won’t be long before you’re being asked: "Can you do this?" And then there are potential gun sales, both new and used, to think about. While competitive shooters are often very frugal, you’ll be in a good position to work with them on their purchases.

Remember though, don’t push for business; just be yourself and be "one of the boys," and the business will almost automatically come to you. In other words, don’t ever let it appear that you joined the club to get business. Sure you’re hungry, but play it cool and before long someone will hand you a sandwich. By being active in a gun club, you’ll establish a relationship with these people and even if you don’t sell them anew gun, your repair and refinishing work will benefit.

In fact, you may find that you will actually make more money on this type of work than newgun sales. Also, don’t try to be the club champion. Shoot as well as you can, but leave it to someone else to be the hero. As long as you can shoot respectably, you’ll do well. Trade the limelight for dollars. Finally, while at the club don’t talk politics, sex or religion’t alk shooting! Finally, Know Your Limitations It’s a good thing for all of us to take stock in ourselves from time to time.

No gunsmith, including myself, can do everything well. I know I am competent in general repair, triggers, sights, making obsolete parts, springs, and refinishing both wood and metal. But I stink when it comes to stockmaking and checkering. I know this, so I don’t put myself or my customers in a bad position. I’ll get that stockwork or checkering done for my customers by someone I know is good in those specialties, but I don’t kid myself about what my limitations are.

We all need to know and understand our own limits. You simply can’t be all things to all people, and you can’t do it all. Accept that and learn to live with it. I

AMGFW07 AG DBI SPREAD AD (pick up from 10/06 issue)

AMGFW07 AG DBI SPREAD AD (pick up from 10/06 issue)