Cheapshooter
New member
Then you have ladies on the customer side of the counter like this one: http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=460555&highlight=mama+needs+45
Gun shopping & gender reversal
- Thread starter Stressfire
- Start date
If you did that where I work we would have just laughed at you really, because IMHO with all the trouble I have with them, Bersa's are junk, and they were doing you a favor telling you to get the Glock... im not a glock fan either.. CZ is the best in your criteria.
PLUS you arranged for Buds to send it there.. so they can charge you a transfer fee that makes them money for doing nothing.
Personally I don't push sales on profit margin or what I have in stock or any of them. Honestly I don't work on commission so I could care less about profit margin, my boss just pays me daily for coming in. Second I can careless if what people want isn't in stock... if that's what you want then I can just as easily order it for you... and you can wait the time for it to come in.
What I try to do is fit the persons needs and wants, and also suggest a step up in tier... and a lower priced option that I still would feel is decent.. so they have 3 different price points that fit their needs for them to choose.
On another note... I have sold a lot of .357 mags and .45acps to guys "who know everything about guns" that don't even know how to properly grip one, so I can only imagine what it must be like to see them fire them at the range.
I hear a lot of gripes about us who work behind the counter, but I can assure you... its frustrating... because 90% of our customers are clueless... but yet insist they know everything to feel better about themselves or more macho...
In reality I enjoy working better with female customers. They come in with wants and needs... and also an open mind for suggestions.. and they take facts to heart. A lot of times I get females who think a 9mm is too much for them and I end up explaining they will be fine to fire it. Female customers are generally a dream to deal with, and a lot end up being repeat customers. Also females generally have much more carry position options.
Yes, I have noticed there are always three threads about the gun store employees to every one thread about customers. I've got to think it should be the other way around.
It seems like so many of the stories about the store employees come down to the employee not admitting he or she doesn't know everything. My favorite LGS became my favorite when I heard two things: (1) one of the owners sent someone down the street to a competitor and (2) an employee said, "I don't know" and talked to another employee about the issue.
Stressfire
New member
I would imagine so, it's a bit like the old adage about who is more likely to stop somewhere and ask directions
Realistically, she probably was just pushing what they were overstocked on or even what she knew, she stated that they all carried polymer.
And that's fine, I'm always happy to look around and fondle guns that i don't have to clean my finger grease off of
But when I said I really wasn't interested in polys, but kept getting handed them, I wasn't going to spent the money on something I didn't want.
I will admit, however begrudgingly, that some of the polys felt pretty nice in the hand...
Thank you, least someone gets it.
Just because I work behind the gun counter... does not mean I am a walking encyclopedia of the firearms industry. Thankfully where I work there are a good mix of guys. Me and a few others guys are big into handguns and AR's but you ask me about high end trap shotguns and I will openly admit I know nothing. Thankfully we have an old timer to cover that... also he reloads and wild cats pretty much everything.. along with being big into black powder, so I go to him for customers to get the right questions.
I have another co-worker that is ex-special forces, so when it comes to defense training questions where I might not know, he gives customers a good inside in to what proper training can do for them.
I am friends and shoot with a lot of the other shop owners and employee's of said shops in the area, so if I can't get something the first thing out of my mouth is "Go to So n So's up the road" This is what lead to another shop owner giving me a HK-p7 for what he paid for it, because he knew I was hunting for one.
I can post 100's of posts about terrible customers I had, but generally it doesn't do any of us any good, because the people who are the worst... wont change.
Maybe there are shops out there that are just trying to screw you... but that has not been my experience ever.
Just try to keep in mind we are selling the things... we generally try our best to know as much as we can... but at the same time... we weren't the engineers who designed the things.
