I've heard of issues in that area (LE sales) with S&W.Quote:
Originally Posted by jlw
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I've heard of issues in that area (LE sales) with S&W.Quote:
Originally Posted by jlw
We have a local S&W distributor who wants to do a deal, but I won't even authorize that until we get our people through an armorer class. We (and the distributor) keep getting lip service on the class without any results.Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleLebowski
On top of this, one of the SO's in the state has M&P45s as their standard issue firearm. They have had a couple of dead triggers crop up and aren't getting any response from the area rep. I don't know if it is him or something across the board with LE sales right now.
I see these sorts of issues crop up so frequently I'm forced to wonder if they just deliberately look for people with severe personality problems to serve as representatives for gun companies, or if they structure incentives and performance measurements so as to illicit anti-social behavior from them on a consistent basis.Quote:
Originally Posted by jlw
jlw, if it's the same guy we had here in Columbia, definite oxygen thief.Quote:
I don't know if it is him
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al T.
I'm in GA.
S&W LE Sales reps
Couldn't find our sales rep's picture, but did find Chris Dallas - that was not the guy who made an ass of himself here. Reason I wondered is that I was unsure where S&W had their sales territories.
Cris is the area rep for us, and he is the one supposedly handling the situation for the agency mentioned above; however, the Sheriff there is very unhappy with the service he is getting and has sent out letters stating such to every SO in the state as well as the state LE firearms instructor organization.Quote:
Originally Posted by Al T.
I'm of the opinion that people that work in the Gun business the majority of the time, could work in no other industry with the way they treat customers, so they somehow ended up in Guns.
I've never seen more belligerent service anywhere, from so many different business, consistently. Seriously.
You could hire all waitresses from Waffle House to staff I'd say 85-90% of gun stores, and they'd have no product knowledge, but, they'd know how to treat a customer probably better then the staff, and probably do better sales because of it.
Disclaimer: I've worked in services and support for the last 5 years, and before that I did sales, and other honestly, customer facing jobs, etc. I just... I mean I just don't get it, seriously, it blows my mind. I had a guy get in an intense argument with me, about the fact there aren't extended magazine releases on 1911's, and then I showed to him on his own models that there are. "Oh, it's only slightly longer", I didn't even want to point it out. I just asked to handle the enhanced model with an extended magazine release and thumb safety, and he pounced on it. I'm fine arguing with gun store staff, I just... don't have to argue with any other staff in any other business anywhere else like you do there.
What's the deal with that?
ETA: I mean it's like "Hey, can you hand me that one?" "Oh, alright", just isn't enough, and frankly, normally, they aren't that informed, but I don't really care, they're doing their job of talking, so normally, I'll listen to them, and give them that respect. But, it seems like no matter how disarming you try to be, you get in a debate. I almost had a gunsmith refuse to shave the FSB on my AR-15, and I paid him a $100, that's after he said he originally quoted $80. I mean... I just don't get it, seriously, and I know I'm about to get the onslaught of "YOU PAID HOW MUCH?!", that's what really did it. I've bought guns through them, etc. It irritates you enough you want to start your own gun store.
I'd try to hire people from other lines of business, seriously, and have a serious, serious discussion with people with prior experience about expectations on customer service.
ETA 2: And that gunsmith... best gunsmith in town for service. I really hate bothering gun stores by giving them my business, I know it's asking a lot to hand them money, but... someone's got to do it.
If anyone hears of a sales position opening in the firearms industry, let me know. Got a buddy with military, federal LEO, and city LEO experience looking to make a career change.
We aren't all bad.... :/
Honestly, it wasn't good for me to go on a tirade like that, and hijack a thread, it was a bit off-topic. It sure didn't reflect well on me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparks2112
But,I'd say maybe you're in the 10-15% of people that give great service.Quote:
You could hire all waitresses from Waffle House to staff I'd say 85-90% of gun stores
I've had phenomenal experiences with Magpul's C.S., I've had phenomenal experiences with ammotogo.com, when I've bought bullets from kylesgunshop, they were to order, and I was pleased with the purchase/delivery time. I've had good experiences with a lot of companies. That's what I just don't get, is why when you walk in certain stores, they just go ahead and lambaste you with a negative experience.
Just be courteous of customers, patient, kind, and it will reflect well. I really, and I mean really, unfortunately, had a *heck* of a time, shopping for firearms with a female family member. I mean heck of a time, she flat out told me, "If you hadn't been as patient with me, and hadn't gone with me to the stores, I never would've bought one, the way that guy talked to me at the first store, I would've walked out and never gone back." I mean she was a new shooter, who had an honestly life long fear of firearms, and finally worked up the nerve after coaxing for over a decade, I try to make this the most soothing, encouraging, and I can't help but get bogged down with the most angry sales clerk behind the counter possible.
I can't help but think how much better off gun owners would appear if they didn't make an effort. That's what I was saying, honestly, I would probably hire either staff with the A) Correct Demeanor or B) from a different field/profession. I would highly value L.E. or Military experience, I would not value Elitism or any "chip on their shoulder" crap. The only thing that's stunning is, you walk in almost any gun store anywhere, and you run into this, I just really wish it was not this way.
And, I somehow managed to go back off on a tirade, it's more pleading this time.
That reflects poorly on me as a Christian, honestly the first rant.
Last stab at this, look at how Kevin Brittingham made Advanced Armament Corporation such a wildly successful company. One, he knew how to market, but two, he knew that making a good product, standing behind that product, and being good to most people was how you end up finishing well, giving them great customer service. I mean, heck, we've beaten this like a dead horse around here, when people talk about the experiences they had with Glock doing demo's at police departments, it's night and day. You build a great product, you support your customers, you take care of them, you have fun with them, and they'll do something like get a tattoo (google Branded For Life) to get a discount on your product, or host the silencershoot. That's how you go from being a small time gun dealer, to a dude that sold his company for what $40 million?
What I didn't like about Kevin Brittingham (and ironically... the entire silencer industry), is how vicious, back-biting and volatile things were, seemed like you'd get slapped with a lawsuit for looking at somebody wrong for awhile there. Ultimately, he was fired from Remington Defense, for reasons that I still don't think are talked about or known to me anyway. (He was either very close to or became a lawyer, and, I would say he'd slap a Lawsuit on Remington if they said something damaging about him, so, we'll probably never know the truth, why would they get their hands in it? He signed no-competes and do not disclosure paperwork, so it really won't matter anyway, he can't go back in the business for awhile. For lawsuits reference AAC vs. Larue, AAC vs. Surefire, and the AAC and Gemtax, they seemed to stay in trouble for years, Gemtax, wasn't a lawsuit).
Another successful business that takes care of it's customers is Silencerco/SWR, just do some background research on them.
But anyway, way TMI.
One would assume this is recent?Quote:
Originally Posted by jlw
.
Within the last few weeks.Quote:
Originally Posted by LSP972
The S&W rep that covers Ohio (Dan) has been very helpful although I haven't had to have any contact with him for some time. I've also met they guy that covers AR/MS (Paul) and he seemed pretty good too.
Anybody have any insight to the average pay of a firearms rep?
Are they on some kind of commission structure?
Right now sales are so good that these guys are probably swimming in success.
When I was in grad school, I worked part-time at a local gun store/indoor pistol range, mainly for pocket money, discounted gun stuff, and free range time, allowing me to continue shooting a lot even as an impovershed student.Quote:
Originally Posted by SecondsCount
There were a few full-time folks there who were paid some kind of salary, who had responsibilities beyond merely selling guns and range time (e.g., logistics, management, etc). Those of us part-timers who merely sold guns and range time, though, were paid $10 per hour. No one got any kind of commission. There was also no haggling over prices.
By sales reps, we are talking about the factory representatives that handle agency sales and the like and not the folks working retail in individual gun shops.Quote:
Originally Posted by nalesq
Correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by jlw
I've had mixed emotions about ours. Took me awhile to get mag springs but about a month ago, out of the blue, I received trigger springs and slide stops to be used as needed. I've got to call again soon to get some more black painted mag springs so I've got my fingers crossed for speedy delivery.
It varies wildly from company to company and era to era. When I was at SIG, between base salary, commissions (some folks got them and others didn't; I didn't), bonuses, and perks (e.g., cell phone, car allowance) one could easily earn well into the six figure realm. Other reps I knew at other companies probably could have made more money selling curly fries at Arby's.Quote:
Originally Posted by SecondsCount