I start tomorrow morning. Not my first rodeo with direct retail sales, but it's been a while. Exact same business model, just with guitars and drums and such before. I reckon I'll have to get comfortable with getting flagged by people who mean well, and I'm going to not do all the things that have annoyed or outright pissed me off at other gun stores, but aside from that... any specific do's and don'ts from you fellas who have manned a gun counter?

Don't spend your paychecks buying used guns that come into the shop. I may or may not have had a problem doing that.

Lots of time spent loading inventory and explaining that the customer may need to...

Ooo. A German P226 came in!

Who?

Nobody can say you don't have product knowledge.

quote:

Originally posted by patw:
Don't spend your paychecks buying used guns that come into the shop. I may or may not have had a problem doing that.

Yeah, one of the guys I interviewed with bought a basically new MCX for $600 and there was mention of a vintage blued Python scored for $400. I'm going to have to exercise some extreme restraint.

Bite your tongue when someone tells you that Colt produced 1911s in the Philippines during WWII and left the equipment there for the Filipinos to use to make 1911s after the war.

Peruse the corneredcat.com website for some insights on how women like to be dealt with.

I worked for a small LGS and the dicks that are Dicks Sporting Goods. When they actually sold guns!
Most of my pay was rolled right back into my employer's pocket.
The LGS was especially bad. Lugers. Colt SAAs. Vintage stuff of all kinds.
Resistance was futile!

I'm at LGS now enjoying it quite a bit because I'm with like minded people and a great owner. I have learned a lot about the areas I did not have experience in. EX expensive shotguns

Beginners do not take in all the info at once. If you ask what they want to do, and what they expect, listen first and you'll know how to help them choose one step at a time.

Does the place have a range? You could be a safety officer or even an instructor.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
Bite your tongue when someone tells you...

Oh, there's going to be a lot of that. I'm pretty good at smiling and nodding.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Most of my pay was rolled right back into my employer's pocket.

That... may or may not have also been the case when I managed the music store.

As I type this, there's a wall of amplifiers and some quite fine guitars I amassed in my time in that industry. I pulled everything out of the safe yesterday in the process of relocating it from the garage into my office and saw every piece in there in a new light. Probably 60% of it is going to go away and consolidate into a handful of high quality pieces with really nice glass, magazines, parts, etc. Even being at the lowest levels of an industry at the retail level provides some good opportunities.

quote:

Originally posted by preten2b:
Beginners do not take in all the info at once. If you ask what they want to do, and what they expect, listen first and you'll know how to help them choose one step at a time.

Yep, Greet>Qualify>Demo>Close.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Does the place have a range? You could be a safety officer or even an instructor.

Not currently. They're opening another facility that will have a range, but that's not until later in the year and it's a long drive for me. I may likely be asked to help over there, though.

I’ve been off since my cardiac episode the end of October. I just got the ok from my Cardiologist to go back to work.

Can’t wait!

P.S., patw and YooperSigs are both right about used guns…..

Try to have a ‘must do’ list of work to get finished so you have an escape from the customers wanting 30-minute talks about how their brother’s son’s cousin’s dog walker is a Navy SEAL Ranger Green Beret and they refused to ever use M17s/M18s/P320s.

“Don’t get high on your own supply”

I kind of wish I had worked at a LGS before getting my FFL, as there is a learning curve for all the FFL compliance stuff I would have gotten down long ago, had I worked at a LGS. I find myself buying stuff on GB I really plan to flip, but then falling in love with it, and so I then sell off some of my personal collection to free up funds and real estate in the gun safe. I would be in big trouble if I worked in a LGS and had first dibs at some of the used stuff they take in. Hell, plenty of that stuff is well priced at used retail. It would be totally irresistible at what the dealer pays the seller.

Check, check and then check again to make sure every firearm is unloaded. Then check one more time to make sure.

Even after you check, treat every firearm as if it was loaded. Understand that most customers won't do this. That's why I wrote what I did up top.

Remember Carlo M. Cipolla's Five Fundamental Laws of Human Stupidity. A gun store is not immune to these laws. Act accordingly.

Don’t try to know everything - don’t be “that guy” that makes up stuff. Gun stores seem to attract those type of people, I have heard some of the dumbest things from guys at gun stores.

Pay attention to the 4473 and make sure it is filled out correctly. Don’t get too busy talking that you are distracted from verifying it is filled out correctly. Don’t trust what others tell you, read and verify what you are told through the ATF manuals. Some stores have store polices and employees think it is ATF mandated rules. I am always surprised at how some FFL’s can be in business and not know the regs.

Learn where to find serial numbers and model designations, some guns are weird and you have to search well for them tot find them.

quote:

Originally posted by Broadside:
Check, check and then check again to make sure every firearm is unloaded. Then check one more time to make sure.

This includes NIB guns from the manufacturer. I can easily recall 2 times receiving loaded guns from the factory during my time as an FFL.

A month after I started pumping gas at a local marina for $2/day in 1964 at 10 years old, the owner of the marina tells my dad: "He's worked here a month and only owes me $5.75. They sold fishing tackle and boating accessories, sandwiches and malts. I gave my dad a speedometer kit for our 1961 Chris Craft 19' Cavalier for his birthday.

I'd walk part way to work and swim across a cove with my labrador next to me, Blackie hung out with me at work all day.

quote:

Originally posted by pbslinger:
I'd walk part way to work and swim across a cove with my labrador next to me, Blackie hung out with me at work all day.

I hope the rest of your life was that awesome!