The Veterans Family of Brands (VFOB) is an organization with a mission focus to become the Forward Operating Base of veterans through the facilitation of high quality products and financial support for vetted charities. VFOB provides a platform for companies, dealers, and individuals to become members of this mission.
The VFOB generates benefit for its supporting dealers, manufacturing members, and a
large group of vetted veterans charity foundations. Individuals who, likewise resonate with the mission, will have the opportunity to be coin carrying members of the VFOB. It is focused on the promotion, vetting, and support of those like-minded businesses who, in turn, support veteran programs directly.
It provides advertising, support, and mentorship from already successful businesses who support, hire, and/or donate to VFOB approved charities. VFOB drives a mission that every time you buy a product from one of the manufacturer and/or dealer members, you are giving back to veterans.
Dealers have a great opportunity within VFOB to support an outstanding mission and join forces by carrying products falling under the VFOB umbrella in their stores. Below you will see a list of companies that make up VFOB today, the four checkpoints you must certify prior to joining the team, and a short interview with Casey Betzold, one of VFOB’s Founders and Snake River Shooting Products and Consulting Inc President.
Who is the VFOB family today?
- Axelson Tactical
- Snake River Shooting Products
- Gnat Warfare
- Team Never Quit Ammunition
- Reaper Outdoors
- Gruntstyle
- Seal 1
- Triumph Target Systems
- Sinterfire Ammunition
- Sure Shot Exploding Targets
4 checkpoints for joining VFOB team:
- Your company has a culture and passion for veterans through supporting a foundation or cause (VFOB approved).
- Your products are high quality. They will go to a group of product testers within the organization (VFOB).
- Your customer service is exemplary. (Reviewers won’t be able to hop online, find your products, and see 800 negative comments.)
- You have a warranty structure that says if there’s a problem with your product you will absolutely fix it or send a new one. Period.
Interview with Casey Petzold:
FFL Unleashed: What benefits are there in becoming a VFOB Dealer?
Casey Betzold: So many companies exist for the benefit of their shareholders only. They make decisions based solely on those shareholders, not caring about the dealers or consumers.
VFOB has the ability to cater directly to dealers, which won’t be found with the big brand name companies today. That personal touch is gone for the most part, nowadays. By working with VFOB, dealers will have a partner via sales team and prostaff to generate a “pull through” of the products to the market rather than the “push” they’re often forced into by others.
When I go to a dealer and talk them through the product lines, each line carries a story, and has fantastic selling points to either go alongside current brands, or to replace something which may not resonate with customers. We want to provide dealers the opportunity to build out a section of their offering, noting that section is made up of products from companies that help vets. A dealer is automatically a VFOB dealer when they are carrying at least five of the brands, and we will provide them a VFOB banner to hang up in the store!
When those dealers, on the GunBroker.com side, call us and say, “Tell me more about being a VFOB dealer, and tell me more about these products and what makes sense for us,” they will be allocated to our sales team members to personally call on them and give them the run down on anything they want to talk about. The dealer is in charge. They know their customer base. They tell us what they need in their shop and we provide what works for them. Easy as that!
FFL Unleashed: Why is it important for dealers to support VFOB’s mission and what does it mean to carry the products within the VFOB family in your store?
Casey Betzold: We believe this has to be a movement. It has to be the consumers, the people who are so hungry to do something that matters, that when faced with the purchase decision on the shelf of a series of similar products, they’ll buy the product that carries a cause, to be about something bigger.
Within our group of VFOB companies, I’ll ask a dealer to look at the products. Then I ask them, “Why do you believe that this firearm, box of ammo, or target system is going to come off your shelf when you put it there? If I put Axelson Tactical, Team Never Quit Ammo, SEAL 1 cleaning kits, or Sure Shot binary targets next to the big name competitors in the market, why is my product going to move ahead of their products?”
Well first off, those other brands are great brands, but very few focus on being about something larger than themselves. Many of those other brands used to have a heritage, which is why the longest running brands are still going strong. We are reinvigorating a heritage of patriotism, supporting those who have served and sacrificed for us. Many of our group is made up of vets or Gold Star families, and as such, operating together toward a common mission to make things better makes sense to us, and we believe makes sense to our industry dealers.
I can give an emotional connection to the “never quit” mentality and “way of life.” The families of the fallen have to put one foot in front of the other, and some of those folks have stepped into this industry to do just that. Marcus is still crawling from one hilltop to the next, surviving and trying to save those guys out there today through a number of great supported charities. How does he, other vets, or Gold Star families, get up every day and exist with the stuff on their consciences? That is a mentality. That is a way of life. That is something we believe is a worthy cause to do whatever we can to help.
It’s not about the products – they come second as a means to conduct the mission, but when we get to the products, they have to perform. The consumer may purchase the first time because of the story or the mission, but they’ll only buy it the second time if it was a quality product.
Together we will do more than any of us could do individually.
GunBroker.com’s FFL dealers can contact VFOB today by e-mailing [email protected] or calling (855) 746-7293 for more information on this worthy mission.