March 28, 2024
Grow Your FFL Business

Promotions To Make Your Store Stand Out This Spring

Spring hunting seasons are about to open, providing you with many opportunities to boost sales and engage your customers in ways you might not have thought of before. Here are four promotions to make your business outshine your competitors this spring.

1. Be The Authority

Offer your customers special services that make you stand out. Go above and beyond your competition. Maybe that means you offer a two for the price of one deal or a loyalty program for your shooting range. Incentives make for happy customers, which makes for repeat business and good word of mouth reviews.

You won’t become the authority on anything if your staff members aren’t knowledgeable and easy to ask for help. Having employees who are approachable is key, because if they’re not, you’ll lose an opportunity to reach a very strong audience of novices.

Choose an area of expertise and become the most dominant player serving that audience. For example, become the number one source for information and products serving coyote hunters in your area. Word will spread, you’ll see new customers coming in the door to benefit from your team’s expertise.

Learn to highlight these strong suits in your messaging campaigns. For example: “We sell more predator hunting rifles than anyone else in the state.” You have just become the authority on predator hunting and you are showing that you are a problem solver for the community by helping with predator control. Think of the things your business already does well, but isn’t communicated nearly enough. What do your customers leave your establishment raving about? Now go market that.

2. Know Your Customers

If you don’t already know, put a little effort into researching what your customers are most into hunting during spring. You might be surprised what you find out. This can be done by simply asking your customers what hunts they have lined up this spring, and by keeping close tabs on what gear they are buying and inquiring about.

If you want to take it a step further you can offer short surveys asking your customers what they would like to see your business offer more of in the spring. Offer an incentive to encourage participation. Example: “Fill out our spring hunting survey and be entered to win a new shotgun!”

Chances are good you already know what consumers in your area are into in the spring, so step back and take a look at what you aren’t offering them that you could be. The better you know your audience, the better you can serve them.

3. Host Events

Everyone loves a little friendly competition. For example, host a “Who can bring in the biggest woodchuck?” contest and then offer a prize to the winner. This will keep your store upbeat and fun, not to mention word will spread from those who enjoyed the challenge.

Even if word of mouth works well, post pictures of the winner with his or her prize on your social media accounts. You may even consider keeping the contest engaging with updates across social media channels. For example: “Jimmy H. is in the lead with a 14 pound whistle pig! Four days left to take the lead and win a new rifle scope!”

As the seasons close, you could set up a “come and cook your turkey” event with grills and ingredients in place for hunters to share the bounty at picnic tables in your parking lot.

4. Offer Hunting Packages

Maximize your profits by offering your customers spring hunting packages. You might not offer everything needed for the season’s hunt, but for example, by offering other gear in addition to firearms and ammunition, you are providing a nearly one-stop shop for your customers.

In today’s world everyone is looking to get all their gear in one place, saving them time and maybe even some money, so consider adding more to your lineup, because fall isn’t the “end” of hunting season, it’s just a transition into the many spring hunting seasons your customers partake in.

For instance, consider offering a winter coyote hunting package that includes a .223 rifle or an MSR wrapped in camouflage with a varmint scope, ammo, a varmint caller, and snow camo clothes all for one price. If you don’t normally carry garments, you could stock inexpensive white coveralls to go with this package.