Dealer wrong on PPT profitability

[gunprofit]

As many of you know, I work in a gunshop and don't have a fondness for PPT. Most of them are a pain with no profit. However, I have taken on PPTs as a personal challenge to turn them into something other than a time consuming non-profit situation. And, I freely and publicly admit that I am wrong about PPTs. Not all of them are profitless. Today, I had my first PPT that I was able to turn into 2 additional gun sales, with ammo, gun cleaning equipment, carrying cases, scope, etc. The total sales from this transaction was over $3,000.00. What I have been doing with PPTs is killing them with kindness, customer service and so on. As with all my customers, I try to find some sort of common ground to start with. My customer being a former Marine as myself, probably helped. Anyway, things went well for all involved. And, being man enough to admit misgivings concerning PPTs, I am writing this thread. I am sure all of the Calgunners are about to say "told you so", concerning PPTs. There you go, a dealer who admits his mistakes.

[DVSmith]

Nice! Glad you found a way to make PPT work for you and your customers!

[bohoki]

yes a ppt can be done efficiently it they would just make a good written procedure maybe have a pamphlet to hand out explaining all the things the buyer and seller need to provide

[RedFord150]

Many retail businesses use 'Loss Leaders' as a way too get customers in the door. The belief is that the customer will buy profitable products or services while he is in thne store or will returm to spend his $ at a later date.
A 'loss leader' is a product or service sold at or below cust. This is no profit or a loss to the seller.
Do you think McDonald's makes a profit on the dollar menu or your local grocery store on a 19 cent watermelon?
You are a smart guy. You took your no profit PPT, made a very profitable sale, and probably got a customer for years too come.
How did you do it you say? You treated him well and made him want to buy from you.
You might be the first guy in retail gun sales to discover the secret to customer service :-0

[Flintlock Tom]

Okay, so where's your shop so the rest of us can take advantage of your unique approach?

[RazzB7]

Nice! Would you spread the word to other gunshops? So far you and TenPercent are the only ones I've seen who "get" this.

[Curley Red]

If a business denies doing a PPT for me I will never shop there again, so it would be a loss to them. And when I do a PPT, if I am the one getting the gun I always buy something else at the time of picking up the gun and would come back again for more items.

So to deny me would be a permanent loss of my business and probably to the people that I tell.

[russ69]

In any business, if you treat people in a fair and respectful manner, you will have a repeat customer. I buy a lot of gun stuff, you may not know me because I don't hang out in your store, but if you have nice stuff, at a fair price, I might drop a couple of thousand bucks on my next visit. However if I see you giving another customer a hard time, I'll just slip out the door and stay far away from your place of business.
I don't NEED anymore guns, I buy guns because it's fun. Take the fun away and I'm out of there.

[Tripper]

I, for one, have a new mission

finding that 19cent watermelon

[bohoki]

safeway got in trouble for selling gas as a loss leader

http://lawblog.legalmatch.com/2011/05/04/safeway-sued-for-selling-cheap-gas/

[Eddy's Shooting Sports]

As many of you know, I work in a gunshop and don't have a fondness for PPT. Most of them are a pain with no profit. However, I have taken on PPTs as a personal challenge to turn them into something other than a time consuming non-profit situation. And, I freely and publicly admit that I am wrong about PPTs. Not all of them are profitless. Today, I had my first PPT that I was able to turn into 2 additional gun sales, with ammo, gun cleaning equipment, carrying cases, scope, etc. The total sales from this transaction was over $3,000.00. What I have been doing with PPTs is killing them with kindness, customer service and so on. As with all my customers, I try to find some sort of common ground to start with. My customer being a former Marine as myself, probably helped. Anyway, things went well for all involved. And, being man enough to admit misgivings concerning PPTs, I am writing this thread. I am sure all of the Calgunners are about to say "told you so", concerning PPTs. There you go, a dealer who admits his mistakes.

I share your sentiment, but the hard facts, at least in my shop, are that PPT's rarely lead to follow up sales. I did have one exception recently like you, where a customer who came for a PPT from one of my regulars and has come back and bought three guns in the last 6 weeks or so.

It's not an attitude thing, just check my reviews, its that PPT's are done at shops that are centrally located between buyers. Most people have their "regular" shop closer to their home. I do PPT's and try to make them as smooth as possible, but I still think it something the state should be doing or at least allow dealers to charge a fee that more realistically covers their costs.

[snook135]

Well done but it all comes down to customer service

[STI]

Last year I was selling a rifle and I searched online for a gun store that was halfway between the buyer and I. I found Addax Tactical and we met there. I had never heard of them before that, but while I was there I looked around and liked the AR's they were making and ended up buying a $1700 AR15. Since then I have found several other gun stores while searching for a place to PPT. If they are dicks about PPT then I will not consider them for gun purchases.

[gunprofit]

It's a real pleasure to read Calgunners positive comments. I appreciate the insight. The name of the store is Barnwood Arms, located in Ripon. I also wanted to share the other thing that myself and the others are passionate about and are working diligently on is overhead cost reduction. Enabling us to lower our prices. In fact, we are working hard on an entirely new price structure. As with most business, we are always seeking feedback to better the operation. The consensus is that most customers like the large and diverse inventory, the shooting range, and for the most part, our customer service. The one thing folks put on the front burner was our prices. They considered them too high. We've taken that feedback seriously and are working on reducing overhead so we can lower our prices. And, perhaps do a better job of price matching. So look for good things to come.

[DannyInSoCal]

OC Armory does a great job with this also -

Last transfer I did - I bought a new set of ACU goggles -

And the guy I bought the sidearm from picked up a few t-shirts....