Sales Tips

Sell out your steel

Clean out your steel inventory with just one sale? It can be done! Just ask Rusty Eichorn of Glen's Army Navy in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. This past June the retailer, who is a member of the Premium Partner Dealer Council, organized and executed "Outdoor Days" on a Friday and Saturday, a whopper of a sale that tripled the store's usual summer weekend business.

"We sold close to 400 cases of ammo in just two days," Eichorn said, adding that all he had to do to accomplish this impressive feat was to get creative and be aggressive.
The ingredients, according to Eichorn, included:

1. Working with ATK's Dealer Services team. They are there to help you succeed. Several ATK employees were on hand at Glen's to help set up and organize the two-day sale.
2. Partnering with an ATK distributor. In Glen's case, two wholesale representatives came in to help facilitate the event.
3. Picking a busy day of the week and making it busier. Eichorn chose a Friday and a Saturday, which are busier during the summer months because Grand Rapids is a big tourist destination in northern Minnesota.
4. Starting work on your ads early so that you can make sure they are accurate and you don't have to rush to complete them at the last minute.
5. Taking advantage of the co-op dollars available from manufacturers to advertise your sale or to purchase sales premiums that can be used as part of your event.

A month before his sale, Eichorn started working on a
full-page newspaper ad that he eventually placed in the local newspaper plus two other papers within an hour's drive of his store. He knew he didn't want to be proofing the ad for accuracy at the last minute so he started early. "We had a lot of information we wanted to put in it," he said. "We wanted to get it just right."

The ad let his customers know that there was a tremendous deal on Federal Ammunition. With each case of steel they
purchased, consumers would receive a free Federal-branded ammo box plus a $30 rebate. They were also informed that if they bought a second case, they would receive an additional $40 rebate.

The ad also let customers know that factory reps would be on hand to answer questions. "Although we knew that the ammunition deal would appeal mostly to men and their sons, we have other outdoor stuff at the store for women," Eichorn noted. "We wanted to make it into a kind of carnival atmosphere." Thus, they set up tents. Along with Federal's presence, the event included a " Factory Authorized" range day at a local shooting facility. Smith & Wesson and Ruger representatives brought in additional firearms for consumers to test-shoot at the local range. Customers could also sign up to win a Ruger 10/22T.

For ideas on how you can blow out your own steel inventory, contact Dealer Services at 866-223-9388.