Jennifer L.S. Pearsall, NSSF Director, Public Relations

2015 SHOT Show University, Retail Seminars Set Record Attendance

The 2015 SHOT Show University and NSSF’s numerous Retailer Seminars earned compliments across the board from their hundreds of attendees as being the best ever SHOT Show events dedicated to educating retailers in the firearms industry.

Designed to provide the latest information on compliance, marketing, inventory management and dozens of other topics important to firearms retailers, SHOT Show University provided a variety of educational tracks for retailers ranging from those new to the business to those veteran entrepreneurs who have been in business for decades.

It’s an annual must-attend event for hundreds of retailers, such as retailer Matt French, who echoed similar statements from many others in post-University reviews, when he said, “This was simply the best SHOT Show University I’ve attended. The day started out strong with Dr. Linda Talley’s presentation. Everyone loved the breakout sessions, and the Afterburner keynote address was one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

Retailers Robert Kenger and Susan Galloway were also impressed by the breadth of information at SHOT Show University. “I have been to all the SHOT Show Universities NSSF has held since their beginning in 2002, and this was the best ever,” said Kenger, while Galloway commented, “This was awesome and I was very impressed. I learned so much about maturing and growing my business.”

The dozens of Retailer Seminars were also a noted success. Not only did the 13 sessions have record overall attendance of more than 2,600 retailers, several sessions such as the discussion in NFA (National Firearms Act) sales and legalities and the seminar on how retailers can profit through improved used firearms marketing, were at standing room-only capacity.

“We’re extremely pleased that so many attending this year’s SHOT Show University got so much out of the event,” said Patrick Shay, NSSF Director, Retail Development. “To receive the tremendous amount of positive feedback we did from both University attendees and those sitting in on the many Retailer Seminars we offered throughout the week of the 2015 SHOT Show tells us we’re providing the right information at the right time to the key people who introduce our industry’s goods to the consumers. Combined with the huge industry support we received for this year’s SHOT Show University event from sponsors Smith & Wesson, Celerant Technology Corp., Howard Leight by Honeywell, iTech Digital, Camillus, Joseph Chiarello & Co. Inc. and the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers, the favorable response from our retailers tells us that NSSF’s work to improve how our industry works together from manufacturer to retailer is succeeding. That certainly gives us the motivation to make next year’s event even better.”

More From the Floor: SHOT Show, Where the Work Gets Done

It’s said over and over that SHOT Show is the place to be for anyone in the industry. Turns out there’s a lot of truth to that phrase.

Melesia Cisneros, Marketing Supervisor with Berger Bullets told us, “It really is about the face to face time that makes business through the rest of the year succeed. You need to sit down, shake someone’s hand, and when you can put a face to a name you’ve been talking to on the phone, that’s what builds the relationships. Also, we introduced a new brand this year, Applied Ballistics Munitions (ABM). Sure, we can do that at other shows, but this is the show to make that kind of introduction.”

Tom Heiser, Sales Executive with Celerant Technologies, a leading company in multi-channel e-commerce solutions and one of NSSF’s Affinity Member Benefits partners, told us “This show really gives us the chance to reconnect with our current customers, as well as introduce ourselves to new ones. We have a unique product, and this show gives us a chance to explain its ins and outs and why it can be such an asset to those in this industry.

Gary Byers, owner of Pro-Defense, tells us that for new products, the SHOT Show is making them a success. “We’re seeing more buyers than before, and they’re looking for not just new products, but unique products, which we have. We’ve been here on and off for 30 years, and this is the best show yet that we’ve attended and very productive for us as we launch these new products.”

Rick Alsen, National Sales Manger for Bevertail, which offers a line of waterfowling boats, blinds and other related equipment, acknowledged the value of the show for a company like Pro-Defense, but noted that there’s more to the show than that. “For many, this show is about showing new products,” Alsen told us. “For us, especially since we’re a brand that’s been around for a while and at this show before, it’s about finalizing details. We love the SHOT Show for that aspect of what we do, and it’s also vital for its connection with our international buyers. We do quite a bit of business with Russia, Finalnd, Sweden and Norway, for example, and if you’re not here and they are, you can quickly be forgotten. But by seeing our booth, our brand as they work the floor, they remember to have the meetings they need to with us.”

The working outdoor press, marketing professionals and associated industry organizations also get much from attending the show.

Mike Capps, Senior Account Executive with Howard Communications, “It’s a chance for us to interact with all the media and put them together with our clients. You can’t beat this kind of show for personal interaction, and despite how useful email and the phone is, you need that personal touch to really make the process works.

Steve Hall, Executive Director International Hunter Education Association-U.S.A., said, “I get a chance to thank all our supporters and sponsors personally, and that’s invaluable to a non-profit like us. Also, NSSF helps get the word out to the industry and retailers about us and helps us engage with them to help them understand the national voice behind the individual state efforts.”

Award-winning author Ron Spomer really summed up the show for us, though, saying, “Obviously, the making and maintaining contacts is integral to the show, but it’s the convenience of having everything and everyone at every level—manufacturers, public relations, marketing, retailers, other media members—that makes this show as productive as it is. It’s kind of like going to the Academy Awards—everyone who is somebody and is effective in the industry is here.”

SHOT Show Day 2—Word from the Floor

16150066919_046450c5b9_z The staff at NSSF was receiving such positive feedback from the media in the press room, we thought Day No. 2 of the show would be a good time to take the temperature of the show floor and see how our exhibitors were getting along. Here’s what they had to say.

Cindy Daniel, Executive Vice President of Daniel Defense, one of this year’s top sponsors of the SHOT Show, said, “It’s been a very busy show. We’re optimistic that with the good vibe we’re seeing on the floor sales will pick up again and we’ll have a solid year.”

Daniel could very well be right. The show floor was humming with activity and we heard positive things from companies around the show.

“We’ve been pretty busy and there hasn’t been much down time,” said Kort Nielson, who works in marketing for Silencer Co. “Increasing our booth size and design and its new position in this hall has been good for traffic, but we’re also focusing on education.” Silencer Co. is holding two seminars this week for retailers on how to sell silencers.

Alexander Crown, working with military sales and suppressor tools in the Gemtech booth, told us, “Customers this year are more enthusiastic about the firearms industry as a whole. They seem to really be enjoying the technologies being offered.”

Jeff Patterson, PR guru with the Swanson Russell firm, said, “All our clients are happy with the traffic—SIG, Bad Boy Buggies, Otis Technologies, Weatherby, Leupold. The Leupold booth has been so crowded I can barely make it through, and most of our clients are looking forward to a steady year.”

Mike Capps, Senior Account Executive with PR firm Howard Communications echoed Patterson. “The ATK booth has been swamped . . . I think it’s due to the fact that it’s become one-stop shopping for the buyers. Under one roof you now have firearms, ammunition, optics and accessories, and we’re very pleased with the traffic that mix is generating.”

One company recognizing the leveling off of sales our industry experienced in 2014 isn’t resting on its laurels. Redding Reloading is experiencing high growth through expansion in international markets. “While we’re better servicing our domestic clients better right now, because we’ve been able to reduce our order backlog time from the four months we were experiencing last year (due to high volume) to two to three weeks this year, we’re really seeing tremendous growth in international markets,” explained Robin Sharpless, Executive Vice President. “Canada and South Africa in particular are proving very lucrative, as well as Australia and New Zealand.”

Media Picks: Some Favorite Products of the Press at Media Day

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The 2015 SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range proved to be a success to industry media members. Everyone in the media we talked to were decidedly upbeat about the day in general and the number and variety of hot new products exhibited.

Ace Luciano, book author with Gun Digest, told us, “I was very impressed with the new Benelli over/under. It’s probably the softest shooting stack-barrel double I’ve ever shot.”

Phil Massaro, another book author with Gun Digest and freelance writer for Guns & Ammo, Gun Digest the Magazine and several other industry publications found two pieces he wouldn’t mind adding to his gun safe. “The Smith & Wesson M&P .45 with the suppressor attached was so quiet and had what I felt was zero recoil. Truly an experience to shoot,” he told us. “I also fell in love with the new Stevens Model 555 over/under. Now, I’m not much of a shotgunner, so when I tell you I couldn’t miss with this gun, I’m speaking volumes about its fit. I don’t think I’ve ever had a shotgun fit me so well out of the box. It’s available in 20- and 12-gauge, and retails under $700, far below most of the over/unders on the market these days. I think one of the 20-gauges is going to find a home with me this year, though I think after my wife shoots it, I’ll probably never get to lay my own hands on it again.”

Two veteran outdoor writers, Ed Noonan and Steve Zahurak, both hailing from New York, found there was just as much value in some of the non-gun products setup for trial as they did the guns themselves.

“I saw a demonstration of the new all-in-one firearm cleaner and lubricant,” said Zahurak. “What I liked, besides that I didn’t need two separate products for gun maintenence, is that it was both nontoxic and biodegradable.”

Zahurak was also a fan of Ruger’s new drop-in trigger for the 10/22. “It’s very user-friendly,” he said.

“Two things that caught my eyes, literally, were the shooting glasses from Edge Safety Eyewear and the new Sightmark firearm sight. The glasses were very flexible, and that tells me they can take a beating without becoming damaged, while the Sightmark sight, a lightweight dot-within-a-dot arrangement looked to be a very intelligent design, one I’m looking forward to using for turkey hunting this year.”

Noonan and Zahurak also discovered a new product they think may be the ultimate training tool when you can’t make it to the range.

“Steve and I both thought the Coolfire product was pretty ingenious,” explained Noonan. “You fit the device in your gun’s barrel, fill it with air just like you would a bicycle tire, then dry-fire the gun. Though there’s no noise other than a click, the gun recoils as if you were using live ammo. That’s a great way to improve the realism of this kind of practice routine.”

Still, it was the guns that were center stage.

Another veteran writer, Tom Tabor, favored another offering from Savage, as did several others we talked to. “The new Savage rifle in .17 HMR is likely to be a hit this year,” Tabor told us. “It’s a new semi-auto chambered for that round, and Savage worked closely with CCI to develop ammo that works reliably in the action. It’s also accurate—I started shooting at small rocks behind the 100-yard silhouette targets they had set up, and this gun was spot on. With that kind of accuracy and reliability, and at the user-friendly price point Savage will be selling this gun, I expect it to do very well with consumers.”

For those looking for something at the other end of the price spectrum, Massaro told us that the Mauser 98 was one of the most beautiful guns to be shot during Industry Day at the Range, “Very true to the original, beautifully made,” he said. “For me, too, the Rigby rifle in .416 was, very simply, a privilege to shoot, and a little closer to home, the Christiansen Arms .308 with its carbon fiber barrel has almost no recoil, yet it weighs just six pounds, and its titanium muzzle brake does an outstanding job of keeping muzzle rise to almost nothing.”

As for the event itself, both media members and buyers were quite pleased with the new format of the event. Long lines into the range were eliminated thanks to dual drop-off points for the buses, and the invitation-only format allowed for better connections and engagement between exhibitors and invitees. That the chili from one of the many food trucks on the premises apparently rocked the house was just icing on the cake for everyone.

Follow the latest news from the SHOT Show on Facebook, as well as Twitter at @nssfshotshow and #SHOTShow.

SHOT Show Exhibitors—10 Tips For Successful Press Kits

As an exhibitor at SHOT Show, your primary focus is, without a doubt, about selling. For just a few short days, you have the highest number of current and potential clients available to learn about what you offer in a face-to-face setting—and there’s no better way to sell. But wholesalers and retailers aren’t the only folks who need what you have.

I’m talking about the media. No, they don’t need 20 or 2,000 or 20,000 cases of what you’re selling like a buyer for a range or retail store would (though they might need a sample for testing and evaluation). What they need from you at the show is information—and they need it in a press kit.

Truly, the magazine staff, bloggers, photographers, radio hosts and videographers you’ll meet at SHOT are, perhaps, your greatest selling tool after the show. These are the people the consumer trusts to tell it like it is before they invest their next paycheck in a $35 duck call or a $55 box of specialty ammunition or a $2,500 binocular. But they can’t get the word out without you.

Press kits should be at the top of your show marketing tool lists. If you haven’t composed one before, and even if you’ve provided them in the past, here are 10 tips that can make this easy on you and have every media person there grinning from ear to ear and sharing your business all year long.

Digital is a must. Gone are the days when media returned home from with SHOT lugging cartons of catalogs and CDs. At the most, your press kit should sit on a collection of portable computer flash drives. Even better? Make it a website portal and put that website address on a media-only business card to hand out, eliminating annoying passwords and IDs media members have to remember.
At the very least, your products should be photographed on a white background. All photos should be hi-resolution, full-color and with a minimum size of 300 dpi. That said, writers appreciate it when they have a variety of images to choose from. Variety helps your products appear fresh and exciting in the many publications and websites they may appear—and most writers sell their stories to more than one place. Take photos of your product from varying angles, with different backdrops, and include realistic action photos with humans actually using them if possible. Not sure of your photographic abilities? Hire a local photographer to spend a day with you—it’s a few hundred dollars that could reap huge benefits for you when those pics get coverage by the press.
This may sound tedious, but rename your photo files with the product they are. Happyduckcall1.jpeg, 223bestboattailever2.jpeg, Riflemodellongrange2miler3.jpeg. When writers are working with editors and graphic artists to coordinate text and captions and photos, having a list of photos with file names like 987X$5nh123@#.jpeg can get very confusing, very quickly—and the last thing you want to see is your tack-driving wondergun Long-Range 2-Miler identified as a .22-caliber youth model.
Put photos of both your brand new products and all other current products you’re selling in your media kit. If you’re still making it, you’re still selling it. Remember, too, that media need material all year long, and the brand new stuff gets covered early and often.
Create a press release or at least a full specification sheet for each new product you’re introducing at SHOT or soon after. Help the press selling your product by selling them on it first!
Put your press releases in Microsoft Word documents at least of generation Word 97-2004 Document (.doc suffix). Most writers we talked with didn’t like PDFs, and don’t even think about using something weird like Google Docs or Microsoft One Note, or some other ancient typing foundation like Word Perfect or Text Maker.
Clearly identify exactly who your media contact person is and be sure to include their phone number and e-mail. One of the constant complaints we hear from press members is that all they often get for a contact is some media@whatevercompany.com general mailbox that never gets looked at, never gets responded to.
Clipart of your company logo and branding images are appreciated.
Most press members we talked to say they do not need your entire catalog PDF’ed in a press kit.
Keep it organized. Simple things like labeling product folders on a jump drive (or in a dropdown on a media-only web page) as “New Products 2015,” “All Current 2015 Products,” “New Product Images 2015,” etc., can go a long way toward making sure your products are correctly identified in the press.

One final tip. If you run out of press kits during SHOT and a press member asks you to mail them one, do it—and we do not mean months after SHOT Show is nothing but a distant memory. Magazines and other print media highlighting new products go to press within weeks of SHOT Show ending. Web, of course, is most often in real time. After the flurry of new product write-ups are over, the press is in the field, this time using and testing all those products so that they can produce more articles on them. Take six months to mail a press kit and you might as well just say, “I’ll catch you next year.”