Author: Jim Curcuruto, NSSF Director, Industry Research and Analysis

FFL Retail Expert Marily Haley Joins NSSF’s 2015 SHOT SHOW Diversity Panel

Marily Haley HeadshotNSSF is pleased to announce that Marily Haley, manager of highly popular Shoot Smart ranges in Texas, has joined the list of speakers educating today’s retailers on the issues of diversity during the 2015 SHOT Show special Diversity Panel, sponsored by NSSF. Haley will be joining Don Adair, president of the African American Hunting Association, and husband and wife team Lilly Gibbs and Frank Manuel, founders and developers of the Montgomery Indoor Shooting Complex.

Haley brings a wealth of front-line, bottom-to-top retail experience to the panel’s discussion. As a founding member of the Shoot Smart staff, Marily’s cordial and friendly personality set the standard for customer service at the company, quickly earning her a reputation for taking a room­ full of impatient customers and making each of them feel as if they were the only one being served. Those abilities saw her quickly rise through the ranks at Shoot Smart, moving first to head cashier, then shift supervisor, trainer, assistant manager and manager in quick progression.

Through her leadership skills and abilities to communicate to a wide variety of people, Haley stream­lined customer service procedures at Shoot Smart, developed best practices for customer service and a created a formal customer service training program for the Shoot Smart staff.

This string of successes saw her promotion to range manager of the second Shoot Smart range, which opened in Grand Prairie, Texas, in 2013. That range, just one year after opening, earned NSSF’s prestigious Five Star Range Rating under Haley’s tutelage.

“Marily is a dynamic individual making a noticeable mark in the shooting industry,” said Patrick Shay, co-creator of the 2015 SHOT Show Diversity Panel and NSSF’s Director, Retail Development. “She was raised in both Texas and Mexico, attending Brookhaven College in Dallas. She has strong communication skills in English and Spanish, and that duality, combined with her reputation among both her customers and peers, positions her uniquely to speak about diversity in the shooting industry. Her insights on how to engage customers of different cultures, races, beliefs and needs will be invaluable to any retailer or range owner looking for new ways to reach new customers and expand their businesses.”

Created to provide retailers with a fresh approach to connecting with new customers, the 2015 SHOT Show Diversity Panel will take place Wednesday, January 21, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

“The face of today’s recreational shooter is not what it was even five years ago. It’s younger, includes more females and is much better represented across multiple ethnicities than in the past,” explained Shay. “It’s time for firearms retailers and range operators to realize that their best potential for growth and long-term viability in the coming years is in discovering how to reach these new shooters and provide them with goods and services they need. We think this Diversity Panel will provide essential information for making those connections and turning them into happy, loyal customers.”

Tickets for the 2015 SHOT Show Diversity Panel are $20 for both NSSF member and non-member retailers and range owners, but seating is limited, so we urge you to register now for this important event. To register, go to the shotshow.org website, click on the “Apply” button and follow the directions on the page. Anyone already registered to attend the 2015 SHOT Show may revisit shotshow.org, click on “Apply,” then click the “Check Status” button on the bottom left-hand portion of the screen. Once there, scroll to the bottom of the page to “Access Your Attendee Dashboard” and provide your email and password to enter. For more information, contact Patrick Shay, pshay@nssf.org.

SHOT Show Diversity Panel Helps Retailers Reach New Customers

Retailers seeking to grow their businesses should constantly be seeking for ways to reach new customers and engage them in a way that they become loyal customers. There are many ways to do this, but one often missed is community outreach.

“As humans, we’re prone to getting stuck in a rut,” explained Patrick Shay, NSSF Director, Retail Development. “That holds true as much for firearms retailers as it does for anyone else. We get comfortable with our current client base, comfortable knowing what they like and want, because they’re the same customers in front of the counter or lining up to use the range every day, every week, every month. It’s easy to sell to what and who you know.”

“Having a solid and reliable customer base is good for business, no question about it, but it’s not a recipe for growth,” Shay continued. “Growth requires connecting with new customers and turning them into what should be an ever-expanding client base. To do that, retailers have to think beyond the faces they’re used to seeing in their stores and realize there are many more people out there who shoot. To help our retailers and range owners embrace that idea, as well as help them understand the barriers those potential new customers may be experiencing when it comes to finding firearms stores and shooting ranges that meet their needs, the NSSF developed its first Diversity Panel for the 2015 SHOT Show.”

Featured speakers will bring their “outside” intelligence to today’s firearms dealer:

  • DonnyDonny Adair is president of the African American Hunting Association. Since 2008, he has been working to prompt African Americans, other people of color and urban residents to get involved in hunting, shooting, fishing and other outdoor recreation and sports. His efforts, including his website, aaha.com, and television program, The AAHA Outdoor Show, have resulted in a resurgence of interest nationwide among these non-traditional audiences. Adair’s background in public speaking includes more than 40 years in public agencies, private companies and as a consultant in equal opportunity, diversity, and human relations.
  • FranklilyLilly Gibbs was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She immigrated to America as a young girl and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Gibbs currently heads the Real Estate Division of La Femme, Inc., which, in Oct. 2012, secured financing for the development of Montgomery Indoor Shooting Complex.
  • Frank Manuel, Gibbs’ husband and co-owner of Montgomery Indoor Shooting Complex, is a highly respected master tradesman in the Alabama construction industry, Manuel heads the Design and Construction Division of La Femme. Together they opened Montgomery Indoor Shooting Complex in Sept 2013.
  • The panel will be moderated by Jim Curcuruto, NSSF, Director of Industry Research & Analysis, who has lead several projects on the subject of diversity for NSSF.

“We are thrilled to have this panel of distinguished and successful entrepreneurs join us at the 2015 SHOT Show to discuss with our retailers the challenges non-traditional shooters face in understanding and utilizing the vast resources the NSSF and, indeed, the industry in general has to offer them,” said Shay. “We think that through this discussion and learning about the face of today’s shooter, our retailers will realize that they already have the common ground needed to connect with a new and continually expanding customer base.”

The 2015 SHOT Show Diversity Panel will be held Wednesday, January 21, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Location in the Venetian to be announced shortly.). Tickets for this event are $20 for both member and non-member retail and range owners, but seating is limited, so we urge you to register now for this important event. Anyone already registered to attend the 2015 SHOT Show may revisit shotshow.org, log in, and purchase panel tickets on the event listings page. For more information, contact Patrick Shay, pshay@nssf.org.