How A Sale To A Female Customer Should Proceed

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Uuh... sage wisdom there Bubba... I'm sure no man has ever made that mistake.
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The gender doesn't matter.
I have never had anyone come back and tell me "I hated that gun you sold me." On the contrary, plenty have come back to say they love it, even when they came in thinking they wanted something else.
OTOH, I had a guy come in because his girlfriend wanted a Ruger Super Alaska Redhawk in .44mag as a carry gun. She had worked in a gun shop and knew the gun. I didn't try to change anyone's mind, even though I thought she was nuts, given the circumstances.
The people on this board do not represent the average buyer. They have shot plenty and know what they like and don't. But plenty of people think you can just read some reviews online for a pistol and pick out "the best one." Unfortunately in guns there is no "best one." There is only "best one for you right now." And a good salesperson will try to help the customer figure out what that is.
 
If she is insisting on a particular gun that she can't manipulate (or that clearly doesn't seem right for her)--that is a documented indicator of a straw purchase...
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Oh for goodness sake!! Heaven forbid she try and buy a gun as a gift for someone while not being an expert on that particular firearm. Are we now requiring some arbitrary level of competence before you can buy the product? It's really none of the sales rep's business why she's picking out that particular gun anyway. No explanation is needed to legally buy what she wants to buy.
 
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If she is insisting on a particular gun that she can't manipulate (or that clearly doesn't seem right for her)--that is a documented indicator of a straw purchase...
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I've run through all the witty responses in my repertoire and none of them are good enough...
 
I've had a lot of gals who have never shot a gun come in asking to buy a Glock 27 because of recommendations.

Should I sell them to them with no questions?
 
The last time I shot a handgun, I was in middle school. Can I buy a Glock 27 in your shop? Or do I have to pass a test? Or is it OK because I am a man?
 
If I had a cleric asking me questions on why I wanted to buy said item I would more then likely tell them something not so High Road ,walk out the door and buy it from another shop that's not going to treat me like I dont know what i want or like I'm doing something illegal
 
If I had a cleric asking me questions on why I wanted to buy said item I would more then likely tell them something not so High Road ,walk out the door and buy it from another shop
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That's why gun shops rarely hire priests. It's all "turn the other cheek" instead of "this gun will blow their head clean off..." :neener:
 
Do you want to make a sale?

This is pretty simple guys.
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Funny response given that gun store salespeople are usually accused of just wanting a sale and ignoring a customer's needs.
I don't want to make a sale. I want to make 4 or 5 from recurring business. If I sell someone a gun that I know won't work for them and they'll end up hating then I probably won't get much repeat business either.
And +1 on the comment about a Glock 27 for a new shooter. It's a fine gun but not too many people will be happy with it for their first.
 
If she is insisting on a particular gun that she can't manipulate (or that clearly doesn't seem right for her)--that is a documented indicator of a straw purchase...
Click to expand...
Oh for goodness sake!! Heaven forbid she try and buy a gun as a gift for someone while not being an expert on that particular firearm. Are we now requiring some arbitrary level of competence before you can buy the product? It's really none of the sales rep's business why she's picking out that particular gun anyway. No explanation is needed to legally buy what she wants to buy.
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Clearly, you failed to read the rest of the paragraph that I wrote.
 
Bubba613 said:
Funny response given that gun store salespeople are usually accused of just wanting a sale and ignoring a customer's needs.
I don't want to make a sale. I want to make 4 or 5 from recurring business. If I sell someone a gun that I know won't work for them and they'll end up hating then I probably won't get much repeat business either.
And +1 on the comment about a Glock 27 for a new shooter. It's a fine gun but not too many people will be happy with it for their first.
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I think a salesperson should help a customer find a fitting gun IF THAT IS WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS. But to deny someone a sale is a blatantly obvious bad move... I don't see how one can think it's not. That's all I'm going to say on this.
 
I guess I am different. I actually like it when a sales person asks me questions. Of course there is a huge difference between being condescending and helpful. Condescending gets a walk out the door and helpful gets repeat business.

Shawn
 
The Setting

Cosmo left out one important piece of situational data about the gun shoppe in question.

I'm sure it has nothing at all to do with the idea that some gal could walk in and have a fair-to-middlin' idea of what she wanted in the way of a sidearm.

Probably completely irrelevant.

But the gun shoppe is located just a bit north of the 61st parallel.

Could be just a quirk, but I'm thinking that a higher-than-average percentage of the population at that latitude (and 150 degrees West) -- without regard to sex -- would be likely to have some sort of clue. I could be wrong.


'Course, sittin' down here in the Lower 48, I'd be downright tickled to witness a transaction like that.

 
bigfatdave said:
No, you shouldn't even do that, unless she asks you for help.

Reminding a customer that "that gun is safe for dryfire and there's a target in the corner" is cool, checking for index finger strength is sort of not cool.

Unless there is a hint of a straw purchase, just help the ladies select the gun they like, and thank them for taking an active interest in their own safety.
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Have to disagree. Part of my job is to see that the customer gets a gun that is suitable for them. Some women simply don't have the hand strength to shoot a revolver accurately DA. The key is to check discreetly. I don't hand them the gun and say something stupid like "See if you're strong enough to fire this one, honey." I say, "See how you like the trigger pull on this one." and watch for signs of strain. If there's a problem, I would suggest something more suitable. Usually they know if the trigger pull is too heavy for them.

It's just one thing to look for like stock fit, cross-eye dominance, being able to reach the slide on a pump shotgun, etc, etc.

I may offer advice, but in the end the customer decides what they'll buy.
 
"Not intending to pick on you, JohnBT"

You can try to pick on me, but I'm right about offering to show the customer other guns. Heck, they might buy two or three instead of the one they came for. Retail shouldn't be as hard as some folks here are making it out to be.

We have lines at our big gun stores too. The closest one has three registers with computerized inventory and, the last I looked, 4,000 guns and they always offer to show me other things than what I'm asking about.

greentopteam.jpg
 
Clearly, you failed to read the rest of the paragraph that I wrote.
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No, I caught your parenthetical note, and I commented that it wasn't necessarily any of your business what the gun was for in that regard. It was the bigoted treatment of your female customers that I was responding to. Whether or not you have an incessant urge to meddle in the personal affairs of your female customers, their failure to appease you with an explanation of their particulars is no reason to label them a criminal. No biggie.
 
I am glad I am not in retail. I guess, if it were me I would maybe state that is a fine gun, a good choice and ask her how she came to that decision. That way you are not questioning her decision just being curious. If she says, well... I saw it on TV and figured I would buy it as my first gun you would be able to give her some tips... if she said because I fired a few, liked that one and want to buy one then you sell it to her without saying anything else.

But, like I said.. I could not sell detonators to a terrorist.
 
If I walk into any store and ask to buy a particular item, it does not make me happy when a store employee asks me if I want something else that I didn't ask for. If I had been in the buyer's shoes for this purchase and someone questioned my ability to handle the purchased item, I would either find another clerk or leave.

If you happen to be a "person of smaller stature", would you like it if you asked for a specific item and someone questioned your ability to handle it?
 
Cosmoline said:
So a woman asks for a particular revolver and the clerk is immediately suspicious that she's helping some felon? I think we can include that whole line of thinking in the list of "what not to do."
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Agreed - I walk in and ask for an SP-101 and the clerk is happy to pull one out for me. A woman asking for one is suspected of not being able to manipulate it or of a straw-purchase because she obviously isn't capable of handling such a firearm on her own...

Seems like Cosmoline pointed out a pretty straightforward situation. Why read anything else into it?

And again, an SP-101 loaded with .38 Specials is a very mild centerfire to shoot that is still small enough to carry. It has a huge amount of growing room for a new shooter. And you only need to learn how to manage the trigger, the cylinder release, and the ejector rod - it's about as simple as a handgun gets. I really don't see what the problem is.
 
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But the gun shoppe is located just a bit north of the 61st parallel.
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True, and that is part of the picture. Firearms are ubiquitous here, whereas in far too much of the lower 48 gun ownership is more of a "club" that a small chunk of the population belongs to. 90% of that "club" is men, with women doing some shotgunning but not much else. In this case I think the rest of the country could learn a lot from us.
 
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