Click here to download the catalog as a PDF file. To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. gift value — if you’re not purposefully weaving them into conversations with your customers, then they are less likely to see your blades as a great buy. Today’s knives are feature-loaded and technology-rich. You have to pick up that knowledge, speak the language and transmit your enthusiasm to the customer. Imagine how you would interact with your customers if you only sold knives. Look at those profit margins again — and think about it. Now, if you’ve identified some losers, you can still make money with those knives. Use them as “deal sweeteners” to help close that rifle sale, as door prizes during sales events or donate them as raffle or auction prizes at local charity events. When you donate, include a certificate for a free cleaning and sharpening, thereby pulling a new customer into your store. This works even better if you send only a good photo and product write-up for display at the event, stipulating that the winner can pick up his or her prize at your shop. Buck’s 2009 ErgoHunter Skinners, in three models, have 4 2/3" full-tang blades and a generous belly design. Click the “Edge-U-Cation” tab on Spyderco’s Web site, and you’ll find facts on actions, blade steels, handle materials and a complete glossary of knife terms. Visit www.spyderco.com. Benchmade offers extensive information on its Web site, www.benchmade.com, including designs and finishes, materials, mechanisms and knife care. Buck Knives offers a full education on cutlery by clicking on “About Your Knife” at www.buckknives.com. In addition, find out how Columbia River Knife & Tool’s Auto-LAWKS safety system works at www.crkt.com; how the V-Cutter and glass breaker on SOG Knives’ twin-blade Bi-Polar operates by visiting www.sogknives.com; the trick to using the Axial Locking Mechanism on Paul Poehlmann’s designs for Lone Wolf Knives on www. lonewolfknives.com and more. If you’re not a “knife knut,” recruit one of your staff to keep current on the latest trends and developments. Tons of information can be found on manufacturers’ Web sites. Super Sales Strategies 1. Boost your “knifeknowledge” and that of your sales staff. from his pocket and says, “Here’s what I carry and why.” Carry a tactical folder on your right, a “gentleman’s folder” on your left, and be able to point to your choice of hunting fixed-blade knife in a nearby display. Offer such knives to your employees at your cost — they’ll carry and show them enthusiastically! Knife people are hands-on types, and nothing helps a sale more than actual holding, hefting and handling. 4. At your first opportunity, get a knife into your customer’s hand. Plan for occasions like Fathers Day, high school and college graduations, Veterans Day and Christmas, then stock and advertise aggressively. Often, knife manufacturers and your distributors will help with holiday sale displays, special pricing and advertising assistance. 5. Develop an annual sales calendar for cutlery. Capitalize on logo loyalty to help these sales. Beretta, Browning, Glock, Heckler & Koch, Remington and Smith & Wesson and are only a few of the gunmakers offering knives bearing their logo. There is no better time to add a knife to a gun sale than when proud buyers pick up their firearm. 2. Adopt the policy that “No gun leaves this store without a knife.” Diamond Machining Technology’s (DMT) Double Sided Diafold and Lansky’s Quick Fix sharpeners are priced for quick, easy, add-on profits, which can frequently lead to purchases of complete sharpening systems. Another great sharpening system is Spyderco’s Triangle Sharpmaker, which includes an instructional DVD. 6. Even when you’re adding a knife to a firearm sale, you can add accessories to the knife. You may already be selling injectionmolded holsters and magazine pouches by Blade-Tech, and not know their selection of knives has doubled or tripled 3. Carry the knives you in numbers recently. If you’re already a want to sell! BLACKHAWK! Authorized Dealer, you Nothing impresses a buyer more than can add orders for their blades to your when the boss — you — unclips a folder regular shipments of other tactical and law enforcement gear. Also, watch for With over a thousand SKUs, Benchmade Knives upcoming new knifemakers, hungry for provides dealers with a complete spectrum of dealers and eager to work with you, like products from solid working knives to elegant Fox Knives USA. cutters, like these Gold Class models. 7. Don’t overlook other deals. www.shootingindustry.com MARCH 2009 41