Garmin EPIX is a wrist-watch style GPS with 1.5-inch wide screen that provides color maps, altitude information and 8BG so you can upload maps.
It’s a fact that many consumers today welcome, understand and readily use technology — especially hunters and outdoors enthusiasts. Thanks to the increased acceptance and use of computers, smart phones, voice-activated home assistants and other digital-age products, hunters everywhere have been exposed to weather apps, Facebook, Instagram, video messaging, YouTube, mapping programs, ballistic calculators, FitBits, GPS, mapping software, rangefinders built inside of spotting scopes and riflescopes and a large number of other high-tech tools for hunting.
Today’s hunters often have more information at their fingertips than did early NASA astronauts.
Are you introducing your customers to technology and closing the deal?
It’s a fact that many consumers today welcome, understand and readily use technology — especially hunters and outdoors enthusiasts. Thanks to the increased acceptance and use of computers, smart phones, voice-activated home assistants and other digital-age products, hunters everywhere have been exposed to weather apps, Facebook, Instagram, video messaging, YouTube, mapping programs, ballistic calculators, FitBits, GPS, mapping software, rangefinders built inside of spotting scopes and riflescopes and a large number of other high-tech tools for hunting.
Place the tech gear in their hands and be down to earth in your comments, and then work to help the customer learn about the product’s benefits.”
Today’s hunters often have more information at their fingertips than did early NASA astronauts.
Are you introducing your customers to technology and closing the deal?
Making the Pitch
Selling rifles and hunting clothing is a different task than selling high-tech gear. With products like clothing, the consumer can handle the product and imagine what they would look like while wearing that garment. Not much interaction here.
For high-tech gear like a GPS, two-way radios, action cams, or cutting-edge rangefinder riflescopes and spotting scopes, you and your sales team will need to solve a problem for the customer or otherwise make their life easier instead of simply tossing out tech terms that could be over their head. Place the gear in their hands and be down to earth in your comments, and then work to help the customer learn about the product’s benefits. While discussing is often done at a beginner’s level, the hands-on product experience and seeing the results in action are the steps that can make the customer move to the acceptance and buyer stages. You and your employees should be able to navigate the screens and icons, push buttons and activate key features, and then guide the customer through the many features of the item.
For example, don’t just discuss how to open a map or reach a send mode, but show your customer the many features, how they work and the benefits they provide. Place the product in the customer’s hands and let them experience the items. Be prepared, however, for the customer who knows more about the product than you. It’s like the kid with the TV remote situation. Use the customer’s information and insight as a learning experience when that happens — and thank them.
Listen to the Customer
Customers reveal important information — if you listen. Let them talk, then simply ask questions and learn what level the customer is at with technology. Some customers can operate high-tech gear with ease or have read or heard about the gear and the basic features, but others will need a full presentation and deep-dive show-and-tell session. Showing videos on a laptop, or showing the quick-tip operation sheets that many manufacturers include in the packaging, can help customers see the benefits. Let them see and imagine it on their hunting property, much like a car salesman describes how the customer would look and feel behind the wheel of a car.
To better serve customers, you and your sales staff can create effective ways to communicate. One route is to ask the rep who sold the item to your business to give demos to you and your employees, or go to the manufacturer’s website for a tutorial, or search YouTube and other sources to learn how an item operates and what it does. If necessary, create a cheat sheet of the features and how to operate the gear so your employees can consult the info and be prepared for demos to customers. If an interested customer sees you struggling to explain or operate an item, they’ll begin to move away from the buying mode or decrease their interest level.
One proven top tactic to educate and motivate customers is to hold in-store seminars. Loop-to-loop videos or instructional CDs on the product can also help educate customers if an item is very cutting-edge. Most manufacturers of new technology also invest in DVDs or YouTube shows that demonstrate the item and cover the benefits and features. Find those and use them to train staff and to educate customers. Asking the right questions can help you determine whether the customer needs education or is knowledgeable and only needs to be handed the unit.
Expect lots of questions and be prepared to provide answers. Shoppers seek technology, so if you help the customer, and then that customers tells friends about the tech gear you have available, those customers then want it, and your store can soon be seen as a source and local expert. Word of mouth and knowledge are powerful sales tools. Remember that tech users have and regularly use computers, tablets and smartphones, and those are great channels to reach those customers with your messaging about products and services. Post new tech gear arrivals in your store on Facebook and Instagram, and you might realize what other stores have discovered — customers could come through the front door within 10 minutes. Use pictures and videos to help spread the word. Today’s shoppers are visually oriented.
You can also increase sales by putting tech gear on display. A kiosk with GPS units, action cameras, rangefinders, radios and other gear serves customers, but also conveys the message that your store is forward-thinking, embraces technology and is here to serve.
Customers look for sensory experiences when shopping for tech gear. You could set up a way-point trail around your store and parking lot that can be followed with a hand-held GPS, or have items hidden around a site that can be viewed through a riflescope or rangefinder, and then have the customer guess the distance before it is revealed via a rangefinder in the riflescope or spotting scope. Again, make the experience interactive and not static.
Smart retailers also offer batteries, carrying cases and protective covers, cleaning kits for optics and displays such as a weather station with outside gauges in operation. There are profits in accessories for tech gear much like firearms accessories.
Promote the Point
Technology is entering more and more categories. The one thing much of this gear has in common is a need for power. Whether the devices use batteries, can be plugged in to recharge, or both, you need to be prepared. Have demo units charged and ready for customer interaction. Remember to stock and sell power cords, charging devices and batteries. Even keeping external battery packs on display is not a bad idea. For the more expensive items, remember to secure those, especially the smaller ones, to the display with lock and cable to secure against theft.
Customers reveal important information — if you listen.”
High-tech gear has become so popular and sought out — like those expensive Apple phones that cause long lines when they are being released at midnight — that it’s as if consumers can’t get enough or want to be among the first to own. Embrace the hype, use it to your selling strategy advantage, and then help customers shop.
Stores can create displays of high-tech gear together in one location to attract more shopper attention. Just be certain to include touch points. These products are designed for activation and reaction, beyond just holding a box or seeing a picture.
Top Tech Gear to Tout
Many of the useful items hunters have used in the past are still around, but have incorporated numerous high-tech upgrades. These include:
1) Motorola T605 H20: This two-way handheld-radio will range up to 35 miles, operates about 24 hours on a charge, and has a built-in flashlight plus NOAA weather alert mode. Kit includes two radios, carrying case, chargers and more. Cost $150. www.motorolasolutions.com
2) Bushnell Impulse Trail Camera: This camera features ultra-fast dual processors that work simultaneously to take 1 picture per second, plus it can provide weather and wind data at the site. This camera has a GPS anti-theft alert that lets you know if it is being moved, and it delivers live camera views to your phone via AT&T or Verizon cellular options. Other features are a leveling arm, Bluetooth connectivity and it has 32MB storage. It will accept solar panel charging applications. It’s cloaked in Mossy Oak Bottomland camo, and MSRP is $355. www.bushnell.com
3) GoPro Hero 7 Black: This small camera permits livestreaming from the site, has stabilization built in, and offers Time Warp video so you can upload video faster. If you sell these, include the mounts for a firearm or onto a cap and the waterproof boxes. Retail $400; www.gopro.com
4) Bushnell Nitro Rangefinder: The Nitro uses 6X magnification and can range distances up to 1 mile away, plus it offers a bow or rifle mode. Info provided includes bullet drop and hold-over details from 100 to 800 yards. It has an easy-to-see LCD display, and the unit can be easily moved through modes — brush, scan and bull’s-eye. The exterior glass with EXO Barrier coating is water-, fog-, dust- and debris-resistant. This unit is compact and lightweight. MSRP $350.
5) Swarovski’s dS Smart digital riflescope: This top-of-the-line scope pinpoints the correct aiming point, reports distance to target and provides ballistic data in a heads-up display inside the riflescope. The info appears as an illuminated red horizontal line inside the view. Scope requires networking with a phone to custom upload ballistic data for your rifle. MSRP $5,000; www.swarovskioptik.com
6) Moultrie’s Mobile Trail Camera: This camera can send images from the field or forest to your phone via links through an affordable phone plan — starts at $10 a month. The camera can record and send video, and users must have a computer with an online account or Moultrie Mobile App installed on a phone or tablet to receive the images. MSRP $180; www.moultriefeeders.com
7) Caldwell Wind Wizard II: This is a handheld device for determining exact wind speeds that are then also used to calculate the trajectory of a bullet or arrow. The Wind Wizard can be used along with a ballistic calculator to increase your accuracy, plus it provides windchill info. MSRP $35; www.bti.com
8) CuddeLink Cell: This technology permits checking up to 16 trail cameras using only one cellular plan starting at $15 per month. This game camera can relaying images from camera to camera allowing you to cover 1,000s of acres and reach places that typical cell cameras can’t. More details are at www.cuddeback.com
9) Ozonics HR-230: This scent elimination system boasts a redesigned keypad with simplified icons for an improved user experience. DriWash mode “PULSE” technology makes this unit compatible with Ozonics’ DriWash Bag. The HR-230 provides silent on/off operation at the touch of a button and is designed for blind hunting or treestand hunting. A battery indicator shows current battery life left. MSRP is $400; www.ozonicshunting.com
10) Kestrel 5700 Elite Meter: Ballistic info is built in to this unit, and a unique heads up display (HUD) can provide weather information and is easy to use. Enter firearm info via Bluetooth and phone app or computer. It will work in mils for long range or MOA data for hunting applications. MSRP $600, www.kestrelinstruments.com or firearms info at www.kestrelballistics.com
BONUS: Where Art Thou?
Global positioning systems (GPS) were once only offered in bulky brick-size hand-held units, but now your location details are available in smartphones, tablets, and even some smart watches and fitness wearables. Handheld GPS units still rule with most outdoors users and hunters and are frequently used for navigating, tracking trips, tagging photo locations, and powering hundreds of map-driven apps. Today, handheld GPS units are available in a variety of sizes, designs and functionalities. The better ones for hunters have maps installed — or they can be downloaded to the unit using an app like onX Hunt. The great news is some maps and units show property lines with the precision a surveyor would envy.
- The Garmin GPSMAP 64s has a crisp color screen for map viewing, finds satellites quickly and provides precise data for boundary details. It provides 8GB of internal data storage, and MSRP is around $200. This company offers nearly a dozen GPS units at various price points and with many features. Most are easy to learn and use. Yes, you can get a unit to track your dog while in the field and hunting. www.garmin.com
- DeLorme inReachSE+ GPS will transmit messages in an emergency and has an easy-to-follow screen guide. It also has an emergency SOS button. The user must purchase a monthly plan. MSRP is around $400.
- Garmin EPIX is a wrist-watch style GPS with 1.5-inch wide screen that provides color maps, altitude info, and 8BG so you can upload maps. Connect IQ feature permits loading apps and other choices. Can provide maps through a satellite subscription. MSRP $550.
- Whistle 3 Pet GPS permits tracking of pet movement and locate assistance. You can set up a perimeter in your yard with a monthly plan and required phone app. It has nationwide pet tracking if the phone plan is purchased and can operate up to seven days on one charge. The hunting implications are obvious. MSRP $100; www.whistle.com.
