However, with most customers expecting to order out of the lavish BlackHawk catalog and online, you’re likely asking, “Why should they come to my store?” For several very good reasons.

First, if you have it in stock, they can look it over and “try before they buy.” Second, your cost gives you flexibility to lower the customer’s price slightly, making it more cost effective for them to buy from you instead of from the catalog at full retail. Third, if you have it in stock, your customers have instant gratification and the product in their hands, instead of waiting for shipping. Fourth, buying from your inventory saves them shipping costs. Fifth, you and your staff can answer their questions and show them how to use or adjust the product they want.

Mike Noell, who established BlackHawk, has rapidly expanded the company’s product line. He has added innovative new products every year and has attracted high-reputation manufacturers to broaden the product line still further. This translates to a larger opportunity for you to profit from offering BlackHawk products.

BlackHawk offers dealers an assortment of racks and other display options at low cost. One of the latest display stands holds the popular SERPA holster and one of the new BlackHawk dummy guns. This makes it easier for customers to appreciate the hidden release mechanism of the concealable security holster.

The holster can be displayed on an upright rack that allows the customer to stand next to the display and get a feel of drawing the dummy gun as if the holster was strapped to his belt. This is a definite “sales enhancer.” At the SHOT Show, the innovative display tool proved to be a people magnet. It will do the same in your store.

Gun dealers tell me the CQC carbon fiber concealable speed holster and, particularly, the similarly constructed but snatch-resistant SERPA, are their big sellers. The CQC is catching on big time in IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) competition, with world practical shooting champ Todd Jarrett currently using one in matches. I’m also seeing the SERPA on the hips of more plainclothes and off-duty cops, lawmen in administrative or fatigue uniforms, and ordinary private citizens who are wary of punks trying to snatch their guns.

BlackHawk offers a lot of crossover in its product lines, which is good for you and your customers. The SERPAs are a good example. In the uniform line (military and police), BlackHawk offers a lot of MOLLE gear. Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are starting to move away from thigh holsters, preferring chest holsters.

The reason: When standing waist-high in the hatch of a tank or other armored vehicle, they find it difficult to reach down through the narrow hatch to draw a pistol from the thigh, but can quickly reach it on the chest. The new BlackHawk MOLLE-style chest attachment works on GI-issue, load-bearing vests or on BlackHawk’s own improved products of that type.

BlackHawk’s flashlight division, Night-Ops, should have its newest gun-mounted light available by the time you read this. It is intended to be the smallest and most streamlined on the market, and it’s low-priced. You already know what a hot seller the attachable gun-mounted flashlight is in the civilian self-defense market.
BlackHawk will have a full line of holsters available that will accept a gun with the flashlight mounted. One variation, intended for snatch-resistance, will have a proprietary thumb-release lock.

Government testing takes forever and the government still buys on bid and is subject to budget. Americans who care about their friends, their sons and daughters and their spouses overseas will quick-draw their wallets when they find a commercial product that can make loved ones safer and more comfortable.

BlackHawk offers improved and approved-for-wear equipment ranging from lighter, more durable boots to the above-mentioned MOLLE gear, to sniper rifle “drag cases” that fold out into prone shooting pads, as well as better hydration systems, gloves and more.

BlackHawk’s new armor division has introduced an improved carrier for the standard-issue Interceptor Vest. Military regulations generally specify that issued body armor must be worn, but there is leeway when it comes to the carrier. The biggest complaint with the current issued carrier seems to be its uncomfortable shoulder straps. The more ergonomic BlackHawk carrier is designed to make the issued vest much more comfortable and less fatiguing.

Place one of the BlackHawk carriers on display, with a written explanation attached, and watch how many of your customers order them for uniformed Americans they care about.

Obviously, the fewer stock-keeping units you need to inventory, the more streamlined your product and cash flows. BlackHawk recognizes this and does what it can to make one product serve multiple uses and thus attract more purchasers. On many of the company’s low-priced nylon holsters, and some of their attractively priced Italian leather scabbards, adjustable thumb tab safety straps allow one holster to fit several gun models. This reduces the number of units you have tied up in inventory. The same high adjustability is found in BlackHawk’s load-bearing vests and other products.

For example, one new BlackHawk product is a neat quick-draw flashlight carrier designed around BlackHawk’s own high-tech Gladius light. However, it also will hold a SureFire Aviator and other modern, high-intensity flashlights in the same size range. This item is priced right for impulse purchase and should move well if displayed prominently in your flashlight section.

Sharing Profits

Perhaps the most useful sales tool BlackHawk offers is their colorful, attractive catalog. Place copies on your counters in strategic locations with a prominent sign that reads, “We can order BlackHawk gear for you!” You’ll probably be able to add, “At a discount!” Then place order forms at corresponding points behind those counter locations for you and your sales staff to write up the order. The well-written, well-illustrated catalogs do the job of selling the product, with a little help from you or one of your staff.

BlackHawk is growing rapidly and their product line has earned a reputation for quality. The company is reaching out to you to join them and share the profits.

Visit the company’s Web site, www.blackhawk.com, to view all the products offered. Call 1-800-694-5263, ext. 3453 to discuss all your options.