ORIGINAL: Rick James

I've come to the conclusion that most buyers are definitely buying on impulse when it comes to archery. The only thing that is going to hold someone up from going elsewhere to find it (other shop or internet) is a REALLY good relationship with your clients, and/or someone behind the counter that knows how to sell.

As far as knowing what you want when you walk in the door, I think that you will get skewed results on HNI. I do not think that the majority of archers are doing detailed research online before they buy, I think most see and/or hear about things on TV and in magazines and weigh that info equally with what the shop has to say about certain products.

I know when I was behind the counter at the shop still and people asked me what I use.........that's what they bought the majority of the time. I wasn't the kind of guy to push specific things without being asked, but if people did ask my opinion I would suggest what I personally was using at the time and would explain why.I really sold a lot of stuff that way and people seemed to really listen to what I had to say.

With this said, now that I'm no longer there and am on the consumer side of the counter in shops, I put very little stock into any recommendation that a shop might make to me (depending on who's suggesting). I do my own research and determine what I want, and if someone has something intelligent to say about something else I'll listen, but most of the time it's not going to sway my decision.