Why do dealers press a certian brand over another?

It could depend on several things... It could be how a company stands behind its product; how much marketing support does it receive in national publications (this saves the dealer much of his own money in "getting the word out" and creating demand), what's the warranty service like, how's the company to deal with on a personal level, what's his local rep like, and does he or she take care of the dealer on a personal level.

Personal biases certainly enter into the picture, too. What does the dealer like, if given a choice?

Don't forget margins, either. How profitable is one bow over another? For example, I work in medical sales... I'm constantly trying to switch my docs and hospital labs over to our private-label products. In all most every case, the product is exactly the same as the nationally-recognized brand -- and what's more -- I sell both. But they're manufactured by the same person -- even have the same package inserts. But I make better margin on the private-label products, and can oftentimes save hospitals money over the "name-brand" stuff AND come away with a higher gross profit for myself and my company. Which one do I push? The one that makes me the money.

Now -- as in the above medical example, those are with all things being equal. Sometimes a dealer pushes a certain brand because that's all he or she has access to. My favorite local archery shop sells Mathews and Hoyt because they were too late to the game in trying to pick up Bowtech. They waited too late and lost those distribution rights to a shop within the 30-mile radius. Of course, one of the reasons they're my favorite shop is that they're classy enough to never bad-mouth the competition (even though they know I'm affiliated with Bowtech, they'd never do it anyway). So guess what? They push Mathews and Hoyt because that's what they have to sell.