Where do you draw inspiration for your pro shop retailing strategy? Like many, you might compare notes and otherwise commiserate with a group of like-minded archery retailers, but one winning strategy might be closer to the polar opposite: How about looking outside the archery industry for a fresh new approach?

For insight, I spoke with the general manager of one of the Midwest’s most successful archery retailers, someone who has seen his fair share of boom times and struggling economies. Dan Ellyson is the owner/general manager of A-1 Archery in Hudson, Wisconsin. He knows that relying on the excitement of innovative new products to increase yearly pro shop sales is a time-honored tack, and great when it happens, but luckily, is far from the only option. 

“Once you get to a point where you’ve been doing this for 10 years, things can become stale,” said Ellyson. “Personally, I’m always looking for inspiration that can impact my shop. Maybe you’re out with your family, you go to the mall, you’re visiting other types of (retail) shops. I think if you’re doing things right, you’re always trying to make your job easier, display product better, make your shop more efficient. I’m always on the lookout for that.”

As we spoke, I learned quickly that Ellyson is a bit more proactive than most when it comes to keeping an eye out for potential shop upgrades. Another example he gave is arriving at a party or other social gathering where you might soon be talking with someone in a different industry. It might be a great time to reap some wisdom that comes at things from a different perspective.

“Usually, what you’ll find is you’re not separated by much, and you’re having the same types of struggles. It’s really no different than the manufacturers finding innovative products; as archery shop owners we have to continually look for innovative ways to get the consumer excited to buy them from us.”

Why Cycle Shops are Comparable

Where to find sales-inspiring examples in your daily life? Well, prime examples are all around you if you’re looking.

“I don’t really care to ride bikes unless they’re electric, but if I do get the opportunity, one of my favorite shops to go into are bike shops,” Ellyson said. “It’s because they not only offer service, but also products that cover a wide spectrum, and with several levels of pricing. To my mind, bike shops are probably the closest thing that I can find to archery pro shops. 

“I can remember at least 15 years ago, I walked into a bike shop in Minnesota, and was amazed at how they showed off their inventory, with bikes hanging from the ceiling by their tires. Instantly, I knew that I needed to have bows hanging from the ceiling, rather than have them in their boxes. It just looked very impressive. Within a week, I had our bows hanging from the ceiling, just because I saw that. And then that morphed into hanging our crossbows from the ceiling, and then, hanging all our left-handed (vertical) bows from the ceiling. Currently all of our left-handed bows are hung from the ceiling, and our right-handed bows go on the wall; it’s worked out great.”

Inspiration From Auto Parts Stores

After our recent discussion I’d say a big part of Ellyson’s ability to absorb new ideas is he’s consciously on the lookout for them. Once you open your mind to possibilities, things begin to click. 

“There are some things I’m always looking for, and those include how to make more of our products more interactive with customers, and how to improve efficiency — how can I increase the efficiency of our organization, our bow work, and contacting customers,” Ellyson said. “And then there’s increasing the efficiency of our product data. It’s really hard to remember [the details and specs of] everything that you sell, and arrows are a good example.”

Ellyson explained that his shop carries arrow brands from five or six different manufacturers, with each brand offering 10 or more different arrows at multiple price points. Even for industry retailer veterans, keeping all those specs up in their mental computer is daunting. 

“A lot of the stuff you can memorize, but one time I was in an O’Reilly Auto Parts store, looking for windshield wipers,” Ellyson recalled. “I look and see there’s a manual to help you make your choice. I picked up this book, and in less than a minute I knew which windshield wiper I needed. That inspired me to build a similar book, listing all of the arrows we carry, with weights, approximate FOCs, and all the pertinent specs. I built two of these books back in 2019, and set them up by my arrows. 

“When things are busy and people come in looking for recommendations on arrows, we can point them to look into that book, see all the different arrow models we carry. And then, when we get to you, maybe you know what you want — maybe that book has helped you narrow it down. That not only saves us time, but it also gives the customer more knowledge, too. 

“Sometimes you’re trying to solve your own problem in life, and it just so happens you figure it out by seeing the solution in shops outside the industry. If you do some searching, you’ll likely find that someone, somewhere has figured it out already.”

Influence of a Tech Giant

Most everyone these days is heavily invested in technology, because it permeates most every aspect of our lives. As strange as it sounds, Ellyson has taken some retailing tips from a mega electronics/technology retailer that — much like archery retailers — was once thought to be on its way out due to online sales competition. And yet, much like the best archery retailers who were similarly threatened by online e-tailers, Best Buy remains a brick-and-mortar retailing giant.

“I love going to Best Buy. I do,” Ellyson said. “I just think it's a much better experience versus online. I go in there, they’re not really that impressive, there’s not a lot of staff, but once you get somebody, you get their full attention, and they’re very knowledgeable. They’re not more expensive than Amazon, but everything is out there for you to look at. And once you decide on something, they go and get it for you, and they offer you service. I like that experience. And that’s why in this day and age, they’re still relevant.

“I draw inspiration from Best Buy because they also have some neat interactive displays. While I’m not a gamer, I Iike to see all the new controllers, and they have a display where you can see and use them hooked up with the latest graphics, and it’s pretty cool to look at.”

The Best Buy interactive display reminds Ellyson that the current state of the archery industry is lacking in interactive sales tools.

“I think manufacturers can do a better job of giving dealers tools to sell their products. Just coming up with interactive ways to sell the product. Currently there’s very little formally given to the retailers, and they used to do things like that regularly. 

“Mathews came up with Harmonic Dampers, and they gave you a metal riser and it had a Harmonic Damper in it, and one without a Harmonic Damper. We would drop it on the floor and the noise would almost break your ear drums. That was probably the most incredible selling tool that any company has ever done from an archery standpoint.  And Double Bull Blinds, we sold hundreds of them, and what was really cool was that you could pop it up in 10 seconds and drop it in 10 seconds. Giving dealers a tool to sell a product is huge.”

Sidebar: The Outfitting Advantage

It might not be outside the industry, but an archery pro shop owning an outfitting business as a “side hustle” is most certainly thinking outside the box. A-1 Archery based in Hudson, Wisconsin, has been around for 36 years, and since 2007, has also owned Tombstone Creek Outfitters based in northern Missouri. By most any measure, it’s been a great marriage of symbiotic businesses.

As you might guess, Tombstone Creek is booked regularly with faithful customers of A-1, looking to find success using all their new bowhunting gear. Tombstone Creek offers semi-guided hunts for both Show-Me State whitetails and Eastern turkeys, on more than 20,000 acres of managed lands. However, the impact on A-1 goes far beyond creating hunting opportunities and success for its customers. The side business has elevated A-1’s status to an absolute and trusted authority. Does that equate to more gear sales? Absolutely.

“Because we own the outfitting business, it’s almost like you become more relevant, and the things we say hold more truth, because of the fact that we also operate an outfitting business,” Ellyson said. 

Further explaining the “truth” comment, Ellyson said a fringe benefit of operating the bowhunting-only camp for 18 years has been the detailed records it has kept on the performance of all types of bowhunting gear used there, info it passes on to its customers. As one example, A-1 has 18 years of real-world hunt data on the effectiveness of mechanical vs. fixed broadheads, including the performance of specific brands, length of recovery, and even finer details including shot distance and where the animal was hit.

“If you had 100 bowhunters come through a camp, just imagine the data that you can collect on all their gear and its performance. All the data we’ve accumulated allows us to become very knowledgeable and speak in truth about what we say; it just makes it more relevant to our customers. It’s another innovative way to capture their attention.”