Thankfully the "outdoor sisterhood" to the rescue! My traveling companion, friend, outdoor sister and fellow woods runner Jane Kolmer, Owner, President, and creative genius at Action Graphics generously supplied me with this guest post about her "Social Experiment" during the NWTF convention. Welcome Jane and Thank YOU!
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| Jane (L) and our other Outdoor Sister Marti Davis(R) at the EAR,Inc. Booth examining the custom made hearing protection available |
A Social Experiment
It started out simply enough. While at the NWTF National convention in
Nashville, I decided to stop by the booth of a major gun manufacturer and ask
the guys working if they knew my son (Moms like to do that). On my first approach, the guys were busy
hustling around helping people get familiar with their weapons so it was easy
to see why they didn’t have time to look in my direction, after all, I wasn’t
going to buy a gun, I just wanted to talk.
They must have known that innately, so I decided I would come back
later.
On my second approach, all of the attendants were still busy
talking to attendees and showing them the latest and greatest in their product
line. I decided to hang around awhile
and look at the firearms in their booth and wait for a pause in the action to
say “hey”. After all, I am a firearms
fan, so spending a little time admiring and handling their product was not an
unpleasant way to spend my time. After
about 10 minutes, I decided they were all still too busy and went on my way
with the intention of coming back again after my “rounds”.
I am in the market for a new handgun, so I headed over to
the Ruger table. Ruger had a really nice
display of several cabled handguns. It
was crowded, so I had to push my way to the handguns. After the third fellow gun enthusiast bumped
me out of the way I started to get a little testy, so I pushed my way back in
to get a better look and claim my space at the table. Picking up each gun for better inspection I
found one I thought might be a good fit and tried to get the salesman’s
attention. Funny, he didn’t seem to see
me. He did however see the guy next to
me, and every guy after that who approached the table. He even managed to address
them with comments like “Nice isn’t it?” and “Do you have any questions?” I
started to sense something may be amiss.
After all, I was personally responsible for most of the
firearms in our home’s multiple gun safes.
I grew up with guns. I like guns,
believe in the 2nd Amendment and had money in my wallet. What was the problem?
A quick self check assured me that I hadn’t mistakenly worn
my cloak of invisibility to the show. I
think I looked like I could afford a gun.
I was dressed neatly and even took a shower before I left the hotel. Then it came to me… the purse. I was carrying a designer purse. Must be the purse! No prospective gun buyer wears a purse. None of the hard-hitting female outdoors
shooters and writers I was hanging with that weekend carried a purse. They all had fanny packs and backpacks. So I ditched the purse and bought a $14 camo
backpacks and headed back to Ruger.
Nope, wasn’t the purse.
I still couldn’t manage to gain the attention of an attendant. A warm sensation started crawling up my neck. It was a mixture of dawning awareness, anger
and a dash of hurt feelings. Surly
not. Not here. Not at NWTF where I have personally been a
sponsor for the past decade plus. Was
my invisibility because I am a… woman? I
mean, I was a little surprised when I registered for the show and they didn’t
have any record of me, my business, or
the fact that I had been a NWTF sponsor for most of my adult life. But they did finally find me (under my
husband’s name, even though it was my business that was the NWTF sponsor and my
work that had been donated to the NWTF over the years). And I was kind of taken back when the retiree
working the door said “I’ve got your partner right here, Baby” when I hit the
convention floor the day before. But in
my everyday world sexism isn’t an issue.
My days are full of power hitting outdoors women and business
people. So this new sensation caught me
off guard and my “social experiment” had officially begun.
During the course of the next two days I systematically
visited every gun dealer at the convention multiple times. With every stop, my suspicions were
reinforced. Not even after I scored a
sharp looking Camo vest from my buddy Sparky Sparks at M2D Camo could I get gun
attendants to ask if they could help me. The knife dealers could see me, why couldn’t
the gun dealers? I think Remmington was the biggest disappointment (they are my
gun of choice) because they even had a female attendant. Why WAS she there? A token perhaps?
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| Jane withe her new M2D Camo Vest Courtesy of M2D President "Sparky" ; who was more than happy to spend lots of time talking with both Jan and myself! |
On my fifth visit to the manufacturer my son works for my
social experiment was officially completed.
Being the only person in the booth and with my hands on their guns, all
three attendants turned their backs on me, walked to the aisle and stood at
attention looking for better prospects.
So I did what anybody would do at that point. I walked up to the closest one, touched him
on the arm, looked him directly in the eye and said “Hey, do you know my son”?
Posts
26 comments:
Wake up people!! Women are in this industry too, and we are here to stay.
Thanks for all of the comments of support. I think it is important to point out that
while Ruger and Remmington were named specifically in my post, the results of
my experiment were across the board with EVERY gun manufacturer present. In trying to limit the length of my post, I
left out several of my attention seeking antics. There was the booth where I pulled down my
reading glasses and put my nose within 2 inches of a gun inspecting the finish
like a scientist looking under a microscope.
This endeavor lasted a good five minutes, (within a foot of an attendant
who was staring at me the entire time) without once being asked if I could be
helped. And there was the booth where I
said out loud “Wow this is nice, I wonder how much it costs” within a foot of
an attendant, also staring at me, etc.
I am aware that at any given time I could have said “HEY, a
little attention PLEASE!” with my best “I’m gonna kick your butt if you don’t
come over here look”. That would have undoubtedly
snapped even the most unobservant attendant out of their “haze of preconception”. But that really wasn’t the point. The point was the blatant difference in the
way men approaching the booth were prospected and the way I was not prospected –
at all.
Here’s the deal. I
have owned my own business for over 20 years.
I am acutely aware of how important each and every one of my customers are. No customers= no business. Over the years I have learned never to
underestimate a potential client. One of
my best customers was a young man in his very early 20s that nobody else took
seriously. He ended up spending an
average of $25,000 a year with my company for nearly a decade. If I ever realized that a certain demographic
of customers was being excluded by my sales force, I would want to know. Then I would make sure I placed training in
force to fix it. If women are ignored by
gun manufacturers, they are ignoring a very significant market share. And
putting a girl in the booth to make them look “female friendly” or target
marketing with pink girly gear is just doesn’t cut it.
While telling the attendant at the video sunglasses booth my
story, he said “Let’s face it, men are pigs!” and went on to tell me a story
about how the men’s room was a mess. I
think he missed the point. I don’t think
men are pigs. I love men, and I love being a woman. I don’t think their actions were to
intentionally exclude me. They just
weren’t thinking about me as a customer.
I don’t like being underestimated or ignored and I don’t think men like
that either.
Knowledge is power.
With posts like this, your comments, and “sharing” on media outlets like
facebook, we can communicate that knowledge to the people who can make a
difference. So please, share away! And if I
hear from any of the manufacturers that were there, I will certainly let you
know.
I'm very disappointed to read this article as well. Shows are always
busy and it's difficult to find time to talk with everyone, but this
woman's experience was unfortunate. Women are not ignored by Ruger, we
value and respect their choice to be gun owners. We know that women are
intelligent, competent firearms enthusiasts - perhaps that's why they
let me, a woman, run this Facebook page. This story has been shared with
our sales department and management team and will be a learning
experience for us all. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and
we sincerely apologize for the author's poor experience."
It's ridiculous to be treated this way in this day and age and I'm very glad you called them out on it.
The really sad part is that half the time the people in the booths that treat you this way are volunteers or "pro-staffers" and don't necessarily represent the sentiments of the company.
It's a tough situation all the way around and I'm glad you handled it in a professional manner.
http://carriezylka.wordpress.com/page/23/
Response: I am sorry that you were upset after reading this article. I spoke with several of our representatives at the SHOT show and they assure me that they do their best to speakto everyone who approaches the table and they never would ignore questions from any customer. Unfortunately, these shows are very crowded and it is not always easy to make eye contact and to address everyones questions. We appreciate our customers and always make our best effort to help. Customers can also call our customer service and speak to someone about a particular gun and we will spend as much time with them as they need.As a woman shooter myself, I do appreciate you letting us know your concerns and for sending us this article.
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