High Standards

As a young editor I was fortunate to have been mentored by an older hand, one who showed me the ropes and helped turn me from a raw recruit to a seasoned professional. I’ve always tried to live up to the high standards he set for me—and himself. He was an incredible role model.

For Skyler Thomas, his role model was a former Navy SEAL who imparted to him a deep commitment to developing leadership skills. But, as he relates to SHOT Business on page TK, the real “aha” moment in his career occurred when he visited a firearms store while he was working as a professional firearms trainer.

He asked to see a Glock. The older gentleman behind the counter scoffed at his request, and in a surly tone told him, "Why would you or anyone else want a plastic gun?" He then shook his head in disgust as he handed him the pistol. 

The interaction deteriorated from there, and a stunned Thomas thought, How does this store stay in business? What would it be like for a first-time purchaser?

What would that shooter do for training? Go see this guy? No!

It was a pivotal moment in his life, and it set him on a course to sell firearms and teach firearms training to the public. A few years later, after assembling a group of investors, Thomas founded Freedom Shooting Center by taking over an existing Virginia Beach facility in 2018.

That was the first step. The second was re-aligning the staff. “There were staff members who were single-task focused and not always very friendly,” he says. “There was often a sense that each staff member had to one-up each other. I saw barriers at every turn that could stop a sale dead in its tracks. The store and range were neither customer or team focused.”

What to do?

Thomas quickly transitioned the team to a customer-focused approach and began cross-training every staff member. “There are five basic jobs in our store—sales, customer service, range work, memberships, and rental,” he says. “I wanted every staff member to be able to do any, and all, of the five. Today, when a customer asks or needs something in a different department, no one has to say, ‘That guy is out to lunch; you'll have to wait an hour.’”

Thomas made it clear that he expected all staffers to focus on the needs of the customer. “I insisted that the staff treat every customer in a manner that would make them feel wanted and appreciated,” he says. As the new strategies evolved, the staff members who didn’t buy into his program departed on their own terms. But many did stay, and with new hires he now has 85 full- and part-time employees.

Freedom Shooting Center now sees 4,000 clients a week come through the doors. It’s an incredible success story, one based on great leadership and an unwavering commitment to customer service. When you set high standards, good things happen.