Tooling Up for Success

A combination of innovative products and complementary packaging helps keep Real Avid ahead of the pack.

By Slaton L. White

After spending 20 years in various merchant roles with big-box retailers, Dave Steiner joined Revo Brands in late 2014 as the general manager of Real Avid. At that time, the brand was primarily known for its gun multi-tools. Over the past eight years, though, the brand has grown ten times its former size by putting an unrelenting focus on leading with “on-trend” innovation and by measuring success the same way retailers measure success—by delivering consistent sales growth and profitability and by delighting their consumers. Under Steiner’s leadership, Real Avid remains committed to creating the “best-possible experience,” which is why he believes world-class shooters, gun do-it-yourselfers, and new gun owners choose Real Avid as their favorite brand for cleaning, maintaining, and building guns.

SHOT Business: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the industry in the next five years?

Dave Steiner: Based on the past few years, it may be that the unpredictability of the marketplace is the biggest challenge. It seems as though the one thing we can count on is that the factors influencing consumer demand and production are constantly changing. For Real Avid, staying focused on what we can control is paramount. We need to identify trends quickly, build product to satisfy underserved consumers, and have it available to our retail partners as fast as possible.

SB: What opportunities do you see?

DS: There is always opportunity to bring game-changing product ideas to the industry. Our retail partners know this and expect Real Avid to deliver innovation year after year. Our optimism, based on real sell-through data, gives us the confidence to try new things, knowing that the consumer will react with their pocketbook. When this happens, our independent retailers succeed. And their success becomes our success.

SB: When you get up in the morning, what gets you excited about working in the industry?

DS: I’ve had the opportunity to work in a variety of industries throughout my career. Hands down (with no close second) the people who live and work in this space are the best. The hearts and souls of outdoor enthusiasts (my team, our business partners, our consumers) make up an industry that I feel privileged and fortunate to work in. We all care deeply about our outdoor passions. We share many important values, and we want to see each other continue to preserve these commonalities as we work to grow the marketplace. Simply put, I’m having a blast doing what I do because of the people I get to do it with.

SB: How will you meet the expectations of your customers? 

DS: I actually hope we can exceed their expectations. We keep it very simple: listen, partner, and focus on making them successful. We don’t think of them as customers; we think of them as business partners. We’re not afraid to roll up our sleeves and work alongside of them, both figuratively and literally. No ivory towers exist at Real Avid.

SB: In a very competitive world, how does Real Avid stay ahead of the pack?

DS: It’s kind of you to suggest that we might be ahead of the pack. We will continue to try to do our best to bring innovation to the marketplace. Much of the time this is about product innovations, but we are also working hard to make the in-store experience different.

SB: You recently launched the Pro Shop Upgrade program. How does the program work? What are the benefits for your dealers? 

DS: It’s a program that was built through collaboration with our retail partners. It was not something we just dreamed up and then tried to sell. It was created by retailers for retailers, and top independent dealers throughout the country were involved in building the concept. The main goal of the Pro Shop is to create a simple, yet compelling shopping environment in which both the sales associate and the consumer can quickly find what they are looking for. It also makes the shop look great.

Our brand can provide the store and the consumer a complete gun-maintenance experience with a “one-stop shop” that provides customers with not only cleaning chemicals, cleaning kits, and components, but multi-tools, build tools, and gunsmith tools as well. When all this comes together, our partners see sales skyrocket. They also enjoy great margin rates and fast-turning inventory. For many dealers, our Pro Shop is the “easy button” because we are there from start to finish. We size it right for their space, we set it up, we make it easy to reorder. And it’s all done with just one brand.

SB: You have said, “Our product packaging has always captured the attention of the consumer.” How does it do this? 

DS: We try to keep it simple with strong messages on the front and more detailed explanations on the back. Calling out the gun platform also helps the consumer find what they are looking for easily.

SB: Real Avid seems to focus on simple things, such as cleaning brushes and jags, exemplified by the Bore-Max Speed Clean System. What’s in the company DNA that allows you to be successful in this area? 

DS: Our founders are entrepreneurial, innovative, and creative people. We look for and hire talent capable of thinking the same way, too. When we put a bunch of smart, creative, collaborative, and passionate gun enthusiasts in a room, good things happen. From the most basic product needs like our new Speed Brushes to the most sophisticated tool like our new Armorer’s Master Vise, it is in our DNA to make the best tools for the job. (realavid.com)