Developing a good FFL relationships

Who is guarding their preferred FFL like a secret recipe? This forum is very vocal about the good and bad FFLs. I've never met a gun guy not offer up a shop that they've had a good experience with. Also, whoever can get the gun for you is probably the shop that you should continue to support.
I will add some good ones
Roaches, FairGround Trader, Zero Hour, FSguns, B&K sales, KitteryTP, plimoth bay, Outback Arms, gunrunner, South Shore Tactical,
Some may or may not still exist
 
It's call rapport. Start by saying hello and being friendly. Some people use the FORD system to guide in their conversation. That's family, occupation, recreation, dreams. Hello Mr FFL how are things going today? Are your kids looking forward to summer? Work must be keeping you busy. How's your golf going? Did you buy that cottage in Maine yet?
 
You buy a lot of guns from the FFL and you do it without nickel and diming them like most gun owners.
yep, and this kind of customer is rare, not throwing the internet pricing in their face. i get a kick out of people who like to post they help keep the lights on at their local shop cause they purchase a pack of cleaning patches twice a year like they were doing someone a favor. there's tire kickers, patch buyers and loyal customers. which one are you? can you guess which one will have their name remembered?
 
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yep, and this kind of customer is rare, not throwing the internet pricing in their face. i get a kick out of people who like to post they help keep the lights on at their local shop cause they purchase a pack of cleaning patches twice a year like they were doing someone a favor. there's tire kickers, patch buyers and loyal customers. which one are you? can you guess which one will remember names?

Remember talking to Mark (owner) at Holliston Firearms when he was going out of business. He was selling everything at a discount and the place was packed with guns flying out of the shop. He told me that if he only had 1/10th of that business he wouldn’t be going out of business. He was a great guy and I bought a bunch of firearms from him. I remember walking in the first time and looking at an AR. He point blank told me he couldn’t sell it as low as Four Seasons. No biggie as I didn’t mind paying a little more to have a place local to me.
 
How much time do you spend just chatting with your FFL? Do you stop by now and then just to check out what they have? If you find a gun on that you want on the internet, do you call him first to see if he can get it for you? If he can’t, or his price is going to be way too high (since he can’t get the discounts the big boys get) do you offer to kick in a bit more for the transfer than his normal fee so he sees some profit from the transaction? If you only go in once or twice a year to buy a specific gun or do a transfer from one of the big internet guys and don’t spend anytime actually cultivating a relationship, then you’ll never have anything other than a strict transitional one.
 
OP, I feel your struggle. I pin the FFL owner to the ground and piss on him. It works great. Now I have a bunch of FFLs that treat me good. You can also try biting them, I heard that works as well. @Roland Deschain

Honestly, I start talking sh*t about Bass Pro and Cabelas. What a ripoff they are and how people should support local FFLs. I dont force it, it just comes out at the right time. From there, we start talking.

Another thing I do is compliment their store. Some are super organized. I went to one that looked like a cool tactical room you would find in a movie and we start talking. They will tell you where they got them from, how they will expand ... but I genuinely care, I like to learn random stuff.

Basically, just talk to people but don't force it.

Some are just d*cks, like that dude that used to work at Hunter Trading Post that was always waiting for someone to make the wrong move to shoot them.
 
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