Ambassadors of the Brand

O

orezona

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Feb 13, 2015
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So this last weekend I went up to Oregon to visit some friends and get away from the heat out here in the Phoenix area.

Ended up stopping by Oregon City on the way down from PDX to Newport and went into a Fisherman's Marine and Outdoor because my buddy wanted to pick up some tackle.

I wandered over to the knife counter and perused their selection which actually pretty good. Being that it was Oregon City, there was a disproportionate amount of Benchmade knives in there mainly because the BM HQ was right up the street.

I couldn't help noticing however that their selection only had one KA-BAR FK and no Beckers...

In talking with the clerk I had to tell them how great of a line it was (he wasn't all that familiar probably because he came over from the firearms section to see if I needed help) and how adding them to their line up would likely net sales. The guy wasn't management and I didn't have time to seek out someone who might have been a decision maker but it seems every time I find myself out in a retail setting I try to hype up the Becker line of KA-BAR knives because dammit, they are awesome!

Do you guys find yourselves doing the same sort of thing when you're out shopping and disappointed to see no Beckers in the selection that's available?
 
I don't really try to suggest what other companies should buy, as they tend to be offended rather than thankful. I didn't think about it until you mentioned it, but I have only seen two Beckers in town. They were both 2s in pawnshops, and boy were they proud of the price.
 
I will do this if either of the two following conditions are met: they have a decent knife selection and/or carry kabar already.

If they are some small mom and pop shop, then it isn't likely they can afford to buy in, and if they dont carry the kabar brand already, then a new brand might be a hard sell for a branch of the parent company.
 
I'm an ambassador to the brand with the people I know, never to the businesses I frequent. I figure they know what they want to sell, who am I to suggest another brand for them when they might have already considered and declined selling them?

My friends, on the other hand, get the full ambassador treatment: I've already sold one my 11 and have a second 15 en route to my house which I'm selling to another friend. Gotta pimp out BK&T to everybody I know, it's probably the best production brand I've found so far as far as quality-to-price goes.
 
Like KingMC says, I will more passionately assert the virtues of BK&T products to a person I know than to a business.

I have been known to go into a knife store and ask if they have any Becker Knives but that's it - to a smart businessman, enough people doing that should be enough.
 
KingMC said:
I'm an ambassador to the brand with the people I know, never to the businesses I frequent. I figure they know what they want to sell, who am I to suggest another brand for them when they might have already considered and declined selling them?

My friends, on the other hand, get the full ambassador treatment: I've already sold one my 11 and have a second 15 en route to my house which I'm selling to another friend. Gotta pimp out BK&T to everybody I know, it's probably the best production brand I've found so far as far as quality-to-price goes.
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Ditto. I've "sold" over 20 people just on the BK11 just using it to cut open packages in the post office. Now, whether or not they actually went out and bought one is unknown. (I give'm Tomars site as he has decent prices, is a BF supporter and it's easy for them to remember) , but most thought it was a great size and the "multi-tool function" bottle opener was a real selling feature for several off them. The tweeners have received a lot of (positive) comments as I'll occasionally substitute them for my standard EDCs (shorty Kabars).

Due to what's legal to carry in public here in Texas, people have to be in the right place to see the larger Beckers - at the shop while I'm working on them in some manner, in my vehicle while loading and i just flat pull them out and show them if they ask. About a year ago, I received a NIB BK1 in the mail and had it in the car (along with a 2,3,4,5,7,9,15,16,17 - I was in the process of building laser jigs for all of them) when I met some folks for lunch. Know I'm into knives, one of the asked "Well, Z, what new knife have you gotten lately?" "Funny, you should ask, I just got a brand spanking new, never used Camillus Becker BK1." And went on in an explanation (read - long winded diatribe) about Beckers in general, the bankruptcy of Camillus and the rebirth of Beckers via Kabar." After lunch they asked to see this "vision of steel beauty". We went out to my car, popped the rear hatch and I took the 1 out of it's box and passed it around. The first guy held it a moment and said, "Sxvc, I like this, How much do you want for it?" My reply, "Not for sale, but you can get these at Tomars." and opened my large orange tool box full of knives and started passing out knives."

Now since then the 3 have bought between them a trio of 9s, a couple each of the 2s, 4s, 5s, 7s, and an unknown number of tweeners/neckers. One of the guys has bought every large Becker except a 3. I'm still working on him on that one. :D

Now why did these guys buy all these knives? Well, partially due to my gushing about them, but mainly because they actually got to hold one. They were sold on 2 main things - the name of Kabar behind it and the handle ergonomics. No "brick and mortar" really sells Beckers down here in Texas for some reason (Cabella's will occasionally have a 2 or a tweener in stock). If I can get someone to hold a Becker, they're sold.

SALTY said:
Like KingMC says, I will more passionately assert the virtues of BK&T products to a person I know than to a business.

I have been known to go into a knife store and ask if they have any Becker Knives but that's it - to a smart businessman, enough people doing that should be enough.
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There's several stores that I do that with as well. I'll go in, look at their knife selection and when the clerk asks if they can help me, I'll just shake my head and say "Nope, I was looking for Kabars and Beckers."
 
I've already convinced one of my friends to get the BK15 and he loves it. Working on others. I know I can wear them down...

But yes, I get the point about being pushy with business owners. I brought it up with the one guy last weekend because I did notice they had KA-BAR but it was mostly just conversation.
 
One time I was at a store and I asked to see a BK4. The clerk was vaguely familiar with Beckers but not with the BK4 but before putting the knife away he had to fondle it himself. He said he was going to have to buy one, and I didn't even have to talk him into it.
 
Nice work :thumbup:

I've gotten the 9, 2, 16 and maybe a few others in my local mall's knife/airsoft/mall ninja/tacticool store. I'm not sure how many real knife users end up there, but I feel like it had to be a good thing that there are some quality tools mixed in with the movie replica swords and nunchuks. The owner is a really cool guy and he helped me out with a bunch of orders as I was trying to do business with local brick and mortar stores........... but man, it is hard not to shop entirely online these days.

Also, I ordered my bk9 from this store the week before the owner went to blade show a few years ago. He ended up seeking out and meeting Ethan and I really think this little transaction made him a Becker fan even though he wasn't familiar with the line previously.

On a side note, people like Dex make me feel awesome about shopping online. Once you go Dex you never go back!
 
zzyzzogeton said:
Now why did these guys buy all these knives? Well, partially due to my gushing about them, but mainly because they actually got to hold one. They were sold on 2 main things - the name of Kabar behind it and the handle ergonomics. No "brick and mortar" really sells Beckers down here in Texas for some reason (Cabella's will occasionally have a 2 or a tweener in stock). If I can get someone to hold a Becker, they're sold.
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This, this, this. Getting my hands on a BK2 at a gunshow was what finally sold me. And when I showed it to my Brother-in-law and he held it, he got hooked too - he bought BK3's as gifts for me and his brother and a 3 and a 9 for himself.
 
My local Benchmade dealer is now carrying most of the Becker line because of our conversations on what knives I use. Showed him a few and we went through the order guide and he brought in what I recommended.
 
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