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SIG Sauer is now the largest firearms manufacturer in the world. Dealer support is a big reason for the company’s success.

The shooting sports industry has witnessed several success stories over the years—and none may be more impressive than the rise of SIG Sauer. For more than a decade, this manufacturer has been a leader in expanding product lines and launching new programs for retailers and shooters. In doing so, SIG has become the largest firearms manufacturer in the world.

Vision for Growth

Tom Taylor, SIG Sauer’s chief marketing officer and executive vice president of sales, has played a key role in the company’s growth and transformation. Around the time that Taylor joined SIG in 2015, the company was beginning to expand their product offerings to include optics, ammo, suppressors, air guns, and more. SIG went on to win more than three dozen U.S. military contracts as well as dozens more worldwide. Taylor credits much of the growth to SIG’s CEO Ron Cohen’s hard work, vision, and willingness to take chances.

“It’s fascinating that this company is over 270 years old, but it wasn’t until Ron got here that the real explosion started around 2015,” Taylor says. “Ron was open to new ideas. He challenged people to work very hard, and it has inspired so many ideas. Ron came here when SIG was a $40 million company losing $10 million a year and an afterthought to the German ownership. Now the German factories are closed, the guns are all made in America, and

Ron leads this company. We’re the largest entity in the industry now. I’ve spent eight years working for Ron and watching him as SIG has evolved into what it has ultimately become. He’s a great leader and a great mentor.”

Focus on the Dealer

During his first couple of years at SIG Sauer, Taylor spent the majority of his time and efforts revamping the company’s commercial sales division. Today, SIG boasts the largest direct sales force in the shooting sports industry.

Taylor then shifted his attention to marketing and communications, helping SIG Sauer develop a robust social media and digital marketing presence. Throughout his time at SIG, one thing that has remained a constant for Taylor is his dedication to independent retailers.

“A big part of my focus in the industry has always been the dealer,” Taylor says.

“Supporting the grassroots brick-and-mortar retail stores has always been something that I’ve viewed as one of the most important things we can do. You can get enamored with the bulk sale to a distributor or even a box store because it’s such large volume, but at the end of the day, we’ll always need our brick-and-mortar dealers because they are the backbone of our industry.”

Developing Elite Stores

From firearms, ammo, and accessories to elite training, SIG Sauer offers a complete system for shooters. To capitalize on their unparalleled product diversity, the company approached their largest dealers a few years ago with a revolutionary new concept—a SIG store within gun stores. The response from dealers was overwhelmingly positive, so SIG proceeded with developing their Elite Dealer program. Elite Stores are required to dedicate at least 400 square feet to display the full range of SIG products inside a SIG-branded space.

“We went in and we paid for it,” Taylor says. “We didn’t ask them to pay for anything. It started with a few stores, and it’s now evolved to about 50 stores throughout the country. To be honest with you, that’s kind of where we like it. They have proven to be very loyal, very high volume, very knowledgeable dealers for us.”

Building Dealer Loyalty

In 2015, SIG expanded their efforts by bringing dealer owners, along with their spouses or guests, to the SIG Sauer headquarters in New Hampshire for a week-long learning experience.

“We gave them factory tours. They spent time with Ron. We took them to SIG Academy to shoot. We took them out to dinner. We even took them on a sunset cruise one evening—we just bonded with the owners. We invited the owners for a couple of different events and we paid for all of it—plane flights, training, food, the whole nine yards,” Taylor says. “We brought all of them here and said we want you to be immersed in our factory and our people in order to understand us. If you’re going to support us in your store, we want to invest in you by making

Ultimately SIG expanded the program to include managers and sales associates and branded this dealer experience “SIG CHALK.” (In military terminology, a chalk is a group of paratroopers that deploys from a single aircraft. Given the intensity of the program, it’s an apt moniker.) More than 700 gun-store owners, managers, and sales associates have participated in this all-inclusive immersion (including shooting SIG products to gain valuable insight on key product features) at SIG’s New Hampshire facilities, all expenses paid. This includes Elite Dealers, Master Dealers (stores who support SIG at a high-level in a traditional space), and other dealers who purchase from distributors. The program has generated double-digit sales increases at the participating gun stores.

To further support dealers, SIG developed the SIG Rewards App. Four years after launching, more than 3,500 gun stores are participating in SIG Rewards. More than 11,000 counter sales associates use the SIG Rewards App to scan and earn points.

“One of the most amazing statistics I’ve seen in my business career is that of the 11,000 people who says. “I’ve never heard of a program that had 80 percent redemption.”

Investing in the Future

The leadership team at SIG has been pouring revenue and profits back into the company, investing in product development, dealer programs, and infrastructure, including the SIG Experience Center at SIG Academy, a 40,000-square-foot flagship store, museum, indoor range, and conference center. During the historic firearms surge of 2020–2021, they doubled down on their reinvestments. Their efforts have paid off. Today, SIG has become the largest manufacturer in the shooting sports industry. “When we went into COVID we were certainly looking up at Smith & Wesson, Ruger, and Glock in terms of companies that were larger and had more revenue than we did. On the other end of COVID, as our programs were all taking hold and the marketing was taking hold and all the years of investment in dealer education and embracement was happening, we exited COVID as the largest gun manufacturer in the world,” he says. “We went into it as a viable and solid player in the industry, but we emerged on the other side of it as the leader.” (SIGSAUER.COM)