In this episode of the Missing Half podcast, Bill sat down with Dustin Wallace, Director of Sales and Marketing at Faxon Firearms, a family-owned firearms manufacturer with deep roots in American machining and a modern approach to brand-building.

Dustin shares how Faxon balances a complex omnichannel strategy—managing OEM, D2C, and dealer sales—while keeping customer experience and brand consistency at the core. From building a small but powerful team to prioritizing long-term dealer relationships, this episode explores what it means to align brand, channel strategy, and internal culture in today’s manufacturing landscape.

Bill: Thank you for joining the Missing Half podcast, where we're discovering what's missing in manufacturing and B2B marketing. Today I have a very special guest with me, Dustin Wallace. Dustin Wallace is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Faxon Firearms, a family-owned firearms manufacturer based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dustin leads strategic initiatives to expand the company's market presence and showcase their innovative products. A passionate creative, he also owned Wallace Creative LLC, where he pursued music and media production. With a knack for team building and innovative storytelling, Dustin continues to make waves in both firearms and creative art communities. Dustin, thank you for joining us today.

Dustin: Thank you so much for having me.

Bill: So Dustin, why don't you tell us a little bit about your background and how media, how have you brought media and firearms together in this space?

Dustin: Yeah, well, you know what's funny is, you know, people ask me, you know, what did you like, you know, leave high school and go, you know, try to pursue, you know, what did you initially go to college for and everything? And I actually went as a musician. I was a vocal major. And, you know, was really involved, you know, in the arts and school and, and, but, you know, the, found a common tie, just as I was, you know, kind of going through those formative years that the things I really liked about music or theater or stand-up comedy, public speaking, it was all about communication. And it was all about getting behind stories and things that you believe in. And I spent the largest amount of my time pre-Faxon actually working for churches. I was music director and communication director in those types of fields. And just because of the age that I am, that was right at the beginning of social media. And so they were like, well, you're young. So you know how to do that. So you know, so it just kind of started. And then, you know, one thing led to another with, you know, OK, now I'm going to dabble in a little photography and then a little video. And especially in the churches I was working at, you know, more more modern kind of worship setups. And so being able to manage video feeds and motion graphics and understanding design elements and things of that variety. And then I spent a bit of time working in education as well. I have a private school, non-tax teaching license. So I taught like vocal music and things like that at private schools in Ohio and spent some time in higher education. So I worked for Denison University in media technology. And so that really kind of, it straddled a line between educational technology and IT and then also media production. So, you know, I'd work kind of this hat and IT and this hat over here with like the marketing and communications. So, you know, you just get get a lot of, you know, behind the camera, behind the computer in front of the camera, you know, all those different things. So, you know, when you're going in and teaching tenured professors how to you know, use the new touch screen that you designed and all that sort of stuff. It all kind of helps. And then obviously with the churches and the schools and they're performing just kind of the communication and public speaking and all that sort of jazz. But what I like about what I do is as much as, you know, I, I enjoy the firearms as a hobby and as a, a, a right of, you know, our country. I also really enjoy American manufacturing. So my father was and is basically a sales rep in the industrial space. So he does mostly like pumps, mechanical seals, packing, things like that. And I remember like as a high school student needing to get my hours to get my driver's license, I would just drive him around to his accounts. You know, so it would be like, you know, like DuPont and Mead Paper and all those types of places, AEP. And you just see like this whole other world, a world that makes things, you know, jobs that, you know, employ people and run whole towns. And there was something that stuck with me about that. And I got to learn a lot from him about that type of customer service and sales. And so when I started at Faxon, they, they originally just brought me on for content marketing. And so was very design heavy. It was very social media heavy. And then, you know, as years go by and time goes by and I become more familiar and the business changes, you know, I ended up taking over marketing proper and then customer service and then finally sales in 2023. So sales, marketing, and customer service are, you know, all under under my umbrella here.

Bill: Well, that's great, Dustin. That's a fascinating story. I spent some time in the music world, mostly hobby-wise in the men's Glee Club in college, like concert chorale and those type of things. So similar music background. And I love that reference to like churches and schools because I feel like that era of like kind of grassroots guerrilla approach to just getting it done. You had to wear all the hats because the technology and the integrations were not as developed as they are today. It wasn't plug and play. You had to figure a lot of things out and you had to do it all. Run the cameras, run the sound, soundboards, all of those things. Certainly today there are so many more tools. The influx of AI, those things move much more quickly for the newer generations, but that certainly is a great training to get you ready to be able to perform for a company in the manufacturing space because there's still that do it all nature in the marketing departments where you got to do a lot of it and just figure it out. So that's a great, great story. Great introduction. Could you maybe take a couple of minutes, Dustin, and just kind of give us an overview of Faxon and what you guys do, some history, accomplishments, maybe what you guys are excited about, what's next, just kind of an overview of the company?

Dustin: Yeah, for sure. Well, one of the first things that drew me to Faxon was the fact that they're a family-owned and operated business. And the fact that you could point on a map in Cincinnati, Ohio and say that's where my stuff is made. And you know, that was very appealing to me. And frankly, the locale was initially primary because my wife is from Cincinnati. I'm from Columbus. And so we lived in Columbus for like our first 10 years together. And we had been trying for several years to get to Cincinnati. And I saw this opening and, you know, she's a teacher. She’s a music teacher, actually. And I always joke, the short version of my intro is we could only afford for one of us to be a musician.

Bill: There's truth to that, right?

Dustin: Yeah, she's actually really good at it, you know. So anyway, so we came down here for that. But what I didn't know until, you know, I first started interviewing and spending some time in the business is just how rich their background is here. You know, the Faxons, you know, the original business that launched this business was Faxon Machining, which started in 1978. So they started in like a 4,000 square foot little warehouse type workshop in Northside Cincinnati. And it's getting nicer, but especially at the time they were there, it's not a very nice part of town. And they originally started it for automotive. And so Bob and Barry Faxson, who are our owners here, it was actually their older brother who went in with his family, you know, with support from mom and dad to start this kind of enterprise. Their father had been a contractor for many years in Cincinnati. So actually the little X in our logo has been part of Faxon family logos for generations. But they started that business and it went, you know, it went from automotive to oil and gas and aerospace. But you know, in the early 80s, their oldest brother passed away. was in an accident. And so Bob and Barry took it over with their sister and their mom when they were teenagers. And so Bob will tell me stories about, you know, going to class after working, you know, until midnight, two in the morning, making parts, you know, or running a drill press or whatever at 15, 16, 17 years old, you know, and then trying to go to school the next day. And, you know, very much the same story for Barry as well. So they started there and they really kind of hit their stride with the automotive OEM. So making things for all of your major American manufacturers at the time and so that was really like what kind of launched them what kind of moved them out of Northside put them in a bigger facility in Forest Park all that kind of stuff, but as they always tell me when they're recounting you know every every wave hits the shore and automotive started moving offshore.

Bill: Sure.

Dustin: And so, it's the automotive OEM game is a pretty cutthroat situation. And especially then, it was even even more so. So they started to delve more into, you know, like I mentioned, the aerospace and the oil and gas. You know, the one of the sayings that was around when I first got here was we have parts on Mars, we have parts on the ocean floor. And but they got where they are now mostly with defense work. So, but before they got really into the defense work, before that was a successful channel, you know, they were worried about the business they were losing in automotive and to keep the machines busy, really, they decided to launch their own brand in the firearms vein. And so that original shop they had bought in Northside, actually they bought it from a guy who had a business called Weichel Arms and he used to make muzzleloader barrels. And so it took 20, 30 years, but they ended up kind of going back to that. And so they, at the same time, they're pursuing defense. They're launching Faxon Firearms kind of in parallel. And we started with the ARAC-21, which is our patented weapon system. It's an AR-AK hybrid, complete upper receiver. It drops on any mil-spec AR-15 lower, but it turns it into a long stroke gas piston system operation with quick caliber changes and a lot of ergonomics that are more friendly to the shooter. And it's a true blend of the AR and the AK, thus the name, the ARAC-21. So I came in in 2019 and at that time they were starting to do some changes at machining. We were all in the same buildings at the time so it was like 200,000 square feet and it was mostly bombs and stuff like that and then like we're over here kind of in a corner making gun parts and all that sort of jazz. But during that year so then you know the pandemic hits and they start getting bigger contracts with the defense sector. They mostly make ordinance. So, you know, they don't do the charging, all the, what you visually see when you think of a bomb, you know, for the Air Force or something, that's what they make. So Bob actually was able to retire his brother and sister from the business. He took Faxon Machining, private equity. So he's still serving there as chairman of the board. And then Barry kind of ran day to day here for the last few years and then fully retired last summer as Bob moved from CEO to just chairman of the board so he could spend more time over here. So, you know, we still have a great working relationship, you know, with Faxon Machining, obviously, you know, there's some things that, you know, we share resources on, you know, for one, they don't have a traditional marketing team. So when they do need something, they'll call us or there'll be times where they have work that they either can't take or aren't interested in or whatever and we can sub on that as well. So it's still a really great relationship. But what comes with it is, you know, over 40 years of manufacturing experience and being and what they found too in this kind of rebirth in manufacturing out of getting or after getting out of automotive OEM all those years was being a solutions company. So getting in early on development and really making those partnerships and those communication channels open, you know, with the people that they wanted to be involved with and with the business sectors that they wanted to be involved with. So that's, you know, kind of how we came to be. Faxon Firearms for, you know, people listening who don't know, you know, a lot of people know us for our barrel manufacturing. We're one of only a handful of companies in the U.S. that actually make our barrels from bar stock. So a lot of companies will have, you know, they'll buy blanks from people like us. But there's still a little bit of gypsy voodoo that happens and, you know, actually drilling a hole through a piece of material and making sure it's concentric and, and, you know, making an accurate product. And, but we took things with us from what they learned in their other manufacturing history. So things like wet MPI, you know, so we do mag particle inspection as a 100% you know, check on every single barrel. You know, learning how to do stress relieving correctly for accuracy of barrels and getting weight out of them when needed, which was ultimately done because of the ARAC actually. The ARAC, like it was a prototype, you know, at the very beginning. And so you either spend a lot of money to have somebody make you a whole bunch of proprietary barrels or you learn how to make barrels. So that was that was a big part of it. And then there's there's just such this community and such this market, you know, for aftermarket barrels in the AR space. And so, you know, generally everything with us starts with a barrel. Most of our product lines, if it incorporates a barrel, we're going to make the barrel first and then we're going to start adding all the stuff to it. And then you have a complete gun or a complete upper. You know, both action products. We just launched suppressors this year. Our first ones just started shipping in the last month. But all these different things, and it's a wide market. It could be a very volatile market, I will say. And we're fortunate that we've been able to go through something like the pandemic, which I know the pandemic hit everybody in manufacturing and everybody in lot of sectors, but in the firearms world, it was an incredible high as far as sales are concerned, as far as overall interests, new gun buyers. The press of it, I mean, it was wild. And some died because they couldn't keep up. Some died when it started to go back to normal. And don't get me wrong, we've taken our lumps. We're not perfect. We're not a blue chip. But we've been fortunate that with the leadership and the backing of the Faxon family, that we've been able to keep our heads above water and look for new things and do new things. But at the end of the day, we're not making food, love or shelter. So we're pretty high up on the hierarchy of needs. And so there is a bit of the consumer side of it that is different and always changing. And we do about 30% of our business is in the OEM space. So there's a bunch of stuff that we make for other people that you would never know that Faxon makes. And so our catalog doesn't even really show everything that we do as far as manufacturing is concerned.

Bill: So Dustin, one of the things you're doing there at Faxon is something we're seeing more and more, which is manufacturers not only having OEM clients, not only doing maybe DOD or contract work, but then also launching direct to consumer brands. I think a lot of manufacturers, especially those that have been around a while are learning that they would like to control their own destiny and have some of those things ready whenever they need to pivot. But could you maybe talk about maybe that strategy and then maybe some of the challenges that that poses to your marketing team? Because we all know that B2B and D2C are different. They're different motions. There's different communication, presentation, the whole nine yards. So maybe could you talk about how your marketing team specifically handles those diverse strategies on a consistent basis?

Dustin: Yeah, great question. Especially in our industry, sometimes direct to consumer and B2B could be at odds with each other, right? And so, especially when you're selling off the same catalog. So that's pretty tough. And I think there have been times where it's been worse and times that have been better. think it's starting to become more accepted. I mean, Faxon has always been, you know, the firearms brand has always been omnichannel. However, you know, in the early days, it was like, here was your MSRP and here was your dealer price. That was it. Right. Now you've got a multi-stage distribution. Now you're thinking about, you know, your costing and you have reps and what is their margin and what is, you know, their, their commission rates and what are all these things that pile up to actually give that price? Because frankly, you know, we normally think of pricing your products as, you know, cost plus what profit margin you want equals price. And really in a consumer type of industry, the market is going to set the price. So we've always been what we call a high value proposition brand. You know, we're not, we're not bargain basement, but we don't make you refinance your house to buy our stuff. You know, is that, that's the quick way that I put it. But but it is true, we try to make it so that out of the box people feel like they're getting more than they paid for. But with that means that, you know, I don't have necessarily 300 points, you know, that I could just like give up or give things away or or what have you. And that's a path that we've chosen and that is something I believe in. But it does make you have to get, you know, creative. As far as balancing them, the first thing that I think helps with that is map pricing. So minimum advertised pricing. But giving your dealers the opportunity to run sales and run things through map suspension periods and promotions and and getting creative with them on ways that you know, they could promote and move the product. Because it's a it's a weird thing. Because in omni-channel, you you obviously make your most margin direct to consumer.

Bill: Sure.

Dustin: The other piece though is that if I go all the way down the stair steps and I go to wholesale distribution, I'm probably going to do more volume over there. And then in a manufacturing sense, well, if I'm getting my volume here and I'm getting my margin here and everybody else is on that bell curve somewhere in the middle, then these are going to keep my cycle times down, my machines running, all that sort of stuff to allow me to get more cost out and be more agile and more efficient and then all this up here becomes sweeter and sweeter. The trick with that is you got to be able to feed all beasts at all times. And we have not cracked the code on that, but we can see where that happens, right? Cause we made a question to wholesale distribution pretty heavy in the last couple of years. And you know, you see what that does if you're not able to keep up and also stock everybody else. Because we took a position at the very beginning that dealer orders always get filled before our own website.

Bill: Oh wow.

Dustin: And so, and during the pandemic, we had customers, dealers calling us saying, hey, this supplier cut me off, this supplier cut me off because they can sell everything, you know, full blown MSRP on their website. Don't get me wrong, that sounded sweet, you know, from a bottom line standpoint. But as far as like making the relationships and making sure we had lifelong customers for when things, you know, came back to normal, it was, it was a route that, you know, we chose to take. But at the time, you know, we probably only had maybe two, three dealer levels. And now that goes all the way down to wholesale distribution, and more buy groups, things like that. So, you know, I would say it's, you're always looking for efficiencies.

Bill: No, that there's some great points in there and I want to unpack a couple of the things you said there. Pricing complexity when you're manufacturing, you have OEM relationships, you have distribution relationships, you have direct to consumer relationships becomes very, very complex, especially if you have the same product represented across that spectrum of various distribution channels. And I think one of the things that is somewhat of a lost art when you're thinking about MAP and MSRP and discount schedules is we're in the midst of dealing with a generation of marketers who think of things only in two ways. One, it's B2B or two, it's D2C. And if it's on the internet, it's just cost plus or market less, right? And there are so many nuances when you get into these complex omnichannel structures of pricing that have to be considered. I'm sure you've become very good friends with your whoever's doing your cost accounting over there and spent a lot of time with them because you are probably putting a lot of requests in for hey, what if scenarios to get them to recalculate a lot of those numbers, but that's a great recognition. And I think it's something that a lot of folks aren't aware of unless they're directly involved in a business like your own. So I was on a call earlier today with a company in a completely unrelated industry, but they're very similar in structure to what you're talking about. And we spent three hours on a new pricing strategy for all of their different channels because the landscape has changed for them dramatically and it's time to respond. And whenever you pull on that spider web of pricing, the whole web shakes and you gotta start looking at that multivariate analysis across every channel at every level. And there's a lot of work to be done in that space. Well, Dustin, that kind of leads me into my next question, which I think also brings some of this together. You are now in charge of marketing, sales and customer service. How much does that help you when you're dealing with something like pricing across all those channels to be able to kind of break down those silos and bring everybody together and say, OK, we all have to play nice in the same sandbox and get this done and come up with a resolution. And then I'm sure the other person who's in the room is someone from accounting or finance who's also saying, oh remember me as well. But how much has it helped for you to be in charge of all three of those departments simultaneously to affect change and really drive the culture there at Faxon?

Dustin: I think honestly it helps customer care in all regards, right? I'm not saying that it's a model that works for everybody or is even sustainable for us in the future, I don't know. My full team is six people, that's it. And so we all are pretty well cross-trained across multiple categories. Not everything, obviously everybody has their own strong suits, you know, in the things that if everybody's in the office, that certain things are going to default to. But it does allow for people to see like, is what the customer is saying in this customer service ticket, or here's this RMA I received and here's the feedback I'm getting from this dealer or from this rep. And then here's what we're seeing in the marketing space. Here's what's getting clicks. Here's what's getting interest. And it does also give me, you know, fuel, if you will, and fodder for when I'm, you know, working with you know, a new house account or with a new rep and accounts they're trying to pitch us to is that I have all that information. You know what I'm saying? Like I live in it and so I know what those things are. And you had mentioned earlier, like, you know, how, you know, kind of how we do that messaging and communication. You know, I think one thing that we do miss out on as the manufacturing sector as a whole is giving the same amount of care and creativity that we do to direct to consumer for the B2B. You know, we spend a lot of time on visual appeal and all this sort of stuff and trends in direct to consumer. But do we do that in B2B as well? Like, we giving our first and best marketing efforts to B2B as well? Do they feel good about, you know, meeting up with us and seeing a sort of show or dropping off catalogs? You know, are they, you know, is it an enjoyable experience[a]? And that to me rings true in all three of those sectors, you know, kind of being together. Some of it is just natural, right? So like, if I have, you know, Rob or John in my office helped put up a cut sheet, well, they were also the guy that did this thing for this consumer show, right? And so there's going to be some brand continuity that goes along with it. And also to all the guys who spent time in customer service. And so there are things that they know to ask and things that they know might need more attention. And also it helps me be able to give that real live feedback. It's not always easy. Customer service is a 24 hour a day, seven days a week job. We'll get tickets at three o'clock in the morning on a Saturday when nobody's here. And Monday morning we have a whole bunch we got to get to. You know, so there is a lot of that. But yeah, it's, not saying it's easy, but I think there are silver linings with it that allow you that your whole kind of customer presence is just by even osmosis, you know, more aligned by putting those things together. And also, you know, I'm fortunate that we have a team of doers. You know, I'm a doer. You know, there's not anything outside of some of the hard technical gunsmithing type stuff that my team does that I that I wouldn't or couldn't do. You know what I'm saying? So like email campaign design or cut sheets or just today, like I have a wholesaler show next month. I just had to design some wall panels for B Matrix frames, you know. So like you do that. And that's the same thing with a lot of the guys in my office. I could count on any one of them to go man a trade show booth. I could count on any one of them to you know answer a customer service ticket. Again, they'll all have their stronger suits and the things that they're most gifted at, but it allows them to see that like, it's not just something I'm telling you to do. Like you've also seen me do it. And then it just keeps that continuity together. And I'll be the first one, if anybody here listening or watching is in leadership in this type of space, say when you don't know. You know what I'm saying? We joke about it, me and Robert who do most of the BD together, it's like, listen, smooth brain, talk slow. When we get into real heavy ballistic data and stuff like that, I'm just like, hold on, what? Or I'm reading, I'm trying to read a print and all this sort of stuff just to, you know, get familiar with the product or an OEM proposal that comes through. If I don't know, like you gotta let your team know when you don't know. And I think that allows them to shine and feel valuable, but also too, like they're just gonna have a skillset like, you know, like Martin in our office. Like Martin's a techie dude. Like he knows his guns, he knows all the history, he knows why this was imported from Russia like it was in 1941 and all that sort of stuff. I mean, that is not me. But I also wouldn’t ask him to fire up Photoshop and do a mock-up of an exclusive for a distributor, right? So there are certainly checks and checks balances there. But tell them when you don't know, kind of leading and caring about them, just loving on your your staff and you know allowing them to find their place that they actually shine. But make sure they're cross-trained because it helps just to know what it takes to do the things that they don't maybe have to do every day.

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Bill: So Dustin, you brought up an interesting point that I want to spend a little more time on, where you said, you know, we aren't as involved, engaged or creative in the B2B space as we are in the D2C space. And I see that all the time talking to manufacturing companies where they say, we don't need videos. We don't need a plant tour. We don't need social media that's as interactive or as engaging as some of the stuff that's in the D2C channel. And on some of those things, I agree.

Dustin: Certainly.

Bill: We don't need to be as salacious or we don't need to be as, I don't know, attention-grabbing as maybe the most aggressive brands out there. But at the same time, it has never been easier to create really great engaging content for a brand in the B2B space. Why do you think we as an industry are not doing a better job? Is it lack of knowledge, training? Courage? Do you have any thoughts on why we're not more aggressive as an industry in manufacturing marketing to push the envelope?

Dustin: That's a great question. I think that there's part of it that is there has been so long where they really didn't need it. Right. You know, like there's and there are still some sects of the industry that maybe don't afford the true marketing sense of it, like moving a product. But when a couple of years ago, the Faxon Machining team asked me to do some work for them on their web and social. And honestly, it was more for recruiting than anything. Because there's not a strong chance that some procurement officer from the Navy is going to click on your Facebook ad, and you're going to win a contract like that. Like I get that. But there is still another need for it. And then especially on our side, where this is largely consumer-based, most of the products that we make. You've got to show those dealers and those distributors that you are also creating the pull for your own product as well.

Bill: Absolutely.

Dustin: So, and again, I will be very clear. I'm not saying we're batting a thousand over here. There are certainly things that like if money were no, you know, object or whatever, tons of other things I would like to do. But there there are very, you know, I think incremental things that a lot of people can do. And just even if it's not changing the modes in which you you market B2B, it's just your consistency and how your brand is is perceived. So, for example, like one of the first things I did when I was here was a brand study. And, you know, when I compared it to other brands and it was something I did in churches, it was something I did when I had my LLC. It's like, let's get a style guide together. And it's not like it's not like it's not like you don't ever stray from it. It's just like where is home base? And like, so I use this shield logo, right? This is been our logo will be our logo. And I, and I use that as the palette. All right, so I get my colors off of this. I get my typefaces off of this. You have the Faxon logo. You have just the X, you have the Eagle. You're to be working with some form of all of these things in our branding, right? So then, you know, if I do that, then when I give a price sheet to somebody or I give a cut sheet or an onboarding packet or whatever it is, it better match that, you know? And obviously there are things and fun things you do to kind of stand out on social every once in a while. You know, hey, it's Halloween time. We're going to do stuff with weird green slime and goo. And that's all fine and good. But what is your home base? You know, like those are little treats. Those are little special things. Those are thematic things. You know, so I really work off of that. What is your branding and style guide? What is your kind of brand voice in those ways? And I think that's important in B2B too. Because you know there are a lot of different like companies that would say that they are predominantly AR companies. Don't get me wrong. We move a lot of product in the AR space and that's where a lot of people know us and where we really made our name in the firearms industry. That's not all we do. You know, neither were, you know, was Bob, you know, like a Marine veteran, you know, so we don't pretend like, you know, we're a whole bunch of army brats or something over here. We're not, you know, we're predominantly a manufacturing business. We're an engineering business. And we want people in all different forms of the firearms industry, whether that be the person who likes to build and tinker, whether it's the person that competes. Whether it's the police officers that carry our product, we want them to feel something a little more welcoming about that. And so that might mean that we don't catch every flash in the pan because you got to lean heavy. The first thing I said when I took over social and I kind of got to know the Faxons and what they wanted to do, I was like, no boobs and butts. You know, no gore. You know, we're a family business. We're we're, this is Americana. Apple pie, you know, family business started by their own bootstraps. This is, you know, we're not publicly traded. We're not shock jocks. We're not that's not us. So we're not going to pretend like we are. We will dabble in those places and we will go talk to people in those places and provide product for people who enjoy those places. But as far as you know, we're concerned, you know, the brand is greater than the individual product. But we just want the product to be, you know, as valuable, you know, to the end consumer as our brand is to us. So those, I think, are very important things. And it doesn't mean that you don't try other stuff. It doesn't mean that you don't, you know, ever stray away. But take a look at even some of your favorite consumer brands. Look how many go back to their heritage branding after a while. Look how many go back to old designs and all. And I'm not saying you just hang on to something for the sake of hanging on to it. But try to look at those ebbs and flows of like, is this a real change or is this just a flash in the pan thing? It will be better for not having done it. You know, those are things that, and nobody has a crystal ball. You know, there are things that I always think we could do better, or maybe that we missed out on, or maybe we should have seen this meme come sooner or whatever. But at the end of the day, as long as you're being true to the brand, and you believe in that, then in the long run, you know, you should be okay, and you should, you know, keep that credibility going into the future.

Bill: Dustin, here's a question I have for you and this is something we get asked a lot and I think you can have some tremendous perspective on this with your experience. If a brand is struggling or a business is struggling and they're looking at their marketing strategy and they're considering whether they should do additional support investments with their current distribution strategy and really like amping up what they're doing to support their current customers or they're looking to go and grow new business through new channels and new markets and obtain new customers, have you been part of processes where you've had that question and what do you lean on when you're kind of trying to figure out what's the right mix and how to like reallocate budget, prioritize efforts to get the most bang for the buck?

Dustin: Yeah, great question. I mean, on the D2C side, some of that stuff changes whether we like it or not, especially in the firearms space. You know, there's a lot of things that even five, 10 years ago you were able to do on social media that you no longer are, you know, or in web marketing. Now, the beauty of that is too, that it does help level the playing field a little bit. But you know, if you're in a situation, you know, where you're struggling and you know, I'll tell you like right now, like summer months, believe it or not, not great for the firearms industry, not for the consumer, you know, side of the firearms industry. And so everybody's trying to get creative, you know, every year. And you just don't know how much it's going to be or how little it's going to be. And there's all kinds of speculations and all this sort of stuff. The thing that I've found that on the B2B side helps, and this is something that when I took over sales, Bob was very intent on, he goes, I want you guys out of here. Like you have got to go and spend time with customers, right? And it was easy during the pandemic, you know, like it was like, we were selling more that we can make. We don't have to make that many things, like it's crazy. You know, but now, you know, you have a lot of people that, you know, they're not doing shows anymore and they're maybe not traveling as much, whether that was pandemic-driven or not or remote work or not. You know, the thing that I do enjoy hearing from my reps and my customers is that they like that we're present and that we're easy to work with and that you could build a relationship. The way we put it, it's another saying that Bob has stuck with me, is we're in it for anniversaries, not honeymoons. And so it's that people doing business with people mindset. And honestly, the old adage of actually showing up and being there or maybe doing the customer event or helping with something that maybe you don't really need to help with, that goes a long way. You know, that really goes a long way. And the way that I say it to my guys is I always just remind you, just be decent. You just be decent. And so are you taking care of them? So if I had my druthers and this were Dustin's firearms, you know, and not Faxon Firearms, I would say that, yeah, if you're in a doldrum, of course, look at new opportunities and in the manufacturing space, what else can your machines do? You know what I mean? If you're in a volatile market like we are, you know, yeah, maybe cut your odds a little bit. Keep the machine running. Find some other work. You know, go to another show, call people that you know, find somebody who has overflow work, keep your machines running. You know, keep, revenue moving. And the other side is ask your sales team, are you taking care of the customer? You know, it isn't so much about what order did you get and how many new people did you sign up? All very important. But again, if it were Dusty's firearms, would also say like, Hey, do you have a good relationship with that buyer? Do you, did you go to that event? Did you call them recently? Did you whatever, right? Um, because I think just taking care of them and helping them get creative, you know, like, you know, I go in and I'll have, when I was in Texas a few weeks ago, riding around with, with reps. First thing they told me is they, the reps go, you know how odd it is? Like it's not normal anymore for the sales director to go on calls with the reps. And, and I'm like, well, great. I'm glad that it's beneficial, you know, to you and that you enjoy it. You know, so that's number one. And number two, you know, showing up for them being there and then that way that that question could be answered. It's no longer the rep, like especially newer ones where they they’re not super familiar with the line yet and they haven't done a ton of business yet. Like they could hear me or one of my guys answer the questions and deal with the roadblocks. So like I would say as your leadership, you know, when was the last time you were on the road? When was the last time you were cold calling? When was the last time you were actually kind of in the weeds, you know, and doing the day to day? So I would honestly say that the biggest thing is maybe being a little old school, you know, going out there and actually, you know, not being annoying, you know, but knocking on doors and actually going and seeing accounts.[b] You know, go see them and see what they're actually dealing with. And frankly, just the fact that you go, especially as a leader, you know, some companies are really into titles, some aren't. But when you go to a brick and mortar store and you get to say that, hey, the founder’s here to see you, the director’s here to see you, that goes a long way. and, but, and I hope that for everybody that it's, it's genuine. You know, like I don't want to go and just like parade Bob out as like a little monkey because he, but he actually likes it, you know, and I like it. Don't get me wrong. I'd much rather, you know, be home every night, you know, with my wife and daughter. But, you know, to go out there and help the business and actually see that return and answer questions in real time and for somebody to go, oh, yeah, I know, I know, Dustin, you know, I know Dustin at Faxon. Yeah, he came to the shop and all this sort of stuff, you know, that's a big deal. So having the right guys on the road, like so the reps and all those guys who know who to identify and maybe who needs that help and who needs that presence from you is a big deal. But yeah, I would definitely say just like if you are going through those doldrums, certainly look at other opportunities, but also make sure that you are doing your best to actually take care of the customer and it's not just a recurring purchase order. You know, it's like, don't just call when, you know, the order intake's low or, you know, or you see some sort of shift in their behavior. You know, actually being relational with them, I think, is a big deal.

Bill: Well, Dustin, this has just been a great conversation and I really appreciate your perspective across customer service, sales and marketing. I think that gives you a unique position like owning those three touch points to really have that overall perspective and give some great advice beyond like the X's and O's of marketing. It's really more of the X's and O's of customer service, sales, and marketing. So I've really appreciated your input and I feel like we could keep going for forever, but we have to keep these things to like an hour. So we have to cut them off. But this has just been a great conversation. Dustin, we like to give everybody at the end an opportunity to just communicate their contact details. And it will also be posted everywhere we post this online. So if you just want to take a moment and give those details, we'd really love to share.

Dustin: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So you can find out more about Faxon at FaxonFirearms.com. We're across most of your social media channels. I think we're in Facebook jail right now, but besides that, most of the other social channels. And then, you know, to hit me or my team, it's just [email protected]. So that hits me and my whole team. And then we just kind of, you know, send it over to each other. And then you'll see another thing in the marketing strategy. You’ll see us tagged in various videos so if you go to the Faxon page you'll probably see my five head at some point and you can tap on my Instagram there too if you're into that. So but yeah yeah just check us out sales of facts firearms comm is the best way to get in touch with us and please you know check out the website and the social media handles to kind of see what we’re up to. And we do we do try to post a little bit of behind-the-scenes stuff as well and you can find shop tours and things like that on YouTube so feel free to check those out and kind of see what we're doing.

Bill: Love it. Dustin, I just really appreciate this American story, family-owned manufacturer. I grew up in my family-owned manufacturing facilities. I grew up in that space, understand it, and just really appreciate that story. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for your input. We really appreciate it.

Dustin: My pleasure, thank you.

Bill: Thanks for joining the Missing Happ Podcast, where we're discovering what's missing in manufacturing and B2B marketing. Like, share, subscribe. Have a great day.