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How to be Truly Ready for the SHOT Show

When anyone in the gun industry gets a whiff of pumpkin pie, their gut tightens a bit because they know how much work they have to do to get ready for the SHOT Show. It’s that time of year. The calendar may say there’s a couple of months, but with Christmas and all the pre-SHOT chores there isn’t much time at all. You probably had your rooms booked right after the show last year, and your flights booked in summer. But you’ve been working all year, developing new product and new branding strategies. Based on what I hear from clients, a disproportionate number of  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | December 7, 2017 | Business, Firearms, Firearms Industry Advice, How To | 0 Comments Read More »

NASGW Down SHOT Up

The Impeccably-Tailored Kelly McMillan Boldly Sports Cutting-Edge Mismatched Sneakers in San Antonio. It’s like they gather the industry and put on a convention just for yours truly. The NASGW Expo is a special favorite industry gathering. I “discovered” it only in more recent years, and have grown quite fond of it. It seems to include just about everyone I hope to see, yet fits in about 1/10th the space as the SHOT Show. You can go from one corner of the hall (room) to the other in a 5-minute walk. You can cover all ten aisles in a half day even if you take your  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | November 7, 2017 | Business, Firearms | 0 Comments Read More »

Steel Spines Required

After the Mandalay Massacre* I must salute my friends and clients who produce innovative products that help guns go “bang” faster and better. It’s indisputable that select fire weapons are of great military usefulness, and even if these are effectively banned to the people the Second Amendment should be considered to protect bump-fire stocks, rotary trigger, and binary triggers. Like any firearm these can be used for evil purposes, but they can also be used to ensure “the security of a free state” in the same manner that full-auto machine guns are used by our  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | October 16, 2017 | Firearms, Intellectual Property Advice, Patent | 0 Comments Read More »

How To Kill A Patent

Unpatented but Legally Potent It all started when I was on Facebook, innocently minding my own business. OK, as usual I was actually minding everyone else’s business on Facebook. Sometimes, when Karmen hears me typing furiously in the next room she calls out: “Honey, is someone wrong on the Internet again?” I have a zillion Facebook friends in the industry, so I sometimes catch wind of new trends before things go viral. On one recent day, it was a post about a gun company that sells stocks with an embedded bubble level to help avoid aiming errors caused by a rifle  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | September 7, 2017 | Firearms, How To, Intellectual Property Advice, Patent | 0 Comments Read More »

The Royalty Dream

How to License Your Inventions Even More Fun Than Making Gun Stuff? Before sharing the secrets of licensing inventions and living the dream of strolling to the mailbox to pick up checks, there is a bit of news. The other dream of most gun designers, executives, and business owners is to sell to the Big Boys. For the third time in recent years, another of my clients has been bought by Smith & Wesson for a presumed nine-figure price-tag. A few years ago, it was Thompson Center Arms a respected old New Hampshire company with a knack for making barrels and having  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | August 10, 2017 | Firearms Industry Advice, How To, Intellectual Property Advice | 0 Comments Read More »

Why My Client Thanked Me When I Told Him His Baby Was Ugly

Because I’m constantly advising clients having branding challenges to read this old newsletter article, I decided to break my rule against reruns. Based on the feedback I have gotten, this may be one of the most valuable articles I have written in a long time. I hope you think it’s a “keeper” even the second time around. Guess who kept Daddy too busy to write a new article this month? I’ve been getting rather cheeky lately. I’ve even risked being a little obnoxious and occasionally offending clients. You see, sometimes when I should quietly follow my  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | June 30, 2017 | Business, Firearms Industry Advice, How To, Marketing | 0 Comments Read More »