I'm having trouble getting folks off the couch. The ones who show no interest don't bother me so much, they can't be blamed for my lack of eloquence.
What bothers me is the ones who say they want to come but can't seem to get off top dead center and show up. One friend of mine even built an LTR, but can't find time to meet me at the range to Lean the sling positions, let alone make it out to an AS.
So far I have drug eight people to Appleseed and once they get there they love it, one even made rifleman.
Anybody have any tips on motivating folks?
I'd love to learn that trick, or combination of words.
If you've dragged eight along, you're probably doing better than average.
Perseverance. That's what got my classmate to come to the one this weekend.
Other than that, my two buddies that attended one 4 hours from home with me just love to shoot, and went with me. One wants to go, and is plagued with a work schedule that changes multiple times on Friday, so he never knows if he's free.
Just be polite, talk about it, explain it, and casually mention it when the opportunity presents itself. No sense pushing people though, that just pushes people away.
Thursday, Guess I'll be seeing you at Osage Beach this weekend. There is no hot tip getting people to go to AS they all say the same thing I just don't have the time or I'm going to one of these days. All we can do is keep standing on the soapbox preaching away and get the ones we do. If things get worse business will pick up, most everyone waits till it's too late.
JG
I may have vented too soon one of my buddies showed up this afternoon and wanted me to show him how to use the sling and shooting positions. I threw in the DOM at no extra charge. He did well and left jazzed about the whole thing he might make it to Os.B. this weekend.
He makes it to Osage he will really be jazzed afterward.
JG
been trying myself. it's hard to get folks to give up a whole weekend. we all know IF you can get them in the door they will have a great time, it's just convincing them to do it.
nemohunter is an awesome instructor though, ;) . he's taken me out twice to go practice and i have improved leaps and bounds. now i'm ready to return to the appleseed and get my rifleman patch O0. I also think that if there was one in our area that more ppl would come. i know quite a few that would.
WW,
Welcome to the forum! Where are you located? Any place to shoot around there? If you find us a place, we will bring Appleseed to you!
Greg
It's a matter of numbers. Only a small portion of seeds grow into trees. Never miss an opportunity to expose someone the program. If one shows up out of eight that you invited, that's great, but what if you had only invited 3? or if you had invited 40?
Don't take it personally if someone doesn't go for it. The reasons are theirs, and probably have nothing to do with you or the program. I think some of it is fear of the unknown or fear of failure. I've seen people who don't want to attend because they a) want to be able shoot the positions b) they want to know how to use a sling c) they want to be able to shoot a rifleman's score before they commit to a shoot. HELLO! That's what you go to the shoot to learn. It's kind of like saying, "I don't want to take a golf lesson until I can shoot par on any course."
You just can't beat quality personal instruction....you can't do it alone.
Also, I think there are a lot of people who don't understand how much they can improve. I've worked the pre-deer season site-in days at the Pioneer club. The club opens up the range non-members, and for a fee they can site in their rifles with a club member manning the spotting scope. It's amazing how many hunters cannot shoot a 4 MOA angle off of a rest with a bolt action scoped rifle. Try to give someone MIC adjustments when their 5 shot 100 yard group is 12"x12". Yet they feel they are competent rifle shots.
Finally, there a people who attend and have absolutely no knowledge of guns when they sign up. At a shoot back in April, a woman with 3 kids (IIRC) set up next to me, and brought 3 gun cases to the line. She asked Greg for some help, and when she opened the first case and pulled out a 12 gauge single shot shotgun, he said, "Well, that's not gonna work." The second case contained an AK-47, but she had no ammo for it. "That's not gonna work either." The 3rd case had a nice .22 bolt gun, and we were able to scrounge up enough loaners, that everone in her group got to shoot. They took a little extra time, but all the instructors were very patient with them. While none of them shot rifleman, they all could shoot and handle a rifle safely. I consider this one of the highest levels of success when we can introduce someone like that to shooting. That lady has my respect for basically jumping into the deep end to learn how to swim.
The point is, no matter how unlikely someone may appear, they could still be a recruit. Just keep plugging along and you will be successful in helping fill the line.
Hector
WW is my wife Greg. i'm trying to find a place. i think i may have one too. nice place. easy access, plenty of room. i have to talk with a few folks. hopefully it's a go and we will have AS in Bowling green ..:..
When I went to my first shoot I took my 2 sons. From that they had one close to home and my nephew wanted to go that was this May I shot rifleman and now I wanted to work a shoot so in two weeks I am going to do that but I told my son's and nephew I was going and one son can't go due to other obligations but the son and nephew said they want to go without question when I asked them. So I talked to my wife and sister and because of the way everyone talks about it now they plan on going later in the year. I hope to talk to other parents in the area and see if I can get some of them out. No real magic words but I think that because I started close to home it might actually grow a little bit from that. Good Luck and just keep talking. :)