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May 19, 2025
EOS For Ranges And Retailers: Proven Strategy For Growth
Struggling with staffing, systems, or strategy? An Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) could help you get organized and grow.
Running a shooting range and or a firearm retail business is full of challenges. Balancing customer safety, compliance, regulations and staff management while trying to make a profit can be downright daunting. Owners and management can feel overworked and under-supported, like firemen running from one hot spot to another. Having a long-term vision and direction sounds great in theory, but who has time to put that together when inventories need to be ordered, and range officers call in sick?
Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)
Finding the purpose for your business and developing a comprehensive, easy-to-implement plan is not as complicated as it seems with the right mindset and tools. Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) is a comprehensive tool, more ranges, retail centers and general businesses need to look at. Each company is led by its own certified EOS Implementor who guides them through the process of strengthening their business.
Granite State Indoor Shooting Range
Granite State Indoor Shooting Range, an NSSF Five Star range in Hudson, New Hampshire, has been in business for almost eleven years. CEO Rick Bishop said, “Around the seven-year mark, we realized we weren’t growing like we wanted to.” He said, “We didn’t have a leadership team and had little organization. We were flying by the seat of our pants.” He began working with an EOS Implementor and soon began righting the Granite State Indoor Range ship.
“Part of our struggle was not having the right people in the right seats,” Rick mentioned. “Once we clearly defined our vision, direction and focus with the help of our EOS implementor, Kirsten Smith, we were able to hire with purpose and train those staff members our processes and hold everyone involved accountable to the mission.”
Granite State holds a weekly staff meeting based on the quarterly goals leadership has agreed on to encourage employees and prevent any issues before they become major problems.
An EOS scorecard measures the progress of the business, with easy-to-implement steps and comprehensive procedures. For Granite State, this scorecard measures foot traffic, lane fee sales, ammunition, firearm and accessory sales, among other things. This process allows Granite State to monitor trends and address issues before they become problems.
Additionally, the whole team envisioned one-year, three-year and ten-year goals and the metrics show not only monetary growth but also staff and leadership improvement.
In the first year after implementing this system’s building blocks, Granite State Indoor Range grew an amazing 31%.
EOS Matters to Shooting Ranges & Retailers
According to EOS, a business must have six critical components to be successful. EOS provides a straightforward, easily defined and measured process for accomplishment. Your EOS implementor will set up a manageable system to fashion these components and guide your path to success.
- Vision: Hone your organization’s vision and get your staff on board with a clear plan.
- People: Hire with specificity and without emotion and know who the right people are for your business.
- Data: Sift through the noise to find a handful of objective numbers that give you a real pulse on your business’s current state.
- Issues: Instead of feeling like all you and your team do is put out fires, wouldn’t you like to see the potential problems and head them off strategically?
- Process: Your organization’s secret sauces are the processes you use to run your business. Build processes that everyone on the team can understand and easily implement.
- Traction: Bringing accountability to the team and executing the plans and visions with laser efficiency.
Kristan Bishop, EOS Implementer
After seeing the success of the EOS process for Granite State, Rick’s wife, Kristan Bishop, knew she could make a difference in helping other companies, so she became a certified EOS Implementor. She and Rick started their own Entrepreneurial Operating System franchise. Kristan’s experience is rooted in her past when she ran her own marketing company. She is passionate about guiding entrepreneurs and has coached leadership teams in over 125 client sessions across various industries. Kristan builds relationships with business leaders, gaining their trust by listening and understanding their unique challenges.
Begin Your EOS Journey
Two opportunities are coming to become acquainted with Kristan Bishop and the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)
Webinar: Kristan Bishop’s “Get a Grip on Your Business” webinar, taking place Wednesday, May 21 at 3 pm EST, where she will detail the essential Six Key Components that will help you overcome challenges and grow your business faster. You will come away with practical tools that your leadership team can use immediately to focus on priorities, clarify challenges and work together more effectively as a healthier, cohesive team.
NSSF EXPO Session: In the Simplified Strategic Planning session, you will discover how the powerful 2-page tool from the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) Vision/Traction OrganizerTM (V/TOTM) brings clarity and alignment to your business. The V/TO replaces complex planners with an easy-to-use tool to simplify planning and gain Traction®. You can also hear from other companies that are successfully using EOS and the Vision Traction Organizer.
If you are struggling to take your team to the next level, learn the Entrepreneurial Operating System through Kristan Bishop and watch your business soar!
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