Pro-line

Takes Round Eyes

Standard head automatically comes on the form unless you “choose” a custom option head.
HEAD TYPES: Total Concept
3-N-1 Ear Butt, Zero Clearance Eye Socket, Auto Antler, Nose Cleft

If you’re asking why in the world would I make a form that doesn’t have any legs and is basically boring looking, then I know I’ve caught your attention.

This form is not a creative art piece, it is a business tool. A little background material will help you understand. With the economy being lackluster, it has negatively affected many taxidermists’ bottom line. With fewer deer being mounted, some taxidermists have lowered their prices just to get work. It seems that there’s always a “basement bandit” doing poor quality work at just above the cost of materials. This Pro-line can be used if you’re business savvy to get some of his customers and upgrade them to your quality and prices.

So let’s look at a typical situation. The phone rings on Monday after opening day. The father of the twelve year old who just shot his first buck asks “how much do you charge for a shoulder mount?” You tell him your price and he says the guy down the street is one-hundred dollars cheaper. The father, who is only working part-time, says thank you, hangs up the phone and takes his son’s six-pointer to the guy down the road. So let’s redo the scenario using the Pro-line mannikin as a business tool.

The phone rings and the father asks the “price question”. I instead of telling him just one price, you give him two prices. When the father asks “why two prices?” you tell him just like when you buy a cape, you can pay different prices for different features. You ask him to visit your display room and you can show him in person his different options. He stops in and you show him your regular priced mount, and then you show him the Pro-line mount, which is $75.00 cheaper than your high end mount, but its $25.00 more than the guy down the road. The father sees that for $25.00 more than the guy down the road, he’s getting a very professional mount, but without all the bells and whistles. Next year he shoots a bigger buck and brings it to you, because he was pleased with his son’s mount, and now you’ve got a customer you would otherwise not have and he’s paying your top price.

Now most taxidermists don’t offer two prices, which is an advantage to you if you do. I am sure you are asking “how can I mount a deer for $75.00 less and not lose $75.00? Our Pro-line form is about $6.00 dollars cheaper. The real savings is in mounting time. The Pro-line form should mount up in about an hour or more quickly than normal. The Auto Antler set saves time setting antlers. The Ultimate Pro ear buts are included in this form. This saves time and any cost of buying extra ear buts. The Antler Slot is very narrow and needs very little filler. The ear liners it in perfectly to the ear buts, which are symmetrical, saving you time in setting and placing the ears. There are no legs and there is less shoulder-sewing, and stapling is quicker. The eye sockets use Accufast eyes, which can save an hour of clay setting and skin fitting time. My hunch is that about half of the price shoppers that come in to see your work will pick the higher priced mount. The obvious difference to the common customer is that the Pro-line doesn’t have legs. The face is great, it is just limited to both ears back.

To be very clear, this is not a poor quality form. It is a high quality form, just without legs and deep shoulders. Hopefully this will give you food for thought, and get you a few new customers. Don’t follow the crowd, be the leader and have them follow you.