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Here on A Man And His Gear, I enjoy getting to feature some really awesome companies! However I really wanted to hear about these companies in their own words!
So I went out and asked some of them to share some facts, information, thoughts or struggles they may have as a provider of some of our favorite gear.
Mike at Zanotti Armor was kind enough to share some of his thoughts!
So here are the 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Zanotti Armor!
1. The Modular Idea
In 1988 Mark Zanotti wanted a large safe in a loft area of his home but didn’t want to deal with the hassle of trying to move one. His wife suggested he just make one in pieces, carry them up and weld it together in place and the idea was born!
I personally think that the idea of a modular gun safe is genius, and works for so many people. It’s cool to see that Mark had a problem, and he solved it!
2. Risking everything for a dream
Banks would not loan him start up money so he sold his motorcycles, boat, and gun collection and started manufacturing modular safes in his garage.
Not many people are willing to put their hobbies on the line to make their business succeed. It’s really awesome to learn that Mark gave up all of those things to make sure Zanotti Armor succeeded.
I would say it paid off in the end!
3. Safes that are hand built
We hand build every safe and pre-assemble to ensure a perfect fit.
This is something you don’t often see anymore. With so many companies opting to build safes offshores, many manufacturers probably haven’t even seen the safe they are selling being built.
I have definitely seen comments online where people mention lengthy lead times when having their safe built, and this is why. Zanotti Armor really seems to have true pride in their workmanship.
People nowadays want everything immediately, in the gun safe world, if you want that, you will have to sacrifice on quality and pride of work.
4. Keep the customer at the center
We don’t want to be the biggest safe manufacturer and don’t want to be in big retail stores. We love dealing directly with our customers, getting to know a little about them and helping them customize their safe.
This is actually a really rare occurrence in the business world. With so many tech startups out there, everyone thinks they have to grow at a crazy pace. I respect a company that wants to grow as it grows, and put their customers at the center of their business.
This kinda reminds me of Zappos, where their motto is “A customer service company that just so happens to sell shoes”. When you focus on your customer’s product gets better due to the great feedback loop.
5. Customer Awareness
The hardest part of our business is making people aware they can buy a large gun safe that comes apart, is easily moved, yet as strong and secure as a one piece safe. Our customers are our #1 sales people.
As I have mentioned many times, and probably will continue to, I am a fan of modular safes, and I hope this article, and the others I write get the word out about them to help companies like Zanotti grow.
That said, feel free to visit their website and shop for your Zanotti Armor safe! They have 5 different gun safes, a new modular home safe, and a vault door to choose from.
Conclusion
I have been a fan of Zanotti Armor for quite some time, they show up on my overall best gun safes list, as well as my best modular gun safe list!
Modular gun safes allow military members that move a lot, people that live in apartments, or people that need a safe in the basement to have a great option for owning the safe that they want.
All with being able to keep manufacturing in the USA, and hand built is an impressive feat.
