When Matt McPherson began selling his now revolutionary SoloCam bows in the early ‘90s, quite a few people in archery thought he was crazy. He then proceeded to introduce a new sales and marketing dynamic, while emphasizing people first and business second. It turned out to be the very kind of crazy philosophy that attracted American bowhunters—by the millions.
Today, Matt’s company—Mathews Inc.—extends that same “people first” philosophy to his sales force and retail customers, building on an accepted set of core values: integrity, innovation, and impact. (How many companies that you know of have “core values”?) Sales representatives are in-house in Sparta, Wisconsin where, after work, they can go home to their families.
Mathews’ bows are not sold in discount chains or over the Internet, or even through distributors (with the exception of international sales). An archer interested in a Mathews product must visit an Authorized Mathews Retailer. In other words, Mathews bows are not sold “in the box.”
Today, the Mathews machine shop operates three shifts, five days a week, and processes over 1.8 million pounds of aluminum and recycles 100 percent of scrap aluminum each year to produce the components needed to meet consumer demand. Mathews now has more than 40 CNC machines and operates four facilities in Sparta, WI, totaling approximately 140,000 square feet. In the spring of 2010 they officially produced their one millionth bow. Matt McPherson’s crazy manufacturing and marketing plan has definitely grown up.
“With the high efficiency of the CROSSCENTRIC cam technology, the opportunity to create the highest performing youth bow was right in front of us, and we had to do it,” said McPherson. “This is the finest youth bow archery has ever seen.”
