Breaker Culture: Building Brand Strength and Customer Relationships

Jesse Haynes

In the next segment of our Breaker Culture series, we focus on building your brand and establishing customer relationships that go beyond a break.

We were very fortunate to have Andrew Williams of The Iron Lion spend some time with us and give us insight into his brand and the “family” that he has built. Williams along with his business partner, Shelby Bridges, established The Iron Lion in 2017 as a collectibles store in Colorado Springs, Colorado and also breaks cases of cards almost every night. 

Here are 5 ways to build brand strength and build customer relationships on any budget. 

Names Matter in Live Breaking

There’s power in a name, and chances are, you’ve had your name misspelled or misheard more than once in your life.

For breakers, the groundwork of a solid customer relationship can start with something as simple as nailing the way you say your customer's name. 

According to Williams, “Making sure to try and go out of your way to pronounce people’s names sounds trivial but can make a big difference when creating a relationship with a customer.”

It doesn’t take much effort, but the payoff can be massive: taking the extra time to make sure you’re always pronouncing your customer’s name correctly is not only a sign of respect, but it’s a point of connection that will not be overlooked.

In other words, you’re showing you care.

Stay up-to-date with the card market

The sports card market continues to swell, and with it, the prices of formerly passed-over inserts are now climbing sky-high.

Williams emphasizes the importance of following the market and knowing what cards have the potential to bring in big paydays for clients – and then protecting them at all cost.

“Sleeving everything that has potential monetarily is important,” he said, “Ten years ago, insert cards didn’t go for much at all, but now a lot more have started to bring money, so adjusting to what is selling for decent money and protecting it is paramount.”

Under-protecting cards – especially cards of value – is a quick way to lose customers, but putting effort into identifying and properly handling the valuable cards can go a long way toward repeat customers and word-of-mouth referrals. 

Keep it fun!

While sports card breaking is different than rolling dice in Vegas, there’s still inevitably going to be some winners and losers every break. 

That said, having a fun, inviting atmosphere not only softens the blow on the nights when buyers strike out… it also implants positive memories your customer won’t forget the next time he or she is shopping for another break. 

Basically, it makes the break about more than the luck of the draw – it makes the break about the experience. 

According to Williams, “Keeping a positive and fun atmosphere is one of the most important things you can do as a breaker because the customer can break with anyone, so you have to set yourself apart in as many ways as possible and their experience is everything.”

Williams, perhaps better than any other breaker, practices this.

If you’ve ever bought into or watched one of the Iron Lion breaks, Williams’s enthusiasm, energy, and humor are consistent and undeniable from start to finish. 

As a breaker, don’t be timid. Have fun and let your personality shine!

Facebook community in card breaks

Very few breaks go by in which Williams doesn’t refer to the Iron Lion customers as “family,” and with great reason: he truly makes everyone feel like family.

To do this, social media plays a big part. 

Their Facebook group, in particular, has a communal aspect. While information about breaks is shared from the Iron Lion, members of the Iron Lion Facebook community are also allowed to post. 

Almost every day, the feed will boast stories from card collectors around the world, happy customers taking a picture with their big hit, or PCers looking to acquire more for their collection.

As a breaker, the only expense you’ll pay for a successful Facebook group is the time you put into it, but when considering what it can do for your brand – and how it can unite your customers – the return on investment is amazing. 

You hear the word “Prizm” and you immediately associate it with one of Panini’s best collections.

Brand Building with Card Collectors

Finally, Williams also does a great job of building the Iron Lion Brand through the break itself.

For one, as you can see from any of the videos, you can’t watch an Iron Lion break and wonder, “Wait, which company is this?”

In other words, the Iron Lion logo is used abundantly, purposefully, and gracefully in every break. Subtle placement of a professional, unmistakable logo can fortify a brand.

On top of this, each package that Iron Lion ships also contains an Iron Lion logo sticker. While that’s an extra expense that might not be feasible for your early days of breaking, it’s an incredible touch to help connect customers to your service. 

Another great example of brand building by Iron Lion is the lingo Williams infuses into his breaks. He has a handful of sayings for celebrating big pulls (“That’s gonna be some cheese,” and “he real good,” as examples), and these sayings are often referenced in the Facebook group. 

This means that at this point, they’re becoming “viral.”

In the same way, he often uses emojis to enhance the brand: the lion and the flame, in particular. This is playful, fun, and expands the brand. 

And lastly, The Iron Lion takes pictures of all the big cards from every break – alongside a logo-adorned business card – and shares them on Facebook. This is a great way not only to show off the cards being pulled for customers, but also to share the brand as the images get shared on social media.

Ready for practice?

If you’re just getting into breaking, you probably don’t have the setup of The Iron Lion, but that doesn’t mean you can’t practice these low-cost tips that help connect with your customers and grow your brand.

It’s also worth noting that The Iron Lion has other great brand-building strategies, but for a much higher-budget: from high-dollar giveaways every month to making sure every person who buys a team spot gets cards -- but these come at a price. With that in mind, we wanted to focus on things that anybody can do on any budget.

Take these lessons to heart as you begin breaking, and go check out The Iron Lion to learn from one of the bests in the game, firsthand (and you might even get some massive cards, too!).

The SLabStat team would like to say a very special thanks to Andrew Williams and the Iron Lion for taking the time from their busy schedules to help share their experiences of breaking and the love of cards with collectors around the world.