Body armor firm cracks tough customers

A Los Angeles-area company says a direct sales approach has helped spur the sale of bulletproof vests. Stephen Armellino, president of U.S. Armor Corp., said his company was able to convince law enforcement agencies that his company's body armor was the best available by reaching out to the least-enthusiastic prospects. "Give me the guy that hates wearing body armor," Amellino said while describing the pitch to the Los Angeles Times. "Let me make a vest for him. We'll knock it out in like a week." The strategy was to convince customers U.S. Armor vests were comfortable, light-weight and able to stop a speeding bullet. The approach seems to have worked. The Times said the Cerritos company has been supplying body armor to more than 200 law-enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department. The company also secured a contract in 2006 from the Department of Homeland Security worth $50 million.