Vending Chat Members,

Today was a sad day, I lost an account. To add insult to injury, I lost it to Coke (that smarts...). So now, with a renewed vengence, I am aggressively working to get new accounts. I see that Coke, Pepsi, DP and Canteen are all over the place. Please share the successful ideas that you have used to get the "good" (read "big") accounts away from the national conglomerates and keep them.

Here are some specific questions:
1.) How do you reach the "decision makers" of the large locations?
2.) Do you know how to get past the "I am in a contract" excuse that they give you.

How can we be more effective?

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As an aside, the account I lost had 7-10 other locations in my metroplex and Coke got all of them. I had been working on that one for awhile. I know you lose some and you win some, but I am ready for a bit more winning!

All your ideas and experiences are greatly appreciated,

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

Vending Chat Members,

I am interested in your feedback on cashless vending systems. I found one in a "LinkedIn" group forum. I think the concept is a good one. People carry less and less cash these days, so I think it is a viable option, provided that you have the capital to invest in it. I have brought up other equipment in the past that had it already installed from the factory (i.e. multi-max.com), but those machines have a very small capacity and would not do well in a large account.

Microtronic (http://www.microtron...com/product.php) has a product that will retrofit to most late model machines. They have options for both a closed and open system. Closed is where the customer must "load" their card by pre-paying it. An open system accepts credit cards. I think I would be more interested in the closed system because I understand that the fees to process credit cards are quite high.

Please add your thoughts or experience with cashless systems. I am interested to hear what you have to say. Thank you.


Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

Is it worth giving a big location a commission? It always seems like such a huge pain, in addition to losing some of your profits for the site. I am loathe to do it, but Scottgtg was saying on another thread that if you don't give them a commission, then you are much more likely to lose the account. Is it worth it to "secure" the account?

Please add your thoughts on subject. I talking about locations over 100 employees.

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

Dear Experienced VM Operators,

I have been looking at getting some large locations and I was wanting to know what I should expect in terms of gross income. I know every location is different, but I am trying to get at least a good idea as to what I should expect in terms of gross profits. I am looking at locations over 100 employees. All locations will be blue collar workers. Please provide your experience on the following situations:

• 100 Employees / Num & Type of Machines:
• 200 Employees / Num & Type of Machines:
• 300 Employees / Num & Type of Machines:
• 400 Employees / Num & Type of Machines:
• 500 Employees / Num & Type of Machines:
• 500+ Employees / Num & Type of Machines:

Please feel free to include other helpful information, such as whether you offer cold food (Sandwiches, ect) or only soda and snack. Thank you your insight!

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

Do you have a Bizarre marketing idea?

Please post your most creative ideas and tools to this post. What have you tried that has worked? How about any ideas that totally flopped?

One of the most interesting ideas that I have heard of (but not yet tried) is to tape or rubber band a dollar bill to one of the items in your machine. Placing that product at the back, so as to hopefully sell all the ones in front of it. Has anyone tried this?

Please share your experiences and ideas!

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~