I was doing vending for quite a while now.
I have a location that i visit once a month because since it is far from my regular area of service.
The location is not that great in terms of sales but there is no agreement of commission. The administration is great to talk too and always communicate which is integral to any business. If there is a deterioration of communication then business relationship surely will go spiraling downhill.
I remember when a vendor sold me this account within a vending route there was a pop machine and it is managed by Coke.
The location is a factory which around 50 employees and most of them are within 30s to 40s age bracket.
I called Coke because i have an account with them and asked for Coke’s permission if i can service it for them.
Coke replied a few years back that it is their account and i’m not allowed to touch it.
Of course i respect their decision. In my mind i just wanted to help out as a third party vendor.
Sometimes it is best to keep smaller locations where the giants leave.
In business there are so many strategies. If you wanted to survive and normally as a veteran vendor you wanted to secure big accounts.
Most of the time everyone likes to go for the big pie. Everyone comes out and tries to sweet talk the facilities’ manager of the company.
During my younger years when i was starting out as a wholesale salesman selling computer motherboards back in the Philippines.
I have to coax and talk to the owners every other day. I didn’t have any office at that time.
I was only 25 years old during that time and i imported some computer motherboard brand called Informtech from Hong Kong.
It can rival Asus Motherboard at that time.
Asus was still in its infancy stage when i was pushing all product lines of Informtech Computer Motherboards.
I got 100 pieces of them and i hired no one its just me ! I actually was very focused and i didn’t care so much about the big giants out there selling numerous famous brands under their belt. I was just selling 1 kind of product to the computer stores in the shopping mall.
I was not that articulate. I don’t have sexy looking promo girls or models as what they do in the Philippines in selling products to store owners.
The only break i got was 2 small computer stores and they absorbed my 100 pieces of Informtech Motherboards. I needed to celebrate that time.
This is an analogy that you just have to very focused on what you are doing. Sometimes you go to smaller locations and offer your services where the giants would think it is a small change for them.
Every small step goes a long way. Customers will always appreciate what you do. It is always the customer that you have to service accordingly.
Most vendors who have been doing this for a while normally have some spare machines at the storage. It would be wise to deploy your extra machines to avoid storage charges.
But if a location is zero potential then like 5 employees and around 50s then of course it is obvious where you should put your extra pop machine.
Installation of Pop Machine.
