Shauna Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Just finished meeting with my Coke rep this morning and placed our first order for 3PO machines. We have three new locations that we will be putting these machines in and I'm meeting with four additional locations this afternoon. I'm excited to see our business grow. Since we have to order our product from Coke for those machines, I need to get out there and get more locations to cut down on future expired product. Three down, hopefully another four to go. This week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Congrats. Keep it up. Congrats. Keep it up. Congrats. Keep it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shauna Posted March 14, 2012 Author Share Posted March 14, 2012 Made it to two locations this afternoon. Of the two, we decided to work with one of them. So, in addition to the three we added this morning, we now have another one this afternoon. Four new accounts in one week. Not bad. This last one is one that I'm really excited about. We have a machine located outside between a pawn/title loan shop and a liquor store. Across the street from this location is a park where Civil Ware reinactments happen at least once a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparta_Automation Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Congrats on the new sites....always exciting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vendors Tech Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Remember never to let Coke catch you with other soda besides theirs in your machines. I've known guys who have lost their whole 3rd party route for one line of Pepsi products in a Coke owned machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shauna Posted March 14, 2012 Author Share Posted March 14, 2012 Remember never to let Coke catch you with other soda besides theirs in your machines. I've known guys who have lost their whole 3rd party route for one line of Pepsi products in a Coke owned machine. Yep, totally planning on being honest and honorable with the Coke machines. I did have to explain to the manager of Coke that we do have other accounts than just Coke, so we would continue to purchase inventory from Sam's Club for those machines. My inventory system is pretty cool; I'll just label the items from Coke as such and separate the 3PO locations from my independent locations. If Coke ever has a problem with me, I'll show them my tracking (which is kept up to date each day). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shauna Posted March 15, 2012 Author Share Posted March 15, 2012 I just took a call from a location that I presented to last week. We are going in tomorrow to hopefully seal the deal. It's been a good week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walta Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Being honest sounds easy now but how do handle it when you hear “put Dr Pepper in there or get your machines out of my building”. Keeping everyone happy is never easy. Walta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anyvendingcom Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Congrats!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shauna Posted March 15, 2012 Author Share Posted March 15, 2012 Being honest sounds easy now but how do handle it when you hear “put Dr Pepper in there or get your machines out of my building”. Keeping everyone happy is never easy. Walta The Coke bottler here hanldes Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper. And when I'm placing these machines, I am very upfront about only Coke products being allowed in the machines. If I had a customer come back later and tell me to put in something non-Coke or get out of my building, I would take into account the sales of the location and maybe put in an independent/non-branded machine. But the sales would have to justify the expense. Thanks for the encouragement and support, guys! This morning, I received a call from someone who saw our website and wanted a machine in their facility. I'll be going down there this afternoon to talk details with them. This is the first time someone has called us, instead of us soliciting business. I like that feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 This is the first time someone has called us, instead of us soliciting business. I like that feeling. That's a great feeling, isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shauna Posted March 16, 2012 Author Share Posted March 16, 2012 Yes, it is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poplady1 Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Very excited for you. Good luck with everything and be sure to let us know how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shauna Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 A new development occured this evening. My husband's sister is the general manager of a hotel about half an hour from where we are located. He contacted her today about possibly putting in some drink and snack machines. We waited to contact her until we felt we could approach her on equal footing. I didn't want her to feel obligated or do us any favors. It turned out to be even greater than we could have possibly imagined. Not only does she want a proposal for two drink and two snack machines at her hotel, but she wants proposals for the other 16 hotels she oversees. Choke. Sixteen!?!?!? Holy freakin' cow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 A new development occured this evening. My husband's sister is the general manager of a hotel about half an hour from where we are located. He contacted her today about possibly putting in some drink and snack machines. We waited to contact her until we felt we could approach her on equal footing. I didn't want her to feel obligated or do us any favors. It turned out to be even greater than we could have possibly imagined. Not only does she want a proposal for two drink and two snack machines at her hotel, but she wants proposals for the other 16 hotels she oversees. Choke. Sixteen!?!?!? Holy freakin' cow. Wow, I hope they are good locations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usurper333 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 You sound like the kind of person I would be willing to locate for, maybe Im barking up the wrong tree who Knows ? > But it never hurts to ask... Soo many Vendors ( especially the ones that contact me ) are looking for 100 - 500 employee locations, and as a locator I know thats like finding a needle in a haystack, the minuet these Companys open their doors they have machines in place, so youre dialing / looking for someone thats not not happy with their service,,, Then from that perspective it gets even deeper, Should we call our current vendor and cancel ? And this stuff takes time, and generally people will just stay with the service they have even if they are less than thrilled with their current vendor and or service. Its a waste of time from a locators perspective. Just seeing that youre excited about getting a Pawn and loan shop makes me happy, ( and congrats too you ) , thats the kind of person I like to deal with. Dont get me wrong, as a locator I will not place a machine with anything less than 10 - 15 employees, unless its an apartment of course, but for people to think that finding big a buck locations is easy, Im here to tell you its not... Alot of time goes into finding those high dollar locations,,,, Numerous phone calls, you get lost in a shuffle from the secretary tring to find the right person, then once you do get the person you have to not only pitch them, but then you may have to bid on that location and email paperwork and wait and wait. Hell, ( excuse my language ) but for the amount of time you spend with these locations spinning youre wheels, you may as well ask $1000.00 per location for youre time and efforts... And then the vendors would say say youre way too high on youre prices. If it was soo easy to get locations, nobody would hire a locator. Its hard work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shauna Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 Wow, I hope they are good locations! Thanks, me too. I know that the one she is located at will be a good location, but I'm kind of having to hold my husband back from wanting all 16. Sometimes, I just gotta break it down for him. "Honey, does it make sense to have a vending machine in Opelika, Alabama, when we live in Knoxville, Tennessee?" So, I know we won't be going after all 16, but a lot of them will be beneficial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Thanks, me too. I know that the one she is located at will be a good location, but I'm kind of having to hold my husband back from wanting all 16. Sometimes, I just gotta break it down for him. "Honey, does it make sense to have a vending machine in Opelika, Alabama, when we live in Knoxville, Tennessee?" So, I know we won't be going after all 16, but a lot of them will be beneficial. With a relative being in the decision maker position I would try really hard to get previous sales information, or commission amounts and do some math. Even with bottler equipment the capital outlay for a number of locations that may not be that good could really crimp your style for a while. You need to be looking for 200+ rooms and avg occupancy over 75% for it to be "good", 200-300 per week per location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 You sound like the kind of person I would be willing to locate for, maybe Im barking up the wrong tree who Knows ? > But it never hurts to ask... Soo many Vendors ( especially the ones that contact me ) are looking for 100 - 500 employee locations, and as a locator I know thats like finding a needle in a haystack, the minuet these Companys open their doors they have machines in place, so youre dialing / looking for someone thats not not happy with their service,,, Then from that perspective it gets even deeper, Should we call our current vendor and cancel ? And this stuff takes time, and generally people will just stay with the service they have even if they are less than thrilled with their current vendor and or service. Its a waste of time from a locators perspective. Just seeing that youre excited about getting a Pawn and loan shop makes me happy, ( and congrats too you ) , thats the kind of person I like to deal with. Dont get me wrong, as a locator I will not place a machine with anything less than 10 - 15 employees, unless its an apartment of course, but for people to think that finding big a buck locations is easy, Im here to tell you its not... Alot of time goes into finding those high dollar locations,,,, Numerous phone calls, you get lost in a shuffle from the secretary tring to find the right person, then once you do get the person you have to not only pitch them, but then you may have to bid on that location and email paperwork and wait and wait. Hell, ( excuse my language ) but for the amount of time you spend with these locations spinning youre wheels, you may as well ask $1000.00 per location for youre time and efforts... And then the vendors would say say youre way too high on youre prices. If it was soo easy to get locations, nobody would hire a locator. Its hard work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why dont you try acting as an appt setter. i think only very naive person would think you can close those legit good accts over the phone but you CAN get the appointments for the vendors. As for the "low hanging fruit" type accts,thanks but no thanks ! anyone can dial through the phone book for a few days and get those.l Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shauna Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 With a relative being in the decision maker position I would try really hard to get previous sales information, or commission amounts and do some math. Even with bottler equipment the capital outlay for a number of locations that may not be that good could really crimp your style for a while. You need to be looking for 200+ rooms and avg occupancy over 75% for it to be "good", 200-300 per week per location. Thanks. We've got some preliminary numbers on her primary location, which is what I focusing on right now. They are currently remodeling the hotel and upgrading it to a "premier" status, which means squat to me. From what I've gathered, she is currently receiving 10% commission and getting a check for $400 to $450 quarterly. She is asking for toiletries in the snack machine (razors, combs, etc.), which I'll have to price out because we don't carry those at this time. The one major drawback I can see going through the details is that the area is under a different bottler. So we'd be making our proposal on the fact that we will be purchasing independent machines and stocking multi-brand products. Too much hassle setting up an account with another bottler, another storage unit to deliver to and another set of inventory in my accounts to keep everything straight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treadmill Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Any update available? How many locations did you decide to go with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shauna Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Any update available? How many locations did you decide to go with? Thanks for asking. This week has been extremely busy. We've had to crunch our normal route into three days this week, because we are setting up and stocking five locations tomorrow and Friday. The hotel account is taking a little longer than we had anticipated, mainly because we need to make sure all our ducks are in a row before going ahead with the proposal. I want to do this right, and if we can't make enough profit on it to justify the trip in the opposite direction, we won't do it. With hotel pricing, we should be good to go, but we are wanting to make this a profitable business, and I need to know it will make business sense to pursue these accounts before we put ourselves out there. I should hopefully have some final numbers crunched by the end of next week, and probably schedule a proposal the week after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 ..... but we are wanting to make this a profitable business, and I need to know it will make business sense to pursue these accounts before we put ourselves out there. Good decision making, don't take on business just to increase cash flow, if its not profitable its not worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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