lurtsman Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 How has this worked out for those that have done it? I'm trying to look at alternative options. If I don't find a reasonable buyer in the right time span, I may bringing someone on that I feel would be trust worthy to handle these accounts while I am away. I'm considering extending the service cycle and standardizing products to make it simpler. That could give me dramatically more time to sell. Ideas, thoughts? Especially from vendors who currently have route people. I'd be looking at keeping my best locations - if I don't find a buyer - and having this person service them. They don't have experience as a vendor, but they are honest and intelligent. Equipment is high quality, so I shouldn't run into many issues with things breaking down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLM Vending Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 i recommend to get even more machines as you hire the route guy. Better to have the residual income overtime, then a one time sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdendy Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Have you thought about offering an apprenticeship/partnership for that route. It might entice some honest people who are motivated and ambitious, just lacking the funds or knowledge to get started. Tell them they work as an apprentice for 6-12 months, give them a fair but lower percentage, since you're taking all the risk and have invested all the money/equipment/time up to this point, to run the route. Maybe also take a small percentage to put away to invest in growing the route over time as they learn. Let them know if at anytime during the apprenticeship there are any discrepancies in financial records and reporting that your agreement is terminated immediately. Let them know after they complete the apprenticeship they will become the major stake owner and business owner of that route and will continue to pay you a small "franchise" fee percentage each month. The advantage is you will probably get someone who wants to build a business honestly and will appreciate this opportunity. You can fine tune and adjust the route using them and their time which is also a tool to teach them how to run one efficiently. You get someone to keep up the route like you want and still make a nice percentage that eventually will turn into a smaller percentage as time goes on, but you will also be required to spend less and less time monitoring and managing the route. So like your original plan, you eventually sell the route but in this case you get residual income from the sale. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musser Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I think you would be in deep trouble. First all you could offer is part time. Second is it takes a while to find out how trustworthy some one really is. Third no one is trustworthy and being away you will have no opportunity to monitor the biz and the route person will know it. You are an itelligent guy but really are missing the boat. A right priced business would already have sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Where are you at lurts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurtsman Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 I think you would be in deep trouble. First all you could offer is part time. Second is it takes a while to find out how trustworthy some one really is. Third no one is trustworthy and being away you will have no opportunity to monitor the biz and the route person will know it. You are an itelligent guy but really are missing the boat. A right priced business would already have sold. It has been listed for under a week. A business that sells in under a week is not priced right (or became incredibly lucky). A business that sells that quick out here is one where the owner is an idiot, hands over his business for almost nothing, and bends over. . I have no intent to take on a full time employee, all I need is someone who can work on the route for one day a month after I eliminate low producers. I can respect that you don't trust anyone, but my life would be pretty sad if I didn't have people I could trust. Most people aren't trust worthy, but being able to locate the right ones is a valuable skill. Edit: I don't mean to sound crude, but I have received a few inquiries from people who were curious in taking everything I had at huge discounts. There is absolutely no reason for me to sell machines on location with product for less than one third of what I would get by picking up the machine, telling the location to F itself, dumping the toys in the trash, and throwing the machine on Ebay. Most of us know that would be a bad business plan, but these people were trolling for suckers. The worst had to be one person who tried to convince me that he wanted to buy the route, but that we should wait to get into specifics until I was almost ready to leave. I pressed the issue and found he was planning to offer me vastly less than I was asking for--and receiving--from the rest of the market. He just hoped he could convince me to wait and gradually work myself into a noose so he could offer me a much lower price. I lost all respect for that person. (No, it's not Musser, this is not some passive aggressive rant. We tend to disagree on things, but he has never attempted to wrong me. We simply have vastly different world views.) There have been some great suggestions. After sleeping on it and doing more research, I've decided to have a local guy whom I trust with cash that can assist with locations and repairs as needed. A few times a year I will fly in and take care of the route. From a financial perspective, this is a considerably better option than selling off great locations and equipment at a discount. From a time perspective, it pays significantly better than taking a **** job while working on my MBA. (Second edit: Changing who to whom. Almost lost track of my subject/object orientation) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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