Senior Center

[beejaykc aka Munch A Bunch]

Here's the location detail:

Retirement living and Health Services company. LTC, Rehab, Home Health, Nursing, Alzheimer's, on and on and on. You name it, they do it. And it ain't a cheap place to go from what I've heard.

Large, well-known local property. 400 acre campus. They have medical facilities as well as a nice size "village" that includes villas, cottages, and apartments. Lots of senior living.

30 machines onsite now. Mostly soda/snack, but also 1 coffee and 1 frozen. they get a commission based on sales (probably sliding scale). Mix of healthy foods and non-healthy.

I blindly sent them an email. 5 minutes later, they called me. Claims their "happy" with their current vendor. This vendor (I know from my prospecting) is also about to get kicked out of the city facilities (community center, ymca, etc.). So I would find it hard to believe this facility is completely "happy" with them.

If they're happy, why would they call me 5 minutes after I emailed them? Guy said he'd be happy to take an appointment to talk to me, but I needed to know that they're happy. They are, however - NOT under contract.

1) Should I take the meeting....even though I'm a brand newbie? (I'm a good salesman) I can use the "family operation" sales pitch over the big greedy corp operation.

2) What to do when I get the "oh, golpher.....I got the contract.....now what" moment?

3) What could this account be worth?

4) How much commission would a large competitor be offering? 20%? 30%?

Sometimes I'm too good. I have a knack for getting in the door before it's a good time for me to TAKE the business. I'm so darn new and just beginning to get my feet wet. I hate to pass on this cash cow if indeed it's an opportunity.

Should I just sit on it and wait? Or should I pursue.....if nothing else than for the experience?

Help? Ideas? Advice?

Thanks.

[dogcow]

always take an appointment if for no other reason that practice, if you get it and cant handle it sell off the lead to someone you trust.

why would they change companies? who knows...people change for reasons that sometimes dont even make sense, maybe the manager hates their route driver, maybe he is new and wants to shake things up, maybe they dont stock his secretarys favorite snack and she golphers about it all day long...it doesnt matter, but just take the meeting and try to find out if there is an "in" , at the very least u get a relationship established getting an appointment is the hardest part, so if you want to pitch them again you can say "im so and so calling for mr jones the administrator, about the vending equipment there, im just following up on a meeting we had" ... bam, gatekeeper is neutralized

as for what is the account worth, who knows until you see whats going on

first thing i do is ask to see the invoices/reciepts from the existing vendor, and a copy of their contract or commission agreement that way i can compute the gross sales for the account i try to get 3 months or so. dont be shy just ask.this will give you an idea what the account is worth. if they ask what you need it for i always explain it this way. every vendor operates differently and you'd like to get an idea of the volume of the account so you can create a proposal tthat makes sense for you and them

dont really offer up much just ask for the opportunity to submit a proposal, find out as much as you can, what they have, pricing,commissions, perks, equipment, sales volume,etc.. what are their paint-points what would they like to have is there stuff you could be doing there that they ARENT doing, is there stuff you could simplify for them, do they have old equipment, do they have gauranteed delivery, etc..etc.. could be something as simple as branding the machines by applying vinyl branding and custom soda machien fronts or offering healthy vending, deal-of-the-week program, employee appreciation party, etc..

like i said, do your listening, think about it and write a proposal. bring a sample of some oddball stuff you offer, unusual healthy snacks, premium snacks, and soem classic stuff, put it in a nice gift bag, make a few up one for the secretary, one for the contact and a few for them to pass around, be generous with it. put ur biz card inside there and some brouchures.

once you send the proposal follow up every few weeks until they give you a definite no. i do a week follow up , then 2wks , 1 month,et..c and keep pushing out the date but i never let the communication go totally cold, i just got an account ive been working since nov, i got accounts that took a year to close ...

but the short answer is, i would never ever pass up the opportunity for a meeting you never know where it could lead...

[ruff84]

30 machines?? wowzo thats a lot of equipment.

I can't give you any advice, but good luck and keep us posted.

[moondog]

Yep,

You've put your foot in it now so you've gotta do the walk. To not follow up is vending suicide - at least as far as this account is concerned. The main thing here is to keep yourself in the loop.

Down the road, when you get this account, you can start worrying where you're going to get thirty machines (not a bad problem to have)

[beejaykc aka Munch A Bunch]

Yep,

You've put your foot in it now so you've gotta do the walk. To not follow up is vending suicide - at least as far as this account is concerned. The main thing here is to keep yourself in the loop.

Down the road, when you get this account, you can start worrying where you're going to get thirty machines (not a bad problem to have)

Moondog - when I get this account you'll be my first call for funding. LOL

30 machines? ? wowzo thats a lot of equipment.

I can't give you any advice, but good luck and keep us posted.

Yep, lots of equipment. But I've heard (on this board even) that these are KILLER accounts.

[CajunCandy]

I turned down a big account that had 250 people because they wanted brand new machines, and I didn't want to put out that kind of money just yet! Glad I did because after the company move into the new expensive building, about 75 people was laid off. Of course I would be stuck with new machines not making the kind of money I would have needed to pay the bills!

That is a killer account, I just hope for your sake they accept nice looking refurb machines.

[beejaykc aka Munch A Bunch]

I turned down a big account that had 250 people because they wanted brand new machines, and I didn't want to put out that kind of money just yet! Glad I did because after the company move into the new expensive building, about 75 people was laid off. Of course I would be stuck with new machines not making the kind of money I would have needed to pay the bills!

That is a killer account, I just hope for your sake they accept nice looking refurb machines.

Well, I don't have the account yet. I'm just wondering how far to go with them before making any commits. Sounds like they're willing to meet with me which tells me something.