Priusjames Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Greetings- Everything seems to be moving so quickly! I've been buying Full Line and Bulk machines from used sources for a few weeks, taking them apart and figuring out how they work (then cleaning them up and putting them together). I'm not afraid of them any more. That's a good thing. I've been looking for a smaller route to buy, to get started and familiarizing myself with the customer interface side of things. I figure I can buy a location or two in a specific area, then use those as springboards to find more locations and build a route in each area. I still have a full-time job, plan to retire in 5 or fewer years...I've started moving in that direction, with vending as something to keep me busy and alive. I have a meeting in the morning to meet a guy with a location for sale near work. The price seems fair (less than the cost of the equipment that stays in place), and the seller seems sincere (isn't "building up" or overselling the account)...as long as things are on the up-and-up, I should be able to strike a deal right then and there. It's a high profile business (but not much of an account in and of itself), I'm thinking it's a good marketing move to make fiends and influence people. Anybody deal with placements at their local Chambers of Commerce? Does anybody advertise your word mark/logo on your machines? How well do you "hide" the label, so it can be found...or, does the "for refunds or problems call..." sticker double as a company ad? How about on Bulk Vendors? I planned to engrave my FCC Call Sign somewhere, but that's for theft identification. I thought it would be good to put a label on the heads somewhere, maybe with vinyl lettering (remember...I have a full print shop!). I'm a little nervous about the meeting in the morning, just because it's my first time face-to-face with somebody selling an account. What will I completely forget to ask/discuss? Crossing fingers... James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 From how you've described the seller and you're apparent familiarity with the account, you should feel comfortable and confident when you meet him. Go with your gut feeling when you speak to him and pay attention to how he relates to the employees onsite. If he comes off as a used car salesman then be concerned, but otherwise use this as an opportunity to dig vending info out of him. You probably won't even have to dig it out. As to the equipment, if you would be paying no more than a good price for each piece then you can always move them to a better spot whenever you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Good luck and may the force be with you..... .... let us know how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priusjames Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 All went well this morning at the meeting. There's a Dixie Narco 240 soda and a 4wide snack on location at a local business newspaper-type company. They are in the Break Room, which is a narrow kitchen longer than wide...no room for more machines. They've been in place for more than 10 years, I'd be the second owner of the account. They don't do much in sales, my ROI will be closer to a year than 6 months...unless I can do something to increase sales. Either way, I think the account would look good on my "References/Customer list" when hitting up new locations...it's a recognized brand. The selections in the snack didn't seem that appetizing to me, and the prices were low. I looked across a sea of (mostly female filled) cubicles and wondered how many of them would buy "healthy choice" items? Chocolate is out, there's no AC in the building on weekends. I'm going to go for it! I'm thinking it's a bad idea to increase pricing, unless the customer wants me to bring in higher quality product (that *seems* like a good reason to justify changing existing prices). Does that make sense? Would you just leave things alone for a while, or try to get buy-in from the customer to make some changes right away? Thanks for all the great advice and information... James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Your ideas about new product and pricing are spot on. It would be bad form to increase pricing right away without a valid reason. New products they haven't seen before can be priced wherever you want. Healthy items are always priced higher if they are specialty items. Down the road, pay close attention to your product costs and when a category of products gets a price increase that you can show in your invoices that's your opportunity to raise some prices. Eventually Coke and Pepsi will raise prices, as well as Frito Lay, Hershey, MM/Mars; all you have to do is wait for that to happen and then you can justify raising soda or chips or candy to your preferred pricing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 All went well this morning at the meeting. There's a Dixie Narco 240 soda and a 4wide snack on location at a local business newspaper-type company. They are in the Break Room, which is a narrow kitchen longer than wide...no room for more machines. They've been in place for more than 10 years, I'd be the second owner of the account. They don't do much in sales, my ROI will be closer to a year than 6 months...unless I can do something to increase sales. Either way, I think the account would look good on my "References/Customer list" when hitting up new locations...it's a recognized brand. The selections in the snack didn't seem that appetizing to me, and the prices were low. I looked across a sea of (mostly female filled) cubicles and wondered how many of them would buy "healthy choice" items? Chocolate is out, there's no AC in the building on weekends. I'm going to go for it! I'm thinking it's a bad idea to increase pricing, unless the customer wants me to bring in higher quality product (that *seems* like a good reason to justify changing existing prices). Does that make sense? Would you just leave things alone for a while, or try to get buy-in from the customer to make some changes right away? Thanks for all the great advice and information... James What you want is a sea of fat machinists and welders - they're rarely found in cubicles. I don't do secretaries anymore - if they're into snacks, they hit the donut shop on the way to work. I hope you get your PR bump out of this - I'm pretty sure that's all this account is worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKK Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Good luck! Low prices and low sales is just not an account I'd be interested in. I hope u tried negotiating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.