Acquiring Locations

[JVending]

What are the best ways to find, and acquire locations? I've seen that there are locators who can get you locations for a fee, but I'm wondering if it's easier for me to go out and attempt to find and place machines myself.

 

Also, what are usually the most untapped markets for Vending? Or is it more luck of the draw when it comes to this type of thing?

[moondog]

What are the best ways to find, and acquire locations? I've seen that there are locators who can get you locations for a fee, but I'm wondering if it's easier for me to go out and attempt to find and place machines myself.

 

Also, what are usually the most untapped markets for Vending? Or is it more luck of the draw when it comes to this type of thing?

There are some excellent locators out there but they tend to only work with one vendor in each market - I've found the "start up" locators to be a waste of time and money.

 

There are no untapped markets in vending.  You're easiest entry point will be to place a soda machine in a mid sized blue collar establishment.

 

Ps.  What happened to that big established route you were looking at awhile back?

[JVending]

I ended up not going with it because I decided to start small. I didn't want to overwhelm myself and jump head first into a system I knew very little about. So now I'm working on that by getting locations on my own or through locators. But I'm not sure how most people accomplish that.

[Growliebusters]

I tried ad-mail with one hit out of 1000. Was a so so account. Since then I have an ongoing free ad in Kijiji (similar to Craig's list) and have had three locations contact me. Two are turning into stellar accounts and the third is still struggling, will give it one more month. So far I haven't had to go knock on doors, I hate when a salesman walks into my business so I try not to do the same. Will be acquiring more machines in the next couple of weeks (hopefully) and I can actually pay for a front page ad on Kijiji @ 14.00 per week. This should get me more locations.

[mainor5251]

If you want to do this long term, full time your most likely gonna be knocking on doors just part of the biz

[moondog]

I ended up not going with it because I decided to start small. I didn't want to overwhelm myself and jump head first into a system I knew very little about. So now I'm working on that by getting locations on my own or through locators. But I'm not sure how most people accomplish that.

You were probably wise to pass on that deal, as much as it probably hurt,  it was a very big bite as I recall.

 

Acquiring accounts is the biggest hurdle and people go about it in different ways.  When I started I bought a small route with ten machines and went out and located twenty more machines across ten locations.  I still have a couple of those accounts but most of them were a bust.  I still have thirty machines placed but they're in better locations now and I'm about two good accounts shy of clearing the 60k a year that was my original goal.  It's taken three plus years and I've learned that this is definitely a patience game of steadily acquiring quality accounts.

[Vending How Chris]

J,

 

I'm gonna offer two slightly different ideas to what's already been said:

 

1. Referrals. The company I work for tripled in 6 years through nothing but referrals. The basic concept is that you overdeliver on your customer service and then ask each of your current locations if they know anyone. The best time to grow is in the spring time, since this is the time when service really matters - it's getting hotter and your machines tend to break down more often.

 

2. Finding an existing vendor to shadow. You would have to work out the details of course, but I find that it's difficult to find locations when you're just starting out. As was said before, there are no untapped markets. It's no longer the reality where you can just put a soda machine on the corner next to the grocery store and start making money.The advantage here would be free on-the-job training from someone who is in the business and a greater opportunity to buy locations directly from them.

[JVending]

I found a vending brokerage company that finds locations and sells them for $350. As a part of their purchase, they include training on the machines that you purchase. So I bought two combo machines and two locations. Now I have a good building block to go from. I've also found a few locations that I work at that don't have vending machines. So I'm going to be sure to have a conversation with one of the managers.

 

Thanks everyone for your help.

[AZVendor]

JVending, please remember that imported machines, if that's what these are, and which the majority of combos are, are not recommended by most on this forum due to poor quality machines and poor tech and parts support.  A true vending broker won't be selling locations only.  They sell existing accounts with equipment in them and they should not be associated with any machine distributor.  You may have hooked up with simply a locator or perhaps a USI distributor that sells accounts that they obtain themselves and place machines in, hoping to find a buyer for.  There are many blurred lines here as a locator may be doing so on behalf of a distributor so that the distributor has a channel to sell his machines in.  This is a very typical business model for a USI distributor.  I'm only telling you this so that you don't go into this blindly.  You definitely need to know who you're really doing business with and you should question any claims made to you such as gross sales and the age of the accounts.

[moondog]

I found a vending brokerage company that finds locations and sells them for $350. As a part of their purchase, they include training on the machines that you purchase. So I bought two combo machines and two locations. Now I have a good building block to go from. I've also found a few locations that I work at that don't have vending machines. So I'm going to be sure to have a conversation with one of the managers.

 

Thanks everyone for your help.

 

If these accounts turn out to be money makers ($500 plus a month gross)  do yourself a favor and put in full size machines.  If these accounts a worth a damn, those little combo machines will drive you nuts.

[JVending]

You may have hooked up with simply a locator or perhaps a USI distributor that sells accounts that they obtain themselves and place machines in, hoping to find a buyer for.  There are many blurred lines here as a locator may be doing so on behalf of a distributor so that the distributor has a channel to sell his machines in.  This is a very typical business model for a USI distributor.

 

What exactly is a USI distributor? I'm wondering because this sounds like it could possibly be along those lines. I know for a fact that I get all the profits from the location, but, it was brought to my understanding that they ultimately own the location, and if I get kicked out, they take it back and redistribute it to another vendor. If that's the case, I'm fine for now. Mostly because I just wanted to start playing the vendor role. And once I got confortable, I'd be mroe willing to go out and find locations on my own.

[moondog]

What exactly is a USI distributor? I'm wondering because this sounds like it could possibly be along those lines. I know for a fact that I get all the profits from the location, but, it was brought to my understanding that they ultimately own the location, and if I get kicked out, they take it back and redistribute it to another vendor. If that's the case, I'm fine for now. Mostly because I just wanted to start playing the vendor role. And once I got confortable, I'd be mroe willing to go out and find locations on my own.

 

I find it interesting that they think they own the location - I would think the location itself would be the owner.  Even if they (the brokerage company) has a contract, when push comes to shove, it's not worth the paper it's written on.

 

USI distributors are licensed by the Wittern Group to sell USI vending equipment.  USI predominantly makes snack machines and combo machines, but they also make some soda machines.  Some USI distributors also acquire accounts for newbies that are willing to buy their equipment and sell it as a package deal - much like a biz op except that USI machines are of a higher quality than most biz ops would sell (this isn't saying much, as most biz op machines are crap).

 

If these two accounts work out for you and you do a good job,  they'll be yours to keep in all reality.  If they're really good, be prepared to move in some larger equipment.

[AZVendor]

I would guess that whoever you "bought" the accounts from is acting as a Vending Management Company.  That is an entity that obtains locations, usually a chain of retail locations but sometimes single stops, and then in return for managing the location's vending they will keep a percentage of each month's commission check.  There is a USI guy here who does this exact thing by himself, and USI, if that's really who we're talking about, has their own Vending Management company called National Vending.  If you are paying your commission to someone other than the location, then this is what you have gotten into.  In this case, you do not own the location, the management company does.  Also in this instance, you should never pay a management company any fee for the location, because they are getting a percentage of every commission check.  However, being new and inexperienced, you don't know the tricky, sneaky ways that some people operate.  It is entirely up to you if you want to pay any fees or purchase machines already on location in order to obtain these accounts. 

 

If you are not paying any commission to anyone other than the location, or not paying commission at all, then this guy is shining you on as to his "ownership" of the accounts.  You are then dealing with a distributor or just a guy that is finding locations, whether he does it himself or pays a locator to do it for him, so that he can place machines and then sell the location for a high price already equipped with machines.  It's an expensive way to get started.  You need to look over any documents you signed or he provided to you and find out if he is trying to claim that he "owns" the accounts, because you don't want to get kicked out for some made-up reason, or no reason at all, just to find out that he turns around and sells the account to someone else.  Yes, this does happen and I've seen it happen to other vendors here.

[QualitySelectionsJ]

Definitely avoid weird deals like that. I bought into 3 cheap combos, biz opp. and 6yrs later still have the headache. Try buying a regular US made machine, get on the yellow pages or drive around and call locations to place your machines. As a small vendor I find good locations are taken by big vendors, unless you find new construction, businesses, etc.