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wait to buy more machines?


gsnwag

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Since I am relatively new at this, here is a question.

I have placed all 5 of my 4select machines. Now, do I wait to see how these machines are doing before buying more machines? I can possibly place more machines. There are more businesses that I could try. Do I let them slip by. Not to mention the places I've already gone to but the person that makes vending decisions was not available.

What's some advice!

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It really depends on your goals and how you deal with the risk of a new business. If you're convinced you're going to make a go of it, you might go ahead and buy more if you can.

Understand that vending is a numbers game and some of those locations will probably have to be pulled. If your competition is high in that area it might extend your time to get your machines in all good producing businesses.

This is typically a low time of the year for averages too, so you might be sure and wait long enough as some accounts will way over-perform in the summer.

One other consideration might be if you are using money from your monthly living expenses to buy further machines. I would advise against it in this case.

One thing I wrote that will help you is an article on locating that helps you to get a feel for what you can expect in the way of averages in new accounts. This info has been very accurate for me as I've done this business.

Here is the article:

http://www.vendingarticles.net/Power_Tips_100.html

Good luck!

Mark

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Thx a bunch Mark. We have a seperate account for our new business. It's new and exciting right now to be able to place machines. Just didn't know if to get investment back before going further. We hope to build/buy a 50 machine route. So just confused on where to go when you run out of machines, but still have many places to try and locate. Oh yeah we also are still waiting to hear from 4 locations that seems hopeful, they just have to check with the decision maker. If these 4 would call for the machines we wouln't have any to supply right now.  Maybe we jumped the gun when we decided to keep locating while waiting for a reply from the 4, but may not have landed the ones I did while if we waited. Bitter sweet maybe.

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I was going to try to reply to this, but Mark said about everything I wanted to. It is really a numbers game. Keep a level head since a lot of people go into vending gung ho and expecting to make huge returns and then they don't. They lose patience and end up selling out or taking a loss on their machines.

If I could give someone new some advice I would tell them to be patient, and when you first place your machine, don't fill it all the way up with candy because you never know how fast it will sell or if you will need to change your candy selection. Don't be naive as I was...close your candy wheels off some. This is a business of pinching pennies. 

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If you were going to buy new machines then I would suggest waiting and buying only as you need them. New machines will always be available if you're willing to pay the price. However, buying used is a whole new ballgame. It doesn't matter what you buy used - if it's being sold at a super price you better buy it then or it won't be there later. I'd rather get them at a great price if available and keep them stored until ready. If you haven't any machines on hand you either may loose a location by waiting or have to pay more to get the equipment at that time.

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I would be patient, you have some early success already with your first few machines out.  Keep looking on Craigslist and Ebay for deals, or your local penny saver, etc.  That is how I got nearly all of my machines now, and they usually come in droves. :)

I would continue scouting the area and trying to locate, but concentrate on prime spots for now.  When I say prime spots I mean restaurants, diners, pizza places, etc.  When you get more machines you can either pull from a lower performing spot and put in the new one, and put the new machines in the old spot, or the other way around.

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Locating without having machines is a practice you might want to think twice about, Sandi. I did this when I first started and was lucky. My first two locations were from people I actually know and it was no problem. If you locate a machine with a place that you have no personal contact with, you risk the chance of being told we changed our mind when you finally get the machine.

I would suggest buying first and then placing it the same day or next. Being you already have machines out there making you money, that is the direction I would go and have been operating that way since. :)

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That is true bacho.  I always have the machine in my van ready to go when I locate.  But when they are in this situation, just starting out, they can make the best of it by scouting territory, getting menus/business cards, ordering lunch or something somewhere that may be a prime location while waiting for new machines or a used deal to pop up.

This also gets you into the habit of looking around and being observant, you would be surprised how bad my pitch or my observation skills go downhill if I don't use them for a month or two!  :)

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This also gets you into the habit of looking around and being observant, you would be surprised how bad my pitch or my observation skills go downhill if I don't use them for a month or two!  :)

LOL  How true, Joe. I sound like a bumbling idot my first few tries until I get back into the flow of things.

I'm always scouting in my travels through the city. I jot places down that I think would be good spots and then enter them on a spread sheet for my next locating venture.

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Thanks for the feedback. We have 6 4 sel u-turns out and 4 more to locate. After this we will not purchase any more until we get a good idea on how these will do. The only problem we have is when locating, we have a few that has to get back to us with an answer. I don't know whether to wait for an answer or try to locate elsewhere. If I find another spot, then the previous owner calls for a machine I wouldn't have any to put there. Question: do we wait for an answer? If so how long do we wait before moving on?

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I wouldn't wait for someone to call me back. If you have the machines and have the opportunity to place it right away, go for it. If that undecided person calls and you have no more, tell them they have to wait a couple weeks because you are out of stock.

The sooner you get a machine in place, the faster you will be making money. I never wait for a person to make up their mind. If I did, I would be broke. LOL

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