Oh boy! I'm getting my first customer!

[MVS]

OK, so I -a total greenhorn- am likely getting my first customer, and I am so nervous!

It is a large real estate office full of uppity people in an uppity part of town.

Currently, it has a bills/coins snack and pop machine (i.e., 2 machines), from a vendor who has been there for several years.

Told them I could get them credit card machines, and more of their customers would be able to take advantage, and they are actually going to take me up on it (uh-oh)!

Little concerned about a couple things though:

1) They asked about fruit and yogurt (i.e., health food/perishables), and I have no way of knowing whether there is enough business there for that.

2) Also asked about frozen treats: But even if I buy brand new machines for these things, how do I transport frozen goods from the store to the machines without it all melting (i.e., Do I need to buy a refrigerated truck in order to do this kind of business?

Any thing else I am not thinking of?  

I can always back them off, and say, "Well lets see how things go with the pop (can) and snack machine before getting into health food and ice cream."

[cvending]

When you say a large office--- how many people?  Fruits and yogurt would need to be sold from a refrigerated machine. The frozen would require a machine designed to sell frozen products. Neither of those machines are inexpensive. As for transporting frozen goods to your location, a cooler and dry ice would be you best bet. Just don't buy more than you can fit into your frozen machine. You don't want to ride around with that all day. 

[AngryChris]

Yeah... Look, if it's a good account, it's a good account, but knowing whether it's good or not is obviously the trick.  Offices usually don't spend a lot of money.  And when you say it's a large real estate office, I think of a large building with 20-30 people inside that actually work there, which would not be good numbers at all.  And when you say uppity people, that sounds like they have uppity money and they can afford to have food catered in or they like to eat out, which can be bad things for vending.  I'm not trying to discourage you from your ventures, but it's important to figure out the criteria for a good account and make sure you don't over invest.  Starting off with a soda and a snack is a must.  If you sold them on the credit card idea, then you should leave it at that and make sure your prices are good (meaning .. they are profitable for you).  What you don't want to do is offer to invest thousands and thousands of dollars on a customer where you might never make your money back just because you want customers.  "Uppity" offices can be tricky because people in those environments feel entitled to the best machines and the best equipment and sometimes the lowest prices because.. anything "too expensive" is just another reason for them to save their $1.00 on that snack and go spend $12 at panera bread instead.  Having a card reader might help sales though.

Unless I was dealing with a LEGIT big account, which the veterans know what I am talking about, I wouldn't ever deal with a refrigerated machine UNLESS it was a refrigerated combo machine that was used for soda in addition to food (and maybe snacks too).  Again, I am not trying to discourage you, but if you bought say.. a refurbished bottle vendor, refurbished snack with drop sensor and all of the bells and whistles, and a refurbished glassfront food machine, you would easily be looking at $5,000-$6,000.  If the account is anything like what I just mentioned.. with 20-30 people on site full-time (you can't count on people who are gone all day), then you would be LUCKY to get $100/week in sales or $5,000/year in gross sales.. and even luckier to make $2,000/year in profits.  It would easily take 3 years to break even in a perfect scenario, but the more likely scenario is that you have a refrigerated glassfront that sees very little sales and plenty of expired products.  In fact, given the circumstances, you might be better off starting with a refurbished combo machine that vends bottles (such as an AMS food/combo, or a USI alpine) and have it setup for mostly snacks and bottles and see how it does.  If they kill it, then you can add a snack and/or a soda machine.  If they don't kill it, you've only purchased one machine which they might be happy with...  However, the account could potentially be pretty bad.

You really need to answer cvending's question.. how many people?  You might be guilty of what rookies do and look for what you perceive as a "big place" or "big company" or whatever else.  I don't want to sound like I think you are dumb.  I don't think that about you.  But as a rookie, you might not really "get it" yet.  If you see a very large factory, you might think that they make a lot of money because.. hey.. it's a big building and they probably have a lot of people.  But that might be a shipping/receiving place where only 15 people work with half in an office and there's a gas station across the street where they can buy everything.  That account wouldn't make much money at all.  You might see a doctor's office with 60 cars in the parking lot and think "If everyone just bought one snack..." Nope, that account probably won't do that well.  You might see a corporate office of some large company and think "What's bigger than the corporate office of a large company?"  The answer? Their blue-collar productive facility.

Here's the basics for you to know.  All examples are snacks and soda only and no food or coffee or anything else.  In my experience, office workers spend anywhere from 75 cents to $2.00 per worker per week.. so an office of 50 people might spend anywhere from $37.50 to $100/week in sales.  $37.50/week isn't good and $100/week is alright, but they could be anywhere between there.  Also, office workers are more picky about things.  They are more demanding.  They request things that they often won't buy, or they request things that don't exist because it makes them feel good about themselves because it's the thought that counts.  If they want baked chips, that's because they want to feel good knowing there are healthy options in there.. but they might not actually buy them.  It's all mental and it can cause you to lose a lot of money.  They also feel like they deserve the best equipment because they have a nice office and they deserve nice things.  Even if someone doesn't ever use the machines, they'll be upset if the machines don't look perfect.

On the flip side, hot factory workers can do anywhere from $1.50 per person to $7.00 per person!  A factory with 20 people, on the high end, could do well over $100/week in sales!  That's not always the case, but it isn't unreasonable for the right location.  A factory with 50 people is almost guaranteed to produce at least $100/week in sales.  I have a location that's about 25/75 office/production (about 100 people).  They used to only have about 10 production and 10 office and did about $25/week.  Now they do more like $250/week.  Part of the reason, I think, is because they are busier so break time is more difficult.  Because of that, a lot of people rely on the machines for snacks and soda.  Another reason for the increase is actually because of the card readers, but that wasn't an option at the previous location due to low sales.  Another location of mine, which is one of my favorite locations, has about 13-15 employees and generates an average of about $100/week currently.  Another location in a hot factory was a location I almost turned down... they have about 25 people between 2 shifts and they do about $100/week as well.  I also have a county government building with maybe 20-30 staff and they do $30/week if that... They only reason I don't cancel them is because I have no room for the equipment.  Oh, and another office building with about 35-40 workers that does about $40/week.  Get the picture?  In the past, I had a law office account that was located above the 10th floor of a large building.  I think they had about 25 people in this law office and they generated something like $40/week in sales.  I think the only reason I made more than I would have normally expected was because the elevator was slow and some of the lesser paid people couldn't really afford the time or money to go elsewhere.

By the way, when you count people on location, you need to account for the people who are on SITE.  Never include the people who are gone all or most of the day.  One of my greatest disappointments was a location with some 75 workers.. but half of them are out in the field all day and sometimes don't even come back to the warehouse until the next day.  They only do about $60/week.  It would do much better even with the 35-40 people on site if not for the fact that there is a convenience store literally across the street.  It takes all of 2 minutes to walk across the street and have a lot of variety.

[Newvendor]

16 hours ago, AngryChris said:

Yeah... Look, if it's a good account, it's a good account, but knowing whether it's good or not is obviously the trick.  Offices usually don't spend a lot of money.  And when you say it's a large real estate office, I think of a large building with 20-30 people inside that actually work there, which would not be good numbers at all.  And when you say uppity people, that sounds like they have uppity money and they can afford to have food catered in or they like to eat out, which can be bad things for vending.  I'm not trying to discourage you from your ventures, but it's important to figure out the criteria for a good account and make sure you don't over invest.  Starting off with a soda and a snack is a must.  If you sold them on the credit card idea, then you should leave it at that and make sure your prices are good (meaning .. they are profitable for you).  What you don't want to do is offer to invest thousands and thousands of dollars on a customer where you might never make your money back just because you want customers.  "Uppity" offices can be tricky because people in those environments feel entitled to the best machines and the best equipment and sometimes the lowest prices because.. anything "too expensive" is just another reason for them to save their $1.00 on that snack and go spend $12 at panera bread instead.  Having a card reader might help sales though.

Unless I was dealing with a LEGIT big account, which the veterans know what I am talking about, I wouldn't ever deal with a refrigerated machine UNLESS it was a refrigerated combo machine that was used for soda in addition to food (and maybe snacks too).  Again, I am not trying to discourage you, but if you bought say.. a refurbished bottle vendor, refurbished snack with drop sensor and all of the bells and whistles, and a refurbished glassfront food machine, you would easily be looking at $5,000-$6,000.  If the account is anything like what I just mentioned.. with 20-30 people on site full-time (you can't count on people who are gone all day), then you would be LUCKY to get $100/week in sales or $5,000/year in gross sales.. and even luckier to make $2,000/year in profits.  It would easily take 3 years to break even in a perfect scenario, but the more likely scenario is that you have a refrigerated glassfront that sees very little sales and plenty of expired products.  In fact, given the circumstances, you might be better off starting with a refurbished combo machine that vends bottles (such as an AMS food/combo, or a USI alpine) and have it setup for mostly snacks and bottles and see how it does.  If they kill it, then you can add a snack and/or a soda machine.  If they don't kill it, you've only purchased one machine which they might be happy with...  However, the account could potentially be pretty bad.

You really need to answer cvending's question.. how many people?  You might be guilty of what rookies do and look for what you perceive as a "big place" or "big company" or whatever else.  I don't want to sound like I think you are dumb.  I don't think that about you.  But as a rookie, you might not really "get it" yet.  If you see a very large factory, you might think that they make a lot of money because.. hey.. it's a big building and they probably have a lot of people.  But that might be a shipping/receiving place where only 15 people work with half in an office and there's a gas station across the street where they can buy everything.  That account wouldn't make much money at all.  You might see a doctor's office with 60 cars in the parking lot and think "If everyone just bought one snack..." Nope, that account probably won't do that well.  You might see a corporate office of some large company and think "What's bigger than the corporate office of a large company?"  The answer? Their blue-collar productive facility.

Here's the basics for you to know.  All examples are snacks and soda only and no food or coffee or anything else.  In my experience, office workers spend anywhere from 75 cents to $2.00 per worker per week.. so an office of 50 people might spend anywhere from $37.50 to $100/week in sales.  $37.50/week isn't good and $100/week is alright, but they could be anywhere between there.  Also, office workers are more picky about things.  They are more demanding.  They request things that they often won't buy, or they request things that don't exist because it makes them feel good about themselves because it's the thought that counts.  If they want baked chips, that's because they want to feel good knowing there are healthy options in there.. but they might not actually buy them.  It's all mental and it can cause you to lose a lot of money.  They also feel like they deserve the best equipment because they have a nice office and they deserve nice things.  Even if someone doesn't ever use the machines, they'll be upset if the machines don't look perfect.

On the flip side, hot factory workers can do anywhere from $1.50 per person to $7.00 per person!  A factory with 20 people, on the high end, could do well over $100/week in sales!  That's not always the case, but it isn't unreasonable for the right location.  A factory with 50 people is almost guaranteed to produce at least $100/week in sales.  I have a location that's about 25/75 office/production (about 100 people).  They used to only have about 10 production and 10 office and did about $25/week.  Now they do more like $250/week.  Part of the reason, I think, is because they are busier so break time is more difficult.  Because of that, a lot of people rely on the machines for snacks and soda.  Another reason for the increase is actually because of the card readers, but that wasn't an option at the previous location due to low sales.  Another location of mine, which is one of my favorite locations, has about 13-15 employees and generates an average of about $100/week currently.  Another location in a hot factory was a location I almost turned down... they have about 25 people between 2 shifts and they do about $100/week as well.  I also have a county government building with maybe 20-30 staff and they do $30/week if that... They only reason I don't cancel them is because I have no room for the equipment.  Oh, and another office building with about 35-40 workers that does about $40/week.  Get the picture?  In the past, I had a law office account that was located above the 10th floor of a large building.  I think they had about 25 people in this law office and they generated something like $40/week in sales.  I think the only reason I made more than I would have normally expected was because the elevator was slow and some of the lesser paid people couldn't really afford the time or money to go elsewhere.

By the way, when you count people on location, you need to account for the people who are on SITE.  Never include the people who are gone all or most of the day.  One of my greatest disappointments was a location with some 75 workers.. but half of them are out in the field all day and sometimes don't even come back to the warehouse until the next day.  They only do about $60/week.  It would do much better even with the 35-40 people on site if not for the fact that there is a convenience store literally across the street.  It takes all of 2 minutes to walk across the street and have a lot of variety.

Angry Chris i tip my hat to you sir. Always helping people out on this sight and such useful/ relatable information.

 

[MVS]

Wow...I think you just saved me from making a mistake.

I am guessing there are 60 realtors in the building, but no more than 25 on site at any given time.

They have had a vendor n there for many years who has a pop and snack machine, and he leaves them all the expired stuff.

Wonder how much was expired.

Thank you AC!

[AngryChris]

22 minutes ago, MVS said:

Wow...I think you just saved me from making a mistake.

I am guessing there are 60 realtors in the building, but no more than 25 on site at any given time.

They have had a vendor n there for many years who has a pop and snack machine, and he leaves them all the expired stuff.

Wonder how much was expired.

Thank you AC!

As a seasoned vendor, what you have just told me about leaving them expired stuff and having no more than about 25 realtors on site at any time.. that tells me that you should give them a call and say hey... things came up and I can't provide these machines to you.

Fortunately, from the sounds of it, you didn't really lose anything from this experience.  If anything, you gained some valuable knowledge yourself -- knowledge that I touched upon a bit.  Sometimes, you look at a place and you think it's good for vending machines simply because the size of the building or their "status" as being higher-up in the world (subjectively) when, in reality, it could be an absolute dud account.  

My gut feeling is that you could have found yourself spending THOUSANDS of dollars on a few machines for this location only to regret every moment of it.  Now, hopefully with a little insight into things, you can go on and look for some blue-collar accounts.

We will all tell you to look for certain accounts.. like accounts with 50+ people in it, but don't be afraid to start off in accounts that are less intimidating, such as tool shops with 20+ workers or a small factory with 20+ workers.  These can be great places where you can more easily sway them to allow you to place machines and learn the ropes.  In a blue collar account with 50+ people, it can be a challenge when you start getting odd requests or issues with the machines that you don't know how to fix.  Accounts of these size have often dealt with seasoned vending companies before and they won't hesitate to kick you out if you can't keep up with the issues.  When I went into business, I had already had almost 4 years of experience as a route driver, so I was accustomed to filling machines, taking requests, and doing very minor repairs.  Now, I do almost all on-site repairs myself.  There's nothing wrong with going after some of the slower accounts (but better than that realtor office) and throwing some good refurbished machines in it and learning from there.  The one thing I do recommend, however, is trying to get everything MDB from the beginning.  You can do that by buying equipment that was already designed that way OR getting equipment that is very popular for upgrading, such as AP 7000's, AP 112/113's, National 157's, etc...  I have become a big fan of AP 112/113's when they come with dual spirals.  They are very reliable machines and they look nice despite their age, and upgrading them is pretty easy.  I have gotten some for less than $500 and it would only require about $700 in parts and my own time to make them look and work much like newer machines.  Plus, if they get beat up at blue-collar locations, it won't hurt my feelings.  I got a call today from one of my best customers saying they think someone hit the machine (AP 7600) because some buttons won't work.  I get there and all that happened was the keypad connector came undone.  It was a very easy fix and it appeared that no one had done anything to the machine.  Even if they had, I wouldn't have been too upset.  For $150/week in snack sales, I'll let them beat on an AP 7600 occasionally.  It is upgraded too.

[Cat6]

Bingo! Exactly Angry Chris.

I took over another girls route of 9 machines, 2 were at 2 realty offices, and one at a bank. She had her product priced at .65cents, and there was still expired product in it. 

When I took over I pulled the machines telling them they needed to be  thoroughly cleaned and they were getting updated with card readers. Which they were promptly relocated to hotels. 

I stay away from businesses that close at 5pm and closed on the weekends, the machine are automatically cut big exposure times when locked in a office. 

Also, yogurt is not a big seller. I have sold far far more seaweed wafers than yogurt. Its crazy. 

[MVS]

Thank you AC and Cat6!