RJT Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 After the first of the year I am going to start offering seminars about the vending industry on how to start a vending operation. I was wondering what you guys think is a fair price for a one day seminar would be worth. I am going to include my 130 page book I have written about vending, a CD with sample of proposals, service agreements, product order forms, cold call sheets, route schedule, marketing material. Lunch will be served and included.The seminar will be a total overview how to start and run a vending company. For those of you already in the business, think back to when you started and the mistakes you made and the money you spent that you wished you hadn’t. How much could a seminar like this have saved you? What do you think would be a fair price? Steve, If this post is not appropriate and needs to be moved or deleted feel free to do so. I thought these guys would be a good source to help me with this project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 No one knows?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antoniocinisi Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 100 bucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wevend Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 In my main business it is common to pay 1000.00 to 1500.00 for a day long seminar. That being said most people I read about on this board are staring out and more than likely would not invest that much into their business. If it were me I would test the waters at around 500.00 and see what happens. Best of luck on your new venture!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinnJinn Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Personally, i think most seminars are similar to a biz op. They take your money and talk your golpher off about results. Results that are not normal in everyday life. If you provide good sound advice and tactics and convince me of it, I would pay possibly 100 bucks maybe. I have been to ebay seminars, job seminars, various different kinds of seminars and the only thing I walked away with was "boy I spent $100+ to hear what I already know and to have smoke blowed up my golpher. The only seminar/class I have been to where I was satisfied and learned A LOT, was birthing class. Although we never used it, due to the girls being delivered by emergency c-section, I would have slapped down $200 without thinking twice about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 After the first of the year I am going to start offering seminars about the vending industry on how to start a vending operation. I was wondering what you guys think is a fair price for a one day seminar would be worth. I am going to include my 130 page book I have written about vending, a CD with sample of proposals, service agreements, product order forms, cold call sheets, route schedule, marketing material. Lunch will be served and included.The seminar will be a total overview how to start and run a vending company. For those of you already in the business, think back to when you started and the mistakes you made and the money you spent that you wished you hadn’t. How much could a seminar like this have saved you? What do you think would be a fair price? [/font] Are you talking about a hotel roadshow? By the time you cover all your costs you would need to charge several hundred dollars and put 30-40 rear ends into the seats. Every vending seminar or biz-op that I ever attended was always free and they made their money by selling us stuff. Most folks looking into vending are going to be dipping their toes in the water and spending a couple of hundred bucks for information is going to be a hard sell. Just a thought, have you considered some sort of regular database search for new business filings and do direct mail to someone that has already made the jump into vending? I would think that they would be much more receptive to the type of services you are offering. I know when I was getting going it was on a shoestring and with my previous business experience I would not have seriously considered attending a seminar that I would have to pay for because I thought I knew everything I needed to know. It took me a couple of years to get to the point that I would have realized that something like this might be a good idea and worth spending the money on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainor5251 Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Just curious to what the look on their face is gonna be when they find out they just paid a couple hundred bucks for some info they could have gotten here for free. Hey on another note i might do the same, offer a seminar about vending and promise the knowledge of dozens of experienced vendors and all the inner working of what it takes to run a successful vending biz and then just show www.vendiscuss.com on an overhead projector or maybe even power point and then say "all right thanks for coming everyone, I'll see you on the forum'. $100 a seat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 mainor, I guess it depends on what you think is "free". I consider my time worth something and searching on the forums for hours for all the answers is not easy. Their are people on here right now in bussiness that use this and other outlets for information. While I think Vendiscuss is a GREAT tool for new and current vendors it is not a one size fits all about how the vending industry works. I guess I could become a mechanic or fix my transmission by looking on the web but I am not willing to tackle it by myself. I guess you could learn to open a bar from the internet but I dont think I would try it. I have consulting clients that wish they would have found me sooner. They bought a few machines and spent to much and got off on the wrong foot. Now they are trying to dig themselves out of a hole. Just look at the number of people that come on here after they bought into some blue sky vending. Or they bought a used Planet Anatres machine for $1200 in an account doing $25 a week. This forum would have told them not to do it but they did it anyway before even checking. While a seminar is not for everyone I think their is a segment of the market that is looking for answers about the vending industry and a seminar would be a good fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansenVending Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Hmm, I'll say 150-200 bucks, I've only been vending since august so even tho I've already started it's something I would be interested in attending. I think I would be more interested in spending my money on one on one consulting tho. I've been reading your posts here and on vendingchat for a few months now so I know you know your stuff, if it wasn't for that and I just saw some random ad or something I'd pass without even thinking about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 9, 2010 Author Share Posted December 9, 2010 Hmm, I'll say 150-200 bucks, I've only been vending since august so even tho I've already started it's something I would be interested in attending. I think I would be more interested in spending my money on one on one consulting tho. I've been reading your posts here and on vendingchat for a few months now so I know you know your stuff, if it wasn't for that and I just saw some random ad or something I'd pass without even thinking about it. Thank you!! I am glad (and hope) you get things from my post you can use and find helpful. Over the past week or so I have talked to some of the folks I know in the industry (reps, suppliers, etc) and they say they dont know of any seminars like this being offered. Most are the scam "blue sky" types. Thye seem to think something like this needs to be offered. They say they get calls all the time about people wanting to get started in the business but are not sure how to go about it. Most of them refer these people to me but think a seminar would be good. If I offer them and dont get enough interest it is no big deal. I am doing ok if I do them or not. Thanks again for the post and your input.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poplady1 Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 It just seems to me if you are going to advertise via this forum you might want to toss a little money in the donation column or step up and run a banner ad. I am just sayin.... Poplady Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 9, 2010 Author Share Posted December 9, 2010 It just seems to me if you are going to advertise via this forum you might want to toss a little money in the donation column or step up and run a banner ad. I am just sayin.... Poplady Glad to see you are back to your spunky self again. I am just sayin...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 what would it cover that the book would not cover? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 9, 2010 Author Share Posted December 9, 2010 what would it cover that the book would not cover? Think of it as a school setting, text book and a teacher. Like most text books it explains most of the subject but a teacher can explain and go into details about certain subjects much deeper. I can also give first hand situations I have encountered and answer questions people have that dont "get it" about certain things. Did you get my pm I sent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Think of it as a school setting, text book and a teacher. Like most text books it explains most of the subject but a teacher can explain and go into details about certain subjects much deeper. I can also give first hand situations I have encountered and answer questions people have that dont "get it" about certain things. Did you get my pm I sent? hey just noticed it pm notifications go to the spam for some reason for me. ill try to give you a call this weekend got contracted on a big project for an insurance co. so ive been busy aside from my normal job and vending as far as your question i think it would be a tough sell due to covering the costs and so on. if i were would consider e-learning through skype or maybe a pay website offering videos for download. what you are describing reminds me a lot of that asian guy who did real estate seminars in the early 90s/late 80s (anyone remember him? ) he did infomercials to get enough people to sign up. not sure how effective this business model is anymore. one thing that id be interested in that is hard to do in a book format is basic repair/refurb and maintenance. for example you posted the pics of the machine refurb but an A-Z video of that process would be invaluable also certain basic maintenance and repairs are much easier (IMO anyway) to demonstrate than to explain. a local vending distributor does these classes but you have to buy machines from them, they wont just let you pay for the class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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