Take A Fresh Look At Your Locations

When potential customers approach your vending machine, what do they see?  Do they see a clean, inviting place to buy food, or do they see a dirty, unappetizing machine?  If the answer is the first, congratulations!  But if it’s the second answer—you’ve probably lost sales.

Look at your equipment through the eyes of your customers.  Be objective and critical. Would you eat from that machine?  If you have any hesitation, correct the problem.  For instance, one distributor had a Refreshment Center in a machine shop; the air was filled with black soot from welding, so his machine always had a layer of soot . He started taking a small brush and sweeping the machine clean each time he filled it.  To his surprise, his sales went up and stayed up.

It’s a great idea to have a towel and some ‘spray & wipe’ type of cleanser when you fill your machines.  When the money has been removed and the machine refilled, make it a habit to give each machine a good wipe-down as your final touch before leaving.  Here’s a tip: use a lemon-scented cleaner to leave a clean, ‘food’ aroma, rather than a soapy cleanser smell!

Let’s face it; you can clean your machines, but you’re at the mercy of the management as to the placement of the machine.  Many businesses have break areas or lunchrooms; these are ideal spots, of course, but often you have to compromise.  Many break areas are really partially-filled storage rooms, with boxes stacked all around, a tiny counter with an old microwave and a coffee pot, and a folding table and chairs—and your Refreshment Center.  Pretty cramped quarters! While it’s ideal for the ‘purchasing area’ to be located close to the ‘consumption area’, it’s not always logistically possible. Consider moving the equipment to a roomier spot—especially so customers can open the door and buy drinks.  If it’s so cramped that it’s a hassle to open the door, it can lower the number of times the door is opened—and that means lost sales.  In your quest for space, it’s possible to go too far:  Refreshment Centers have been stuck in corridors, in far corners, and—among the worst—down two flights of stairs in an unused part of the building!

Usually, we have to accept the management’s choice, but as you build a good relationship, it’s often possible to suggest a better spot for your Refreshment Center.  Use your ‘people skills’ ; for example, you could say, “If I moved the Refreshment Center over there, you’d have more room over here.” Of course, the real reason you want to move it is because you might increase sales with the move!

Now use your objective eye again and check out the purchasing and consumption areas.  Are they clean? Well-lit?  Is there a trash can there, or do they use the floor?  Believe it or not, some of the most upscale, white-collar locations can be among the messiest.  Now, you can’t tell the folks that they’re slobs (even if it’s true!), and on the other hand, you’re not expected to be their maid.  Find ways to gently nudge them into a better environment. 

One distributor, appalled at the snack bags and crushed cans littering an accounting office break room, decided to buy three small, cheap trashcans from his wholesaler.  She marked them for cans, bottles, and trash, and the place cleaned up virtually overnight—and her sales improved, as he suspected. The smart part was how she convinced the management: Since the distributor paid for the trashcans, the location emptied them—and got to keep the recycling money. 

Customers do not live by food alone; consider the entire ‘vending experience’.  When you evaluate your locations, it’s helpful to think of your Refreshment Center as a mini-restaurant.  As with any restaurant, the dining area is important, as is the freshness, quality, and price of the food.  Distributors tell of location managers who actually made physical changes to their break rooms, adding additional tables and chairs, dressing the place up and making it inviting.  Those are smart managers, because they know that comfortable, well-fed employees are more productive.  Those are lucky distributors, because their sales increased!