One thing I want to mention real quick. With my machines, triple-vend machines from gumball-machine.com the back lock gets stuck. What happens is one of the trays that holds quarters wedges against the lock when it is in my trunk. One of the machines I placed today had a bad back lock. I'm going to have to take it out of location one time and drill the back. I was so mad when I got on location because I had tested them all at home before I left. Obviously I'm going to have to start taking out the back quarter compartments before I transport; you learn as you go I guess.
I GOT IN ANOTHER BUTCHERS SHOP! They are a fish and meat butcher. They say a ton of kids go in there and they think it will be a big hit. They were really excited about it. If it does good I might bring another one over with different candy and bouncy balls! They have plenty of room and it's not real fancy so they don't ruin the decor. Guess who runs the butchers shop? A man. A white man I can relate with.. More on this later.
So I was at the butchers around 1:00PM and I walked to this restaurant/meat market. It is sort of a place where you walk in put in your order for a fresh cooked meat sandwich and go. So it's ideal for my machine. Anyway they were super busy but I marked it as a prime location. I wanted it. So I took a few hour reprieve and went back. I mean I had this placed marked. I knew I wanted it. I know I went in there with more confidence than I have ever demonstrated before. I wanted that location and I got it!!!
I only had two machines ready so that was the end of my day but I think I got two great locations!
Oh and on the second location the guy said this to me:
You said two things that I couldn't pass up:
FREE and It helps the Children! I'm going to have to add this to my flyer. Obviously this is important. On that note, the first butcher shop today couldn't believe that it was free. THEY WERE EXCITED.
Ok, so who approved my two machines today? White men that own their own businesses and have respect for what I am doing and vice versa.
You don't even want to hear what I have to say about the Chinese right now. I am the farthest thing from a racist but when a 15 year old Chinese girl that can barely speak English tells me no before I even walk in the door that pisses me off. I'm done eating Chinese. I love the food, but **** the people. They are willing to take my AMERICAN dollars all day long but will they even consider helping me, NO. It's like they are programed to say No to all men in business suits. That's how I feel. Guess where the managers are never in? The Chinese places. I have given them SO MUCH MONEY in my life and they can't even consider what I have to offer.
Guess what. At the next Chinese place I hit I'm talking to the owner/manager. I'm not leaving until I do talk to him/her. I'm giving them my full presentation. And I'm going to sit there and argue with them if they say No. Maybe I'm stubborn but that is me. It is so aggravating to me. The girl today was like 15 years old, she looked at my papers quizzically and wanted to know what it was. I told her and she used her hands to motion no room, and said "no room." Give me a break, your lobby is massive. I've placed machines in much smaller locations. Screw you. I'm never giving you another dollar, you are done, and you can bet when I'm at my chamber of commerce meetings I'm going to let everyone know how terrible you are. I hope they find dead cats when the health inspectors check you out.
The gist of this whole thing is I'm better at selling to people who are like me. I'm not very good at selling to the salons and I skip by most of them. I'm going to have girls call them who can relate with them. I'm just saying white men usually let me put in machines and the Chinese hate me. Sure I walk in and I have a deep voice and I'm 3 times the size of them but that should mean they are running from me not standing up to me and saying No. I'll give them a reason to run next time I'm in there. ; ) The same goes with all the Asian run nail salons, no, no, no is the answer they give. They are paying people $5 an hour to do nails and charging massive amounts. No wonder they dominate the damn nail market. You people are done in my book too.
12/20 MACHINES PLACED!!!! I'm building 3 more tonight, and then the rest this weekend!
Candyman 007 - Don't hate, hate the Chinese! j/k
P.S. After I got done writing this I read it and got to thinking. Dr. Choi you are the man. I'm just generalizing what I have seen. He is a good professor of mine who I gave this site to.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
Rob,
Chinese Restraunts: Take out the children thing, and offer them the full %30. I learned a long time ago, thay are shelfish. The machines at china restraunts gnerate a TON, like $60 dollars a month. YOU NEED TO GET A CHINESE RESTRAUNT!!
SO, you are doing well! I got hatefully turned down today. The man put his hand in my face and smarted off, and said NO. The thing that ticks me off is this:
The machine thay had was so dirty, it was black, greasy, skuffed up, the gumballs were stale, to the point that thay were cracked in half! Plus the mint patties were melting, and oozing out of the wrappers! JUST NASTY.
The owner stated that he "promised" the woman that he would not replace her machine, or place one beside hers. Thats a lie, because he had a 3 head machine like ours in there beside hers for a year, but after 3 months no one came to service it! So he threw it in the dumpster. He lied. I am going back soon to argue with him, and really tick him off. He is a grumpy, fat man. I will get a michine in that location. ALSO the other machine was with a charity! I said 3 words, and he said NO! I will not put up with that!
Kyle G.
haha, you have me laughing Kyle. I can't believe someone turned you down! You go tell him. You know we offer a great service to these people, at no cost! They should be running towards us. I'm making a new flyer that says 100% FREE - NO COST TO YOU - FREE - NO CONTRACT - FREE
I want them to know that it's free. Because I think that is key. Yeah the chinese. They make me so mad. I'll offer the 30% commission to them and forget the kids. I'm the kind of guy who hands out 5 bucks to the homeless guy who just wants an ice cold beer, I guess I just don't understand being selfish. GIVE!
I'm going to get a chinese location. I'm going to make a chinese flyer and go back to all chinese places haha. They will learn to love me. Do you have a chinese account?
Ken what do you think about all this? Do you and your son get chinese somewhere?
Funny you should ask.....I do have an interesting Chinese story. Our favorite Chinese restaurant used to have vending machines and then we noticed that they were gone.....We eat there weekly and the people know us pretty well.....my son got his nerve up and asked to see the owner and asked him if he could put a vending machine in the foyer.....He said yes, right away, but then said, come with me......we followed him into a hallway near the restrooms to a broom closet......there sat 2 machines, completely empty....probably full of quarters.....he said that the people never serviced the machine and it was always out of order....he just stored it away and I don't know if the guy ever came back....but our machine is the only one there now.....and it is one of our best locations......He told us no gumballs because they get on the floor....so we vend hi-bounce balls and rotate runts/skittles/mike n ikes. We have had our machine there for over a year and still doing well.
I had an interesting thought today. My son has never had to pay a commission, and we dont use charity. The owners just never have the guts to ask a 12yo for a commission. I know that will end eventually...so as I was eating at a restaurant that I frequent weekly, what if I offered to buy a $50 gift certificate if they let me put a machine in? It would have to be a location where we eat at anyway....and we would not be out any money.....what do you think?
Rob, and Ken,
Rob, I have not had a chinese account, but I will get one soon. I get turned down like you do. I just forget about it, but I could not forget about this one. I just dont under stand!
In the Vending Buiness you have to be selfish. NCCS is a charity, and I understand the purpus, but useing a charity makes you sound un-proffesonal in my oppion. I use %100 commission, all the way. NO CHARITY.
Ken,
Did you get the machines? Once your son gets to looking older, around 13, thay will ask for commission! I do not understand why thay do not now. O well.
Kyle G.
Yeah, you should get your son out there locating while he's still young. But I mean, 12-13 is still pretty young.
I like the gift certificate idea. To them it is cash in pocket. At least on there accounting records gift certificates are amazing.
But you know, if you eat there all the time they will probably let you put in a machine. What I would say is this "I was going to offer to purcahse a $100 gift certificiate if you would let me put a machine in here. But I'm going to be eating here anyway, so what do you think? Do you want a candy machine? They are 0 cost to you, support the children, and the kids love it."
Something like that.
I kind of agree with you Kyle on the commission vending. A lot of people like commission. It is more professional and you are running a real business not a charity scam. However, I offer 30% commission and 5% for the children. A lot of people don't take the commission. Out of 12 machines I only have 2 people taking commission. I always offer it. Most people tell me, well if it's to help the kids, let's do it. I'm offering a service for free, and it supports the children. There is no need for commission most of the time.
Be in business to make money Kyle. Offer the commission but try and get in there for the children so they reject the commission! That is what a businessman would do, do it! Add a charity to your flyer and offer the same commission that your normally do, you will be amazed at the results. I'm a first time vendor and I have 12 machines in locations already! Do it!
Ken, I'm with Kyle on this, get some more machines! You don't sound too pressed for money and 10 machines will do you well. They will get you out there on the town. There is nothing like the rush you get when you make a sale. Go do it.
Rob
If you guys are interested I added a new feature to the site. On the left hand side of the page at the bottom there is a small purple square. It is a tracker. It tracks who comes here, where they live, etc. You can find a variety of statistics when you click on it. Anyway, you may be interested to see where everyones from.
Rob
Rob,
Charity, is not the best thing. You are ok, because you give commission/and charity, however if you did not, most of your locations would be kicked out of, by commission vendors.
Kyle G.
Just an FYI
The reason I use the Charity route is this. For one I use a 501c charity so that I am exempt from sales tax. You have to report sales tax quarterly and if you use commissions you are not exempt. Are you guys reporting your sales tax. If not it is against the law and you can be fined. I know it sounds goofy paying sales tax on vending machines but it is the law and wouldn't want to see you get into trouble. Also, if you are representing yourself as a Charity you need to be signed up for the program officially and paying them their fees if you are in an official 501c charity where you report your sales tax and then report how much is exempt. With the charity machines you can make 100% of your sales tax exempt. You may want to check on this. You cannot represent yourself as helping a charity if you don't have proof of fees you are paying to the charity etc..
Also, have you gotten any forms from your county to report your machines as capital assets? You will be getting these also and have to report the value of each of your machines and locations. Kyle, do fill out these forms?
Talk to you later,
Steve
Guys, I did just want to clarify I am referring to Florida only. If you are from other states different rules apply and exemptions. I just added a post to give some information on this subject.
Steve,
I do not fill out these forms, but I should. I did not know of these things untill you pointed it out. I will go seemy friend, he is a tax person, and see about reporting, and paying sales tax. Thank You,
Kyle G.
Gentlemen,
I am hardly an expert in Chinese customs and culture, but I did live there for a year. Needless to say, their culture is very different from our own! The reason you guys are having problems doing business with the Chinese is that you are going about it all wrong. The Chinese are great business people and great business partners, but, if you want to do business with them, first you have to establish a relationship and trust. This is what the Chinese call "guanxi". Ideally, you want to find someone that knows the owners already and have them do the introductions. This is obviously easier said that done. Short of that, if I were you, I would go in, introduce yourself to the business owner, have a polite conversation with him, and leave it at that...DON'T go for the sale on the first visit. Come back a week later, perhaps bringing a small gift (maybe some pens with your company's logo or something like that), and then politely do your sales pitch. Even if the owner gives you a flat no at that point, keep your cool, remain polite, and thank him for you time. Return the next week and try it again. If that doesn't work, rinse and repeat. Whatever you do, DON'T get angry or be rude! This will cause you to "lose face" with the owner. Always stay cool and polite.
Here is a great article I found on how to conduct business with the Chinese...it has some great info in it and you should check it out!:
http://www.communicaid.com/chinese-business-culture.asp
I hope this information helps!
Ryan
Ryan,
That was a good find! Anyways, I will have to try to get a chinese buffet location!
Kyle G.
Hey Steve,
I moved to a different charity basecamp.org They are a childrens cancer foundation and I know them so everything is a OK on the donation front.
As far as signing up with my city I havn't done that yet. I decided that once I hit 30 machines I would see what exactly they wanted me to do. I know my town and they have ridiculous regulations.
Hey Ryan,
Thanks for the wordly information. To be honest in business classes they often tell you that other cultures do things different, but I guess I always assumed that was just in their country. But just moving to America doesn't mean changing your ways. So I'll try your approach. Go in, talk to the owner, say hello. Go in a week later, bring a gift. Go in a week later with another gift and ask for my location.
I need to get some business cards made. I have decided the front will say CANDYMAN but I havn't really decided anything else.
Glad you're still following our progress Ryan. When will you be back in the states?
Rob
Rob,
Are you not locating today? My town is the same as yours, stupid rules, for a 25 cent gumball machine! O well, we will make it! What is your company name? "Patterson Vending Company"?
This is what is on my cards:
- Guth Vending Company -
520 Winding LN - Sparta TN.
(931)-808-8644
You need to have that info. on your cards, just use your info.
ALSO- you need to type this same thing, inside a box, on microsoft word, and place it inside the middle compartment of your machine. After all, I had a person call me, and asked if I would place a machine in his store! He saw the card, and called!
Kyle G.
To be honest I sort of wanted to stay a little anonymous in case some inspectors wanted to get a hold of me or something. I give store owners my first name and number but that's it. I'm thinking of buying one of those disposable cell phones where you just buy minutes and using that for business. I don't know, what do you think?
Otherwise I could just risk it, put my name out there, Patterson. I don't know. I call my company Charity-Vend right now. I just made it up on the fly. It can change whenever.
Obviously I'm going to have to make a decision sooner rather than later about incorporating and what to do. If I incorporate then I will probably have to get county approval for all of my machines. I don't know. This 25cent vending business seems super grey area to me when it comes to laws and regulations.
You illegitimate candyman - Rob
Oh yeah, I'm going out today. It took me 3 damn hours to build 3 machines this morning. I had to print the candy labels and tape them on and put them together. Bah, what a hassle. I'm going out this afternoon though. I have 3 to place today. I've never done 3. Let's hope I can at least place 1! Wish me luck.
Rob
Post a Comment