In the interest of giving the full story of vending I will make this post. It's hard to start back going out there and asking people to allow you to put your vending machine in their place. Yesterday I just couldn't do it, I was just too tired. But today, I would say it's possible for me to get out there but I really don't want to. Tomorrow (we always say tomorrow) will be the day. I'm going back out there. I have 4 machines left to place. I don't know if it's because I'm lazy or I just don't want to hear what they have to say. I need to find something motivational to think about to make me want to get out there.
Dare I say with my new found confidence in my sales pitch that I can place all 4?
So I have been coming up with or at least thinking of places that I patronize to put candy machines in. Unfortunately most of the places for which I am a patron are eating establishments that are franchise operated. So they are basically a no go for candy machines, but here is my list so far.
Dentist's Office - My family goes to her. I was thinking of a toy machine for her location.
Tire Place - We get our tires changed there and my mom knows the owners wife through some various women's networking thing for business owners. Anyway, they have like 12 locations, and I really want that account. My mom called her and she said for me to give her a call this week. So I'm going to call her tomorrow, any ideas for what I should say?
I haven't been completely unproductive. I've made a few spreadsheets for my candy business. One with Location information and then one with my costs (it's amazing how much candy costs.) I also applied to another grad school which is fairly time consuming.
I think it's interesting what the locators had to say. Even though Kyle Guth swears they are all from hell. We may just see :p You never know until you give something a chance. And you never learn until you do something yourself.
LASTLY: I've been scouring eBay looking for machines. I've sent emails to people who have had lots of 15 - 20 units up that haven't sold. I'm basically trying to get them at super, super, bargain prices. This one guy has 12 1800 vend machines and I want them, but I think the shipping will be outrageous. Anyway, I told him I was a college student who started his own vending company, etc, etc... Hopefully I'll be able to strike a deal. To a lot of people these machines are just taking up space (that is the mentality I construct for them anyway) and want to just get rid of them. One wife listed her husbands on eBay and I know she wants them out of the house. We will see.
One more thing: About toy machines. What do I put in there? I mean I want to put bouncy balls. I know kids love them, I've purchased them myself, and they are fairly cheap. Does anyone else have another idea for products to put in that are cheap? I want kids to ask for more than 1 quarter when they use the machine; I know one bouncy ball is never enough!
I know it's much more interesting when I have actual vending news to post so hopefully tomorrow this will pick back up. I AM GOING TO PLACE 4 MACHINES. I won't come home until they have homes. Wish me luck.
Candyman Can
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
My name is Robert. I graduated from the University of Central Florida with my B.S.B.A. My specialty is business finance. After my first 10 machines find homes and I get this business down I'm going to leverage as much money as I can to buy more machines. You can call me the Candyman. - Cataloging my experiences from Day 1.
Email Updates Available
CANDYMAN EMAIL
RobertNPatterson@gmail.com
Links
About Me
- Robert Neil Patterson II
- Naples, FL, United States
- An entrepreneur at heart; I have owned many businesses through out my young life. Before vending I was a PowerSeller on eBay with sales exceeding $20,000 a month. I did this while in college so it was sort of a mess. Anyway, it's risky, scary, and a lot of work, but fun. It's not as easy as people make it seem. I have also written a book on Stock Options. It's called Stock Options 101. I have sold over 200 copies on eBay for $3.99 (I don't sell it anymore) and if you want a copy I will be happy to send it to you. It is in PDF form so I can email it to you. Obviously, I have traded stock options before. I like risk and love great reward. I think one reason I like the vending business is because it's a risk for me to go in and sell. By the way I have 100 of my own bulk machines in Naples, FL. Check out http://www.kickstartlocations.com/forum for my Bulk Vending Forum!
12 comments:
Hello,
I am not an expert by any means, but I do have 2 machines in dentist/orthodontist offices. I have bouncy balls in both machines. I got the 27mm high bounce balls from rhodeislandnovelty.com .....I order a case of 12 gross and they are just a little over 3 cents apiece including shipping. I just started trying 1.1 inch capsules prefilled with assorted toys. I started small and bought a 500 capsule assortment on ebay from Corey's vending (jcorey123) for about $37 shipped. I know you can get them cheaper in larger amounts, but I wanted to try a few and get my feet wet. They looked nice when they arrived, and the capsules were still together. I placed them in one of my machines and will see how they go. Good luck with the tire stores....that would be an excellent account. The problem that I run into is the Kiwanis clubs have machines in almost every business around me. I am going to try to get my son to place another machine this week. We will see how that goes.
Hey Ken, sounds great. 3 cents is better than I found, I was looking at around 6 cents each, you just saved me 100%. I'm going to try the toys and bouncy balls. Get your son out there selling!
I can't imagine filling all the capsules myself so hopefully mine come ok. Do I have to provide a warranty on these toys? :p
Thanks for all the information. I know most dentist offices don't have machines so I think they are a great place to hit. I think for tomorrow I'm going to make a list of all dentists and orthodontics offices around me and go to them all. Any idea on a good way to see the dentist? Maybe these places are better to leave flyers and go back?
Candyman
I don't understand exactly how this rinovelty.com site works. I added 12 so it got it down to 4.20/GR but I don't know what that means. Is there a ball count I'm missing?
Hey,
The 4.20/GR is $4.20 per gross (144 balls) If you order 12 then you will get 12 bags of 144 balls each. That would give you 1728 balls for $50.40 plus actual shipping. With shipping it was $69.16 for 1728 balls. That cut it to about 4 cents each.
Ken
I have also heard of mixing the bouncy balls with the 1.1 inch capsules or self vending dice, but I imagine you would have to test the machine you use to make sure they vend properly. This might give you the surprise aspect of what you would get. I have even seen some venders put a $1 bill in a capsule to get more action. I put them on the side so you can see them. Of course you could not afford to go overboard with this. It would eat up your profits pretty quickly.
Ken
Great ideas. I like the $1 bill thing. I ordered some more of the gumball wheel's for my machines, and new locks for the backs of the ones that don't work.
I almost ordered 5000 toys / capsules but I think I may go for the 1000 order first. Anyway they go for about 6 cents so it's not bad. I think it's a cool prize for only a quarter too.
Candyman
Ken. I think you should get out there without your son and try and place some machines. I can tell by your interest on here you want to expand some more. Buy 10 machines and do it!
Well, I did just what you said. I had to go to the local John Deere store and get oil and filter for my lawn tractor, so after making my purchase I asked if my son could put a gumball machine in their store. The guy said, I don't see why not. I went home and my son and I delivered the machine a hour later.
Damn, nice job. One question and you are making $20 bucks more a month. That is a great location too. You may even make more there.
Good Job
Rob,
I would suggest stickhands, and Lock mixture. Buy them both from GMW. Verry CHEAP. I use them and thay are very good sellers.
Kyle G.
Hey Kyle,
What is the lock mixture? I checked the sticky hands but you're talking 11 cents each and that's without shipping! BUT, I do know they are a hot ticket item for kids. I don't know though, if a kid wants a toy they are going to get a toy. I say any toy is a good one for them.
I'm going to make special machines for dentist offices. Special dental flyers and all. I ordered some more gumball wheels today. They seem expensive, he charged me $10 each. I feel I'm getting screwed on them but I didn't know if they were generic or not. I only got 3 so it's no big deal. He also sent me 4 new locks. He said I just had to drill through the old ones, what fun that will be.
Has anyone done this before?
I'M HEADED OUT TOMORROW. I have my new sales pitch about being a college student, etc, etc. Also I have a girl friend of mine going with me on this next Tuesday (well hopefully.) I keep forgetting to call Katie, she isn't working anymore, she should be working for me!
I want to get these 4 machines out of the house tomorrow and do 10 more next week. I'm sick of waiting and this is going too slow for me. I'm a go getter.
Candyman
Hi,
Just wanted to say that your posts have inspired me to get off my ass and do something. I purchased a machine back in November, put it in my sister's office and have left it there since. I really haven't had the time to get into this thing (home & work commitments), but now I feel ready. So thanks.
I just have one question to anyone reading this. I am going to be taking the charity approach for getting my machines set up. What is your sales pitch to prospective locations?
Hey Adam,
I started strong with the charity. And some places will say yes, but let me tell you, in my opinion the places that do say Yes based on the charity are not the greatest of business people.
Most of the managers / owners that you come in contact with know that you are not doing this all out of the goodness of your heart and know you are getting the largest cut. Here is what I think goes on in their mind when you go with the chairty route "Does this guy think I'm an idiot. He probably gives 5% to the charity and pockets the rest of the cash."
I know it's what would go through my mind. Although I'm a very trusting person so I would probably let them put the machine in anyway; everyone needs a chance when getting started in business.
HERE is what I think works the best.
"Hi My name is Robert and I started a local vending company. You have a nice little spot over there in the corner (I pre scout spots for machines) for my machine. It doesn't cost anything and I offer 30% comission."
Now I am also holding a flyer that says something about children and cancer. There are pictures of them on the site. The charity gives you confidence, but being personable and sort of asking for their help seems like the real way go.
Glad you like my posting. Trust me it helps me a lot more than anyone else. You run into a lot of problems in any business, fear, rejection, etc, etc, and it's nice to have people helping you along. Thanks so much.
Regards,
Rob
Post a Comment