Today I had an inquiry about Carousel Machines with 4 vending options. I told him yes, I'll do it, how about adding $10 to the price of the triple plans. He thought that was fair and he purchased two locations tonight. Good deal. I think I may need to add the 4 head machines to my site. It's going to get a little bulky if I keep adding stuff, maybe differentiating sections or something. I'll figure it out. I've also been messing with the site, making small changes, I think it's looking somewhat better.
SEO = Search Engine Optimization. I'm working on this as well. It's all about links and valuable content. I'm not sure what other content I'm going to add to my site but I am going to add some type of information. I have also hired someone to help bring my site to the top of the search engines! Let's hope.
I have been getting a lot of inquiries about locating, plus I'm working on getting a big account with another vending company. If that happens things may really jump! Wish me luck.
Rob
Monday, January 21, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Today was very productive!
I have made vast improvements to my website! Check it out.
Http://www.kickstartlocations.com
There are more improvements to come. One step at a time! Now all my products are on the front page which makes things very accessible and clear. I also added an About Us section which describes in detail how my operation works. Plus, I changed the introduction paragraph. I made it more personable and told the truth, I think.
Anyway, check out the site, let me know if you think I need to change anything, I will do it!
Rob
Http://www.kickstartlocations.com
There are more improvements to come. One step at a time! Now all my products are on the front page which makes things very accessible and clear. I also added an About Us section which describes in detail how my operation works. Plus, I changed the introduction paragraph. I made it more personable and told the truth, I think.
Anyway, check out the site, let me know if you think I need to change anything, I will do it!
Rob
Staying Busy!
I got my largest order yesterday thus far, 17 locations in Broward County. That is exciting. I think I may begin to expand my advertisements. I am also considering offering a special deal to people in certain vending forums. We shall see.
Oh, I am really contemplating adding bulk packages to my website offerings. Discounts for 10 locations or more. This will not only help grow my business by giving an incentive for people to buy more locations at a time, but it will allow me to give a discount to those who have a lot of machines to place.
More on Craigslist. I have been overwhelmed with calls. In fact I have begun weeding people out. I think my sales pitch on Craigslist has a few key selling points; 1. You get $15 per lead that you generate. 2. You are working to support children with cancer.
Here is a link to my ad: http://fortmyers.craigslist.org/sls/539109345.html
My most promising new worker is a lady by the name of Fran. She has telemarketing and sales experience, plus I feel she has the motivation and inspiration to get jobs done. She also has a great voice on the telephone. We will see, Good luck Fran! I put her on her first job already today!
I need to start sending out thank you notes to referrals. I have one big referrer and I want to send a present of some sort. Any ideas? He runs a business as well, so maybe something business oriented? Or some sort of special food? I don't know, I'll figure something out.
Rob
Oh, I am really contemplating adding bulk packages to my website offerings. Discounts for 10 locations or more. This will not only help grow my business by giving an incentive for people to buy more locations at a time, but it will allow me to give a discount to those who have a lot of machines to place.
More on Craigslist. I have been overwhelmed with calls. In fact I have begun weeding people out. I think my sales pitch on Craigslist has a few key selling points; 1. You get $15 per lead that you generate. 2. You are working to support children with cancer.
Here is a link to my ad: http://fortmyers.craigslist.org/sls/539109345.html
My most promising new worker is a lady by the name of Fran. She has telemarketing and sales experience, plus I feel she has the motivation and inspiration to get jobs done. She also has a great voice on the telephone. We will see, Good luck Fran! I put her on her first job already today!
I need to start sending out thank you notes to referrals. I have one big referrer and I want to send a present of some sort. Any ideas? He runs a business as well, so maybe something business oriented? Or some sort of special food? I don't know, I'll figure something out.
Rob
Monday, January 14, 2008
Good workers are priceless!
Craigslist is a miracle. Well, let's hope it is! haha, I put up an ad at around 6:00PM tonight and by 10:00 I had two calls and two emails from people interested in the position I offered!
I put up an ad, " Looking for female telemarketers to place Charity Vending Machines ." Anyway, this is great. I have one girl who is very interested, and one guy who asked if he could do it even though he wasn't a female, haha. This is great. I love good workers!
So, now I may have new people working for me to find locations. Once I get a few people setup I may expand my advertisements! This is just exciting people!
I have been considering hiring a telemarketing firm to test out how it would work in my business but I think it may be too costly. We shall see, we shall see. Here I go! Any suggestions?
Rob
I put up an ad, " Looking for female telemarketers to place Charity Vending Machines ." Anyway, this is great. I have one girl who is very interested, and one guy who asked if he could do it even though he wasn't a female, haha. This is great. I love good workers!
So, now I may have new people working for me to find locations. Once I get a few people setup I may expand my advertisements! This is just exciting people!
I have been considering hiring a telemarketing firm to test out how it would work in my business but I think it may be too costly. We shall see, we shall see. Here I go! Any suggestions?
Rob
It's all about the Benjamins
Well, I have been posting on forums trying to solicit business and something has come to my attention! There is a company that gives 10 locations for $250 or $30 per location for less than 10.
This brings something to me that I have been thinking about.
#1 Do I need to offer a discount for more than 1 location? It's all about the customer, so if you want it, I want it. I'm thinking about it.
As far as the $2 difference between me and the other guy. It's really a $7 difference because they offer a warranty with their locations. My warranty doesn't go in effect until the $37 plan. I think to me, maybe one of the problems is that I am paying too much for my locations to begin with. However, I also question this company and the speed/efficiency of how they work.
I guess my question is. Do I undercut the market, or differentiate myself?
Rob
This brings something to me that I have been thinking about.
#1 Do I need to offer a discount for more than 1 location? It's all about the customer, so if you want it, I want it. I'm thinking about it.
As far as the $2 difference between me and the other guy. It's really a $7 difference because they offer a warranty with their locations. My warranty doesn't go in effect until the $37 plan. I think to me, maybe one of the problems is that I am paying too much for my locations to begin with. However, I also question this company and the speed/efficiency of how they work.
I guess my question is. Do I undercut the market, or differentiate myself?
Rob
Sunday, January 13, 2008
A little on Pricing
Bulk vending locations are a difficult product to price. First off let me tell you there are slim margins. However, I believe those margins can be greatly increased if I can eventually hire my own in house telemarketing staff.
Anyway, the prices now. I'll go over how I set my prices. First off I wanted to have some of the lowest prices in the industry. I think I have the lowest. So I started at a price point that would barely let me get by. $32. Was this a smart business decision? Well, I think it will help me gain market share quicker than would normally be possible.
So I started at the $32 price point. For that you can get a single or double head machine located by my company. This is what I call my "Silver Plan." With the $32 price point I don't include any warranty with the location. This means after the vendor places the machine at the location I no longer owe them anything.
I decided to make the next step up only $5. The goal was to make it an easy decision to purchase the most expensive package. Anyway for $37 I include a generous 45 day warranty with the location. This is my "Gold Plan." For only $5 that is a great deal I think!
Now, the final step up in this category is the "Platinum Plan." This plan is $42, only $10 more than the Silver Plan and you get a capacious warranty and replacement guarantee. Here you get a 90 replacement guarantee and a 2 year extended warranty. The extended warranty says that for a period of up to two years after your initial purchase we will replace the location for ANY reason for only $20. That is an Incredible deal in my mind. So there you see, $42 and you get a very generous warranty. Not a bad deal.
Remember, the above 3 plans are for single/double head machines. The prices are $32, $37, and $42 for the silver, gold, and platinum plans respectively.
However, if you visit my site you will notice that there is another column of products. These are for triple head machines. I still have 3 plans, silver, gold, and platinum and they essentially work the same way but the prices are $10 more for each plan. Meaning the silver plan is $42, the gold is $47 and the platinum is $52. The warranty and replacement guarantee are exactly the same.
Why you ask? Well, the truth is it takes the EXACT same amount of time to find a location for a single/double and triple head machine. So why would I charge more for the Triples? Well, more owners say no to the Triple head machine once the vendor brings it in to drop off. This means that I am stuck giving replacement locations more often on the Triple head machines than the singles/doubles.
I hope for any vendors reading this that they finally understand why we charge more for Triple head locations! When I was a vendor myself I hated when locators told me that they were going to charge me more for my Triples, but now I understand. A simple explanation was all that was needed! So here it is, enjoy!
Rob -
Anyway, the prices now. I'll go over how I set my prices. First off I wanted to have some of the lowest prices in the industry. I think I have the lowest. So I started at a price point that would barely let me get by. $32. Was this a smart business decision? Well, I think it will help me gain market share quicker than would normally be possible.
So I started at the $32 price point. For that you can get a single or double head machine located by my company. This is what I call my "Silver Plan." With the $32 price point I don't include any warranty with the location. This means after the vendor places the machine at the location I no longer owe them anything.
I decided to make the next step up only $5. The goal was to make it an easy decision to purchase the most expensive package. Anyway for $37 I include a generous 45 day warranty with the location. This is my "Gold Plan." For only $5 that is a great deal I think!
Now, the final step up in this category is the "Platinum Plan." This plan is $42, only $10 more than the Silver Plan and you get a capacious warranty and replacement guarantee. Here you get a 90 replacement guarantee and a 2 year extended warranty. The extended warranty says that for a period of up to two years after your initial purchase we will replace the location for ANY reason for only $20. That is an Incredible deal in my mind. So there you see, $42 and you get a very generous warranty. Not a bad deal.
Remember, the above 3 plans are for single/double head machines. The prices are $32, $37, and $42 for the silver, gold, and platinum plans respectively.
However, if you visit my site you will notice that there is another column of products. These are for triple head machines. I still have 3 plans, silver, gold, and platinum and they essentially work the same way but the prices are $10 more for each plan. Meaning the silver plan is $42, the gold is $47 and the platinum is $52. The warranty and replacement guarantee are exactly the same.
Why you ask? Well, the truth is it takes the EXACT same amount of time to find a location for a single/double and triple head machine. So why would I charge more for the Triples? Well, more owners say no to the Triple head machine once the vendor brings it in to drop off. This means that I am stuck giving replacement locations more often on the Triple head machines than the singles/doubles.
I hope for any vendors reading this that they finally understand why we charge more for Triple head locations! When I was a vendor myself I hated when locators told me that they were going to charge me more for my Triples, but now I understand. A simple explanation was all that was needed! So here it is, enjoy!
Rob -
Saturday, January 12, 2008
My First Post
Well approximately two weeks ago I started http://www.kickstartlocations.com thinking that I could run my own locating company. Now I have been in bulk vending for approximately 6 months. I started with 10 machines and got all the way up to 100. You can check out my bulk vending blog at http://candyman007.blogspot.com which eventually turned into my forum that you can now visit at http://www.kickstartvending.com/forum Anyway...
I have 4 clients now. I might as well tell the names and problems right off the bat.
Hector - He lives in a town called Weston Florida. I have been having a lot of trouble finding him locations. The first 5 locations went through fine but after those it has been very hard to find them. I have a new girl working on Weston, FL on Monday! Let's hope!
Benjie - I'm working on him. I'm not sure where he lives because I just have zip codes. I found him one location and it got turned down and now we are working on more. It has been kind of difficult. But, I got more zip codes so we are working for him on Monday. Again, let's hope.
Rene - I have found him 5 locations and they are all good. No problems.
Now see, right here is why you know I have a problem. I have 4 clients and I only know 3 of them, lol. I need better records. Right now I just have been doing everything through email. What a mess! I need some type of client database. However, I have been saving everyone's email and inputting them into constantcontact.com that way I can send out newsletters and stuff. I have had approximately 10 inquires from my site http://www.kickstartlocations.com - From there you can fill out a form for more information. Like I said, 10 inquires so far.
My advertising budget has consisted of $25 so far for http://www.vendiscuss.com If you visit there you will see my banner. That is $25 a month. I need to start asking people where they heard about me. I also get referrals from http://www.gumball-machine.com I know the owner and we have become friends so he refers me business, great!
I had a client call me today and actually order 14 locations on the website but he has yet to pay for them. Again, let's hope!
There is so much to say but I'm going to stop there. Bulk vending locating is not quite as easy as I thought it would be, but there is a market out there, for sure! Talk soon, I hope I peek some interest out there.
Rob - The Locationator :p
I have 4 clients now. I might as well tell the names and problems right off the bat.
Hector - He lives in a town called Weston Florida. I have been having a lot of trouble finding him locations. The first 5 locations went through fine but after those it has been very hard to find them. I have a new girl working on Weston, FL on Monday! Let's hope!
Benjie - I'm working on him. I'm not sure where he lives because I just have zip codes. I found him one location and it got turned down and now we are working on more. It has been kind of difficult. But, I got more zip codes so we are working for him on Monday. Again, let's hope.
Rene - I have found him 5 locations and they are all good. No problems.
Now see, right here is why you know I have a problem. I have 4 clients and I only know 3 of them, lol. I need better records. Right now I just have been doing everything through email. What a mess! I need some type of client database. However, I have been saving everyone's email and inputting them into constantcontact.com that way I can send out newsletters and stuff. I have had approximately 10 inquires from my site http://www.kickstartlocations.com - From there you can fill out a form for more information. Like I said, 10 inquires so far.
My advertising budget has consisted of $25 so far for http://www.vendiscuss.com If you visit there you will see my banner. That is $25 a month. I need to start asking people where they heard about me. I also get referrals from http://www.gumball-machine.com I know the owner and we have become friends so he refers me business, great!
I had a client call me today and actually order 14 locations on the website but he has yet to pay for them. Again, let's hope!
There is so much to say but I'm going to stop there. Bulk vending locating is not quite as easy as I thought it would be, but there is a market out there, for sure! Talk soon, I hope I peek some interest out there.
Rob - The Locationator :p
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