Larry shares a story about Vending Sales Large Accounts

Vending Sales Large Accounts or taking it to the next level involves persistence because big accounts get called on by most sales people.usually once or twice a month.  Vending Sales Large Accounts is just as easy as small accounts just take longer to get usually.  Persistence Persistence is the only way.   Vending Sales large accounts – make sure they remember you.  Drop off a few boxes of donuts every time you go by.   Who doesn’t like free donuts   Once they know you and like you they will contact you first to be their next vendor.  Vending Sales Large Accounts – Make sure you have great references that can back up your great service.  Vending Sales Large Accounts – See if there are some employees in the account you service now that know someone in the large account you want.  Have them give you a good word.  Friends buy from friends.

Sometimes big accounts get frustrated with their current vending operator over something small, that’s when they look for a replacement. So, stay in front of them consistently and call on them.  Do you like to work with people who want your business? Most people do, so prove it to them. Big vending operators get big because they take care of their accounts. but sometimes they are too big and can’t take care of their accounts

 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

TOM: Hi, I’m Tom, with the vending business show, and I’m here with Larry Towner, a vending business consultant. He’s been in the vending business for a few decades and has sold his own business. We’re just talking about how to talk about Vending Sales Large Accounts.

TOM: So, can you help us with that Larry?

Larry Towner: Well, I might be able to. We were discussing earlier about just telling some stories about how you go and get new vending businesses. So I was just going to tell some stories about a phone call that I received one day, and here is the phone call. A guys says, he picks up the phone and he says, “Is this Larry Towner?” I said, “Yeah, it’s Larry Towner. How can I be of assistance?” And he goes, “Well.” He says, “You know I got a folder here. In this folder is, oh I don’t know, there’s gotta be 40 cards and brochures from your company here in this business. I’ve decided I guess I want to talk to you and see what you have to offer.”

Larry Towner: So I kind of said to him, I said, “Well, what company is it?” And he told me what company it was, I said “Oh, yeah, I come by your place all the time.” And he goes, “Yeah, I’m aware of that. Like I said, I’ve got about 40 of your cards here.” Blah, blah, blah. We went on, we set an appointment, we came down and we looked at his facility, and we closed an account, right. You know, a nice big sized account. One of those good things.

Larry Towner: So, you and I were talking earlier, it’s just kind of one of those things that we were talking about persistence, we’re talking about taking it to the next level. So I was going to ask you Tomas, on your big accounts, do your big accounts just call you up and they say, “Hi, this is IBM, Tom, we’ve heard you do good things, we want to talk to you.” No, has that deal ever worked for you? Has that ever happened to you?

TOM: No that doesn’t come very easily, or very often, either.

Larry Towner: Yeah, and it rarely comes to you in the vending business, too. Just because you’ve got your vending business, and you’re driving around in your truck, generally people in big accounts don’t come seek you out, and there’s a reason for that.

Larry Towner: Largely it’s because they get called on by people over and over and over again. People like me, you know, pesky salesmen like me, that are stopping in and saying, “Hey, you know, we’d like to earn your business, here’s my card.” And they figure after all, if we put this guy off, and we just take his card, eventually he’ll go away, or he’ll go out of business, or whatever, right. And largely that’s what happened to most of my competitors, it still happens even today.

Larry Towner: But eventually, something will change in their organization, and the guy will open up his file, and there’s, of course in my case, there’s a large number of brochures, cards, whatever. And he gets an email from me once a month, and he’s like, I wish this guy would go away. One of the great ways they they’ll make me go away, is “I’ll put him to work, prove him that he can’t do the job, then I’ll be able to get rid of him.”

Larry Towner: Right? That’s what happens, you know. So the next thing you know, they’re going like, “Yeah, my guy, he just doesn’t. I was wanting a Snickers the other day, and there wasn’t one in the machine. I’m just pissed, so I’m getting rid of him.” You know, out he goes. “I’m calling this guy that calls me every day, because I know he’s going to -” Not every day, but, “Calls me on an regular basis, because I know he wants my business.”

Larry Towner: That’s how you get big accounts. Big accounts rarely are out going, “Well, we’re going through the yellow pages looking for..” You know, yellow pages, going on the internet, whatever. “Oh, I think we’ll take, oh, this company.” It just doesn’t happen that way. And that spans all industries, and all sales prospects. The really good accounts, you have to go get them. They’re not going to come to you.

Larry Towner: Occasionally, once in a blue moon, you’ll get a phone call from one of those accounts. That’s usually because of some other marketing method that you’ve done, and somebody’s referred you to them. They’re buddies with somebody at church or whatever and they say. “You know, this guy takes really good care of us, give him a call.” That kind of thing, but that’s the only way you get those big account references. They just don’t … You have to go call on them because it’s just like that.

Larry Towner: Tom, let me ask you a question. Do you like to do business with people that want your business?

TOM: Absolutely, I know they … If I check them out and they’re good, usually that’s a sign that they’re good.

Larry Towner: Yeah, how do they prove to you that they want your business?

TOM: They don’t give up, they keep after me.

Larry Towner: Stay in contact with you, they’re not too obnoxious. Sometimes. They say sales guys are obnoxious, it’s not really that way. They’re just forever just looking for that chance that maybe we can give you a better opportunity than what you have with your current provider. Everybody’s got somebody, right? For something.

Larry Towner: If you look the big three phone providers, you’ve got At&t, you’ve got Verizon, you’ve got Sprint, all those guys are doing is trading back and forth. There’s no new business, they’re 100% saturated in the business. It’s not like I … If I go after dogs and cats now, I’m going to get more business. There’s no more dogs and cats to get really.

Larry Towner: And it’s the same thing in vending. There are thousands and thousands of vending providers. Right? We all know this, and how to the big guys get big? They take care of their customers and they sell. You’ve got to sell.

Larry Towner: What questions do you have for me, Tom?

TOM: That’s good stuff, we’ll be continuing the series on taking it to the next level, and what topic do you think we should tackle next, Larry?

Larry Towner: Well, we need to get back and kind of round up the circle and say once you get a bigger account, what do you really need to do? What do you determine your … The situation is not as it was when you get the larger accounts, so you have to look at some of the logistical concerns, and how do you serve those customers, and what are their expectations. We’ll talk about that in the next show.

For Vending Machines for large accounts you might want to look at the  Dixie Narco 501E and the Automatic Products 113 Snack Machine.

TOM: Awesome. You been watching the vending business show, a publication of A&M Equipment Sales.