4 Ways on How NOT to Start a Vending Machine Business
Spend Too Much on Initial Investment
A lot of time people think that just throwing MORE money at a business will make it grow faster. Please don’t trick yourself into thinking that investing $50,000 or even $90,000 into a healthy vending machine franchise or even a franchise-like group will propel you into success. I’m here to tell you that it WON’T.
We’re here to help you find your path more efficiently and cost effectively. We’ll help you grow your business organically, safely and stress free.
Wildly profitable and great businesses are developed through consistency, wise choices, time, perseverance, hard work and a little luck.
But, if you don’t believe me now, just remember my words after you sign up with one of those shiny awesome well marketed programs with savvy sales people. After you turn over that huge amount of money and then the curtain is lifted and then you say… hmmm. That’s it? That’s what I paid for? Don’t say I didn’t warn you! An interesting psychological point is that you may even tell yourself that you LOVE it the first year because you spent all that money and just tell yourself how great it is. But, when you stop and really think about it. I’m here to tell you it’s not worth it, you’ll have a long path to return on investment and you could have done it all without putting that much money into it. But, we’ll still take you into our community. Because you’ll need us to help you grow your business, even after you spent all that money. You’ll need us to vent how your expensive machines don’t always work, and what tricks you’ll need to make things work.
But, why is it so tempting to just throw in all that money?
Maybe you have heard too many gurus refer to adding money into a business as “throw gas on the fire” to make the business achieve success faster. The analogy is quite good, because think of what happens when you add gasoline on a fire. Well, the flame grows huge instantaneously. And, in some cases it even can explode! Well wouldn’t we all want our business to explode, and achieve financial success and huge profits overnight and instantaneously?
This is in fact not always true. It really depends on YOU, the type of business and what stage the business is in. Creating a successful Vending Machine business will take time because you will have to learn the skills required to run it efficiently. No coach no matter how unlimited your access to them and asking questions will make it go faster. It just won’t.
So, just because you throw a bunch of money and buy overpriced machines will not make your business grow faster. In fact, buying too many machines will just sit in storage while you try to get locations.
Also, empty promises about getting you locations will also not work. You will need to learn the skills required to get these locations.
Why just settle with one coach when you can have an entire community!
Join our community, we’ll help you learn the necessary skills to not only start your 6-figure vending machine business, but help you grow it to the kind of business you only dreamed about. We’ll help YOU make it a reality.
Depend on another company to secure your locations
It’s okay to get locations from another company, but BE CAREFUL!! Think about it, nothing is ever as it seems. Nothing is perfect and the way you want. For example, when companies place machines for you, they never guarantee the area nor the size of the company. But, okay, I get it. It’s impossible for anyone to predict that. For example, when you are just starting out in a vending machine business and let’s say you only have 3 machines that you paid over $7,500 or even $8,000 for. It will take you 3-4 years to pay back that investment, and just break even if you have a location that is only 50 people and earn about $200 a month on it. Then you’ve just tied up an expensive machine at a crappy location.
This is what you do!
When you control the location finding, you choose to sell the location to another company and what kind of machine to put in the location. If you secure a location with only 50 people, put a lower cost machine at that location. See how it does, then expand it. But, don’t overinvest into one location, because the way to succeed wildly in the vending machine business is to grow organically and safely and get a LOT of locations.
If you learn how to get your own locations imagine the possibilities.
Have you heard that old idiom “give a man a fish and he won’t go hungry for one day, but teach him how to fish and he will never go hungry?” well that applies here perfectly.
Join our community, we’ll show you our tricks of the trade that we had to learn ourself on how to get your own locations!
Think that You will Earn 6-Figures Overnight
I’m not here to dissuade you from the vending machine industry and business. In fact, I LOVE the vending industry because I believe there are so many opportunities in it. And that as you build your skillset, your creativity in business and your consistency you will see WILD success. I’m here to tell you how important it is to get your mindset correct to have the proper foundation in order to build your business. So many people want to skip this part because it’s not fun or maybe they’ve heard it before. But, I’m here to say, have you REALLY heard it? Did you just let it go in one ear and out the other? Did you make an excuse by saying… well that’s not me.
For example, do you really know yourself? A lot of us like to focus on how good we think we are at something. But, do you admit to your weaknesses? Do you recognize the negative attitudes that control your life? Perhaps you are a sarcastic person or pessimistic. Do you have a hard time with humility when it comes to customer service because you think you are always right? Did you have a perfectionist parent that made you feel that you have to do everything perfect or you aren’t a good person? Well all these things that shape who you are will frankly shape how you view business and customer relationships. You need to overcome any weird philosophies, world views, business views and standards you put on other people before you can break through to that success. Those things from your past will hold you back, and you may not even realize it.
What’s holding you back? Do you even know what it is?
Join our community, we’ll help you work through what you need to work though in order to move on and build the right foundation. We’ll help you take the proper time to get your mindset right so you can clear the way for success.
Not Investing in the Right Technology
This is a list of questions and comments that I wish I would have taken more serious when I was a vending machine newbie. I wish someone would have told me this. But, today is your lucky day, because I made the mistake for you! I’m here to warn you and make sure you don’t make the same mistakes I did. A lot of vending machine resellers or manufacturers claim that they are high tech. But, as anything you MUST read the fine print, you MUST ask the right questions and you have to remember that they don’t say “The devil is in the details” for nothing. It’s always that one detail we missed or that one question we didn’t ask. Here are some technology questions to ask.
- What Software will come with the machine for keeping track of the inventory in each machine? Often there will be several software packages, and you have to ask the right questions on how the software chain will work. Don’t just assume! Some of the healthy franchises or franchise-like groups that sell you on their machines don’t explain the software until after you purchase, which can leave you disappointed, because they tell you they have the latest technology.
- Inventory and Sales Tracking of Each Machine
- Inventory of product you have on shelf before filling the machine. This software is often different from the software for tracking inventory inside the machine.
- Will the sales data coming from the credit card reader and VMC (vending machine controller) be automatically uploaded into the Machine Inventory Software? Or, do you have to manually upload it every day?
- Is there a loyalty program smart phone app included with the credit card reader? Now there are apps that allow you to provide your customers a way to collect points or discounts because they are repeat customers of your vending machine. This is a MUST, and we will explain why in our strategies in growing your vending machine company. When I first started, I wish someone would have told me this wasn’t included in my machine.
- Can you update prices remotely on the machine? Not all machines can do this. You might be able to read how much sold that day and on what coil and at what location, but you won’t be able to change pricing without physically going to the machine. In todays technological advances, this is unacceptable if you don’t have this feature.
- Is there a way to give a customer a barcode so they can come get a free snack at the machine?
- What kind of sales reports can I generate? I am actually quite disappointed in the kind of reports that some software generates. It’s very limited. Can you export the sales data into CSV? The sales data you need to export is not just the day, time, price and coil #. You need the sales data that includes the day, time, price, coil# and product name in the coil #. This is important because in some cases, the software you use that generates reports after you assign what product is in what coil# does not give any sales reports! Tune into a later post on what kind of sales reports you should be generating.
- Can I see a demonstration of the software? I think it is only fair that before you buy something or see something that you get a demonstration.