Customer Service in Vending

In vending, the culture has to be about managing customers for loyalty and for profits, at the same time. You shouldn’t confuse the concept of managing customers for loyalty with the concept of managing them for profit. The only way to strengthen the link between loyalty and profits is to manage both at the same time.

Eyeball to eyeball contact with customers, at all levels, is needed to build relationships in your Antares vending business. People buy from people they like, and people can be very fickle.

Customer loyalty is nebulous

Most of the common wisdom about customer loyalty is bunk. Among the weakest measurements used by companies are measurements for customer loyalty. Satisfaction surveys and fancy customer relationship management software enables companies to disappoint their customers faster and more efficiently. High levels of customer satisfaction are often contradicted by falling per-capita sales. Data can be skewed when survey questions are asked of only the location management and not the end consumer. This can also happen if the right questions are no asked.

When questions are asked by any provider about price, quality, service and variety, it creates an expectation on the part of the respondent that better things are on the way. When you want to conduct a survey in your Antares Corporation vending business, make sure you have a complete plan and that you carry it out fully. If you are not willing to address all the perceived issues that may be surfaced, then don’t even start.

Customer fatigue: can u measure it?

This is becoming an issue because the customers are sick and tired of all the cuddling and patronizing. The only cure for customer fatigue is to get to the point and provide that “perceived” value, as elusive or as distasteful as it may be. It all starts with being a good listener.

Compensation plays a big role

In your Antares vending business there are direct linkages between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction, customer retention and employee turnover. The importance of these relationships should be reflected in rewards and incentives.

The right compensation formula

The Antares vending operator who offers the best compensation package will have most of the good accounts. This has been the case for vending operators in most communities. It could be that an additional investment in your people would be a more beneficial use of capital than other expenditures.

Government Contracts in Vending

According to vending industry sources, approximately 22 percent of all sales in the vending industry come from government contracts, the majority of which come from primary schools, colleges and correctional facilities. In an estimated $24 billion industry, that is a $5 billion opportunity. Industry sources indicate that despite the figures only a minority of operators actively pursue this business.

Many vending operators shy away from bidding on government contracts because they assume that they are impossible to win, expensive to prepare, time intensive, and that the incumbents usually win. This also includes Antares vending operators. It is true that competing for government contracts is expensive, time consuming and heavily resource intensive. However, it is a myth that incumbents have a competitive advantage, especially in the vending industry. The fact is that it is not hard for a government entity to change a vending service provider if they think that they will get a better deal.

Structured competitions favored by the government can be very costly in both time and resources. No company can go after every opportunity, you need to be selective and go after the opportunities that best suit your Antares Corporation vending business.

There is a wide perception among Antares vending operators that government contracts are not worth the effort because the agencies are only interested in the highest commission, making these contracts unprofitable. This can be true in some cases, but it is something that is changing.

A good example would be schools, which are placing greater importance on nutritional requirements. Other public entities are following suit. There is growing opportunity for vending operators to focus on driving the need for better service and lower commissions. The vending industry has an opportunity to change the way these agencies view their service.

Regardless of whether the award is strictly commodity based or best value, there are some guidelines that will help an Antares Corp. vending operator gain a competitive advantage in bidding on government contracts.