Managing Vending Business Customer Complaints

Customer complaints form a common feature of every business, including vending. Route drivers as well as vending machine operators have to deal with customer complaints and queries during vending route visits. Thus, it is important to handle complaints in an appropriate manner.

For any business staff, it is tough to deal with angry customers who complain about your products or performance of the vending machines. You need to remain calm and composed while dealing with them.

Remember to apologize even if you are not at fault. That will help to improve the mood and temperament of the customer. The inconvenience caused to the customer of your Planet Antares vending business must be resolved as soon as possible. Don’t hesitate to ask for further details in order to assess the severity of the problem and help you to find the right solution for the customer issues.

Think about the long term impact of any solutions you offer or don’t offer to the customer. Planet Antares vending operators and route drivers can refund money if a machine is malfunctioning or broken down. You can also give some products to the customer for free.
Effective solutions may not be possible for all customer complaints and you may need to refer to someone else for it. Then, you can ask for the contact number of customers so that another person can address the complaints through ‘call back’.

The feedback provided by the customer must be appreciated. Thank them for their time and feedback while ending the conversation. A customer complaint offers an opportunity to you for improving your performance and service quality.

Unlike popular perception, you need to understand that customer complaints don’t indicate the end of a business relationship. In fact, you can make your customer relations even stronger by conveying your concern and willingness to change the acts that have left the customer unsatisfied.

Higher Profitability In Planet Antares Vending Business

The main aim of any business is to earn profits and the vending business is no different. You may be a newcomer or an experienced vending operator. Yet, there may be problems that hinder your vending business from becoming profitable. After some time, you may feel that the cost of operations is much higher than the revenue generated by vending machines.

As competition becomes aggressive and wholesalers offer good deals along with retailers, it is difficult for a vending operator to keep earning substantial profits. However, you can keep the money flowing in by using a few strategies such as:

Product pricing
Charge higher prices on vending products to face the overall increase in retail prices. You can even consider moving from small Planet Antares vending machines such as bulk candy machines to beverage and snack vending machines which will produce more revenue with higher priced products. Planet Antares provides a wide range of vending machines and helps vending operators to setup and manage their business successfully.

Business statistics
monitor your vending business accounts and profit or loss figures. Make sure that the employees are honest while handling cash. You can also make your customers aware of your financial standing and business performance to increase the level of trust between you and them.

Vending commissions
This is another cost effective solution for enhancing the profitability of your vending business. Such concessions can be given to vending machine account customers after disclosing the financial performance of the vending machine account. The commission can be lesser on a low performing account and vice-versa for a well-performing account.

Technical upgradation
Additional capital investment may be needed for this but it leads to increased profitability in the long run. It is better to remove unprofitable vending machines and replace them with updated, technologically advanced machines like Planet Antares vending machines which are durable and better revenue generators. Make use of diverse vending equipment and payment options to get better results.

The bottom line is that in order for vending machine operators to maintain vending machine profits, they need to increase the operational efficiency of their vending machines and develop good working relationships with their vending machine customers.

Planet Antares Intelligent Vending

A lot of vending operators still continue with low work site populations while others have found emerging technology to provide unique ways to operate more profitably. Well established Planet Antares vendors have often been at a disadvantage while competing against newcomers who are equipped with state of the art computer systems that allow faster and more accurate accountability of machines and routes.

Higher startup costs will be involved in implementing advanced vending specific software but this will surely pay-off in the form of more efficient vending business operations.

Out of the various benefits of intelligent vending, cashless vending solutions form the most eminent and interesting for most vending operators. Some of the vending industry observers believe that cashless vending will actually drive intelligent vending and lead Planet Antares vending operators to discover the other advantages of telemetry, such as polling line item sales and machine malfunctions from a remote computer.

With technological advancement, vending operators have also experienced benefit of remote data polling. Planet Antares vending operators, among others, are evenly distributed on which of these key areas are to be focused on. However, not a lot of them are expanding from one area of concentration to another.

You will experience greater financial gains for your vending business with the help of these advances. This can also get you at par with the competition. No longer will you have to compete with the new entrants who are already using this technology.

Even now, most cashless systems are being used primarily as selling tools. In the meantime, vending operators have started understanding the different cashless and intelligent vending technologies.

Impact Of Health Awareness On Planet Antares Vending

Some of the most prominent issues of our times are obesity and nutrition. Americans are becoming more health conscious day by day. On the other hand, statistics show a rise in the number of people who are overweight and suffer from obesity. These issues need to be considered by vending operators and route drivers for their Planet Antares vending business.

As part of their functions, route drivers come in regular contact with customers. They must know about various issues like obesity and understand the impact of their answers on the business sales and revenue. Everyone in the vending industry is affected by these general public concerns and need to respond in an appropriate manner.

Vending machines are facing criticism from many health organizations for the increasing number of obese school and college students. A major reason for such concerns is the risk of type 2 diabetes that is plaguing many school children who eat from vending machines. The number of obese children in the age group of 6-19 has almost doubled in the past two decades.

Planet Antares vending operators are facing the challenge of customers becoming more health conscious and thus, avoiding the fried snacks they once loved. Thus, you will need to make suitable changes to manage the trend towards healthier snack and beverages so that the productivity and profitability levels remain consistent.

Few of the most effective strategies for dealing with the increasing health concerns are listed below:

Healthy is good
Instead of tasty products, the demand has increased for healthier products. Thus, it is the right time to make changes in the product mix of your Planet Antares vending machines for promoting healthy eating habits.

Low calorie diet
Nowadays, the trend is to go for a low cal and protein rich diet. Health experts suggest this as a better alternative than the conventional high carbohydrate diet preferred by vending customers.
Staple items
The rising health awareness has redefined vending product selection. You will have to consider various options like soymilk, soup, tea and nutrition bars to satisfy the vital healthy eating needs of customers.

New Pricing Strategies For Planet Antares Vending Operators

These days, vending operators are implementing new management tools for monitoring turns with the minimum amount of extra labor. This has resulted in the evaluation of pricing strategies by several Planet Antares vending operators.

Since the past many years, Planet Antares vending operators have been complaining about the inability to raise prices to the same level as other retail channels. Generally, the vending prices depend on the competition and customer contracts. Most of the vending operators agree that a more scientific pricing strategy would enhance sales and profits.

According to one theory, you should not pass the savings on to the customers so that pricing can be simplified and the bottom line of your Planet Antares vending business increased. The price of certain items can be reduced and the gross margin produced at the same or higher level than the branded items. You need to ensure that your Planet Antares vending machines are able to attract customer attention.

The ‘take out’ customer service is a huge opportunity for generating profits and growth for your vending business. This is still not explored completely by vending operators. Another important thing is the reduction of dependence on large companies if vendors get support from secondary suppliers.

Management Tips For Planet Antares Vendors

For success in vending, it is essential to engage in sound management policies. Planet Antares vending operators will not find it difficult to do this as you can find almost everything on the income statements and balance sheet that are made on a daily basis for accounting purpose.
Stop struggling with the various financial aspects of business operations with the help of several accounting packages that have excellent features to monitor and record income, expenditure, assets and liability figures.

However, this is not a simple task. It can take a lot of time to gather all the required information, record it and account for every item. Still, you will reap certain benefits for this hard work later on. Small vending operators need to understand that a capital intensive business cannot run without current analysis and future planning.

In order to get more accounts and winning over new business, you can offer updated, high quality vending machines. All the latest features have been incorporated in Planet Antares vending machines that help to convince the premises owner about the benefits of keeping the machines in their premises. With many technological innovations coming out, you can expect vending machines to be good investment for obtaining more business.

You will need a higher level of resources and witness an increase in expenditure as well. It is important to monitor the proportion of costs and profits for determining business success or failure. Financial ratios provide the measurement tools for knowing how specific investments will have an impact on the financial position of your company. They also form an important part of your attempt to convince the bank to offer financial assistance.

The other variables which need proper consideration are profit variables like:
• Gross margin: This indicates the percentage of gross profit to cost of goods sold.
• Operating expense: This percentage focuses on expense control.
• Inventory turnover: This ratio reflects the inventory management ability of your company.
• Sales per employee: Simply stated, this is a measure of employee productivity.

Going Out On A Planet Antares Vending Route

There are many things that you need to learn while starting a full line vending business. Such information is available on the internet, library or any other source of information. A first hand source of information about the vending business is vending operators themselves. They can give you input about any aspect of the vending business from their opinion and experience.

If you really want to gain insight into the basics of vending route management, the best way is to go out on the vending route with other vending operators. Look for operators in your local area. It will be best to gather information from them before starting your Planet Antares vending business.

Despite being your competitors, there are several vending operators who will be ready to share this information and take you out on a vending route. Thus, you will find out about locations that are ideal for snack and beverage vending machines. Different locations are suitable for different vending machines.

When it comes to snack and beverage vending machines, you need to look for specific locations. As a Planet Antares vendor, you have the advantage of having vending machines that are always in demand in diverse locations. It is also important to see how the vending operator relates with the location owner. You can understand the needs of a location only when you have good relations with the owner. If the owner is satisfied with your vending services, a lot can be gained in the long run.

By going out on a Planet Antares vending route, you can also meet the suppliers who provide the products needed for your vending machines. They can tell you which products are in demand and how they sell. Another thing that can be learnt on the vending route is the price of different products. Purchases should be made from a supplier who offers products at a reasonable price so that you can make a decent profit in your Planet Antares vending business.

To ensure the growth and profitability of your vending business, you must focus on providing quality vending services. You will get an idea about the kind of servicing that a snack and beverage vending business needs by going out on a vending route. You may even learn how to do some minor repairs on the vending machines.

If you are buying an established vending route, going out on a Planet Antares vending route is highly recommended. By doing so, you will get to know about all the varied operations involved in running a vending business.

Planet Antares For Complete Vending Solutions

So far, the vending industry has accomplished a lot in terms of providing excellent customer service but they are yet to improve on the way they market themselves. This is one area that still demands a lot of development.

There was a time when convenience stores had to overcome a stereotype as an overpriced outlet to one that offers more convenience and saves time of customers. Vending is a complete solution that offers both convenience as well as affordable rates of products to the customers.

Gone are the days when the shopper price shopped between a supermarket and a c-store. Now, they understand that c-stores are selling a convenience. It is time for the vending industry to change consumer perception as well. This makes it important for large Planet Antares vending operators to have an entire division committed to marketing.

A great way to promote your vending business is educating the customers about the services provided by your Planet Antares vending business. The entire vending industry has to be promoted. Once the public is aware about the vending services being offered, they will be more willing to pay for them. If the vending operators continue to compete on the basis of prices alone, the industry will never be able to grow.

On the whole, vending and c-stores are both retail channels with limited selling space. In both segments, a product has to be sold or rather, a convenience. This common feature is present in both of them. Thus, vending operators must ensure that their strategies are such that help in moving forward within that limited space.

Along with category management, handheld computers help you in tracking product movements in your Planet Antares vending business and thus, enable you to build successful planograms. As a result, manufacturers are focusing on category management.

You can implement all these technologies in your own vending business if you want to make it more profitable. Also, it is the best way to ensure greater customer satisfaction.

Planet Antares Risk Management Program

For many Planet Antares vending operators, worker’s compensation premiums have jumped by more than 100 percent. The reasons for this phenomenon are simple but operators can manage costs by implementing an effective risk management program.

One of the fastest rising operating costs for automatic merchandisers is the cost of worker’s compensation insurance. It is a cost that can be controlled by an aggressive management program.

In the automatic merchandising industry, highway deaths are rising at a fast pace. The losses, medical costs, replacement rates and investment income generate an environment which makes it difficult to know the net result. Moreover, worker’s compensation programs vary from state to state.

The cost components of worker’s compensation may be both direct as well as indirect. You can decide which one to use in your Planet Antares vending operations. Some of the main cost components are:

• Rates
• Premiums
• Expense modifications
• Corporate culture
• Programs like accountability, training, hiring and return to work programs

For best results and control, you need to focus on risk management.
You will need to protect all the employees of your Planet Antares vending business by Planet Antares Inc from work related injuries. If you don’t have the coverage and an employee gets injured, there are significant consequences that may arise. These vary from state to state and would include:

• Significant fines
• Imprisonment
• Cease work order
• Employee lawsuits
• Higher employee benefit costs
• Personal liability fines

To manage the costs, you need to ensure that the primary asset f your Planet Antares business i.e. your employees are safe. This will also bring benefit to your productivity as well as cut down on operating costs. Thus, you need to work on creating a safe working environment and a corporate culture with no chances of injury. Additionally, employee safety training programs can be used to make them safety conscious.