VendingMarketWatch.com |

With the growth in use of planograms and handheld computers, vending route drivers often feel they have less input in deciding what products go in the machine. Many drivers are limited to choosing a handful of machine facings.

Drivers often feel that the restrictions minimize their role in the overall business. Nevertheless, these selections can make a difference to the customer, to the vending company’s profitability, and in the case of drivers paid on commission, to the driver’s income.

Drivers who are limited to choosing only a few facings often think that their choices are not important. This is an incorrect assumption. The “wild card” facings are important, given the fact that all locations have their unique needs. The driver who manages to fill these slots with popular selections will be providing a valuable service to the customer and to his or her own company.

Drivers should understand why their employers have these “wild card” facings in the first place. Vending companies realize that drivers are in a position to hear, first hand, about special requests from customers. There is no way for a vending company to know all the products that a given location will request.

The reason that these “wild card” facings are limited is that management knows that the majority of best selling items will be uniform across different locations. Management also realizes that the individual route driver cannot know what all the best selling items will be, especially in a glassfront snack machine where there are typically 45 facings.

Selecting the best selling “wild card” products is an important responsibility, and route drivers should not minimize its importance. The sales of a handful of selections can make a big difference to an account’s profitability. Drivers that do a good job selecting the best selling items play an important role in maintaining their company’s reputation with the customer. And in the end, protecting their own job security.

How does the driver know what items to select?

Automatic Merchandiser queried vending operators and supervisors on what drivers should look for. All of the individuals interviewed agreed that drivers’ selections are important to the company’s success.

First and foremost: listen to customers

The executives interviewed agreed that the first consideration drivers should follow is listening to customer requests. Simple as this may sound, the driver needs to decide if the company can get the requested product before telling the customer they will do so. Some products are not packaged to fit in vending machines. All products that customers may want are not available in all markets.

Once the driver finds the product and places it in the machine, he or she must monitor the sales. If the product does not sell a minimum number of turns in a certain time period, the driver must inform the customer who requested the product that sales were not sufficient to continue providing it.