Frisco, Texas OCS training event adds sales track for operators and reps

In my January column, “Three business development strategies that ensure success in 2025,” followed by a podcast that offered a fourth strategy, I urged operators to “Educate your team, then sit back and enjoy the results.” This fall, a training opportunity for OCS operators can help you do that.

Everyone in the OCS business is familiar with the Technician Training and Equipment Sales Trade Show hosted by Holiday House Distributing. This year, Holiday House is adding training for OCS operators and salespeople in addition to OCS technicians.

Tech and sales training, all in one place

Barbara Russell, vice president of sales and marketing at Holiday House Distributing, says the show offers an opportunity for OCS technicians to learn directly from the industry’s leading equipment manufacturers in a series of small group training sessions. “The fall session will feature an impressive list of key suppliers, ready to train OCS technicians, along with key suppliers in the trade show area, who are eager to share product knowledge.”

I am excited to be leading the new sales training component of the program and will present my session on September 30. During my session, I’ll cover business development techniques, consultative selling, storytelling, overcoming objections, successful follow-up, and proven closing strategies — all OCS-oriented. Much of the content will be drawn from the Selling Convenience Services online course I developed for NAMA, which has been utilized by some of the industry’s top operators. Operators and sales representatives who attend will have takeaways — both collateral materials and actionable concepts.

The decision to add the sales track to the show was driven by operator feedback. “As always, we listen to the attendees, our customers, who understand that the leading OCS salespeople have product, equipment and sales knowledge. We have added this new sales component to elevate sales professionals,” Russell said. “We are already seeing tremendous interest from operators who are excited about the sales training component.”

OCS equipment manufacturers will have answers

Additionally, manufacturers participating in the training and tradeshow will be prepared with answers about their equipment, including:

What is the No. 1 selling point that comes with your equipment?
What specific features of your equipment give sales reps a competitive advantage?
What is the ideal type of location for your equipment?
What can I do as an operator to maximize sales and profitability using your equipment?

“Hollywood” Henchel is on board

David Henchel, president and CEO of Corporate Coffee Systems in New York, will help oversee the sales portion of the program, a reflection of how much he values the Technician Training and Equipment Sales Trade Show.

“I got involved myself to help shape the sessions because I’m a huge believer in what they are doing. I would suggest operators strongly consider sending their people because — not to be redundant — knowledge is power, and I’m not convinced that our sales team has all the necessary training from an equipment perspective, from a coffee perspective, from a strategy and consultative perspective. And therefore, anytime we can get more, we should,” said Henchel. “If we get a diverse group of operators to come, and those operators and sales professionals will be sharing among themselves, it won’t be so competitive. It will be more about what people are facing out in the street — it will be a useful exchange of ideas.”

Joanna Choi is ready to generate operator success

Joanna Choi, national account manager at Bevi, said she will be attending the show and looks forward to helping operators and their sales representatives maximize Bevi sales. “We always joke that Bevi is maybe 5% of the total revenue of an operator. I genuinely feel like we’re barely scratching the surface there. I have a couple of operators throughout the country where Bevi is $1 million of revenue, and I feel like we could really bring up a lot more operators, especially smaller independent operators. This show could really be an amazing revenue opportunity for them,” Choi said.

“It’s like a mini CTW: a meeting of minds and a really great networking opportunity for everyone to get to talk to other people who may be experiencing the same issues and challenges in other parts of the country. It’s a chance to really pick everyone else’s brain about how they’re coming across — industry challenges that they are facing,” she said.

Tremendous ROI

As I wrote in the January article, numerous educational resources are available to operators. In my opinion, the Technician Training and Equipment Sales Trade Show, hosted by Holiday House Distributing, is a prime example of an event that can lead to increased success in OCS.

The show is scheduled to take place from September 29 to October 2 in Frisco, Texas. Registration is $250 per person, which includes the sessions and several meals.