Patrick McGinty, owner of VendVue — a company that provides marketing and sales support for operators — knew of those third-party entities during his eight years as an operator. But, he did not need or want their sales support as he and his sales team placed over 2000 machines on location. As an operator, he understood why third-party sales support existed: Building a strong sales force is time-consuming, costly and challenging on many levels.
“For the operator who is running his company and trying to do the selling — and many are in that situation — it is especially hard to grow, so they look to get whatever help they can,” said McGinty. “Typically, the support is limited and costly, and the results are underwhelming.”
McGinty observed that the best operators in vending, OCS and micro markets were not losing on service. They were losing on business development. Big national companies with full business development teams could dominate a market. “I wanted to create a sales engine — available to any qualified operator — that could really level the playing field.”
A strategic plan, an immediate impact
After successfully selling his Cleveland-based convenience services operation to a national operator, McGinty set his sights on changing the third-party sales support landscape.
“I began mapping the entire selling journey end to end: targeting, outreach, qualifying, site survey, proposal, agreement. Basically, we tested campaigns, built playbooks, some solid sales scripts, an incredible team and something that was repeatable, something that we could scale and enter in every single market nationwide,” McGinty noted.
After 18 months of operation, his marketing and sales team is consistently selling new locations for operators in 300 market areas on a local basis, and the company is now beginning to create regional and even national opportunities.
“For the operators we are working with, our expanding scope presents a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario as they take on strong local business in addition to national accounts in their area,” he said.
Why VendVue outperforms traditional sales support
McGinty said that VendVue does sales and marketing for operators “a little better than an operator can do it” and “far better than any existing third-party sales support company.” When an operator does business with VendVue, they get access to a full-time sales and marketing company working on their behalf daily to generate leads.
“When we align ourselves with an operator, we deploy every outbound sales process that you can imagine. We cover all the bases when it comes to outbound sales,” he added. “The sales effort might include telemarketing, cold calling, social selling, email marketing, pay-per-click and SEO.”
The VendVue advantage
There is one aspect of VendVue’s program that truly sets them apart. They sell the accounts for the operator.
“We are not a lead generator or an appointment maker. We are a full-service sales and marketing company. We generate interest, and then we handle the lead from start to finish, all the way to the site survey — with a lot of communication between us and the operator along the way,” McGinty said. “By the time it gets to the operator, it’s about 90% to the finish line. During the site survey, the operator confirms that everything we said is correct, confirms that they’re able to meet the needs of the customer, and then assumes the sale and schedules the installation,” he added.
Market exclusivity for operators
McGinty said that the majority of their market areas are offering exclusivity to a primary operator, giving them the right of first refusal on new locations as they are sold.
“Depending on the operator’s specific requirements, how fast they want to grow, the specific type of locations they are looking for and other factors, we sometimes pass the sale down to other operators in a given market,” he said.
A simple cost structure
VendVue does not take an ongoing percentage of sales forever, which allows an operator to set pricing in a location appropriately for the long term. Instead, VendVue charges the operator a flat monthly marketing fee that starts around $500. The fee can be higher, depending on the level of growth that an operator desires. Additionally, there is a one-time charge of $26 for every employee at the new account, once the account is sold and installed.
VendVue seeks qualified operators to meet demand
McGinty said he is seeking to build more operator relationships to meet the demand for locations sold.
“We are selling OCS, vending, micro markets, water, pantry service — the entire convenience services channel — on an ongoing basis, nationwide. We need to connect with qualified operators to meet the demand,” he said. “It is also important that we work with operators who share our core values of supplying world-class service and who understand the value of our service — an end-to-end sales solution that focuses on high quality locations.”
Tullio’s take: Does VendVue make sense for operators?
I was stunned when I understood that the VendVue solution was more than just lead generation. It offers operators an instant sales and marketing department: They actually close deals for their operator clients, and McGinty said the support relationship can even go beyond the sale.
Does it make sense from a cost standpoint?
If an operator can get in sync with VendVue on new locations, the program is a “no-brainer.” Quality salespeople are a true asset, but operating a large sales department is costly and incredibly time-consuming.
Every business development program has some cost to it, but when VendVue delivers for an operator, what they are offering is a bargain.
