Podcast: Proven sales strategies to win more OCS and vending accounts

Interviewed in this podcast:

• Chuck Long from One Source Refreshment
• Terry Adelstein from Corporate Coffee Systems
• Orrin Huebner
• Sandy Schoenthaler

What are those key tips and strategies all about? Tune in, see for yourself — then get out and give them a try.

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No time to listen? Prefer to read? Here is an edited podcast transcript:

Bob Tullio: In September, I had an opportunity to speak at the Holiday House Technician Training and Equipment Sales Trade Show in Frisco, Texas. I led the first-ever sales track at that event.

I’ve had plenty of experience in sales training. Back in 2019, I wrote the program “Selling Convenient Services,” which is still available from NAMA, still pretty relevant. And I provide ongoing support to a number of operators on sales-related issues. And of course, you see me writing about it, podcasting about it — all on a regular basis.

In today’s episode of Automatic Merchandiser’s Vending & OCS Nation, we’re going to talk about business development.

In fact, in the next two episodes, we will discuss some of the key points made at the sales session for frontline operators — people who are out there selling every day.

We’re going to go over some points that really resonated with the attendees. And I had the opportunity to interview many of them after the event, as well as some industry experts, to find out what it’s really like to sell convenience services on the frontline today.

We took a short break every hour during the three-hour presentation. It was 176 slides. There were a lot of points to be made. I’m not going to share it all with you.

I was a little concerned at break time when a young lady came up to me. She’s a sales rep from Texas. She said, “You’re old school.” I thought to myself, “Is that another way to say, ‘You’re a dinosaur’?” But then, to my delight, she said, “I love old school.” And, as I talked to operators, salespeople, I found more and more, the old adage holds through. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Old school still works. But there are more opportunities, more available tools, more ways to sell than ever before. And frontline sales reps out there are using them all.

So today we’re going to look at five sales tips that really resonated. And to set the stage, let’s get a fundamental understanding together. Every type of business development activity has a cost. So don’t necessarily look at the straight dollar cost of search engine optimization or pay-per-click marketing or hiring someone else to do your content marketing. Because cold calling has a cost too.

Bringing in a third party to sell for you is not out of the question. And we’ve heard recently about a company called VendVue that does an end-to-end selling solution. They prospect, they get the leads, they go on the appointments, and they close the deal. Well, that has a cost too, but it also mitigates some of the significant costs and headaches of running a big sales team. So, keep that in mind: No matter what you do, there’s a cost.

From a selling standpoint, you need to do a number of things as an operator to come up with a good cost structure. But at the end of the day, the bottom line is about closing accounts and growing your company at a rate that meets your objectives. So, let’s start with a fundamental old-school concept, and that’s cold calling. Is there still a place for cold calling?

I asked Chuck Long, manager of account services at OneSource: How do you feel about cold calling?

Chuck Long: I think that it is something that is still very much important, still very useful. It is something that I think that has kind of gone by the wayside, but we’re starting to pick it back up now.

Bob Tullio: Industry consultant Orrin Huebner says he thinks there’s kind of a thrill associated with cold calling.

Orrin Huebner: I think people still love to cold call. As hard as it is, when you sell an account that came off of cold calling — and not someone who called in, not something off of Salesforce, not something off of whatever system you’re using — and you can tell that story, it feels so good. It’s like the grand slam. You feel so good because you found a way to get in the door.

There’s still a place walking in the door with a bag of snacks or some drinks, leaving it off with your card and saying, “Just have that person call me if they’re interested.” There’s still a place for that.

Bob Tullio: Here are a few tips regarding cold calling.

It really helps to have an agenda, something beyond, “I’m just calling to set an appointment with you.” You’ve got to be a little more creative than that. What does an agenda mean? Well, urgency is an agenda. “We have a program I want to introduce to you. There are other people in your industry that are doing the same thing. It expires at the end of the month. Let’s sit down and have a conversation. I can show you how to improve your overall amenity, save money and make your job a lot easier. But let’s meet before the end of the month because we have some special promotions to offer.”

Cause marketing is another tremendous agenda, and we’ll be talking about that as a key business development strategy. Does your company have a program for cause marketing? A charitable foundation that involves products that could be dropped off, taste tested perhaps, by the prospect? If you’ve learned something about the prospect, maybe sustainability is important to them. You could talk about the sustainability program that your company is promoting right now, and the fact that you’d like to sit down and talk about that — and the overall program that you could put on the table.

Does the prospect have an interest in health initiatives? And you may have learned that doing your research. Talk about the health initiatives that your company is offering to create a healthier workplace.

I believe it makes sense to take at least one shot at trying to overcome an objection. Here’s a little tidbit for you. Let’s say that Jane says, “I’m happy with my current provider.” Your answer is: “Jane, almost all of our current clients told me the same thing, until they saw our approach, which will not only improve the employee experience, but provide you with savings. Please give me the opportunity to come in, brew some coffee samples for you, and go over our program in a short format. I’m available at 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Which day is better for you?”

Take a shot. Have an agenda. Give it a try. It works.

Speaking of overcoming objections, how often do you hear this from a decision maker named Joe? “I can’t meet with you right now. I’m too busy. Just send me a proposal by email.”

How do you overcome that objection? “I understand where you’re coming from, Joe, but the one thing I can’t do is send a great cup of coffee in the mail. Please give me the opportunity to come in, brew some samples for you, and go over our program in a short format. I’m available at 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Which day is better for you?”

Don’t forget: You always want to give the prospect a choice. And that brings us to an important sales tip. Always work for the face-to-face appointment. Always look for an opportunity to come in and brew coffee. Always seek any chance you can to do a food sampling if you’re going after a micro market account.

For one thing, it shows your commitment; for another, it makes you the expert. And I’m not alone in that opinion. Here’s Terry Adelstein of Corporate Coffee Systems.

Terry Adelstein: I think they’re very important. Face-to-face meetings allow you to show the client that you’re knowledgeable about the subject at hand, and you also give them the ability to like your presentation, like what you have to say, and in essence, if they like you, then they’re going to like your organization.

Bob Tullio: Here’s what Orrin Huebner had to say about the importance of face-to-face appointments. How important do you think it is to position yourself as an expert? Doesn’t this put you in a position to be the expert in the field?

Orrin Huebner: You are the expert when you’re listening to what everybody has to say, and you’re not going to do that if you’re not there providing them with products to try. So, we’re listening. We’re developing ideas —and how many times you walk in the door, and you think you’re going to go one direction, and after listening to three or four people, you understand that it’s the microwave issue. It’s the oven issue. It’s the healthy snacks. We don’t want healthy. We want Fritos, Doritos and Jays, and they keep pushing healthy on us — or the opposite. So, once you’re in listening, you can actually develop a program, but be ready to pivot.

Bob Tullio: Well, it’s an opportunity to learn what’s going on. That’s for sure.

But in reality today, we have more opportunity than ever before to know exactly what’s going on in a location. And in fact, you should never be making a cold call without knowing the name of the contact. That information is readily available.

That brings me to our next sales tip. Do your research. Before you make a call, and certainly before you go on an appointment, ask questions of your colleagues.

• Have we ever done business with this company before?
• Has anyone ever done business with the decision maker before?
• Is anyone connected with the decision maker on LinkedIn?
• What do we know about the corporate culture?
• Would they be excited about sustainability, or will they be more excited about value?
• Am I dealing with a Gen Z, a Millennial, a Gen Xer, a Baby Boomer in rare cases?
• Do we do business with anyone else in their industry?

All of this is valuable information that will help you formulate your strategy for the appointment. Here’s consultant Sandy Schoenthaler, who says research is critical.

Sandy Schoenthaler: So, I researched who I’m going to talk to, what their mission statements are on their website, what they’re partnering in and things like that. So, in the military, for example, the niche is veterans. So, I worked with White Bear Coffee Company, and we came up with a veterans blend coffee.

Every quarter, all these different entities can choose where that money gets allocated. A percentage of every cup of coffee that’s sold, a percentage of every case of coffee that’s taken home and purchased, and things like that. And it sets a difference in a bid between you’re just one of the people bidding, and wow, these people are going to help us meet our goals.

Bob Tullio: Orrin Huebner, there’s no reason to be anything but totally prepared when you walk in the door for an appointment based on all of the information that’s out there about corporate culture, about everything we know about various companies. Isn’t that the case?

Orrin Huebner: It is the case, and it’s been the case for quite a while. It’s so easy to find all of this information out. It goes beyond just looking at their website. Now you go to their LinkedIn page, and you see what they are really responsive to as individuals who are going to be in the room, not just the company itself, but who’s their favorite charity.

It’s real easy to know what a company is doing, how they’re growing, what they’re facing, who their competition is. Because knowing who their competition is and how you can approach that is always important also. So, it’s a must do. And it’s been a must-do for some time. It just gets easier and easier every year.

Bob Tullio: And you know, they’re doing research on you.

Orrin Huebner: They should be.

Bob Tullio: The decision maker’s doing research on you. Guaranteed today, the Gen Z and the Millennial decision maker know more about your product sometimes than you do, and you can’t let that happen. But you certainly need to make sure — at least they think they know more. You certainly have to be in a position where you know what makes them tick in terms of excitement and what’s going to motivate them. But the other thing you mentioned, is one of my other points — it’s cause marketing. You talked about the fact that— who do they donate to?

How important is cause marketing today? Because that’s the next strategy that I’m highlighting.

Orrin Huebner: I think it’s really important because, as an example, I worked for a large company, but we had what we call, we work with Aspire. It was a group of individuals who were challenged, who had challenges in getting them employed. And we employed them.

We brought the message out to our clients, and they had a coffee that we really pushed into the workplace. We were a national company with a local approach, and they saw that we weren’t just that big behemoth. We were actually local, and we were giving back. We did it also when I was an independent. I’m not just trying to single it out as the big company.

Bob Tullio: Sure.

Orrin Huebner: As an independent, we promoted it. We talked about it. Put it on your website.

I’m seeing more of that. I mean, if you look at Five Star and they talk about how they’re giving back every month, they’re giving different things.

Bob Tullio: They sure do.

Orrin Huebner: And, just as an example, that’s part of their social media and part of their marketing plan, and I think it’s important that everybody does. I just saw Sheehan Brothers do the same thing recently, so I think people are starting to get that message also.

Bob Tullio: Well, it really brings your own company together, is what I find. People really get on board. They feel good about it. We did it with a product called Brew for a Cure, which was for cancer research — breast cancer in particular — and we had a pink bag and the question — and I’m sure you had the same experience — the question that we got from people who this really resonated with was not, “How much?” It’s “When can I get it?”

Orrin Huebner: Yes. And that was the thing with the coffee. It also was, by the way, really good coffee. Some of it was fair trade, organic, and it was actually really good. And so, you’re asking to pay a buck a pound more. But look where the coffee was coming from and where it was going, and what it was providing.

Bob Tullio: Sure. Well, you just told a great story. So, along those lines, how important is storytelling, which I think is critical.

Orrin Huebner: Well, storytelling — if you’re not telling a story, you’re not selling. And you have to be able to start to finish. Gone are the days of question and answer.

Gone are the days — When I do a presentation, give me a microphone, let me walk amongst everybody in the room. I don’t want to stand up front. I don’t want to talk to people. I want to engage, and storytelling is engagement. And when you engage with people, they see that you’re a communicator, you’re a listener, and you’re a good communicator. So, storytelling is so important.

Bob Tullio: Storytelling is so powerful, proven by science to stimulate seven areas of the brain instead of just two, because compelling stories have a greater impact than facts.

There is one keyword to think about when it comes to storytelling: relevance. It’s never one size fits all. Instead, driven by questions you have asked, driven by pain points you have heard from the prospect, driven by empathy because you understand their perspective, have a relevant arsenal of stories. Stories about solutions, stories about how other companies — just like them, ideally in their industry — use your solutions to overcome their pain point issues.

Choose the ones that are appropriate to the situation. Be prepared. Know your material. Deliver the story like a champ. Practice in the car. It’s OK — people will think you are using your phone’s hands-free feature, which you should be.

It’s also important to follow the fundamental rules of storytelling.

• It must be true. Truth is important.
• Main character, you need characters.
• Beginning, middle, and ending, that’s what the story needs to have because structure is important.

Your story should be engaging, even compelling. Here’s the result.

You will enjoy a better connection with clients and prospects while you set yourself apart from your competition. Storytelling is a tool that will help your prospects make the right decisions. And that means choosing your company for services.

Want to learn more about storytelling? Go to VendingMarketWatch.com and search for storytelling. You’ll get access to several articles and podcasts that I have done on the subject. In fact, at VendingMarketWatch.com, you can search for more info on every strategy we discussed in this podcast. Not only storytelling, but cold calling, cause marketing, doing your research before an appointment, and the importance of face-to-face meetings.

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