Archive for July 2011
Vending Machine Business Forms, Standard Letters, Templates and Other Paperwork
July 28, 2011 | 
Author When you start a vending machine business you will find that there is a considerable amount of paperwork involved. You will need to establish some vending machine business forms and standard letter templates that can be changed to suit each situation as it arises. Let’s take a closer look at some of the forms, letters and other paperwork that you will need in the vending machine business.
Vending Machine Business Forms
Vendors use a variety of business forms. It is convenient if you have standard business forms that you constantly improve all the time as your operation evolves. Instead of having to make a new form up from scratch for every situation you can just pull up a standard form on your computer and adjust it as necessary.
Firstly, you will need a form to help you deal with the large numbers of prospects that you will be coming into contact with every week. A basic ‘contact form’ will allow you to keep a record of every prospect that you talked to and the outcome of your conversation. Also take note of the ‘decision maker’ at each location, their contact details and the date that you spoke with them.
If things go well and you visit the site for further discussion you can then complete a ‘location evaluation form’. On this form you need to note down all of the key information about a location that could affect machine performance such as working hours and employee numbers. You will need to record information on the machines that they presently have in place as well as any specific requirements set out by the ‘decision maker’.
Once you have machines in place a record needs to be kept on every machine so that you can keep track of sales volume and inventory levels. Every vending machine that you are operating should have a file with a fact sheet outlining basic details on the machine, the client and the specific location.
Every time you visit that machine you should complete a form to let you know how much inventory was there when you arrived, how much you added and how much cash was collected from the machine.
You also need to keep a detailed maintenance history on each machine and it is convenient to have a form for this purpose.
Optimizing sales and profits at each location is all about testing and tracking. You need to stick with core products that are selling and eliminate those that aren’t popular. Variety is important and it is also important to rotate in new products occasionally to see if they work out. You should have a constantly evolving plan for the volumes and combinations of inventory that should be displayed in the ‘columns’ or ‘spirals’ of your machines. Many operators set out planograms or charts for each machine that they can quickly refer to when they are out on the road stocking machines.
If you have machines in non-public locations you may attach a number a refund forms to a pouch on the side of each machine. This is an extra service that you can offer to customers who didn’t get what they paid for and want to be reimbursed at a letter date.
Vending Machine Business Standard Letters
Over time your vending machine business should develop a set of standard letters. These can be used for a variety of situations that you commonly encounter in the day to day running of your business. Standard letters are great and save you the hassle of having to write an original letter for every situation.
Simply pull out a standard letter template on your computer that already has your business branding on it and some commonly used paragraphs. Then make the necessary changes to the text that every unique situation will require and you are away laughing.
Standard letters are a great way of managing your relationship with your clients and you can have letters ready to welcome clients, thank them for their business and to answer common complaints or requests.
Other letters can be used to enhance your vending business marketing by requesting a testimonials or asking for referrals.
Surveys
To show your customers that you care and to get some feedback from them you should survey them once or twice a year. Try to find out if they are satisfied with your services and if they have encountered any problems. Try to find ways that you can serve them better and to increase your profits.
Put together a one page survey form that you can easily print out or photocopy when you need it.
Flyers
Sometimes the marketing activities of a vendor require for flyers and other promotional materials to be printed.
When you place a new machine it doesn’t hurt to pass around a flyer to employees introducing your company to them. Encourage them to use the machines, to report problems to you and to let you know if they have
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The Business Cycle and the Economy
Economic activity in the United States changes from year to year. The production of goods and services increases in one time frame while normal economic growth does not occur in another. Although these changes are irregular and unpredictable, most of the macroeconomic variables involved are interrelated and move together. This is particularly true about real output and unemployment. Fluctuations in real GDP and the unemployment rate are inversely related…as output drops, unemployment rises. These short-run changes in output and unemployment are known as the business cycle.
A business cycle is changes in output, income, and employment within the total economy. When businesses operate near capacity and real GDP (output) is rising, a peak occurs. As business slows, the economy contracts, sales drop, real GDP slows down, and unemployment increases. The business condition bottoms out at a trough where real GDP is dropping and unemployment is rising. When business conditions improve, an expansion phase occurs where sales increase, GDP grows quickly, and unemployment drops until economic growth reaches a peak again. Then the cycle starts over. Economic growth does not go on for an indefinite period because extended periods of growth, as well as short periods of concentrated growth, are eventually joined by higher rates of inflation. These higher prices spur policymakers to stimulate a downturn in hopes of reducing inflationary pressures by slowing economic growth.
Economic policy makers, the Federal Reserve Board with its monetary policies and the government with its fiscal policies, interpret and react to business cycles. They try to forecast just where the economy is going in the near future based on leading economic indicators. The ultimate goal is to sustain real GDP growth at a constant 3% non-inflationary rate, to keep the unemployment rate at the full-employment level of 5% to 6%, and to curtail inflation by keeping it at no more than 3%. In essence, policy makers try to level out the business cycle by diminishing the extent of differences in economic growth over the cycle. The explanation of how the Fed carries out monetary policy is the manner in which it responds to changes in output. The Fed can reduce output in the short-run by contracting the money supply. It can increase short-run output by increasing the money supply. The Federal Reserve can also increase or decrease interest rates to try and parallel aggregate demand growth with aggregate supply growth from year to year. For example: if the Fed decides that GDP is slowing down to a meaningfully lower growth rate, it may reduce interest rates to stimulate economic growth. Actions by the Fed definitely affect the quantity of output produced in the U.S. economy.
The Fed scrutinizes several economic variables that are indicators of economic growth and inflation. Monitoring changes in unemployment, the cost of labor, the use of productive capacity, the price of commodities, business inventories, and worker productivity allow the Fed to predict where the economy is headed. By monitoring the combined effect of economic indicators, the Fed is able to take action to either slow growth before inflation increases or expand growth if the economy has taken a downturn.
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Tags: Federal Reserve Board, Gdp Output, Inflationary Pressures | 
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Business-To-Business (B2B) Marketing
Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing in very simple terms, is the practice of marketing products and services to enterprises in order to keep them operating. This is in contrast to Business-to-Consumer (B2C) marketing which focuses on the consumer. Popular business to business markets include manufacturers, government, resellers as well as non-profit organizations. They focus on selling their services and products to other enterprises. One major way of distinguishing between business-to-business and a business-to-consumer marketing is the kind of products and services being sold and the type of enterprises that are targeted in the marketing efforts. While the former promotes products and services that are mean to help other enterprises operate such as equipments, spare parts and components, raw materials for production as well as supplies and services for processing.
In business-to-business marketing, the process of purchase process is also a marked difference from the B2C marketing. This is because in B2B marketing, the sale is based more on logical considerations than emotion which is what obtains in B2C marketing. However, the cost associated in marketing in B2B in quite higher than what obtains in B2C. In marketing to other businesses, it is important to place emphasis on the logic of buying the product or service to the organization. The features and usefulness of the product or service in the achievement of organizational goals is what will drive the organization to make the purchase. This is because the key issues in the B2B market are information and knowledge.
Business-to-business marketing also involves a lot of research although the research is more complex than consumer marketing research. There are four issues that differentiate the research in business markets to consumer markets:
i. The comparative complexities in the decision making unit in B2B markets
ii. The comparative complexities in the product/services and applications for B2B markets
iii. The small size of customers in B2B markets that however have a bigger consumption of products and services than the B2C markets.
iv. The crucial nature of personal relationships in B2B markets.
B2B marketing also has also found an outlet on the internet as many enterprises have established their operations online. Enterprises like those that are involved in import and export have found the internet very useful conducting their businesses. This is because of some comparative advantages that the internet offers them. These include:
i. The enhancement of the supply chain management system’s operations
ii. Enhances the product content and internal messaging system
iii. Enhances the Return on Investment (ROI)
In the course of conducting business online, B2B companies need to bear some facts or statistics in mind in order to succeed:
i. B2B companies need to be listed on search engines: According to statistics, over 70% of B2B buyers begin their purchase by searching on search engines
ii. B2B websites must be optimized for the right keywords: Bear in mind that 77% of B2B prospects prefer to use Google than other search engines and they also usually click on organic results.
iii. Invest in Pay per Click: Inasmuch as the organic results get the most returns, it is important to cover all bases by also investing in PPC programs.
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