In person siting approach......

[newmark]

Hi guys,

Years ago when I had a few machines on site, my technique was fairly basic.... I would go into a pub, or whereever it was, buy a drink, read the paper, maybe have a meal even etc, then casually mention "I notice you dont have a ....." and see where the conversation went.

However, these days it seems that sites are harder to find, and you need to make a lot more calls to get any success, making my unsophisticated approach of buying a drink or meal with every potential visit a bit long winded. Not to mention time consuming, and expensive!

So, these days, on the occassions where you visit a new site in person on the off chance, (rather than a phone approach) do you simply walk up to the bar, for example, and ask to speak to the manager? Or leave a flyer, and ask them to hand it to the person in charge?

Appreciate that people wont want to give away their best strategies, but if anyone has any thoughts I'd be very interested in hearing them.

Cheers, Mark.

[Siting Services]

Hi Mark

For foot siting, I would go along with what you feel comfortable with and develop your own techniques as we are all different and what works for one may not work for others. I don't recommend you do what you used to do as you will get very fat and spend a lot of money.

Business is business so get yourself organised and get some form of a marketing leaflet drawn up giving the benefits of the vendors that you want to offer the site etc. If it were me going back on the road I would go into the pub and ask the first person you see who works there, who will then put you onto the right person then do your pitch or they will give you the name of the landlord/manager to contact when you are next in the area. Carry a few samples as well. Avoid busy times too.

If you enjoy the challenge and can take lots of NO's then go for it. Never site if you are feeling low or lacking in energy, your body language is picked up and the way you conduct yourself will either turn on switches (get attention) or turn them off and they will make any excuse why they don't want one or give you two minutes. I used to love cold calling in person, but would find it quite hard work today being that I have left my 20's far behind!

Try it, you have nothing to lose apart from time and with each no, use that as an opportunity of turning it around.

Good luck.

Barbara

[newmark]

Hi Barbara,

Very true - I spent the last 12 months losing a bit of weight, so I dont want to put it all back on again :) It used to seem quite easy to get sites years ago, and I got success about half the time but I see things are very different now!

I've got some A5 flyers made up and I'll make sure I keep a few with me, and I like the idea to carry around a few samples too. Ideally I'd like to keep a stocked machine in the car, in case they say yes I can get it straight in :)

I'll have to have a think about my pitch though, as my day job is selling to NHS and government, so I'll need to come up with something a little less formal, but still professional!

Will report back how I get on :)

Thanks again, Mark.

[Siting Services]

Hi Mark

My suggestion would be to be ready to site the tower on the day - if you get an acceptance, strike whilst the fire is hot.

Siting in the old days was very easy by comparison. Today the market is mature with many companies all chasing the same sites offering all sorts of freebies to sell sweets, drinks, health snacks etc.

With your current role of selling to NHS and government, I am sure you have the inter-personal communication skills to be successful.

Regards,

Barbara

[PGBrew]

Ask & you'll soon be put in touch with the right person, leave a leaflet, no samples though! waste of time.

Pete

[newmark]

Thanks Pete, I'm planning to do some in-person canvassing very soon, and I'll report back how I get on :)
Cheers, Mark.

[Mark@YorVend]

Hi guys,
As we are on the subject of sitefinding, does anyone have any really good pictures of towers in situ that I could use for sitefinding purposes? I know the easiest thing to do would be to take my own pictures, but I've tried that and just can't seem to take a good picture!!
I was hoping to have a couple on my tablet when I next go sitefinding, so when they say 'not sure if we have the room' or 'it might be in the way' I can show them exactly how subtle and discreet they look once installed.

Mark

[newmark]

Hi Mark, I found exactly the same thing - there are hardly any pics of machines on site online, and when you search all you can find is pics of machines in peoples garage, or eBay images of towers for sale.

In the end, I dragged a couple of machines into my house and took photo's of them in the corner of the kitchen and in the hall - not great, but better than nothing.

If anyone has any images they could direct me to I would be very grateful too, as Mark says about, sometimes it is hard to explain how neat and compact these look without a decent picture of some on site :)

Cheers, Mark.