Vending Machine Industry Switches to Interchangeable Canisters
A recent innovation in the way vending machines are made has turned the vending industry on its ear. Interchangeable canisters, made of thick, high-impact, shatter-proof polycarbonate, protect the vending machine products while simplifying the vending machine’s upkeep for the owner.Professionalism counts There is nothing more embarrassing for a vending machine owner than having candy, nuts, or toys spill out across the floor while trying to refill their vending machine. This system of interchangeable canisters has reduced the time it takes to refill a vending machine, as well as make owners look more professional in front of customers and location employees while they service their machines.Take out the guesswork With traditional vending machines, owners have to guess at which two or three products will sell the best for each location. Without trying different products, it is impossible to know what will sell best in any particular location. Having unsold candies sitting in a machine month after month is lost revenue as the candy goes stale and has to be thrown away.The Interchangeable Canister System allows the owner to track and deliver the best-selling product for each location in three easy steps:Step 1: Fill the canisters with three popular products. After two or three weeks, empty and track the money collected from each canister of the vending machine. Step 2: Remove those three canisters off and pop on the interchangeable canisters with three new products. Collect the money again after two or three more weeks and record how much each of the new products made. Step 3: Use interchangeable canisters to exchange products again. Give those products two or three weeks and collect the money again, writing down how much each product made.By following these steps, the vending machine owner will have income information for that location on nine products, enabling the owner to pick the most profitable combination of candy for their vending machine.

Interviewing Over Lunch: Are You at Risk?
Sometimes a hiring process will include having lunch with the hiring manager. Despite anything said to the contrary (like "It'll just be an informal lunch so we can get to know each other."), this is a formal part of your interview!This can be a very tricky situation.Impressions made in a restaurant are just as important as those in an office or meeting room.If you don't want an "eating mishap" to ruin your chances at a new job (or a promotion if you're dining with the boss), follow these tips:1. Avoid ordering messy foods.This includes long pasta, of course, but also anything with stringy cheese... you know, the kind that stretches up with your fork from the plate to your mouth.Watch out for soup, anything with a sauce or other "drippable" ingredient. No matter how careful you are, you know an invisible hole can magically appear in your spoon and cause you to drip all over yourself!Even a salad can be hazardous! Have you ever tried to spear a cherry tomato with your fork and squirted yourself, your neighbor, or watched the tomato go flying off your plate? Not impressive. Avoid cherry tomatoes.2. Mind your manners.First, let me say I am definitely NOT "Miss Manners." These are just common-sense tips, not something you'd learn at charm school. (So don't send me an email with the "proper" etiquette, OK?)This may be considered old-fashioned and unnecessary by some (especially women's libbers, if there's still such a thing), but I think it's still a nice courtesy for a man to pull out a chair for a woman. Either sex can offer to take someone's coat and hang it up. In general, just be nice, thoughtful, and courteous.Thank the servers.If you're in a fancy place with 6 different forks, 3 knives and 2 spoons, don't freak out about which to use for what. In general, they're placed in the order in which the food that you use them with will be served... implement furthest from the plate being used first. So when the salad comes out first, grab the fork furthest from your plate. Or just watch what the big shot does and follow his/her example.If your food comes out first, don't start scarfing it down while the other(s) wait for their food to arrive. If they're courteous, they'll invite you to go ahead before your fo

Of Frogs and Visionaries
It begins as an idea. Once fully developed, the idea takes on a life that has roots in marketing, research, customer service and personal vision while wrapped in a unique blanket of promise.The growth of the entrepreneurial spirit has much to do with creativity. The following quote is not attributable to any author, but certainly goes to the heart of being a pioneer in business; “Visionary people are visionary partly because of the very great many things they don't see.”A visionary doesn’t see the obstacles. They refuse to be deterred by issues others see as stop signs. Visionaries move forward because they have a dream and can’t seem to hear those who are calling for their demise from the sidelines.The story is told of two frogs that fell into a well. The other frogs came to the edge of the well and saw the futility of the effort to jump from the depths of the abyss. The free frogs told the two frogs to simply accept their fate and die. One frog slumped to the side of the well and eventually died while the other frog kept jumping. The frog eventually jumped high enough to clear the top of the well. When the other frogs asked why he kept jumping when it seemed hopeless he simply responded, “Friends, I’m hard of hearing. I thought your were encouraging me.”“Visionary people face the same problems everyone else faces; but rather than get paralyzed by their problems, visionaries immediately commit themselves to finding a solution.” - Bill HybelsTo be a visionary a person must throw off apathy and walk forward unperturbed by common peer pressure. Each of us will have moments when we are assaulted by common sense wisdom. It is prudent to listen to the concerns of others, but the ultimate decision may rely on something for which others cannot account. In some cases you must walk forward – even if you ultimately fail. Too many settle for a ‘safe’ life and always wonder what they missed when dreams were never considered worth followed.Certainly there are starry-eyed folks who seem to live from dream to dream and never realize a satisfactory conclusion to any of them. The end result is a lengthy list of failures with just enough dream to start something new.The best description of the difference between dreamer and visionary comes in a quote from Jim Collins who said, “A vi

5 Ways to Increase your Medical Spa's Revenues
According to the International Medical Spa Association there are over 1,000 open medical spas in the U.S. Jeff Russell, CEO of MedSpa Financing says, “Competition is definitely setting in, and it’s not only direct competition from other medical spas, but indirect competition from businesses that offer the same services. You have salons that offer hair removal, day spas that offer dermal filler injections, and mall outlets that offer microdermabrasion.” If you are going to not only succeed, but thrive in this new environment, you are going to have to be better than your competition. Following these 5 tips will help you get that extra edge you’ll need to stay ahead of the pack.Are you marketing to the right customer?First and foremost, you need to look at your current customers and ensure your medspa is operating at capacity. If your IPL room is sitting empty half the day, it may be time to create a marketing campaign specifically designed to increase your hair removal clients. There are many articles written about baby boomers and their perfect fit for the treatments performed in a medical spa, but don’t leave out the Generation X’s and Y’s, they make very good customers as well.Get to know your neighborsDo you know all the businesses surrounding yours? You may need to take another walk around the neighborhood, and see what new business building opportunities are available. As you are walking around, ask yourself these questions: Do they compliment my services? Can we help each other increase business by referring customers between us? Specifically look for complimentary businesses that share the same target demographic as you. It may be a women’s fitness center, jewelry store, or a natural foods store. No one has too many customers, and they are most likely small business owners just like you!Network within your communityMany people associate networking with schmoozing. As a MedSpa owner, you need to always be networking. In its simplest form, it is connecting with people to exchange ideas, information, and resources. Where to network? There are many places from the local chamber of commerce, community groups, industry associations, or you can join a board or peer group. Not only will you gain great ideas to help you with your MedSpa business, but you are sure to get some

Trends Worth Billions – Consumer Demand Drives the Speed of Business (Part 3 of a 3-Part Series)
With our daily time frames accelerating and demographics shifting, the need for businesses to get on top of their game becomes ever more important. For example, while the pizza trend took a couple of decades to get firmly rooted in our culture, consider how quickly the cell phone has become an essential ‘gotta have one’ product. And camera phones, the next stage in positioning the trend, are moving even faster. Introduced four years ago in Japan, 57 million camera phones were sold by 2003, with expected sales of 338 million by 2008. If a non-essential trend product such as camera phones can foster that much growth, how will the growth of more essential products and services that serve an aging population fare?Understanding trends gives you a profile of the marketplace, both what is beginning to appear now and what will be happening in the near and far distant future. They serve as an early predictor of how consumers are feeling, what products and services they will be seeking, and how businesses can respond to the anticipated needs. The best time to position a business is before the trend is well established. After all, market position is vital to the long-term success of a business.Trend marketing is the foundation of future growth. It is the ability to pinpoint and respond to the changing needs of the customer and do so better than anyone else. While traditional marketing activities, such as customer service, branding, advertising and promotions are vitally important, unless you have identified your future customer, all these activities have no point. Before you can market, you have to know your market. Doesn’t that make sense?While conventional marketing competes over a limited market, trend marketing assumes the growth of a market because of changing demographics. The epitome of trend marketing is to be where the customer is looking before they know they’ll be looking there. In other words, developing a business and marketing strategy based on how demographics will impact the marketplace in the future.One advantage of trend marketing is the ability to reach the customer by narrowcasting the marketing message. Narrowcasting – delivering the message only to the desired market – is possible when the target market is isolated from the whole. This is in sharp contrast to traditional bro

How to Make More Money & Keep Customers Happy With the Direct Marketing & Customer Service Handshake
To make the most of your marketing and advertising promotions, and keep your customers happy, you need your direct marketing promotions and customer service practices to (what I call) handshake.By providing excellent customer service, together with your direct marketing promotion, your customers will be pleased with you and your product or service. Hence, the handshake is vital to your direct marketing success.The handshake will help ensure you are on track and that you and your staff are ready to meet the demand for your services that your promotion will generate.If you have a positive response to your promotion but fail to deliver your product or service in a way that is a positive experience for your customers, they may not give you a second chance to make that vital, good first impression.The following are 10 simple steps to successfully promote your business and keep your customers happy.1. Identify the goals of your promotion and plan accordingly. It may help to ask, “What am I trying to accomplish?” This is an important first step that will ensure the ultimate success of your promotion and will help you communicate your desires to your marketing and promotion partner (direct marketing copywriter).2. Plan your budget and work within it. If you hire a copywriter to create your direct marketing promotion, be clear about what you can afford. A good copywriter will work with you to come up with creative solutions about marketing your product.3. Don’t try to sell all things to all people. If you expect one ad or promotion to do 10 different things or speak to everyone, you will not see the results you desire.4. Utilize direct marketing techniques to compel your prospects and existing customers to act now.5. Fulfill your promises by meeting (or exceeding) your customer’s expectations. Don’t disappoint your customers by misleading them with your advertising. If it’s a shovel – call it a shovel. You will have ensured the success of your promotion by following step 3.6. Have sufficient inventory. If you underestimate the response of your promotion and run out of stock, tell your customers the truth. This is an opportunity to promote goodwill by offering a rain check, similar quality item for the same price or giving an instant in-