robzee67 0 Posted January 23, 2009 My question to you guys is how to get in with major corporation to become an approved vendor? Seems that every time I see a new construction and I stop to talk to the GC they always got someone already. Wallgreens, CVS, Mcdonalds etc I tried to call them up and they give you thr run around. Any suggestions?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
survtech 0 Posted January 23, 2009 Good luck! Big corporations typically prefer to use the services of other big corporations. Most are not willing to take a chance on a smaller supplier, especially one with whom they have no experience. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted January 24, 2009 (edited) The majority of the fast food joints in our area are "local" franchisees. You have to meet with the local supervisor of multiple stores, on a regular basis to get your name known. We have tried in vein to get the local fast foods to do business with us. There was a shooting at a fast food burger "joint", and all chaos hit the fan. The opening manager was shot in the face. Believe it or not she survived the shooting, and is doing well. Parents pulled their under age employees from the stores, and the single "mom"s quit, and the burger joint had to find a way to give reassurance. I get the call from the local supervisor, and he is ready to pull the trigger for CCTV. I told him I will find the old proposal, and have him sign it. He said when can you install? I gave him a date, and he said how many stores he wanted done. A famous franchise "italian" restaurant hired us for "giggles" to get a system in so that they can see a section of parking that is close to a door. They were happy with the system. There was a full robbery involved where customers were floored on command, then the restaurant, and the customers were robbed. This happened far away from us, but it put the local stores on alert to be proactive, rather then reactive. Our restaurant recommended us to the other area stores. It was nice doing business with the "big guy" from headquarters, but I do not like the timing of the incident. Sometimes I do "ambulance chasing". If I hear about a "fire in the hole" incident, then I will take a 4 channel DVR, and some cams, and let them "borrow" it for a time. I win some, and I lose some. (Note: Fire in the hole means to throw a drink back inside of the drive through window, and yell, and then drive off). Just keep shaking hands, and it will come back to you. Do not forget to explain other things that the CCTV system can do for them. The "headquarter", or home office can watch the front counter area to see they have over scheduled, or under scheduled. They can see if they have a large line, or they can see if they have too many employees. With remote view they can do a tour of their stores without wasting gas. They can time the customers from the time they enter the que system to the time the tray is placed in front of them. Most restaurants want to see a 3 minute turn around time, or less during peak times. Drive thru should be about a 30 second time frame from the time they hit the second window till the time that they get the food. The first window is the register window. Get to know what their secret shop criteria is, and try to incorporate that in to the sales pitch. If you go to the fast foods to eat then you might know the lingo a little better then those that do not eat there. You can cam some of the walkin guages for remote viewing. They may be interested in a CMS for multi store viewing. Get to know the store, and what the areas are called. For example BK calls the assembly table the "board". You have the Whopper Board, and you have the Chicken Board. They have levels to indicate how much food to make in advance. Find out what the "no food made ahead of time" level is, and what the peak "hustle, hustle, hustle" level is. Now when you talk to the headquarters you will be way ahead of the other companies. What do you think? Edited January 25, 2009 by Guest Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
survtech 0 Posted January 25, 2009 (Note: Fire in the hole means to throw a drink back inside of the drive through window, and yell, and then drive off). Funny, I used it when setting off explosives. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted January 25, 2009 Well I sure hope the "punks" do not switch to grenades!!!! Yikes! There have been some serious bruising from plastic drink cups hitting the drive thru cashiers. During an install one time I saw where an employee changed syrup boxes, and the valve was damaged and syrup ruptured all over the floor. It took foreever, and a day to clean all of my tools after that mess. Bleach cuts through the goo pretty good if you do not kill yourself from the fumes!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
robzee67 0 Posted January 26, 2009 I actually walked in a brand new Burger King that was on the termination phase and there was all the head uncho sitting at the table and introduce my self with a little flyer, company info etc. And he said "are you an approved vendor??...and the door got shut in me face. Since i have been trying to get in touch with HQ and gotten the run around. ' How do you become an approved vendor to thses corporation? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted January 26, 2009 Tell him yes, and ask for his business card. Contact his home office the first chance you get. All they are doing is asking for information up front, and verifing that you have the licenses, and the insurance that you require. Ask the front desk if they want it mailed, faxed, or emailed. If they are giving you the run around then you may have said a key word that turned them off, or they get so many calls that they have to weed through them all, and you are just another one in the mill. It would be better to go down to the office, and talk to them. Buy the whole office lunch. It is amazing what you can learn by just sitting back, and listen to all of them talk during lunch. It might cost you some money, but then it may pay itself back. I suggest that you keep copys of your business license, and insurance with you at all times. When the need arises tell the person no you are not an approved vendor, but here is a copy of my license, and my insurance, and who do I speak with to get this information on file? Once they have all of your info filed at the home office you are now an approved vendor unless they tell you otherwise. Some companies just stick all the info in to a manilla file folder, and others will actually check your license, and call your insurance company. They may also want to make sure your employees are covered under workmans comp. It is easy becoming the "approved vendor". It is harder to sway a company when they have been "using someone for years, and we like their work". I call the competition, and ask them what they specialize in. They may list everything in a phone book ad, but they may prefer a certain segment, and not all of what they advertise. I will chat with them to see how much CCTV they do. If they talk about how hard it is to sell CCTV then this is a clue that they do not know how to do it, or they do not like to do it, or they had a bad experience with it. Agree with what they are saying. In other words you will want to confirm his suspicions that he is right, and that not many people are doing good with CCTV sales. Do not tell him how good you are doing with CCTV as he will only get "defensive", and he will cover up, and tell you that he does really good, and that they are getting ready to expand! I sometimes go, and fill out applications at my competition. I find out key names of people that I want to remember, and I kind of get a chance to "make friends" with the office manager, or the front desk clerk. They will tell you that they are not hiring for CCTV, and they may even let on that they just let a tech go because work is to slow for them. You may figure that they do more Burglar Alarms, or what ever it is that they do. Examing the place. Do they have a lot of desk giving you a sign of a lot of sales people, or does it look like a mom n pop operation barely hanging on. If you get a chance see if you can feel out their stock. If they talk Pelco then you can offer bids against them with products that are out of the Pelco price range. If they import direct from china, then bid with named products to "shut them down". Price cuts should get you in the door if you can do it cheaper then the competition. Do not sell yourself cheap as they will expect that on all future bids. Find out through the local cashiers who does the repair work for AC, plumbing, and refridgerator repair. Find out if they have an in house tech. The head maitenance guy may "talk his head off" because you are making him feel important. He will have to brag "how good he is", and blah, blah, but you will get a lot of info out of him as well. He may clue you in on what store is "due" for a system, and what stores are bottom of the list. He may direct you to the "sargent" who does the work, rather than the "colonel" who sits behind a desk saying no all day long. You can do the same by contacting custom home builders, and others, and get on their approved vendor list, and then wait till the regular guy makes a mistake. They may want to go with someone else on a one time basis, until their "anger" at the approved vendor resides. You can buy out contracts from other contractors if you have the money to do so. My experience doing this is more with coin op vending games, and equipment, but it should work for any business. I have an idea to PM you. Have you ever done a fast food restaurant of any kind? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
