Planet Antares Business | Planet Antares Vending | Planet Antares

A blog dedicated to Planet Antares vending business.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Insurance Basics For Planet Antares Vending Business

You may be a newbie or an established Planet Antares vending operator. It doesn’t matter at what stage of business you operate when you are planning to get insurance cover.

There is always a certain amount of liability that you will have to protect yourself against. Moreover, this must be done in a manner that doesn’t result in overspending. Operators should make sure that they have the requisite information about the kind and amount of insurance cover they need.

For determining such an amount, you will have to take assistance from an expert or an insurance professional. You need to understand that personal homeowner and auto insurance will not cover the liability of your vending business assets as well.

In simple terms, insurance is a contract under which an insurer undertakes to pay the insured for any loss or damage suffered from specific contingencies or unforeseen perils. It is important for business organizations to prevent financial losses by recognizing, analyzing and controlling risk at minimal costs.

Risk management can be done in four different ways, including the following:

  • Assuming risk
  • Transfer of risk
  • Risk reduction
  • Elimination of risk

You must plan for the future and ensure that your risk management plan takes all possible problems into account. You may get injured or sick. In such a situation, there can be huge losses to your business and personal life if there is no contingency plan, preferably in written form. Such a plan is important to provide insurance cover for short and long term disability of your Antares vending business. Your absence should not result in a catastrophe.

There is need for redefining the attitude of vending operators towards insurance. Instead of treating damage and vandalism as an excuse for trading premium dollars with an insurance company, you need to focus on business costs and security measures that can enhance productivity and profitability.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Steps For Handling Vending Business Customer Complaints

Like any other business, customer complaints form a part of the vending business as well. route drivers as well as vending machine operators have to deal with customer complaints and queries during vending route visits. It is essential to handle these complaints strategically. If done carefully, an unsatisfied customer can be converted into a loyal patron for life.

There are several things that must be kept in mind while creating and implementing customer complaint handling systems as well as support services. These are listed below:

Being patient
it is hard to deal with angry customers who are unhappy about your products or equipment’s performance. Always be calm while dealing with them and remember that the customer is frustrated because something has happened.

Say sorry when needed
even if you are not at fault, apologizing to the customer will help in improving their mood and temperament. You can also apologize for the inconvenience caused to the Antares vending customer due to improper operations. In case you don’t understand the problem, there is no need to hesitate while asking for further details. This way, you will be able to assess the severity of the problem and help you to find the right solution for the customer issues.

Long term impact
it’s important to consider the long term impact of any solutions you offer or don’t offer to the customer. Planet Antares vending operators and route drivers can refund money if a machine is malfunctioning or broken down. Another option is to give some products to the customer for free. It will reduce the chances of their getting upset or turning to other vending machines of competitor firms, especially if they are regular customers.

Call back option
sometimes, you may not able to provide effective solutions to customer complaints and need to refer to someone else for it. In such a case, you can ask for the contact number of customers so that another person can address the customer complaint through ‘call back’.

Thank the customer
you must appreciate the feedback provided by the customer. Thank them for their time and feedback while ending the conversation. Basically, a customer complaint offers an opportunity to the vending operator to make things better or right instead of just changing the service. Follow up of customer complaints is essential to maintain good provider-customer relationships.

Avoid Handling mistakes
there are certain vending companies that have bad complaint handling policies such as a simple apology without any follow-up action, shifting of blame or simply denying the existence of any problem. Not only is such an attitude considered rude but also reflects a negative image of your company to the customer. If the customer feels that his feedback is not valued, he will prefer using the services of another vending machine company.

Just remember that customer complaints do not indicate an end of a business relationship, rather present a chance to make it even stronger. You will be able to renew them by handling complaints in an appropriate manner that conveys your concern for the customer.