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Most people judge their vending business on the first two weeks. That's a mistake, and the calendar shows why.
The week-by-week curve
VendBuddy's first-location benchmark lays out what a real first round looks like for someone having ten to fifteen conversations a week:
Week 1: build a list of 40 to 60 buildings and start walking in. Most visits end without a real conversation. That's normal.
Weeks 2 and 3: follow up on every one that went quiet, about a week later. This is where most people stop.
Weeks 2 to 6: the first signed location typically lands somewhere in here. Expect 15 to 25 real conversations for the first yes.
Why week 3 decides it
The guide is blunt about it: silence, not rejection, is the single biggest reason people quit at week three. No callback. No email reply. A manager who wasn't in. It feels like a no. It isn't. It carries no information at all.
The follow-up is the difference. A meaningful share of first yeses come from the second contact, and almost nobody makes it. In the guide's words, that one habit is the difference between a three-week timeline and a three-month one.
Then the money curve starts
Once a machine is placed, VendBuddy's 90-day location test gives the checkpoints:
Day 30: a site that will support $400 or more a month usually shows at least $8 to $10 a day by the end of month one.
Day 60: sales should be flat or rising. A 20% drop from month one means the early number was the ceiling.
Day 90: most full-size machines need about $13 to $15 a day to be worth a regular stop. Keep it, fix it, or move it.
Those are guide benchmarks, not promises. Your building decides the real number.
If round one went badly, that's normal
Name the one step you stalled on. That's your whole plan for the next two weeks.
Stuck on finding places? Narrow to buildings with lots of people on site for long hours.
Stuck on the first message? Send one, imperfect, today.
Stuck on follow-up? Put a follow-up date in your calendar for every lead, one week out.
Why this matters beyond vending
The reason you started probably wasn't machines. It was time. Weekends that belong to you. Being at the game instead of in the meeting. That doesn't come from one great sprint. It comes from making it through week three and running the next round.
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The VendBuddy Team
Sources: VendBuddy guides on time to a first location and the 90-day location test.
