Greg Sando, located in Arizona, is the business owner of Desert Ice and Water and currently owns two machines. Greg is a successful ice and water vending machine owner. At Greg Sando’s second location, his team services the farming and construction community. He is very successful at that location and looking forward to expanding soon.

Greg Sando has stated in his interview that “Everest has really helped us not only choose the right machine, but they’ve also helped us with any type of service.” Greg explains that the service team has been very responsive and helpful. “Being a new business owner, I’m learning things very quickly, and they’ve really helped me do that.” Everest provided good pointers to look for and places to search out for. In addition to helping Greg search, Everest helped him understand that Greg needs to ask some of these businesses in order to set his machines there.

“We try to be really forward facing and talk to our customers. And that’s something we’ve felt that has been more successful than anything.”

Using face-to-face marketing strategy.

In terms of marketing, Greg and his team does not concentrate his efforts on social media or other forms of digital marketing. Instead, his team spends a lot of time at the machine and interacts with customers directly. “We talk to customers. What do they need the ice for? Are there any big events coming up in the area that we can help try to service? We try to be really forward facing and talk to our customers. And that’s something we’ve felt that has been more successful than anything. Sure, the social media stuff’s been right, been good, but in our current location, servicing the people face to face has been awesome.”

Adapting Makes Good Business Owners

Being located in Arizona, the middle of the summer can be considered Greg’s winter season. “It’s very tough to keep ice rolling because the demand is so high. So we try to keep that machine running nonstop.” Maintaining and ensuring the machine is top notch as summer approaches and the machine is in the shade is very important to Greg. His team built some shade for the machine to help cool it down. “Every business has to adapt to the seasons, really. This is a seasonality. This is a seasonal machine. In the wintertime, you may not get as many customers as you probably expected, or even in the summer.”

“I think just understanding that this is a business, it’s going to take time. You’re going to have to just get into it and kind of get your hands dirty and understand not just the business and kind of the nuances around that, but also understand your machine.” Greg Sando believes that success comes with understanding the machine. “Once you do that, I think you’ll do very well, and then everything will kind of roll from there.”

“I think just understanding that this is a business, it’s going to take time.”

Preparing for times when business may be low is crucial to your success. “Mentally, we understand that happens. Business is going to happen and it’s going to be low.” Figuring out how to adapt to the ebb and flow of business ownership is important. In order for him to prepare for those circumstances, Greg and his team review what is working for them and how to increase sales next year. They are always working on ways to do differently and improve. “Understand, this is a business, and the machine, it takes time. It takes effort. It takes some learning. There’s some knowledge you have to learn with it, too.”