Costs Seen And Unseen Emphasize Value Of Single-Cup By Explaining Batch-Brew Waste

Great tasting coffee at competitive pricing has always been the staple product that opens the doors to new potential clients and keeps our current customers from leaving. But in today's marketplace, the abundance of new products, services and high-tech brewing equipment has opened the eyes of sophisticated buyers, and now coffee is not just the key ingredient that sells and keeps your accounts loyal.

The OCS marketplace is much different than it was 15 years ago. Single-cup brewers were in approximately 2% to 3% of the offices nationwide, and the home single-cup brewer was just in the startup stage.

Flavia Beverage Systems was introduced in the mid-1990s in the U.S., and I was privileged to be the first OCS distributor (Dell Coffee & Office Services) to represent Flavia in the New York metro marketplace. Single-cup brewing in the office was not an easy sell at the beginning. We had to reeducate management to recognize that the higher cost of each cup was secondary to the benefits provided by the new system. Those benefits include:

1. Choice. Employees can select coffees, teas, cocoa and espresso-based beverages.

2. Saving of time and expense by (a) ending the waste of coffee by dumping it down the sink; (b) eliminating the need to clean glass pots and restore burnt hotplates; (c) keeping employees inside the office instead of going out to a café; and (d) reducing the cost to employees of having to buy that café coffee.

3. Improves morale in the office.

4. Impresses the account's clients by serving them a beverage they requested.

Take a look at No. 2 above. I feel that this is the second most important selling point to make in order to convince a new client or current customer to make the switch to single-cup, and perhaps the most important answer to prospects' objections.

Why, you may ask? The most common reason for buyers to refuse the single-cup program is the cost of each serving. In order to put the higher cost of a single-serve beverage cup into perspective, you have to prove to the decision-maker the value of time saved during the cleanup process -- reducing the real cost -- and saving the expense of dumping leftover stale coffee. This will bring the cost comparison of the two styles of coffee preparation much closer together when comparing actual value per cup. Once this is successfully communicated, you will have a fairly clear path to switching your buyer to single-serve brewing.

Time and coffee wasted is money spent by the account. So let's take a look at what you should be telling the buyer.

Time And Coffee Wasted

1. Have you ever watched and waited for the pot of coffee to finish brewing into the bowl or carafe? This happens many times throughout the workday!

2. How many times has someone pulled the decanter out to fill their cup, and the coffee spilled out of the brew funnel all over the warmer and sink counter? The time needed to clean up is valuable time lost!

3. At the end of the workday, someone is in charge of cleaning the coffee pots and warmers. Again, this regular maintenance chore represents time expended and a continual loss of productivity in the office.

4. How many times have you or your employees dumped coffee down the drain because you felt it had been sitting too long on the burner? Then someone brewed a full pot of fresh coffee.

5. How often have you or your employees dumped coffee down the drain because it was actually burnt? Again, a new pot was brewed.

6. Have you or a staff member come into the breakroom towards the end of the day and made a fresh pot in order to consume just one cup, so the remaining coffee was wasted?

7. How many times at the end of the day is unconsumed coffee dumped down the drain?

"Mr./Mrs. Buyer, the office coffee and refreshment industry has determined that 'approximately 45% of all coffee brewed in the office by the pot is actually wasted on a daily basis.' Now can you see why the difference in the cost per cup is only a few pennies?

"What day would you like to start a one week free trial in your office to experience our new beverage brewer? I will include a full supply of all of our hot beverages, so your employees will have all the choices they may want to drink."

I would love to hear about your suggestions for other sales and marketing articles. I can be reached at (516) 241-4883 or OCSconsultant@aol.com.