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Experts Urge Blind Vendors To Pursue Private-Sector Business

NASHVILLE -- "The Future is in the Private Sector and Beyond" was the topic of a panel discussion facilitated by John Gordon, chief of Illinois's Bureau of Blind Services. Sharing their insights were panelists John Murn of RSA Management Group (Farmingdale, NY); NABM president Nicky Gacos, Colorado Café Assoc. (Metuchen, NJ); Raven Pulliam, Illinois Business Enterprise Program director; and Laura Brady, Alabama Business Enterprise Program director. Pulliam began by reporting that the sales prospecting co...

November 15, 2017 by Emily Jed

NASHVILLE -- "The Future is in the Private Sector and Beyond" was the topic of a panel discussion facilitated by John Gordon, chief of Illinois's Bureau of Blind Services. Sharing their insights were panelists John Murn of RSA Management Group (Farmingdale, NY); NABM president Nicky Gacos, Colorado Café Assoc. (Metuchen, NJ); Raven Pulliam, Illinois Business Enterprise Program director; and Laura Brady, Alabama Business Enterprise Program director.

Pulliam began by reporting that the sales prospecting company Rainmaker Sales Support (St. Louis, MO), that pitched its services to the group at last year's BLAST conference, has generated solid leads for a couple of operators in the private sector that have so far proven to be solid accounts. Operators pay Rainmaker for a list of leads and its assistance in setting up meetings to sell prospects on their service.

PHOTO:Left to right - John Murn, Nicky Gacos, Raven Pulliam, Laura Brady and John Gordon.

One blind vendor worked with Rainmaker to secure the vending business at five locations that are reportedly generating a total of $5,500 a month in sales. Another secured three locations, bringing in $1,500 a month, Pulliam said.

Most recently, a blind entrepreneur secured the vending contract at an Illinois casino for both staff and hotel guests, Pulliam added.

Gacos, whose own Randolph-Sheppard business is at a major post office in New Jersey, said NABM is in discussions with Rainmaker and Murn's RSA Management Group, a purchasing and management consortium for Randolph-Sheppard vendors, to partner with state agencies to pilot public-private partnerships on a bigger scale.

"If we think we can only serve federal facilities under Randolph-Sheppard, we're done," Gacos said. "They should want us because we do the best job, not because they have to work with us. In New Jersey, as in many states, if blind vendors find a suitable location in the private sector, it will become a Randolph-Sheppard location for that blind vendor with the support and resources of the state agency."

Leading by example, Gacos said he opened his first micromarket at Bank of New York Mellon and is testing two machines in an LA Fitness center in Carney, NJ, that have averaged $600 a week in sales. The NABM president said he plans to expand further into the private sector, including at more LA Fitness centers and with more micromarkets.

"The LA Fitness machines sell not only drinks and snacks, but also locks, earbuds and phone chargers; selling one of those items is like selling 10 sodas, and 75% of sales are credit card," he noted.

Murn said RSA has the contract to provide vending at 850 LA Fitness Center locations throughout the U.S., and it's establishing private-sector opportunities for blind vendors with hospitals and major corporations throughout the country.

"We offer LA Fitness accounts to state business enterprise programs and blind vendors first. We will set it all up for you; we have equipment that we can install immediately," said Murn, who also owns equipment manufacturer Accelerated Retail Technologies. "You need to have the best presentation, with all the bells and whistles on your equipment. Advertising brings in a lot of additional revenue, and we're in talks with Zoom Media for an advertising partnership."

Murn added that RSA Management Group can help blind vendors write proposals to pursue business in the private sector, and train them to leverage the latest technology and master micromarkets and coffee service, two booming segments.

"Learn how to do this kind of work," Murn urged. "There are big opportunities to expand your business into the private sector. Start looking for them and there is a lot of support available to you from RSA and your business enterprise programs to help you take them."

Brady estimated that half of the locations blind vendors serve through Alabama's Business Enterprise Program are private, and half are sites that vendors recruit on their own, supported by the Randolph-Sheppard program. "We encourage vendors to do this. We want to help them expand their businesses," she said.