SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to CCI Drive Time, the podcast for vended laundry distributors. I'm Steve with CCI, using your drive time to cover laundromat trends, payment systems, and practical topics you can use in the field. Today's another Inside Track Edition where we introduce and talk to some of our inside CCI team members. Today I have with me Kenny Smith. She is our Western Territory Account Manager. Kenny, thank you very much for joining us here on a late on a Friday. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Doing well. Thanks so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Great, great. So let me just start. I said that you are a Western account manager. We're a Western Territory. Why don't you tell me what you think that means to you?

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Sure. Well, for territory space, you're looking at Wisconsin all the way down to Mississippi and uh really just covering everything west of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

And awesome. Well, working directly with distributors and store owners to kind of provide them with a complete um payment solution option in their laundromats.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Excellent. And you know how long have you been with us now?

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Just over a year and a half. So still learning a lot, but um during this time it's been great.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Good. And I know that your career started certainly not with CCI. Tell us a little bit about what you were doing uh just prior to joining us.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Absolutely. So um historically I've been in inside sales, I've worked both in the manufacturing side of things and also in payment services. So when this role came about, it was a perfect blend of the two, and I felt like it was a great solution.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Kind of share with me a little bit like on what a typical day looks like for you.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Sure. So a typical day is reaching out to any customers that may have, you know, sent any emails over, um any calls that come in from distributors or customers alike that um really are just asking questions about our product lines, um needing a little bit of guidance. So just working together to provide solutions for our customer base being both distributors and store owners.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Yeah, that's important to note too, and I've mentioned it previously that you know we're in a unique position that we don't just support distributors, which I know that is certainly your focus as an account manager, but it also includes retail, I'm sorry, store owners that deal with retail customers. And so we really invite both types of customers to reach out to us because they're both interested in learning more about these types of solutions. Obviously, store owners want to know specifically how these things are gonna operate and run, whereas uh distributor wants to know that, but they also want to know how they're gonna be able to service it, how they're gonna be able to present it, how they're gonna sell it at the end of the day, and it's safe to say they can lean on you for both of those things. So um tell me what you thought about this. You know, you were not in the industry up until a year ago, and I'm I'm always curious whenever I circle back with um with employees that have never been in the business before. What did you think of the industry when you joined? What did you think before? And how much of that was reality when you actually now have been in a year later?

SPEAKER_01 3:48

When I first came into the industry, I really didn't know what to expect. Um, I hadn't been in a laundromat in probably 10 plus years. Then um, you know, I got my feet whipped pretty quickly just with some overall training, and then I was at shows starting out within I think a month or two. Um, I guess the thing that surprised me more than anything was how welcoming the whole in you know industry as a whole was. Um, you know, competitors from my perspective, obviously, um they were completely willing to help out, you know, whether it was with setting up the table or whatever the case may be. Um, everybody has just been so great. And that's one thing whenever I talk to customers, especially people that are just starting to look at this industry, is just encouraging them to go ahead and you know re read up on this um, you know, the industry, but also go to the different uh events and everything because people are so willing to share their knowledge, and that is definitely different than most other industries.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

That's interesting. You know, I've been doing this, you know, over 25 years now, so it's been a long time since I was in other in another industry, and I certainly have been. But you know, that is an excellent observation that I also recall from many, many years ago, is just kind of how willing this industry is to help everybody, regardless if they're a competitor or a a cohort or a customer. Yeah, that's that's a really good observation. And and it also reminds me that you've been participating in this in some CLA events and you've you're part of the the women in laundry. Tell me a little bit about how how your experience has been with that.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

That's been great. Um, definitely from going to the different local events, just being able to actually put faces with uh names with faces. And then whenever you go to shows, now people are actually looking for me specifically because maybe it was from the Women in Laundry Network or from just CLA as a whole. Um, I've been a panelist and you know am part of the task force, so now people actually, you know, know my name a little bit more, and so they are they look they're looking forward just to seeing me um at the different events. It's really nice to be able to talk to people specifically because you've worked with them on other um you know, other teams and such, and now you can actually meet them in person. It's great.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Yeah, no, um, yeah, that's a that's a really great observation, and I and I think there are a lot of ways to connect. Um, those events are an amazing way to see people face to face because we we you know we're in a world where we're on podcasts and Zoom calls and and phone, but there is still something special about being face to face with somebody, having that conversation, maybe sitting down and having lunch with them, maybe at a cocktail hour if there's a if it's a bigger event, and just getting a chance to build those relationships with people, which I think just makes it more fun, right? I mean, we all have to work, but isn't it a little bit more fun when you get to know someone?

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Absolutely. I think it also makes going to these different events less intimidating because you've been working with them for a while, and so to you know, to see them in person, it makes it much easier.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Yeah, uh I agree a hundred percent. Um, speaking of fun, what do you like to do when you're not selling payment systems?

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Our family is pretty active. Um we like to ski, so it was just winter, and we've spent a lot of time out at the ski hill, so that's probably one of the primary things that we do as a family.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Yeah, yeah, I know you like to ski, and um I I so appreciate that. I did that when I was a kid with my family, and it was a and it was a a sport that I didn't carry on with my own children. We never we never went skiing. I think we just were too busy, and I I somewhat I very much regret that to some degree. I'm I'm grateful to see um people continue to to do that stuff because it is it is a lot of fun. All right, let's talk a little bit about kind of the relationship that you have with distributors, or or really more so the kind of relationship we would like to have with our distributors. Um you know let's talk about your experience so far and what do distributors call you the most to ask about.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

That is a good question. So I think it really depends on how senior the sales rep is or how long they've been selling our products. You have a lot of new sales reps that call in and they just need an overall general understanding of what our product lines consist of, or they provide us with the situation. Okay, what's going to be the best solution? So it's a lot of educating the distributor on what the best solution is and asking the right questions so that both myself and the distributor is providing the store owner with the the best options.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Sure. And I think that's a key, there's a key layer in that, which is things keep changing, right? The technology continues to evolve. Um, you know, the the product, obviously, our products have been evolving a lot over the last uh couple of years, and so you know it's not it's not an unusual thing for not just new people, but senior uh distributors that have been in the industry not to know what's going on. So aside from them reaching out to you for education, they should even the senior folks should be reaching out to us to make sure they know what's latest and greatest and what's going on, and uh and you're the right person for that. So good, good, good. Um there any particular areas that you seem that strict that distributors seem to struggle the most with, whether it's is it a product understanding, a feature understanding? Um, is there anything that you witnessed that they seem to struggle with?

SPEAKER_01 9:51

I think first and foremost, maybe just doing the quotes. Um we like to just um encourage any distributors to actually just send us the equipment mix, tell us about the you know what to expect or what the customer wants if they know the product line or if they need help with that. We can go ahead and quote that. That helps eliminate any stress from the distributor, but also ensures that you know the customer is getting exactly what they want in the end.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Sure. Yeah. Um, yeah, I I kind of can't say how many years I have been drilling down this idea that we'd love for the distributors to let us help them quote things. Um particularly when even if they have done systems in the past, part numbers change, we we change the configuration sometimes, sometimes to make things easier. Um it's really valuable if if um if we lean on that quotation to make sure there's no doubt that what the customer's asking for they're gonna get very good. Um tell me a little bit about uh you know, you talk about new people. Um any particular advice that you think you would give? I know you've only been with us a year or so to some degree. Maybe you come from a perspective of someone who's who's new as well. Some a new a distributor, not a new distributor, but let's say a new salesperson that starts to work for a distributor. What kind of advice would you give them? And and let's talk about payment systems or otherwise learning the industry. Where would you send them?

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Absolutely. I would absolutely encourage them to take advantage of the shows. You have all your different vendors, no matter what they're selling, right there, and they can actually see, put kind of put their hands on everything, see what is being offered, and then you know, try to understand um the more intricate pieces, so kind of what the differentiates the different competitors from each other. Um that's something that I definitely think is very valuable.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Sure, sure. And um, you know, you've done a lot of shows already since you've been there, and there's a lot more coming up on the calendar soon. We were talking about that earlier today. Um, what what do you think that let's talk about their the custom the retail customers? Because at the shows it's not just distributors, obviously, that are working the show and kind of hosting the show, but they're they're trying to invite store owners in. Um, are you observing anything from the retail customer about what they're looking for when it comes to payment systems? Do you have a sense of are they there is there a is there a bigger sense to eliminate coin, to supplement coin? What's your observation? I think it can it can certainly vary, you know, from maybe show to show, but do you have a a sense of what you're seeing people ask for?

SPEAKER_01 12:46

I think that there's a high number of people that think they want to go hybrid, and then whenever they learn more about the whole process, they tend to almost feel as if they want to move away from coin altogether. But there's there's just that, you know, they're just a little nervous to make that jump. Um, and they've been looking for resources on, you know, what is that difference? Does it make it worth it to make the change, to lose the coin, and how many customers that they're gonna lose, you know, there they seem to be very scared to make those choices, which obviously we can all understand that there'd be a little bit of concern as to what that would be. Um, and they just don't know if it outweighs the ease of use that it would be to eliminate those coins. So I think, right, I think that's probably the the biggest question from customers that I get regularly.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Yeah, I I think that's spot on from a trend that I have noticed too, and certainly high you know, hybrid, which is you know, coin and card together, I think it's still very popular and it definitely has a use case. But there's this trend that I've noticed over the last five or so years where you know when we first started, it was all card-only loyalty cards, no coins, and we and we pushed and we worked and we had great success and getting store owners to go that way, and we had great buy-in from the distributors. And then you know, there was kind of a trend shift maybe around 2011, 2012, where it seemed like um people were thinking, well, why can't we have coins and card live on the same machine? Why can't we have that? Um and then now I guess over the last five or six years, maybe even less than that, I'm seeing shift to hybrid, and now I'm starting to see just kind of internationally a shift that had to reconsider card only. And I think there's a great um there's a great ROIs associated with going card only that it is not as noticeable in the hybrid side of things, but again, you know, it's like you know, there's a great use case for hybrid as well. So it's not surprisingly that you might start someone might just automatically think of hybrid because it's the least resistant thing that they can do in their store because it doesn't eliminate anything. But then when they have a conversation with you or maybe with another store owner who's decided to eliminate coin, and they realize oh, well, maybe it's not that hard, you know, to stop taking coin. But having that option sometimes is what people really need in order to make that make that jump to something other than coin alone, right?

unknown 15:26

Good.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Absolutely. I think the misunderstanding sometimes also is that if you have a kiosk, you're not eliminating cash, you're just eliminating the coin. And sometimes to have that conversation helps the customer to truly understand that you can still have the cash component that a lot of people like, but don't actually have to have the headache of the coin.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

100%. It is so under understood, I guess, um, is this idea that we're not eliminating cash, you know, we're we're just trying to eliminate the coins. And I think a lot of store owners don't realize that when you use quarters in your store, those quarters never end up in the bank, right? They always they go from changer to coin box, back to changer, back to coin box. And so in reality, those quarters aren't even I know they're money, but they're just silver metal discs that we use to start the machines. They're not really we don't take those quarters generally to the bank unless you end up with a little surplus. What you end up taking to the bank is the cash, you know, from the change machine. So the quarters themselves aren't even really cash in the store, they're just the mechanism. They could be tokens, they could be anything, right? Um, but it's a lot of mental, you know, it's a lot of habit and mentality. But uh when we break it down, we realize that we're not talking about eliminating cash, we're just talking about getting off of the quarter so that you can do more powerful things, you know. Penny incremental pricing. I mean, I've I've preached and preached and preached here for for months and years for that matter about that. But yeah, very good point, very, very good point. Um, I'm gonna ask you some quick questions here, and you tell me what you think. Favorite CCI product.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

That isn't an easy answer at all.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

And let me preface that by saying it doesn't mean that you don't love them all, because I certainly love them all. But go ahead. What's your favorite one from what you know so far?

SPEAKER_01 17:29

I don't know. I think you know, fast card definitely comes in as a winner in a lot of cases because it gives customers more freedom than some of the others, and especially if they have like a smaller store where there's a lot of transient traffic, that's the way to go. Um, but then all the improvements with laundry card, I mean we can ask you again in six months and you can change your mind if you wanted to.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

But FastCard's a great product. We've obviously put tons of energy into that. It's uh uh great product, very good. Okay, most underrated feature. You could be across any product, it doesn't have to be FastCard. If you have another feature, you think about it. You think there's a feature that we're that customers are just not leveraging enough or not talking about as much as much as they should.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

The different options that allow for more accountability. So for utilizing like the task lists for your employees, the ability for them to be able to punch in, any of that that allows you to move away from more of that, you know, just um paper pushing side of things and go and automate all of that. So I don't think that folks utilize that enough, and as more and more folks move into like wash-dry-fold um scenarios, they need to remove themselves from some of those more manual practices and move into the automation.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Excellent, excellent. Coffee or energy drinks?

SPEAKER_01 18:57

So neither.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Neither. Oh, you're you're you're you're very healthy. All right, what do you do to get yourself woken up in the morning?

SPEAKER_01 19:04

I don't have much caffeine, so I drink some green tea. That's about it.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

As far as you go. Alright, well, good for you. Yeah, I'm a two-cup a day coffee drinker, so I I don't relate particularly with that. Good for you. Well, here. Uh, that's uh I think that's a great introduction to you, to the to our to our distributors. You know, if you're if you're a distributor out there, particularly in our Western territory, you know, connect with Kenny. Kenny, why don't you share your email address and your direct line so if they're listening, they can get a hold of you.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Absolutely. Email address is Kenny, that's k-eni.smith at laundrycart.com. And my direct line is 331-2158116.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Perfect. Kenny, thank you so much for doing this. I know it's late on a Friday. Appreciate you, appreciate what you do, and I uh you know, I encourage all of our distributors out there to reach out to you. Uh, I think that's gonna wrap it up for us today. Thanks for joining us, and we will talk to you all soon. So long.