A Growth Mindset: Blue Sky Supply Sets Big Goals With ZippyAssist

In a world where vending services and unattended retail are rapidly evolving, businesses need to adapt and innovate to grow. One such forward-thinking company is Blue Sky Supply, a long-standing vending service based in Oklahoma. With an eye towards expanding their footprint and improving their customer experience, they have recently integrated ZippyAssist into their operations. This piece presents insights from their general manager, Matt Bingham, on how this strategic move is fuelling their business progression and enhancing their customer relations.

“Right now, we’re about grow. That’s our mission, and we’re always hungry for growth — to keep expanding our footprint.”
~ Matt Bingham.

There’s one goal that every business across all industries has in common: to grow. Whether it’s a new small business or a long-lived corporation, companies must find new ways to stay relevant, improve internal operations, and satisfy customers.

Blue Sky Supply, an Oklahoma-based vending company that’s been operating since 1986, has continued to expand over its nearly 40 years in business. It has done so by adapting to an ever changing marketplace with modern technology, including ZippyAssist.

So, we wanted to learn more about the company’s strategy and its plans for growth moving forward. We spoke to Matt Bingham, Blue Sky Supply’s general manager who leads the customer success team, about how investing in ZippyAssist and utilizing its features has improved the business.

Adapting to a Modern Marketplace

"Adopting new technology is the only way you can acclimate yourself to all of the changes ..."

Blue Sky Supply understands the importance of adapting to a modern marketplace. With a strong focus on investing in new systems and technology, they have continuously improved their operations and customer relationships.

"Adopting new technology is the only way you can acclimate yourself to all of the changes," says Bingham. In fact, Blue Sky Supply saw a major impact after implementing a new vendor management system in 2012. "It fully changed our company," he says. Blue Sky Supply transitioned from manual processes to a streamlined system, allowing them to service more equipment and merchandise efficiently.

The company's commitment to investing in technology has been instrumental in their organic revenue growth. Between 2009 and 2019, they achieved approximately 8 million dollars in gross revenue, driven by advancements such as credit card readers and micro-markets. One of their newest technological investments that has revolutionized their approach is ZippyAssist, which operates with a user-friendly web app to further strengthen operations and customer service capabilities.

Real ROI.

Implementing new technology can feel like a big expense, but according to Bingham’s experience, ZippyAssist is an investment that will save your business money over time.

"My original goal on ZippyAssist was to cut down on cost. I wanted to make sure I'm capturing as many calls as I can to better help the customer and provide better service,” he says. “And this was a way to do it."

Before ZippyAssist, Blue Sky Supply had attempted to create more efficient customer service processes. Bingham remembers putting the company’s contact email on vending machines, “but we weren’t as passionate about that as we are about Zippy,” he reflects.

According to Bingham, the internal gain from ZippyAssist is its ability to work with Blue Sky Supply’s vending management system (VendSys), meaning the Blue Sky team has access to the database of customer inquiries and information. “When a call comes over, I’ve got the machine number, I’ve got the address, and I know where I’m going,” he says. “It goes into VendSys and I can just assign the call out. That’s a big gain.”

Not only does ZippyAssist improve internal operations, but it also helps prevent employee hiccups. “There’s less human error,” says Bingham. “They’ve already got all the data right there, so typically they don’t make a lot of mistakes.”

Innovative Problem Solving Features

“Customers feel like they can get taken care of quicker,” says Bingham. “That’s what it’s all about. How do you take care of that customer as fast and as efficiently as you can?”

In today's digital atmosphere, customers seek diverse communication channels. “I think customers want different ways to communicate with their vendors,” says Bingham. “Most customers don’t like to call anymore.”

ZippyAssist meets this demand by offering text and photo features that enable customers to provide detailed information about their concerns.

"I like the photo feature because it allows the customer to give us a little bit of a different view of what they're seeing. It's kind of a window into what they're experiencing, and that's been a big help."

The ability to receive photos from customers provides Blue Sky Supply with valuable insights into the severity of issues and allows them to prioritize service accordingly. Additionally, ZippyAssist's refund feature has been a game-changer for the company.

“Ultimately, my favorite thing about ZippyAssist is the refund feature,” says Bingham.

"Vending is complicated — trying to get a hold of the customer or go meet them somewhere. It's very cumbersome, and this just opens it wide open so that we can give them refunds real fast and they feel satisfied."

With ZippyAssist, businesses can process refunds quickly, ensuring customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. By streamlining the refund process, companies can save time and meet customer expectations promptly.

A Forward-Thinking Plan for Growth

Blue Sky Supply has already made significant improvements to its operations and customer communication using ZippyAssist, but it doesn’t stop here. Bingham hopes to continue utilizing the advanced features to create a prosperous future for the company.

On that note, Bingham has high expectations for the next few months ahead. “By the end of the year, I really want to try and get at least 75% of our calls running through ZippyAssist per week,” he says. “We’ve still got a long road to go — right now we’re at about 30%.”

Eventually, Bingham also wants to push every Blue Sky Supply refund through the ZippyAssist system. “I see a couple of years down the way where I won’t do a refund unless it’s run through ZippyAssist,” he says. “I can’t track refunds like ZippyAssist can.”

Based on his experience with ZippyAssist thus far, Bingham highly recommends it for his vending industry companions and beyond. “It’s been really good for our business. The features it has right now are way better than what I had before, and it’s working well.”