An ATM business can be one of the more lucrative enterprises upon which to embark. After all, everyone eventually needs to use an automatic teller machine at one time or another. We live in a digital age of cash transfers and credit cards, but sometimes nothing else talks like cold, hard cash.
The big banks realize this as they make millions of dollars each year in ATM fees from customers in a pinch who don’t mind sacrificing an extra two or three bucks in order to get their hands on some quick currency.
The good news is, there is no reason why you can’t get in on the action. People just like you decide to buy an atm machine business each and every day because it’s a relatively simple business to start. Once you have it up and running, there’s almost no limit to the amount of passive revenue you could earn within the year.
But while getting an ATM business off the ground is easy, keeping it afloat can be a challenge if you haven’t taken the appropriate steps to ensure its success over the long term. That’s why it’s important to develop a strong strategy for achieving your goals and reaching the maximum potential earnings on your ATM machine.
Let’s take a look at the steps you need to take for laying the foundation for a strong ATM business that will bring in solid profits for years to come:
A Business Plan
It doesn’t matter what type of business you wish to open, if you don’t have a smart plan for getting started you’re already sunk before you even acquire the machine. So the first appropriate step in your bid to open an ATM business is to come up with a well-written, carefully considered prospectus.
Among the many critical aspects of the plan should be the amount of money you intend to invest, the details on the acquisition of the machine itself, and various other facets of your overall business strategy, including the location where you plan to position your machine or machines.
The Machine
This, of course, is the heart of your business and any good business strategy needs to identify how the machine will be acquired. The two primary choices are renting or buying.
For the former, a lease of an ATM machine could be less or more expensive than opting to purchase one based on the overall plan for your business. Leasing means paying a little at a time as a rental fee and these payments could be as low as $50 and as high as $200 based on the machine you wish to acquire.
An outright purchase requires a higher upfront cost that could run more than $5000 for some of the fancier machines available on the market. If this is the option you decide to pursue, you may need to seek out some financing options to help you cover the expense of machine acquisition.
Location, Location, Location
Once you’ve figured out what you plan to do with respect to acquiring your machine, you need to decide where you plan to place it.
Here is where you need to be careful and creative all at the same time. Where you locate your ATM can be the difference between quick success and total failure and it’s up to you do your research.
The goal is to find the right area where other machines haven’t already saturated the surroundings. You want to place your machine in a location that is near merchants or other busy thoroughfares where many potential customers can find and use it.
You may decide that putting your ATM in a place where there are no others in the vicinity is a smart move and it may be. Just be sure that it’s also somewhere that isn’t so remote that the likelihood of it being utilized is few and far between. Sometimes those low traffic areas may seem like a good idea but there just aren’t enough potential customers to make it worth your while.
Securing your Machine
Finally, it’s absolutely crucial that you place the machine somewhere it is safe. ATM’s are a common target for criminals looking to make some easy cash and if they aren’t set on trying to dismantle it and take the money inside, they may be targeting your customers and the cash they withdraw.
That’s why you need to be sure your location is well-lit and safe from criminals lying in wait to harm your customers. If people feel uneasy about walking to your ATM alone, particularly at night, they may be reluctant to use it and move to another that provides a better sense of security.
