Planet Antares Inc. has built a pioneering team of technical and marketing leaders, each of whom provide pivotal, personal attention to the success of every distributor partnership.

Brenda Spencer, Head of Business Builder Department

Maintaining the high standards of Planet Antares' Business Builder Department requires constant vigilance.

Brenda Spencer is in charge of a team of 25 Business Builder Representatives and 5 Technical Service Advisors who support you every step of the way. She has helped assemble an enthusiastic, highly focused team dedicated to meeting the needs of your new business.

Day-to-day monitoring and monthly departmental audits ensures that every BBD coach is up-to-date about everything necessary to make your new business successful. In addition to managing the Business Builder Department, Brenda also manages the Locating, Marketing, and Technical Departments.

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Brenda, along with her husband, son, and three step-children call Southern California home.

La Shawnta Sanders, Manager of The Business Builder Department

La Shawnta works closely with all departments including sales and accounting to ensure quality assurance and proper updating of policies and procedures for serving our distributors. La Shawnta is the liaison with our manufacturers over customer or technical issues and provides timely feedback and one-on-one coaching to the staff. This in turn strengthens the capacity of the coaches to disseminate knowledge, capture best practices and share information within our family of distributors.

La Shawnta’s expertise comes in to play with the research and development of products and the functionality of the equipment. La Shawnta is a hands-on type manager and trains the staff in this manner for a more comprehensive understanding of the various components of the equipment.

La Shawnta is a native Californian and is active in local community youth organizations.

Xavier Logan, Business Database Manager

Working with Planet Antares now for over fifteen years, Xavier’s expertise is in compiling the most effective, accurate business labels for the potential vending machine locations across the United States and Canada. This is no small task, given Dun & Bradstreet’s estimate of over 700,000 new businesses incorporating each year.

Working with over 50 different national databases which are continuously upgraded, he compiles information critical to your company’s success: the number of new businesses in a given area, street location, number of employees – specific information designed to target businesses most likely to respond to your vending machine service.

But even with Xavier’s dedication and fine tuning, no list is perfect. Millions of business names and addresses, drawn from thousands of sources, will always include a handful of recently closed or relocated companies. But Xavier won’t stop trying. Using every high-tech tool available, he continues to refine his search, making it as accurate and error-free as humanly possible. Xavier’s goal is to make sure that every new Planet Antares distributor has enough business mailing labels to analyze the market potential and maximize their company’s growth, taking it to any size they choose.

Bobbi Stamm, Head of Media Library, Newsletter Publication

During her decades long tenure with the company, Bobbi has helped to assemble one of the most comprehensive, easy-to-understand video libraries available anywhere. As a new Planet Antares distributor, every step you take has been carefully documented on videotape. Before your new machines arrive, you can watch a video, which shows you exactly how to unpack them, clean them, stock them and transport them to locations eager to receive your service.

Bobbi’s video library goes beyond just the mechanical details that you need to know. She’s created scenarios that demonstrate how to communicate effectively with your locations – and half a dozen other situations you’re most likely to encounter when placing your machines. You’ll learn quickly and easily how to deal with them to everyone’s satisfaction. Watch the best approach for getting referral locations, and how to describe the benefits of your service in a simple, succinct way.

Bobbi also maintains and updates the database for distributors to receive the Compact Vending Newsletters. Bobbi, assist with gathering information regarding market trends and sales strategies. She gathers information by spending time each week reviewing vending, beverage, and food service trade publications, business newspapers, in addition to doing Internet and real-world market research. As a reader of the Newsletter, you’ll also learn about changes in the federal tax code, and the potential tax breaks for distributors, critical menu planning, and how to better market your business in your community.

By the way, if you’ve ever called the Corporate Office and wondered whose friendly, upbeat voice greets you and guides you through our voice mail system – that’s Bobbi!

Jimmy Chan – Windows Vending Software – Technician

The Planet Antares program was designed to be an easily managed business. Now, thanks to “Windows Vending Software,” designed and programmed by the Planet Antares IT team, the life of a Planet Antares distributor is even easier. Every aspect of your new business which needs organizing has been included in the software: product costs, current inventory, profit margins, service records, location preferences, etc. Simply input your route records on a regular basis and “Windows Vending Software” will tell you exactly which products are moving and which ones need to be traded off for other products. Jimmy Chan is available for technical support via email, in our contact section of the website.

Charmaine Hedge, Marketing Administrator

It would cost a start-up vending company hundreds of thousands of dollars to duplicate the Planet Antares program – the support materials, direct mail flyers, as well as the self-promotion pieces. Just choosing the most effective photos out of a resource of thousands that best communicate your business to your customers, would take months.

All of this is under the supervision of Charmaine Hedge. At any given time, you will find her working with as many as 4 to 6 graphic designers and ad agencies to make sure that our support materials have just the right amount of colorful, eye-catching graphics to excite offices about your vending services. The best designs are then tested nationwide and judged for their effectiveness.
Having Charmaine on your side is like having an in-house advertising, promotion and marketing company, with value beyond measure. These self-promotion and color brochures – an integral part of the Planet Antares program – puts you miles ahead of virtually anyone else in the vending industry today.