Consultant Tammy Stokes urges operators to study, be relentless and connect to the community

She is an industry veteran turned consultant. Tammy Stokes has plenty of advice to offer operators and suppliers, old and new, developed over the years in multiple roles. On this episode of Automatic Merchandiser & VendingMarketWatch’s Vending & OCS Nation podcast, host Bob Tullio sat down with Tammy Stokes, president of Insight Edge Performance. It’s another edition of our consultant series.

She offers some useful free advice for operators, including:

• What to think about as you are building your sales force.
• The importance of being relentless when it comes to important initiatives.
• How to get the best out of your sales reps.
• The importance of becoming connected with the community, utilizing a cause marketing program.
• She offers her recommendations for operator success in 2026.
• She talks about what workplace decision makers are looking for.
• How small operators can level the playing field and how large operators should respond.
• “Study your products. Study your customers. Study your competition.”

For newcomers or long-time operators, Stokes offers some excellent insights — some hearty “food for thought.”