Grow your business profits using dollars you have already spent on inventory!

Today is a great time to revisit the idea of bartering!  With organized barter more automated and efficient, it is a terrific time to take advantage of the increased buying and spending power in addition to the cost savings to operate your business.

Many retail stores are closing their doors due to the lack of business and cash flow.  Most retail stores believe that by slashing their prices they will cause more customers and traffic to the store.  This might be true for that moment, but isn’t the real objective to gain NEW customers and LOYAL customers?  If a store has the inventory and capacity to increase sales without it affecting their hard cost of doing business, barter is a win/win situation.  Barter customers bring other cash customers when they talk about the experience.  While barter can drive new customers to your store, the new customers can tell their friends and family about their experience and you can gain cash business at the same time you are moving that inventory or filling excess capacity.

Example: A business or retail store owns inventory and it is moving slower then expected or needed.  Meanwhile the business owner has some immediate business needs that are critical to their business.

If the business owner can market their inventory through an online barter website and attract new customers to purchase some of the items for full retail using barter credits, the business owner can then purchase the items for the business using that revenue rather than spending new money!  Some examples might be new store signage or printing and advertising!  The idea situation is the use the new barter revenue to advertise and bring in additional cash paying customers.   Don’t forget that your new barter clients will be loyal to you and also help promote your business as long as they continue to feel like valued customers and receive excellent value and service from your staff!  Barter clients should be a welcome addition to your business and treated as friends.  Remember they are also business owners and understand why you are bartering and want to help you grow and prosper in your business also.

Cost of Barter: You might wonder what joining a barter organization might cost and also the fees associated with bartering. The fees to join or membership costs vary from each trade exchange.  Most exchanges charge anywhere from $195.00 – $495.00 and up as a membership application fee and monthly fees range from 0-$20.00 per month.  Trade service fees on transactions vary from 10% trade or 5%- 8% cash on each transaction.  The thing to remember is that you are paying only a transaction fee on what you purchase or sell.  In addition consider that many times you can apply for a line of barter credit and spend into the system before you even make your first barter sale!  Your local trade broker will also assist you by bringing you new customers to pay the trade credit line back!  What credit card company or bank will do all that for you?  In fact a great trade exchange will establish a barter budget for you to follow so that you aren’t taking too many trade credits above what you will be spending in the system.  In the barter economy your products and services are more important than your credit score.   You can use your inventory to secure a barter loan and make improvements to your business!

Consider how leveraging money you have already spent into advertising or maintenance or other ongoing expenses like printing, or landscaping, repairs or equipment maintenance or even purchasing new equipment can add additional profit and cutting costs to your bottom line.

Whether you are a service related business or retail store you can benefit by increasing your customer base by up to 10 – 15% and reducing overhead costs by spending that new found revenue back into your business and YES even consider giving yourself a raise in barter revenue to spend on personal needs.  Turn that downtime or excess inventory into what you need or want for yourself and your business.

I encourage any business that has a vanishing commodity such as advertising space, hotel rooms, empty seats or room in a cafe or restaurant to use barter to capture that potential lost revenue and turn it into future purchases and increased sales!

Need more information on how Bartering can add to your bottom line profits?  Ask The Barter Coach! Submit your questions to – info@bartercoach.com