The Benefits of Barter

Economies are crashing all around us…and to what end? Times are tough, and there are many having trouble making house, credit card and other payments…not to mention adjusting our lifestyles to a new budget. This is in fact even more difficult for US companies in all areas of business. Businesses today are seeing a sharp downturn in consumer spending because of the economic changes that have occurred recently. Leading businesses in every sector of industry have been affected by the reduction in spending. This effect has also begun to trickle down to the lower levels of smaller businesses…who feel the impact of reduced spending to a greater degree. Business owners and companies are looking for ways to increase their profitability which is where barter comes into play.

I have been in the barter industry for 30 years this year. I thought I had seen it all, short of the Great Depression, but I never thought I would see another economic fall that would plunge the U.S. into an economic turn just about equal to the Great Depression. Add to that Greece, Japan and the current problems with the Euro…this is a recipe for a potential economic bomb.
More business owners need to get involved in one of our many Barter organizations that are available to them. These organizations make it possible for business owners to barter items with each other using an alternative currency. Bartering is an industry that is much less visible; you won’t see it on the front page of the newspaper. However, bartering has been used commonly by businesses for quite some time.

You might wonder how you go about researching a bartering system. One can begin by entering buzzwords like barter or trade exchange into one of the popular search engines. You’ll be certain to get pages of results on bartering. Review this data extensively. Each service will probably have a yearly or monthly charge, or even both. Most also require that you pay a commission on all of your barter sales/purchases.

However, there is a laundry list of benefits derived from being part of an organized bartering system.
· New business in your door that your wouldn’t normally receive
· Barter give you a competitive edge
· Barter improves cash flow, and in turn increases profits
· Barter can help you keep key employees on board during budget cuts. Offer a barter compensation package as opposed to a job cut. Items like dental, clothing, medical and more can be put into a viable compensation package for employees you want to keep and help you get your business through the these tough economic times.
· The new barter business helps you to offset cash expenditures by your ability to utilize the barter credits derived by your new barter customers for items your business needs.
· Word of mouth advertising from your satisfied trading partners are sure to bring you new cash customers
· Most barter organizations offer barter credit lines and loans to allow you to make business expenditures to keep your business afloat…i.e. advertising, printing, marketing etc.
· Move excess inventory or fill excess capacity…why should a printer have his presses down while he has employees on the job. Fill in your dead time with barter printing jobs.
· Trading partners have a new business network from which to build strong professional relationships
· Barter organizations make record keeping easy
· Barter can also help you to eliminate bad debts. If your business is owned money from some of your customers, take product/services from the business owner that owes you, and sell them back through the barter company. In turn, you have the ability to spend the barter currency on other goods and services you need. In addition, you can also use other resources to sell the product/services from your bad debt customers such as Craigslist. And, if applicable, some items will lend themselves to become part of an employee benefits package.
Be creative! For additional help or consulting on how to structure a barter plan that works for you and your business, contact Trade Management Consulting. We are more than happy to help you find a barter organization in your geographic area that will work with and for you, as well as educate you on how to maximize the barter benefits you and your company deserve.
- written by Terry Brandfass of ITEX, AZ