Build your business potential with Bartercard

Transcription

1 Build your business potential with Bartercard 1300 BARTER bartercard.com.au

2 20 ways to improve your business with Bartercard Bartercard is the best small to medium business tool that exists and like all tools it is only as good as the user. Take the time to learn how to use it in your business to its best ability. Gabriele Saccardo, La Scala Italian Restaurant Those who succeed with Bartercard understand the benefits that Bartercard can offer and have mastered a number of the trading techniques. Let s get started Gain more customers As a member of Bartercard you have an extra marketing arm for your business. Most businesses employ sales people, advertise, reduce prices or offer incentives to gain more customers. Using Bartercard you gain more customers by promoting your business directly to the membership base through the many sales channels including the online directory, Mobile phone app, Auction and emarketplace, local enewsletter and by building relationships at the networking events. This directly results in increasing your sales opportunities and creating cash referral business. Are you utilising all the marketing options that Bartercard has to offer? Bartercard has helped me to gain more customers and after doing a job for a Bartercard member I generally get a cash referral job. Basically I am expanding my client base without trying too hard Barry van Peppen, Peppers Entertainment Substitute your cash expenses with trade dollar purchases Utilise the trade dollars that you are earning and the interest free line of credit to pay for expenses in your business. Create a list of expenses and determine what you could pay for in trade dollars. Effectively, you will be able to substitute some of your cash expenses by paying with trade dollars, saving your valuable cash. Where could you be using trade dollars instead of cash in your business? I sat down and worked out what my business expenses were and then started to search for Bartercard suppliers who could help. About 50% of my business expenses I now pay using Bartercard. Murray Barnes, Webtrix Technologies

3 Bartercard helped me grow my recruitment agency. Gaining clients is much easier and cheaper with Bartercard. Freedom Recruitment Solutions Isidora Carpenter-Rowland

4 It s easy to make sales in Bartercard as the system is in place and you have a specific audience to sell to! Tom Hardy, Thomas Hardy Wines

5 Sell excess stock In order to sell excess stock, a business will typically discount stock, run dealer promotions or write it off. By using Bartercard, you sell excess stock at the normal selling price negating the need to reduce profit margins. You can promote your excess stock on the Bartercard Auction site, emarketplace, hold an open day at your business for Bartercard members, promote your goods in the e-newsletter or book a stand at a trade show. What method will you use to move your excess stock? The Bartercard system guarantees enough sales to be able to clear out any excess stock. That s not just good in terms of sales and income, it also helps the business run smoothly and with less hassle. Roger Amir, Mitronics Collect outstanding debts If you are continuously having trouble collecting cash from one of your customers (debtors), you may offer to accept part or the entire amount outstanding in products and/or services. Providing the debtor agrees, you can collect their outstanding debt by taking physical possession of the debtor s products or by accepting a voucher which you, in turn, are able to on-sell through the Bartercard network. As you sell the debtors products or services through the Bartercard network, the debtor reduces the balance of their outstanding debt. What clients can you contact today to start collecting on debts? Pay your creditors During tough economic times, you may not have the cashflow to support paying some of your creditors. By being a Bartercard member, you have the option to use your Bartercard trade dollars or products or services, as a means to pay all or part of your cash debt quicker. Expand your product line Look at your accounts. Are there some creditors that may consider taking trade dollars, gift vouchers or products or services as payment? It costs nothing to ask. By purchasing stock from other Bartercard suppliers you can expand your product lines. This opens up a realm of possibilities for your business as you could consider adding unrelated products or new lines that compliment your existing product or service offering. This strategy gives you a new trade spending option and more cash earning potential. What additional products would your existing clients want to buy? I expanded my product line by using the interest free line of credit to purchase $120,000 worth of shoes, from a Bartercard supplier. I sold these in the cash market and made a $30,000 cash profit! Jonathan Deen, Profile fashion accessories

6 Increase customer spend and/or entice new customers A great way to increase customer spending or entice new customers into your business without using discounts is to add value to your product or service. Use your trade dollars to buy additional items to package with your product or service to encourage customers to spend more with your business or to give more perceived value. To win new customers a law firm may offer a free pest control service with every conveyancing package and a mechanic may use this strategy to up-sell his premium service by offering free car cleaning packs. What could you buy using your trade dollars that would add more value to your product or service to attract more customers? We used Bartercard to increase the average spend within our store. We purchased an overseas holiday using our trade dollars then gave a dollar figure that would give our customers entry into the draw. This increased the amount of customers in my store and increased the average cash spend. It was a great promotion, I will definitely do it again. Paul Axisa, PJ s Cheaper Choice Increase your advertising and promotions to gain a competitive edge Due to the state of the economy many businesses have had to cut their marketing budgets. As a member of Bartercard you are at an advantage as you are able to use your trade dollars to pay for advertising, promotional items, sponsorships, public relations and more. By using your trade dollars for advertising and promotions you effectively have the power to make your business stand out from the competition. What advertising and promotions could you do within your business? We spend a lot of our trade on radio and print advertising as this brings us a lot of cash business Gabriele Saccardo, La Scala Italian Restaurant

7 Syndicate purchasing Bartercard members may wish to pool together cash and trade dollars to purchase an investment product or a product or service; for example a corporate box at a sports stadium, real estate, a race horse, a boat or a business. Who could you partner with to purchase a big ticket item? I have formed a syndicate with 3 other members of Bartercard. We negotiated the purchase of 3 adjoining houses with large blocks of land and have subdivided to build a 12 townhouse complex. We will contract the earthworks, underground service facilities and much of the site work on Trade and then sell into the cash economy. Clark Chester, Waller and Chester Printers Build business networks As Bartercard is a membership based network there are many local and national networking events that are designed to provide introductions for you. Through new contacts trading is constantly being conducted, and additional new cash referral business is gained as a result of new connections. Have you been attending the events in your area? Networking is important and I find the best trading ideas come from talking to other Bartercard members. They think big and do things differently. My advice is to take the opportunity to meet other business owners at the various networking events. You ll learn a great deal about Bartercard and also about running a successful business. Wayne Manfield, Maverick Partnership Win cash contracts Trying to win a business contract these days can be difficult with competitors undercutting prices to win deals. With Bartercard, you can offer your service at your normal price but offer the client the option to pay part of the total contract amount with their product or service. In turn, you can then on-sell their product or service through the network, realising the full contract amount. For example, when a cleaner quotes on a hotel cleaning contract, the cleaner may choose to accept some hotel rooms as part payment for their service. The cleaner is then able to sell these hotel rooms through the Bartercard network. They win the contract and gain full payment. Do you have a contract you would like to win?

8 Before we do anything, we always ask ourselves, can we do this on Bartercard? Pudding Lane Trading Tips brochure.indd 8 22/05/13 11:10 AM

9 Cash convert your trade dollars Buying goods and services with trade dollars that can be on-sold within your business is a great way for you to convert your trade dollars to cash. For example a restaurant purchases wine on Bartercard and then sells for cash within the restaurant, a beauty salon buys skincare products and on-sells within the salon, a sporting club buys prizes on Bartercard and then raffles them for cash. What could you buy on Bartercard and then sell for cash? I recently purchased a new range of skincare products on Bartercard from a supplier in Victoria. I intend on packaging these products into gift baskets to sell for cash. It s a fantastic way for me to cash convert my trade dollars. Zena Gormly, Kingscliff Beauty & Massage Expose your company to new national and international markets A business owner in the cash economy may not have the resources, contracts or pricing structure to compete in markets outside of their own established area. As Bartercard acts as a marketer for members, you have the opportunity to establish new business markets on a local, national and international scale. This is achieved by targeting areas with established Bartercard customers, where members are able to secure local market acceptance. What areas do you want to expand into? Leaseback equipment for a cash injection in the business You may need to lease an asset such as a forklift, kitchen equipment, factory equipment, photocopier, computer, or phone system but may not have the working capital to afford a large cash outlay on these necessary items. You could arrange cash finance (through a finance lender) for part or maybe the entire asset then arrange to purchase the items through a Bartercard member using trade dollars. The cash finance then becomes a valuable cash injection back into your business that can be used as working capital. Would a cash injection assist your business? Improve your lifestyle You can choose to use your trade dollars, along with your interest free line of credit, to pay for a much needed holiday, dining out, clothing, entertainment, gym memberships, massages, and many more lifestyle items. Consider setting up a staff account for yourself so that you can draw trade dollars from the main account. By drawing funds your lifestyle expenditure is possible without attracting FBT or other tax concerns. Is it time for you and your family to have a getaway? Bartercard works for our business and gives us a better quality of life. We can do things we wouldn t normally be able to do. We dine out once a week and take all our holidays on Bartercard. The kids love it! Rose Mastro, AJM Electrics

10 Is building an investment portfolio part of your long term goal? Build wealth by buying real estate Purchasing property with trade dollars is an effective way to build an investment portfolio, increase wealth and ultimately, convert trade dollars to cash upon the sale of a property. Real estate through Bartercard is listed at the same price as the cash market, but with a trade dollar component of percent. To view current listings visit: We have bought three properties through Bartercard, two residential and one commercial. All are held in superannuation, and being in the business, we have followed the wealth-creation advice we often give to clients as this will secure our financial future. Howard Pelquest-Hunt, Business -2-business financial planner Bartercard basics... Cost of trade dollar and purchasing discount The true essence and power of Bartercard is the purchasing power of your product. Remember, when you purchase in Bartercard, you are effectively spending with your excess product and/ or service. Therefore, your purchasing discount is inbuilt into your margin. Therefore if it cost you 35c in the dollar to provide your product or service then for every $100 trade you spend, it really only costs you $35. So, you are in fact buying at a 65% discount! Do you know what your cost of trade dollar is and what your purchasing discount equates to? Gain cash referrals We find that every time a Bartercard member provides a service or product of great quality to another member, the satisfied customer is likely to recommend the business to other people they know in the cash economy. Therefore, by simply providing great service and products to Bartercard members, you ll be in a position to gain referrals to new cash customers. Are you giving Bartercard members a good experience, so they will recommend you? We ve found that when we do a job on Bartercard, the happy customer then tells ten other people, which generates a lot of extra cash business for us. Jacqueline Johnson, K & J Welding and fabrication

11 Capture lost revenue Most businesses have a certain amount of downtime, be it on certain days or at certain times of the year with the flux of seasonal trends. Bartercard s goal is to assist you to gain additional customers to utilise business downtime. For example, hairdressers may fill empty spots in their diaries, restaurateurs may fill empty tables, hotels may fill empty rooms, and professionals may fill empty appointments with additional Bartercard customers. Are you utilising Bartercard to maximize your downtime? How much more business could you accept? Our business has the capacity to build eight websites a week which we were not achieving so we joined Bartercard to fill the idle capacity. We were paying our staff anyway but now we are gaining extra income and can use the trade to purchase hardware and then depreciate it as a capital expense. Steve Donald & Trevor Kenny, Directors Webarena Fund capital growth As a member of Bartercard you are automatically given an interest free line of credit. You are able to apply to increase this line of credit from $10,000 to $25,000 or more, depending on your level of trading within Bartercard, your equity and security. With this increase in credit, you are able to fund the capital growth necessary to grow your business. Some members have applied for substantial lines of credit which they ve used to purchase new factories and office premises, complete renovations or develop extensive marketing campaigns to grow their business. What do you want to achieve in your business in the next 12 months? Using the interest free line of credit, we have been able to make some great improvements to our restaurant. We have bought a new stove, new deep fryer, two new wood heaters and put on a new shop front Gary Webb, Montezuma s Wagga Wagga Bartercard is a great way to push your business forward. You just have to trust it and trade. Tom Hardy, Thomas Hardy Wines

12 What do you need help with? Contact your local Bartercard office today BARTER > > members.bartercard.com > bartercard.com.au