So, the economy sucks. It’s true, at least in my neck of the woods. I had more customers bail out on me in the last year without paying their bills than I have ever had in my entire career. Two of my biggest three customers in 2008 closed their doors and have pretty much disappeared. The bad news continues…
Interestingly enough, the demand for my particular services, which generally include web design, low-level video production for the internet, and internet marketing consulting (among my barter consulting), has increased wildly in the last thirty days. I say the demand has increased. There’s a new question popping up all over my new client conversations:
Do you ever trade? Can we do some barter?
Before this year, maybe one out of ten new clients of mine would ask me if I could trade some work. Now, it’s more like three out of four are asking for a barter. I don’t mind, I love barter, but can only handle so much of it at a time, right?
If I still owned or managed a barter exchange, I would be loving this year. I could guarantee to you that my sales would have gone through the roof. Instead of my standard 10-15 clients per month, I would be signing up at least thirty new clients. Why? What’s the difference?
People still want to buy things. They want to advance their business. They want to increase their market share. Cash is tight. Banks aren’t loaning. Credit limits are getting pulled back. How do you handle that as a business owner? Barter. And if you know how to talk barter, all of a sudden in 2009 you are talking everyone’s language.
Yes, you are going to have to make concessions to get the clients. Yes, you are going to have to be flexible. Consider the alternative…stay exactly where you always have been…
The Reader’s Digest, America’s most widely read magazine (according to them) even has included an article on how to barter better (http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/4-tricks-of-swapping-and-bartering/article161322.html) and they don’t write articles on anything that doesn’t have a significant public interest.
So, it’s a magic time in the barter industry. Are you taking advantage of it or are you going to languish with the rest of the business world? Are you going to make a difference for businesses in your community, or go about your business?
If you need some help taking advantage of the magical time in the trade world, let us know. We’d be glad to help.
