Friendship Marketing: The Barter Strategy Every Business Should Know

No longer is it a case of saying, "Give me your money and I will give you my product. ... " Now it's, "Give me a reason to buy from you, and perhaps then I'll give you my business." When you offer your product/service on trade, you've given them a powerful reason to buy from you. Socializing with clients today is almost more important than pitching to them. Anyone with whom you've managed to build a broader and deeper relationship, with whom you can meet socially and talk about things other than business, is the one easiest to sell to. They feel they know you and trust you. (This situation is more typical among members of the trade exchange than almost any other business environment.) Then the selling dialogue, when it happens, is simple and direct. If they want or need your product, they'll buy it. And if they don't want it or need it, they know they can tell you why. The honesty of their response becomes a valuable and constructive feedback channel for your product development cycle. This is friendship marketing: the kind of dialogue that enriches your relationship and shows you can give without expecting to receive. This is essential if your customers are to believe in your product or service. This kind of trust-based relationship doesn’t only make selling easier—it also makes doing business smarter. Barter becomes a natural extension of those connections, turning goodwill into real financial advantages.

Every dollar saved is magnified at the bottom line. Here are some ways to save money:

1. Do more business through IMS Barter. Every barter purchase that replaces a cash purchase saves you money.
2. Begin negotiating better with your cash vendors. Ask a simple question, "What else can you do for me?" And when you give them additional business, make sure it is done on a trade basis.
3. Focus on performing to the utmost for existing clients. It costs 1/ 5 as much to keep them happy and satisfied as to find and secure new clients.
4. Introduce incentive programs for greater productivity. Make them pay off daily or weekly. Create a mission, a sense of urgency. And use barter whenever possible to fund the incentive programs.
5. Install an "idea box" for your employees. Reward them for the best money-saving idea. Tie in the reward to the annual savings, i.e., if thousands are saved, certainly a trip to an exotic vacation spot would make sense! (Check with your trade broker for locations available.