This post shares a heartfelt reflection on the importance of nurturing connections and revisiting passions, inspired by personal stories involving mentors and collaborators. It emphasizes how networks, or "matrices," hold incredible potential when properly nurtured and showcases the transformative power of collaboration, clarity, and rekindling old ambitions. The post also highlights tools and resources for building meaningful communities
The Power of Barter
The Power of Barter
by Robin J. Elliott
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Most business owners neglect or underestimate the power of barter to increase sales, improve sales incentives, and motivate employees. Anyone who has used barter well knows this. I’m not talking about barter companies/trade exchange companies that charge a fee to join and a cash override on all transactions, although they also work.
Here are a few simple examples to clarify what I mean.
When I was a hotel manager in Bulawayo, Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, I traded vacant hotel rooms and conference rooms for vegetables, cooking oil and items we couldn’t buy due to sanctions, like imported liquor, shellfish.
Instead of offering a financial incentive/reward for achieving a sales target of $2,000 to a salesman, ask him what he would love to buy himself for $2,000 but feels he can’t justify or afford in the light of his other financial obligations. He will often do more for the “gift” he chose and won worth that is worth $2,000 than for the money to buy that new washing machine, pay down debt, or some other boring obligation. As long as you give him the choice, that is. People like toys and fun.
I had someone tell me he wanted to buy my set of DVDs on “How to Use Leverage and Collaboration in Business,” but couldn’t afford them. I asked what he could barter for them. He paid me with a brand new set of waterless cooking pots that I use to this day. Another one, a jeweller, paid me in diamonds and rubies for seats at one of my seminars.
In the TV show, New Amsterdam, the hospital director allows some patients to pay off their debts to the hospital in services – one, an electrician, pays his debt down with electrical services that the hospital would otherwise have to pay for in fiat currency (dollars). Instead of selling hospital debt to debt collectors for pennies on the dollar, he collected more and prevented his patients from bullying by collection agencies by using barter.
We all have skills and assets that are valuable to someone else; if you can fix and build computers, complete tax returns, or do the work of a handyman, for example, you have something to trade.
If it costs me $50 to provide a service that I would regularly sell for $300 and I trade that service for goods and services worth $250, I’m still well ahead of the game. If I own goods that I don’t use, I can trade them for goods and services I need. I can trade living space, storage space, or workspace, or the use of equipment and vehicles.
Employees will usually do more to win incentives like trips, adventures, show tickets, and toys than money, as long as they have a choice between the options – some will want the money.
Ask, “If I gave you $1,000 to spend on anything you like, as long as it was for you and nobody else, what would you buy?” There’s your alternative incentive. “Well, I want to buy that for you IF you (sell/achieve/win/build). Or you can have the money. Which would you prefer?”
I consulted with a tire company that was dealing with a lot of nearby competitors. All offered the same level of service, all offered the same discounts. It was hard to differentiate themselves. Until I suggested we offer the customer a choice between different toys – laptops, knives, electronic goods, spa visits, sports goods – worth the amount of discount we would normally pay. Sales rocketed. Money and discounts are boring compared to toys and fun.
For cash-strapped businesses, barter with other businesses and customers can be a godsend. For those who wish to beat their competition, motivate their employees, reward spouses who endure the long hours employees work, and increase sales, barter is something to consider seriously.
About The Author
About Robin J. Elliott Robin J. Elliott has worked with literally thousands of businesses, in Africa, Canada and the United States since 1987 and has trained and spoken to thousands in his seminars. He has appeared on national television and radio and in national newspapers and conducted his business on an international level until 2018 when he officially retired. His passion and specialty was helping people to start and grow their own businesses using Joint Ventures. His mission was to share the magic and power of Joint Ventures - Leverage and Collaboration - with entrepreneurs worldwide and to facilitate meetings between like-minded businesspeople through his international Joint Venture Forum that comprised over 1,000 members when he closed it. He has won international sales awards and was a Finalist in the Ernst and Young "Against All Odds National Entrepreneur Competition." Robin was an Executive Director of the South African Sales Association (STASA) and has been a Rotary International Director. Robin's articles were published in national magazines and his regular, weekly e-newsletter articles reached over 23,000 people per week. He wrote eighteen little books and made 20 videos and dozens of audiotapes and CD's. He was a sought-after speaker. His training and qualifications include Hotel Management, On-The-Job-Training for Holiday Inns International, Transactional Analysis, Organization and Methods (Work Study), Sales, Marketing, and Sales Management, Personality Styles, Values Styles, Psychology, Theology and Public Speaking. Robin has been married for 37 years to Frederika Elliott. Frederika (Rika) Elliott has degrees in education and Minimal Brain Dysfunction. She lectured at a Teachers' Training College, taught school, and has worked alongside Robin in their businesses since 1987. Rika owned and ran Success Consultants and has an intimate understanding of Joint Ventures. She is the backbone of the Joint Venture Forum. Robin and Rika live in beautiful Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. They enjoy the natural beauty of British Columbia and reading and Robin rides his bicycle. Robin's long-time friend and Joint Venture Protégé, Merlin Covlin, an acknowledged expert in JV's and Collaboration and Leverage, has taken over the Joint Venture/Leverage and Collaboration training and mentoring business and does extremely well.
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