November 8, 2011 Written
by Bob Meyer, Editor of BarterNews
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From the desk of Bob Meyer...
11/08/2011
Congratulations Due Michael Mercier!
The
commercial barter industry has two trade associations: the
International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA)
established in 1979, and the National Association of Trade
Exchanges (NATE) formed in 1983. Many industrious members
have served in various capacities over the years, but only
one individual can attest to having held the position of
president of both associations � IRTA�s current president
Michael Mercier. (His presidential position with NATE was
well over a decade ago.)
Effective Advertising Mediums Differ
Reaching
your customers with effective advertising is important in
these competitive times. And effectiveness will often depend
on the time of day and your target audience. Research has
found radio is king in the early-morning commuting hours,
while television shines after 5pm. By comparison, the
Internet is popular throughout the day with a range of age
groups, while newspapers are most popular with the
baby-boomer generation.
Bill Paying Delayed By Companies
Experian,
the financial data and credit scoring giant, reports that
companies of all sizes are delaying the paying of their
bills, by as much as 28.3% longer in the third quarter.
Midwest businesses are the tardiest payers averaging 10.6
days overdue, while the Northwest was the least tardy with
3.9 days on average.
Economic Bloggers Still Have Gloomy Outlook
The
Kauffman Foundation, an entrepreneurial think tank, reports
that 96% of top economic-bloggers polled have a gloomy
outlook on the American economy.
�
Two-thirds
of the respondents believe the government is too involved in
the economy
�
Only 2%
rate the economy as strong and growing
�
50%
believe and anticipate employment growth
�
A vast
majority expect the U.S. real estate market will not
stabilize for another four years
Memorable Quotation
�Computers
are useless, they can only give you answers.�
� Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist.
�All
growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated
act without the benefit of experience.�
� Henry Miller, American novelist & painter.
�The
important work of moving the world forward does not wait to
be done by perfect men.�
�
George Eliot, British writer.
All
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Stabilize Your Business With More Barter Sales
Regardless of your business, in times of uncertainty and anxiousness
people historically hold onto their money. Given the present
situation, these are very trying times for most Americans. And that
means less spending.
It�s time to put on your entrepreneurial hat and become street
smart. As a member of a trade exchange, you can take matters into
your own hands by trading more. Plus you can expect to see an
upsurge in your barter business from the other members.
Sales through your trade exchange can be a confidence-building
measure, now is the time to keep your financial machinery greased
with barter. Spend time with your trade broker and strategize to get
through these tumultuous times.
In Just A Few
Minutes You Could Be Reading Your Favorite Issue Of BarterNews
All 64
Issues are now loadable �click
here.
Cross-Training Opportunities Can Motivate
Cross-training your employees to handle each other�s jobs not only
limits the negative effects of absences. It also is a good way to
boost morale. That�s because cross-trained workers feel less
stagnant in their jobs.
The rapport that builds as workers interact while learning each
other�s responsibilities can be motivational in itself. They may
also appreciate the ability to increase their skills, and thus widen
their opportunities.
Then, if you have to downsize or restructure, cross-trained workers
will be more valuable and may have greater job security.
Is Your Trade Exchange Missing Out On
Valuable New Business?
If
your barter company�s listing on BarterNews.com isn�t current, you
are definitely missing out on new business. The web site
BarterNews.com receives heavy traffic � with over 150,000 page-views
every month. Entrepreneurs and corporate executives check the
thousands of articles, the weekly �Tuesday
Report,� and the �Contacts
Section� of our site. They use the latter to find barter
companies with which to do business.
Is
your barter company�s listing up-to-date?
To
keep your listing current is very easy. See the links below to (A)
update any changes to your company�s listing, such as new location,
phone number, web site or other information, and (B) if your company
has not been listed.
Here�s how to get on board:
To
make changes to your listing
click here.
For
new listings
click here.
Five Harsh Realities Halting Your Company�s Organic Growth
Making a lasting change is usually easier said than done. Think
about it. Most of us spend more time talking about that next diet or
exercise program we plan to start than we do actually going through
with it. Businesses have just as much difficulty going through with
change as individuals. Too often, like those of us who are unwilling
to get up a little earlier to go on that morning run or invest in
the right pair of running shoes, companies are unwilling or unable
to carry out the changes that need to be made in order to grow
organically.
Growing organically by creating differentiated products and services
is difficult. It requires constancy of purpose and a willingness to
invest over time. The problem, says Dan Adams, is that consistent,
successful organic growth is steeped in change.
�Investment in profitable, sustainable organic growth must be done
at two levels,� says Adams, author of New Product Blueprinting:
The Handbook for B2B Organic Growth. �First, you must learn the
new skills and tools of direct customer engagement, and second, you
must apply what you�ve learned with customers very early in the new
product development cycle.
�One important point needs to be made,� he adds. �Too many companies
hear the word �investment� and immediately decide they can�t
undertake this kind of change when the economy isn�t great. You
probably work with colleagues who behave in a perfectly rational
manner most of the time. But when your business creates its
operating budget and growth plan, do you find that logic and clear
thinking yield to a bit of self-deception?�
There are four distinct signs, according to Adams, that your
company�s plans for growth just aren�t based in reality:
1.
Your budget predicts your sales will grow faster than the markets
you serve.
2.
Your competitors � serving those same markets � believe their sales
will do the same.
3.
You don�t have a track record of consistently taking market share
from competitors.
4.
You can�t identify a key event or initiative that will change all
this.
The bottomline is that relatively few businesses know how to achieve
profitable, sustainable, significant growth. In fact, notes Adams,
most do not. If your business is among the many strugglers, what can
you do? Read on for Adams�s organic growth reality check:
Reality Check #1:
You can�t sustain faster growth than competitors through better
quality, service, or operational efficiency. Those battles were
fought in past decades and � while still necessary � are not
sufficient for a sustainable competitive advantage today.
Reality Check #2:
�Remember, the growth you desire comes only from giving customers
differentiated value. In other words, value they can�t get anywhere
else,� explains Adams. �Businesses that focus on understanding and
meeting customer needs, are the ones my money is always on.�
Reality Check #3:
Most companies do a miserable job of developing new product
differentiation, a.k.a., �new customer value.� On average, three out
of four products fail after they enter the costly development stage.
Can you think of any other area within your company that abides a
75% defect rate?
Reality Check #4:
Most new products don�t fail because R&D can�t come up with good
answers. They fail because R&D is trying to answer the wrong
questions. The supplier doesn�t know what the customer really wants,
because the supplier is deciding what the customer wants in his own
conference room.
Reality Check #5:
The great thing is that these problems are completely solvable. In a
study representing 84% of all global corporate spending, Booz Allen
Hamilton found that directly engaging customers gave suppliers
superior results. The profits grew three times faster than those
that just used �indirect customer insight� to develop new products.
Adams says a great example of a company that accepted the organic
growth reality check put before them is DuPont.
�DuPont has a rich history of delivering differentiated value
through its products,� says Adams. �We have DuPont to thank for
nylon, Teflon�, Kevlar�, Tyvek�, Corian�, and Lycra�. Winning
companies know what provides their winning edge � understanding and
meeting customer needs. And they continue to win because they figure
out a way to invest in and consistently build this edge.�
Dan Adams, president of Advanced Industrial Marketing (AIM), is an
author and an award-winning speaker who conducts workshops in every
region of the world to train commercial and technical teams in
advanced B2B product development.
Marketing Secrets
In his book Guerrilla Marketing, Jay
Levinson tells us that when working with clients he considers the
greatest stumbling block to be their inability to understand
commitment. He suggests thinking about the following list each time
you run an ad and achieve less of a response than you expected:
-
The first time a man looks at an ad, he
doesn�t see it.
-
The second time, he doesn�t notice it.
-
The third time, he is conscious of its
existence.
-
The fourth time, he faintly remembers
having seen it.
-
The fifth time, he reads the ad.
-
The sixth time, he turns up his nose at it.
-
The seventh time, he reads it through and
says, �Oh brother!�
-
The eighth time, he says, �Here�s that
confounded thing again!�
-
The ninth time, he wonders if it amounts to
anything.
-
The tenth time, he will ask his neighbor if
he has tried it.
-
The eleventh time, he wonders how the
advertiser makes it pay.
-
The twelfth time, he thinks it must be a
good thing.
-
The thirteenth time, he thinks it might be
worth something.
-
The fourteenth time, he remembers that he
wanted such a thing for a long time.
-
The fifteenth time, he is tantalized
because he cannot afford to buy it.
-
The sixteenth time, he thinks he will buy
it someday.
-
The seventeenth time, he makes a memorandum
of it.
-
The eighteenth time, he swears at his
poverty.
-
The nineteenth time, he counts his money
carefully.
- The twentieth time he sees
the ad, he buys the article or instructs his wife to do so.
Money-Making Reports Available From BarterNews
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The Growth and Use of Secondary
Capital (New Money) Creates Unprecedented Wealth In Today�s New Age
Of Possibility
There are many forms of secondary
capital�which can be defined as any financial instrument that
measures and communicates value in a common language. Would you like
to see and learn more about the many forms of secondary capital?
We have 70 free, informative and
inspiring, articles for you in our �Secondary Capital Section.�
Check it out...
www.barternews.com/secondary_capital.htm.
Get New Money-Making Ideas And
Valuable Contacts!
You can
obtain useful, informative ideas and contacts in every available
back-issue of BarterNews.
Every
barter company in the world is listed on our web site,
click through to our Global List
of Barter Companies.
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�
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