In a recent ?Message From The Chairman of ITEX,?
CEO Steven White told shareholders that the company will take
calculated risks to generate even stronger revenue growth and
greater profits than those the company accomplished over the last
three years, since taking the helm.
White asserted, ?I envision a greater and more
vibrant business-to-business trading community as we move forward
with our planned initiatives.?
When White became Chairman and CEO, ITEX had a
contracting member base, mounting legal issues, declining revenues,
a negative net worth, and a market capitalization of $2 million.
In a short three years revenues went up 38%
(compared to fiscal 2003) and the company completed three
consecutive years of positive net income, while market
capitalization grew 500%.
The company is moving corporate headquarters
into a larger facility this month, expanding from 4,500 square feet
to 7,000 square feet. (The move is a few miles from their previous
headquarters.)
For more information on the 22,000 member
organization visit:
www.itex.com.
Editor?s
Note: ITEX San Diego
is holding a Power Dinner Mixer on Tuesday January 9. For more
information call Art Kaliel at (760) 613-6412.
(Part I)
Barterers. . .
Use Win-Win Negotiations In All Your
Trades!
By David Wm. Tuttle,
Ph.D., CPA
The words bartering, persuasion, horse-trading,
negotiations, people handling skills, charisma, are all related to
each other because they all connote getting people to do something
that they were not doing before you came on the scene!
In our modern world, everything is controlled
by someone else. And human nature the way it is, people will not act
unless they feel it is in their best interests.
Successful ?people-handlers? are at the top of
every organizational ladder because they know how to get people to
act in a unified manner, giving either the buyers or the sellers
what they need so that all parties to the transaction can feel like
winners.
Since this is the case, it behooves us all to
improve our persuasion and negotiating skills if we want to improve
our lives here on earth.
A good percentage of the work we do at Tuttle &
Tuttle involves negotiating tax audits, payment plans, and offers in
compromise settlements for our clients with the Internal Revenue
Service, EDD, Board of Equalization, and other governmental
agencies. But our negotiating is not limited to working on our
client?s behalf.
We are always negotiating with our employees,
settling differences among them; we negotiate with our suppliers,
trying to get them to accept barter from us and to get the best
delivery and payment terms; we negotiate with everyone in the course
of ordinary business and pleasure pursuits whose interests are not
necessarily aligned with ours.
While this article suggests general principles
in win-win negotiations (which is a close cousin to bartering), you
as a barterer can become better at your craft, and become richer to
boot, if you attach these simple principles to all of your trades in
the future. And let?s not forget everything in life involves a
trade!
The term ?negotiation? conjures up to many
people an image of high-level, peace-making between countries
involved in a dispute, where war or the end of war might be the
fruit of the negotiating endeavor.
However, I view the term as much more of an
everyday common type of activity, which includes a discussion
between at least two interested people on how to settle a
difference.
Under my usage of the term negotiating,
everyone negotiates many times, every day, to get what they need
from other people for their personal and job life.
The noted lecturer and author Zig Ziglar is
fond of saying, he knows he can get anything he wants in life, if he
helps enough other people get what they want.
This type of outlook by Mr. Ziglar demonstrates
what is referred to as the ?Win-Win? style of negotiating. It is
characterized by much listening, observing, and reflecting by both
parties as to what the ?other side? truly wants and needs.
No two people are the same. That is why
opposing sides do not necessarily want the same things from the
negotiation, which explains why the best negotiators know that only
when both sides come out winners is the negotiation a long-term
success.
My father, who was a very fine attorney with
many years of experience in drafting contracts between parties
having opposing interests, once told me that all contracts would
eventually fail if they do not bring benefits to both parties.
Some of my readers at this point might ask, how
could that be the case? How can something good for my ?opponent? be
good for me? The answer lies in what best selling author Robert
Ringer states... ?friends come and go, but enemies accumulate!?
In other words, if you plan to live and work on
this earth for a long time, it would only be in your best interests
to think long-term. And treating all people that you come into
contact with in a long-term manner is not only the ?kind and human?
thing to do, but it is the only ?smart and self-serving? thing to
do.
By avoiding a ?my way or the highway, take it
or leave it approach,? by showing respect and courtesy, and true
interest in the objectives of the ?other side,? you will gain a
personal and/or business relationship that can produce infinitely
larger results over your lifetime than a one-time ?slam and run?
approach.
By being concerned with long-term success, you
avoid the very unpleasant, but real possibility that a person who
was unfairly taken advantage of in a negotiation is ?out there
waiting!?
To achieve a win-win negotiation you must:
1) Avoid in most cases, people who will not
consider barter, but only want to deal in cash.
What they are saying, in effect is, ?we want
your cash, but nothing else from you!? Like a labor union or
fraternity, we trade exchange members must show solidarity in
dealing with our ?own kind? first, and by not rewarding ?bad
behavior? in dealing with cash sellers where barter sellers are
available.
2) Research the facts, be ready and
organized.
Preparation is one of the important keys to
successful negotiating. You must have a clear idea of what your side
must have to be a winner, and what tactics the other side will
probably use. If you can?t answer these questions with substantial
accuracy, the timing is not right for you to negotiate.
3) Show respect and courtesy to all parties
at all times.
People are like elephants, they have long
memories...and many will go out of their way to return abuse! Brian
Tracy, a noted author, advises, ?a person convinced against his
will, is of the same opinion still.? This will eventually translate
into a scuttled mission or undertaking.
I am constantly amazed how owners and employees
will make a barter customer feel like a third rate customer in
relation to a cash customer. If you don?t like barter, get out of
barter. But don?t make a person look bad in front of his family when
he comes to your restaurant or other place of business.
4) Be a good listener and observer.
Find out the reason for the disagreement
between you and the other side. Remember, there are generally two
reasons given for everything in life, the good or noble-sounding
reason, and the real reason!
Put yourself in the ?other side?s shoes.? Be
empathetic. Try to determine what the true objectives of the other
side are, and why they came to that conclusion.
For example, the ?why? is important because
they may state they are basing values on a Kelley Blue Book, but
after looking into the matter further, they may have been using an
out of date appraisal guide. And because of this, you can probably
get them to move away from their entrenched position.
Use your eyes and ears to be aware of new
barter services that you could provide your vendors. For example, if
you are a furniture refinisher, and you notice that your attorney
loves restored antiques, make sure you suggest a trade.
Every business needs a printer, florist, carpet
cleaner, window cleaner, accountant, etc., etc. If you are not
providing services to all of your venders, you can be sure someone
else is...and reaping the benefits that you are not receiving. Make
sure that you are a good ?barter plumber? in that you stop all cash
leaks where barter services are available!
(End
of Part I)
David Wm.
Tuttle, Ph.D., CPA is the founding partner of Tuttle & Tuttle CPAs,
located in Fresno, California. The firm specializes in tax matters,
which include representing clients (who are either being audited or
owe taxes they cannot currently pay) before the IRS, FTB, Board of
Equalization, and Employment Development Department. They also
analyze their client?s tax debts with a view toward possibly
discharging them through a chapter in the US Bankruptcy Code. To set
up your appointment with Mr. Tuttle, please call (559) 291-5527.
Hotel
General Managers
Here?s
The Easiest $100,000 You?ll Ever
Bring To The Bottomline!
Collect
cash, as usual, from the guest accounts staying at your
facility that require the use of professional AV services.
And rather than shouldering your ongoing employee costs, or
your current vendor?s cash agreement for AV services,
here?s a much better alternative:
Work
with a proven national vendor (a sterling 25-year track
record) who will provide all of the AV services for your
hotel on a 100% TRADE BASIS! (Payment to be in the form of
hotel rooms and/or trade dollars.)
Your hotel?s annual AV billings must be a minimum of $200,000, and this
offer is available only in the continental United States.
For a
confidential introduction contact Bob Meyer via e-mail:
bmeyer@barternews.com.
(Please type in AV Services On Trade in the subject
line of your e-mail.)
Attention Trade Exchange Owners:
If your
member hotel(s) have a minimum of 10,000 sq. feet of meeting
space and annual billings of at least $200,000 for AV
services this is a great opportunity to earn substantial
cash service fees on the hundreds of thousands of trade
dollars your hotel member will be paying the vendor. Contact
Bob Meyer at the above e-mail. |
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