March 22, 2005
Written
by Bob Meyer, Editor of BarterNews
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CFO’s
Have Conservative Outlook On Economy
Financial executives
appear to be cautious, yet hopeful, in their outlook for the economy,
a new nationwide survey suggests. When chief financial officers
(CFOs) were asked their opinion on the health of the economy for
2005, they ranked their level of optimism a six on a scale of one
to 10...unchanged from responses given by CFOs to this question
by Robert Half Management Resources, in the fourth quarter of 2004.
CFOs at small
companies are more optimistic than their counterparts at large corporations,
the results show. Nearly one-fourth (24%) of executives at firms
with 50 to 99 employees rated their level of optimism for the economy’s
health in 2005 at the high end of the scale, between eight and 10.
(This same range was given by 16% of CFOs at companies with 1,000
or more employees.)
Trade
Exchange Owners...
It’s Time To Build Greater Rapport & Empathy With Your
Client Base!
The most powerful
marketing tool in the barter industry, The Competitive Edge
newsletter, is a monthly, ready to use, professional 4-page publication...no
work is needed!
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learn more about The Competitive Edge newsletter and how
it can help build your trade exchange,
click here.
Bentley
Expands Network
Bentley Commerce
Corporation (OTCBB:BLYC) has announced new affiliation agreements
with five trade exchanges, expanding the Bentley Affiliate Exchange
Alliance into new markets in Texas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Florida
and Georgia. Bentley affiliates (using VirtualBarter software and
participating in the online global marketplace) now are located
in 38 states and 9 foreign countries.
“Based
on our initial success of a new marketing campaign, next month we
will expand our effort to market our trading technology, trade card
and other revenue generating opportunities, to about 200 trade exchanges,”
exclaimed Bruce Kamm, Bentley’s CEO.
For more information
go to www.bentleycommerce.com.
eValues
Announces New Swipe Card Program
Gary Lassiter,
CEO of eValues.net, has revealed a new swipe card program for the
trade exchange industry. Lassiter says the swipe card technology
handles both cash and trade processing through one terminal.
For more information
go to www:evalues.net
or contact Ted Delong, eValues president, at (303) 840-7172, ext.
2.
Graham
Moves to ICON
ICON International
of Stamford (CT) has hired John C. Graham as Director of Business
Development. Graham’s most recent position in the barter industry
was with Lois Dale’s Barter Advantage located in Manhattan.
Prior to that he was director and co-founder of the trade show division
at Travel Agent magazine.
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From
The Archives of BarterNews...
Auto
Suppliers See Value Of Trading
Two major auto
suppliers, Eaton Corp. and Dana Corp., traded entire businesses
recently. Dana got Eaton’s axle and brake business in exchange
for Dana’s clutch business.
It’s a
sign of how globalization is reshaping suppliers, and forcing them
to become more specialized in order to meet various automotive standards
in different countries.
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New Money-Making Ideas And Valuable Contacts!
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useful, informative ideas and contacts in every available back-issue
of BarterNews.
From
The Archives of BarterNews...
Creative
Barter Arrangement Launched Paxson’s Home Shopping Network
Lowell Paxson,
of Home Shopping Network fame (now Florida-based Paxson Communications),
has assembled a group of 55 TV stations...with a value of $400 million.
Like many, his enormous success began with a barter assist.
Paxson grew
up in Rochester (NY) and spent 30 years in radio—as a disk
jockey, salesman, general manager, and owner of small-town stations.
He was still struggling to make ends meet when he stumbled into
barter.
It happened
when an appliance-store owner who owed the station $1,000 couldn’t
pay his bill, and Paxson took 112 electric can openers in lieu of
payment. The next morning Paxson went on the air and sold them all
for $9.95 each.
Thus was born
the Suncoast International Bargainers Club, a radio shopping show
that migrated to TV after Paxson leased a channel from a local cable
operator. At its peak Home Shopping Network (HSN) was selling over
$1 billion a year of downscale goods, like imitation diamonds and
porcelain plates. In 1991 he sold HSN, and ever since has been buying
TV stations.
Every
barter company in the world is listed on our web site,
click through to our
Global List of Barter Companies.
From
The Archives of BarterNews...
Moores’
“Piece-of-the Action” Thinking Worked
John Moores,
former programmer at Shell Oil, founded the Houston-based BMC Software
company in 1980 which specializes in products for large corporate
databases. Having little money, Moores began bartering ownership
in the company right from the start—in order to attract top
talent.
When he left
in 1988 he was a multi-millionaire. BMC continued following Moores’
example, and still offers employees stock. Plus, software developers
can own a piece of the sales that their products generate.
John Moores,
incidentally, is doing just fine today. Besides buying the San Diego
Padres baseball team, he invested in San Diego-based Peregrine Systems
(a maker of software that helps corporate computer specialists solve
user problems), instituting another programmer compensation plan.
In 1997 Moores
took Peregrine public. His 63% of the company—which cost him
$13 million—is worth $153 million.
From
The Archives of BarterNews...
Adidas
And Yankees Cut Barter Deal
Adidas, the
venerable German shoemaker, is scoring major points in the U.S.
market thanks to the marketing genius of their 51-year-old president,
Robert-Louis Dreyfus.
He hit upon
the idea of building loyalty in Adidas promotions by offering partial
payment in Adidas stock. The first beneficiaries were the New York
Yankees, when they agreed to a $100 million agreement wherein the
baseball world champions would wear the Adidas logo.
Adidas officials
say it’s likely that they will use stock payments to maintain
brand loyalty with European soccer teams as well.
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Here
& There...
- The U.S.
Tourism industry eyes sales of a trillion! The Commerce Department
said tourism sales in 2004 were $960 billion, up from $900 billion
in 2003. (Hotel accommodations and airfares accounted for $548
billion of the total.)
- TripRewards,
the loyalty-points program operated by Cendant, has joined Points.com,
a site for swapping loyalty-program points. TripRewards members,
who earn points staying at Cendant hotels such as Days Inn and
Howard Johnson, or renting cars from Avis and Budget, can now
transfer points with other Points.com partner programs.
For example,
members can exchange 7,000 eBay points for a free night—6,000
TripRewards points at a Cendant hotel. Points.com charges $9.95
for a single transfer, or $29.95 for a year of unlimited exchanges.
- Publicity
pays! English inventor James Dyson saw his bagless cleaner become
America’s No. 1 vacuum after guest spots on TV shows Friends
and Will & Grace. Dyson’s clean sweep sells for $399
to $550 while an average vacuum costs $150.
- The International
Spa Association reports a booming business in resort and day spas—revenue
in 2003 more than doubled to $11.2 billion from $5 billion in
1999.
- Newsweek’s
March 21 cover story on “The Incredible Shrinking Dollar”
got massive coverage, but what really scares and frightens business
executives are the tough new regulations in the Sarbanes-Oxley
law, rammed through Congress after the accounting fraud at Enron
and WorldCom.
According
to the Newsweek article, companies have discovered
that complying with a provision that requires more oversight
by auditors cost 30 times more than originally predicted. CEOs
warn that SOX is simply enriching accounting firms, while impoverishing
budgets for R&D, marketing, and hiring.
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