Tom McDowell’s Barter Blog

Frank Pacetta, a can-do whiz kid from Xerox, was named Cleveland’s district manager. He vowed to turn his district into number one in the region (which includes 11 districts). His staff thought he was crazy, considering it had finished last the year before. But he did it. 

Here is his Top 10 List on customer service:

PREPARE your detail work and call planners on weekends and evenings.

NEVER SAY NO to a customer; every thing has a compromise.

MAKE CUSTOMERS FEEL GOOD about you, not just about your products and services, by sending cards for birthdays, grand openings, and other special occasions.

DO THINGS FOR CUSTOMERS you don’t get paid for, like dropping off something they need in a pinch on your own time.

KNOW YOUR COMPETITOR better than your competitor does.

BE EARLY for meetings.

DRESS AND GROOM YOURSELF sharply so you look like a superior product.

WHEN IT’S TIME TO GO HOME, make one more phone contact.

IF YOU STAY IN THE SHOWER a long time in the morning because you don’t look forward to work, find another job. 

Learn more tips on customer service from the most respected man in barter, Tom McDowell. 

Other than restaurants, do you set any geographic limitations on the numbers of businesses in any one category that you’ll allow membership to?

We do watch the geographic areas of our clients to some extent. For instance, you don’t want a service station on each corner. Otherwise, you’ve taken these people who already compete with each other in the cash economy and pitted them against each other in the trade economy. Avoid taking regionalized businesses and putting them back-to-back. You’ve got to be able to offer them enough new business to make it worth their while to join your exchange.

To learn more about starting a bartering business of your own, contact the barter trainer, Tom McDowell today!

Those who quit with a positive balance are rare. Mostly, the exchange is owed money when this situation arises. Our contract carries a provision so that anyone who does quit with a positive balance must agree to spend his or her dollars within a pre-determined timeframe. At this point those dollars would become income to the exchange as opposed to a payable. This situation could affect your tax situation.For those exiting the system while in a negative balance, you need protection from your contract. Depending on the amount of dollars owed, you may or may not wish to pursue legal action. Ultimately, the exchange is responsible for the dollars that have been extended and they should be replaced back into the system. To learn more about barter and the barter training system, contact Tom McDowell Today! 

Have you ever been in a restaurant where the waiter appears so bored and aloof it almost pains you to place your order? When they’re not enthusiastic about the food they serve, why should you want to eat it?

Remember this experience when you are trying to sell a product or service for trade to a client. That waiter likely enjoyed the restaurant’s food, but he certainly gave the wrong impression. You believe in barter — so show it!

Having a firsthand familiarity with the product or service you are promoting is essential to a Trade Broker. Even if you cannot answer every question, know where to go to get questions answered and bring those answers back to your clients as soon as possible. Remember, actions speak louder than words. Your strong, positive reputation will get you the kind of respect needed to become a successful Trade Broker. Talk enthusiastically about the product or service you would like to sell and your clients will also become excited.

Anyone can start a business by simply printing up business cards and hanging out a shingle. However, there is a big difference between being in business and knowing how to operate a business. Why reinvent the wheel when you can study my success story - AND save tens of thousands of dollars in startup and developmental costs? I know what works and what doesn’t work through years of trial-and-error experience. As a result, I’ve fine-tuned this business into a highly profitable model for you to copy. For information on  barter training, and Tom McDowell’s Barter Training System, click here.

The effort spent maintaining the relationship with each client is your key to success. The little extra effort you need to keep relationships thriving is miniscule by comparison. But if you ignore this important step, you will find yourself constantly working to build new relationships all over again.

Don’t forget the rules of common courtesy. Always treat people, even old and trusted clients, business associates and friends, with kindness and respect. Always say thank you for favors and kind acts.

Don’t leave to chance or the barter trade exchange’s reputation that people will contact you when they need to barter for a product or service. Good follow up maintains good relationships and keeps you, your service, and barter in the minds of your clients.

Two - if they’re the right two. Some exchanges have several thousand members, and I still wouldn’t call them successful. The KIND of clients you have is more important than the quantity of clients. You must have a variety of products and services so people will buy from each other.  If you had all attorneys and accountants, chances are, little trading would occur. Having several copier dealers, printers, restaurants, office supply stores, a dry cleaner, a hotel, coffee service, and a barber will give your exchange a good mix of “in demand” items.

Once you get to 50 clients, you can begin active trading.  You’ll build to those next 50 clients quickly.  To learn more about barter, and starting your own barter trade exchange, visit bartertrainer.com today! 

Here are a few great tips to becoming a successful trade broker in the Barter Business.

Make your customer dream: Like a gardener, a trade broker has to plant seeds in the customer’s mind and nurse these seeds to make them grow. When customers share their dreams with you, they are giving you the road map to the sale. For you to harness the power of dreams on a sales call, your customer has to sense that the solution you propose is truly thought out. If you aren’t capable of dreaming, you can’t cause others to dream.

Listen to your client attentively and accurately.A good listener has more control over the outcome of a conversation than a good talker.

Allow Your Customers To Talk Freely: Master the art of getting your customers to express themselves fully, freely, and candidly. Listen attentively to them, no matter what subject they bring up. It is important to listen to their ideas, analyze how barter can solve their dilemma, and provide a solution using barter. Ideas become raw material for building sales.

To learn more keys to becoming a successful barter trade broker, please purchase a copy of the barter training manual for brokers at http://www.bartertrainer.com/manuals

Whether hiring for the position of selling in an outside capacity, bringing on new accounts for your barter trade exchange, or hiring a trade broker to service the needs of your existing clientele, it is imperative for you as a manager to identify the top performers in a pool of sales job applicants. Learn the following six common traits of successful salespeople and make sound hiring choices for your exchange.

Desire to Serve. Super salespeople take a sincere interest in serving as well as selling. The salesperson’s degree of caring and commitment may be what gives them the competitive edge in the prospect’s eye. A pleasant attitude and enthusiasm indicates their desire to serve. Ask a candidate how they typically follow up with a client to ensure satisfaction. Learn how they may have gone above and beyond the call of the customer’s need. Listen to how they refer to customers - do they call them accounts or customers? Do they boast of selling customers products or additional services that they didn’t necessarily need?

Good Work Ethic. As we all know, selling is a numbers game and there is no way around this fact. Super salespeople don’t mind working the hours needed to make extra calls, win extra customers, and close extra sales. These factors all contribute to improving their long-term sales success. Find out if the salesperson simply met or consistently exceeded the goals set for them. Did they ever win any sales awards or contests? How many hours did they typically work? Check their attendance records. Remember that it’s easier to teach selling skills than it is to instill a new work ethic.

Integrity. Trust is a necessity in the barter sales field; salespeople without integrity will fail. To earn their customer’s trust, your salespeople must always have the customer’s best interest in mind, and establish a pattern of honesty and reliability. Say what you’ll do - then do what you say is a mindset we use at Barter Trainer. Before hiring a candidate, be certain to verify that the application information they have provided to you is correct and accurate. Listen for possible contradictions when you meet with them. Keep an eye out for physical signals of deception — a hand held in front of their mouth while speaking, hesitation before answering a question, a stiff posture. If they will lie to get the job, chances are they will lie to get a sale.

Likable. Good salespeople know that customers prefer salespeople who are like them, and adjust their approach accordingly. A customer will likely listen to what the salesperson has to say if they like them. Does the candidate appear to be relaxed and comfortable? Nervousness is understandable during an interview, however a candidate must be able to overcome such nervousness in a sales situation.

Effective communication skills. The ability to articulate and speak clearly are two traits that can make a salesperson sound more convincing than one with a meek, mild voice. A job interview is a sales presentation ñ so get an idea of how well candidates will sell your exchange by how well they can sell themselves to you.

Willingness to Listen. Every salesperson can learn more from listening than talking. If your candidate has a tendency to interrupt you, or finishes your sentences for you, during the interview - they probably will do the same thing with customers. To help you to determine how well an applicant pays attention, listen for them to make references — or use phrases you mentioned earlier in the interview - to help demonstrate an understanding of the principle of barter. When you talk, listen and look for indications that they are following and showing an interest in what you are saying. A nod of the head or an occasional, “I understand” or”Yes,” is an indication that the applicant is listening.

Register Online Today to attend an upcoming Complete Barter Training Program.

What we use as a guideline, more than anything else, is to have $3,000 per active account, as we can safely turn over that kind of business without creating an inflationary spiral. The key to a successful exchange is to remember and adhere to the law of supply and demand — when your supply of trade dollars exceeds the demand for the products you have available; it creates an inflationary problem in the system. By maintaining this formula (if you have 200 active members, you will have $600,000 positive dollars in your system), those dollars should move readily through the system without creating problems.
As you accumulate more dollars and fewer products in your system, then the demand for the more desirable products increases to the point where you won’t be able to supply that demand. This scenario will likely kill your business.
One way to help the economy is for the exchange to purchase the goods and services with which to operate the exchange DIRECTLY from its members whenever possible.  This scenario keeps the system moving, allowing you to generate fees from these transactions. 
To Purchase the Barter Training Manuals, written by Industry Expert Tom McDowell, please visit the Barter Trainer website today!