Seven Habits of Highly Effective Traders The members of nationwide trade exchanges who enjoy the greatest return on investment from their memberships have demonstrated certain habits that have contributed to their success. Learn from their experiences and adopt these practices to maximize your VTE experience: Think Trade First Whenever you find that you have a need, look first to see if it’s available for purchase on trade, saving your cash dollars for things that you can’t purchase through your VTE membership. Build your Barter Pipeline In order to maximize your VTE membership, you not only need to look for ways to spend your trade dollars, you need to bring in the trade revenue that will allow you to do so. Advertise within the Trade Exchange on a regular basis, as this is your most captive audience. Attend the quarterly events and network with other members to sell your products / services. Maintain regular contact with your account representative regarding your capacity for additional trade business; we will work to bring you as many trade clients as you are prepared to handle. Use your trade dollars to grow your business Look for opportunities available through the trade exchange membership that will allow you to spend your trade dollars on growth related items that will help increase your visibility and ultimately bring you new business (i.e.: advertising and marketing services, corporate branding with promotional items, public relations services, web development services, signage, training for your sales force, special events, etc.). Be Proactive Think ahead and anticipate what special purchasing needs you are likely to have in the near future. Keep your account representative in the loop so that we can work in advance to find you a great deal that you can pay for with your trade dollars. Watch for special promotional offerings from other members and act fast if you see something you want, as these items are typically available in small quantities on a first come, first serve basis. Be Creative Look beyond the obvious. Compare your quarterly expenses to the membership directory offerings and look for items you’re paying cash for that you can begin to purchase on trade. Look around your facilities from the eyes of a prospective client and use your trade dollars to refine the image you are projecting (i.e. repave your parking lot, purchase a new sign for the building, hire an interior designer, have your reception area repainted, purchase new furniture and lighting fixtures for the waiting area, purchase new boardroom furniture, renovate your restrooms, etc.). Give trade dollars to employees for incentives and bonuses. Donate trade dollars to your favorite local charity. Owners can also use trade dollars for personal and family expenses to boost their lifestyle without interrupting the cash flow of the business. Be Flexible VTE will be able to meet most of your needs through the trade exchange… as long as you're willing to be somewhat flexible with your wish list. If you have vendor preferences, we will certainly make attempts to bring those vendors into the exchange (provided that they are an overall good fit for current members) and we will try to make sure that you have purchasing options that are convenient to your location. While we want each member’s trading practices to be quick and easy, we ask that members also understand that we must focus our recruiting efforts on what’s best for the majority of the members. Keep an open mind, be willing to change vendors, maybe travel a little further. Think of all the cash you are saving… Be Patient There will be times that you need something that is not immediately available through the current membership. Unless it’s an emergency purchase, we can typically find what you need if you can give us a little time to locate it. Even if we are not able to meet your needs locally, we can leverage hundreds of nationwide reciprocal trade exchange partnerships to find what you need. The earlier you let us know, the better deal we’ll likely to be able to find for you. Additional Trading Tips here are some additional “outside of the box” methods of leveraging your VTE membership for maximum return: Offer to pay vendors with trade dollars When a nonmember tries to sell you something you want, offer to pay for it in trade dollars. Contact VTE right away and we will get to work to bring that vendor into the membership group, provided they are an overall good fit. If accepted, you not only have a new trading partner, you just earned yourself a new member referral bonus. Use trade to attract your competitors’ customers In many industries, there are a number of tasks that a prospective client will have to complete in order to change from one vendor to another. In these situations, it can be difficult to offer them a differential value significant enough to make them feel that it’s worth the hassle to change providers. When a prospective client won’t make the switch and you really want the business, offer to sell for trade dollars. The ability to pay for your product or service without cash, as well as the business development opportunities that a VTE membership provides, may just be the extra push they need to make the change. Contact VTE right away and we will work to bring that prospective client into the membership group (provided they are an overall good fit). Again, if accepted, you not only have a new trading partner, you have also instantly earned yourself another referral bonus. Collect receivables with trade If a business owes you money and cannot pay with cash, you may decide to offer to let them pay you with the products they have in their inventory rather than to write it off as a bad debt. You can then recover all or most of the money owed to you by selling the products acquired through VTE’s “Trading Post” for trade dollars. If the need arises, we will work with you to arrange such a deal so that your interests are covered. Pay creditors with trade dollars If you find yourself short on cash and need to pay a local vendor, we can help you pay the debt in trade dollars. Whether or not the vendor joins VTE, we can typically provide win-win options for both your business and the creditor. Cash Converting Cash converting is a method of turning your trade dollars into cash. Watch for great buys within the exchange, purchase them with trade dollars, then sell those items to non-members for cash. Value Added Benefits Use your trade dollars to increase your cash sales by purchasing items on trade that you can use at special events (i.e., prizes for drawings) or as added-value gifts you send when a client’s purchasing volume exceeds a certain dollar amount.  Copyright © 2007 Velocity Trade Exchange, LLC All rights reserved. HOME | ABOUT BARTER | RECENT NEWSLETTERS | UPCOMING EVENTS | JOIN VTE NEW MEMBERS | FEATURED MEMBERS | MEMBER DIRECTORY | MEMBER TOOLS | CONTACT US

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