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he will be able to use these items or services in the near future.
No Expiration Date
Herein lies a very important secret to exchange transactions. Whenever you require something right now, and the
person or company you are trying to trade with doesn't need or want to avail themselves of your firm's goods or
services right away, don't let the deal slip away. Offer the prospective trader this option: Tell him he can have
unlimited time to take your goods or services and that he may assign the credit you are offering him to anyone else he
may designate.
Now you have created rational and persuasive reasons for him to exchange with you. If he knows he uses
approximately $2,000 worth of air-conditioning services a year, if he under-stands he can "buy" these services for you
at thirty-five cents on the dollar, and if he realizes he can pay for this air-conditioning with dollars he's already tied up
in slow-moving furniture, he comes out smelling like a rose.
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An astute businessperson would jump at that chance. Any person who would normally take the 2 percent early-
payment discount on an invoice should jump at the chance to pick up a 66 percent discount just for entering into a trade
with you. Point these things out if he still resists the idea of barter.
If he is receptive to the prospect of trading, and concedes he will need the services you are offering in the near future,
but claims his money is all tied up in the inventory he needs to sell, suggest two things: Perhaps he knows someone
who needs $8,000 worth of air-conditioning services that he can sell for $4,000 or more. He could get almost 100
percent profit and needed cash.
The creative possibilities of such an approach are virtually limitless. Here are some ground rules you should always
follow:
1. Insist on assignability for any item or service you ever receive a credit for.
2. Never try to trade your goods or services at anything less than retail value. Remember, the higher the valuation you
place on the goods or services you trade, the greater the buying advantage.
The Fine Art of Triangulation
Perhaps the single most valuable technique for the creative barterer to master is the fine art of triangulation. By
becoming proficient at triangulation, the astute practitioner can make up to 50 percent more barter deals and achieve
net profits that may exceed 200 percent of the traditional yields that basic trade deals produce. Triangulation is the use
of three separate trans-actions (or more) to achieve your ultimate barter objective. And while it may seem complex in
theory, it is really very simple in practice. Like many other barter practices, triangulation is simple. Triangulation
becomes invaluable-and essential-whenever you cannot achieve your primary barter objective through the conventional
two-party trade situation. In other words, whenever you cannot convince a barter prospect to accept your goods or
services directly for his goods or services, triangulation becomes the device to save the deal.
Suppose you own a restaurant that sells food and beverages that have an average gross markup of 500 percent over
your out-of-pocket costs. And you'd like to trade food-and-beverage credits for a new car. Simple enough, until you
approach the local car dealer, who has absolutely no need whatsoever for $10,000 worth of your food-and-beverage
credits. He may laugh you out of his showroom. Then what do you do? You probably will approach more car dealers
who will probably also turn you down.
Stop for a moment and analyze the car dealer's profit-or-loss perspective. What goods or services can make or save the
dealer more money? How about . . . advertising. Most dealers spend between $5,000 and $10,000 a month just on
radio, TV, and newspaper. How can you use advertising to help you trade credits at your restaurant for a new car?
Why, through triangulation, of course.
Approach all of the prominent radio and television stations in your market, plus the local newspapers. Offer to provide
them with restaurant credits they can use to wine and dine their better clients in exchange for advertising credits, which
you have the right to assign. And because we know most car dealers don't begin to have the same margin spreads as
restaurants, in order to make the "triangulated trade" work, you must acquire at least twice as much advertising credit
to offer the dealer.
So you trade $20,000 worth of restaurant credits to be used as the station sees fit-with no expiration date-with the
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