Written by Bob Meyer, Editor of BarterNews

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Trade Associations' Commercial Barter Industry Numbers Are Similar

Last week’s story on the member-survey by the National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE), regarding the amount of barter business done annually with North American companies, generated considerable attention. Some respondents were wondering how these figures coincided with earlier projections by the industry, in that larger numbers have often been quoted in the press.

In checking our records, the last projections for the commercial barter industry were done by the International Reciprocal Trade Association in July of 2001. Although IRTA’s industry projections were from a worldwide perspective, they did break down trading activity geographically and alluded to the amount of barter in North American as well as other world-wide locations.

The figures for North America from both organizations were remarkably similar. NATE yearly figures as reported last week: $2 billion. IRTA figures reported in 2001 were $1.7 billion.

The IRTA study also reported that the total value of products and services bartered by small and mid-sized businesses through commercial barter networks outside of North America to be 3.5 billion $EU in Europe, and 670 million $AUD through Australasian barter networks.

The European results include the world’s oldest and largest barter network, WIR, which is located in Switzerland and accounts for over $E3 billion of the geographical area’s trading activity. And in Australasia, Bartercard’s size and presence accounted for over $A600 million of the trading activity in that part of the world.

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From the BarterNews Archives...

Part 2: How To Use Radio To Increase Company Sales

By Victor Ives, 30-year broadcast veteran

Last week we noted that the most effective radio commercials are those which inform, entertain, and sell without the exclusion of any of those elements.

Radio commercials can be whimsical and effective at the same time, but most attempts at humor fail. Jokes simply don’t work, although you can paint a picture that’s just enough “off kilter” to compel the listener to “deal” with it. (It’s almost like being unable to resist straightening a picture that’s hanging crooked on the wall.)

We have learned, through right brain research, that we retain more of what we assimilate when the right brain is employed. The trick is getting the listeners to use their imaginations. That’s what makes the message stick.

One whimsical spot was for a lumber yard. It was about a guy calling in asking about the fence he just built. The point was that the store gave people lots of help and that even the unskilled were welcome. The phone conversation went like this:

Customer: Hello, remember me? I am the guy you told how to build the fence that’s six feet by 24 feet.

Salesman: Yes, and I showed you how to sink the post, and to keep it straight and...

Customer: Oh, it’s great....your instructions were perfect...and it’s really sturdy...and it turned out to be exactly six feet by 24 feet.

Salesman: It’s sturdy and exactly six by 24 feet...so what’s the problem?

Customer: Well, it’s just that the airport control tower called and they said my new fence is interfering with the landing pattern.

Announcer: At XYZ Lumber we give you all the help we can, we’ll even sketch out plans...but look, if you turn the plans sideways, the most we can do is help you put a red light on it so planes don’t bump into your new fence.

Hysterical? Certainly not, but just whimsical enough to force the listener to visualize some jerk building a fence 24 feet tall and six feet wide. They also got the message that XYZ Lumber will help you by sketching out plans, etc.

(To be continued next week...)

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Drucker Looks Into Future, Foresees Trends Of 21st Century

Peter Drucker, author, teacher and consultant to global business, published his 33rd book, Management Challenges for the 21st Century, in 1999...at the age of eighty-nine.

Like most of Drucker’s books (dating back to the 1930s) it is filled with thought-provoking observations—grounded in history—on major trends in the economy and business sectors.

The following are this Southern California resident’s observations:

1) Collapsing birth rates.
Aging populations in the developing world in most countries, for at least the next 20 years, will have profound consequences for business and politics.

2) Change in education.
Long-distance learning may well make obsolete the free-standing undergraduate college.

3) Redefined health care.
Rather than fighting disease, health care will be defined as the maintenance of physical and mental functioning.

4) New development in business and history.
Individuals will have to manage themselves in the new century and new economy. Each person will have to determine how he or she can best contribute to the task at hand, within the organization to which one belongs.

BarterNews issue #63 is now available... get your copy now! Orders are shipped within two business days. Click on Order Form.

(If you are not sure if your subscription has lapsed, e-mail your name, address, and zip code to bmeyer@barternews.com.)

Barter Fairs & Holiday Expo's. . .

November:
BXI Ventura-Santa Barbara & BXI West Valley have scheduled their Holiday Trade Fair on Sunday, November 7 at the Oxnard Courtyard by Marriott, 600 East Esplanade Drive, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call (805) 376-9466 or (818) 758-2929.

American Commerce Exchange (ACX) will hold their Annual Trade Fair on Sunday, November 7 at the Glendale Community Center, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call (323) 259-2340

BXI Inland Valley Fair will take place Sunday, November 14 at the Elks Lodge in West Covina, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call (909) 592-7727.

BXI Nevada Holiday Trade Fair will be held Sunday, November 21 at the Speakeasy Convention Center, 200 E. 6th Street in Reno, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. For more information e-mail linda@bxinevada.com or phone (755) 829-2990.

December:
New England Trade will hold their 8th Annual Barter Expo on Wednesday, December 1 at the Danversport Yacht Club at 6:00 p.m. For more information call (781) 388-9200.

The oldest and largest BXI fair is the Orange County Holiday Fair at the Costa Mesa Orange County Fairgrounds in Bldg. 10 (same location for 24 years). Scheduled for Sunday, December 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call (714) 847-5477.

Trade Atlanta, Premier Barter, and Barter For Less are cooperatively staging a Holiday Festival on Tuesday, December 7 in Gwinnett, Georgia, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information call (678) 793-9463.

TradeAmericanCard 2004 Barter & Business Expo on Sunday, December 12 at The Grove of Anaheim, 2200 E. Katella Avenue, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more information call (714) 532-1610.

BXI Northern California/Nevada’s Holiday Trade Fair will be held on Sunday, December 12 at the Clarion Hotel at the San Jose Airport, 12 noon to 4 p.m. For more information e-mail ron@bxinorcal.com or phone (650) 592-2929.

BXI Southern Arizona’s Tradefair is scheduled for December 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call (520) 325-2929.

(Barter companies: Send your holiday trade fair information to: bmeyer@barternews.com.)

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Here & There...

• Don Mardak, CEO of International Monetary Systems (OTCBB:INLM), is proud of the company’s latest efforts. In a recent press release he stated, “We have enrolled 291 new clients, the highest quarterly number of client sign-ups in our company’s history. It once again illustrates our ability to grow internally.” (More than 60 of the new clients were by the new sales team in the greater Los Angeles area.)

• Wealthy investors are looking for new, alternative investments. And some of Wall Street’s major players are assisting their wealthier clients to acquire working ranches and farms...such properties were noted in the current issue of BarterNews.

  For more information on ranches available on a exchange basis, or on a part cash/trade basis, contact Tom Langel. His e-mail is: bn@tradeaway.com.

• Bentley Commerce (OTCBB:BLYC) is teaming with Your New Career (YNC), a consulting and investment company, to provide new business opportunities for entrepreneurial adults.

• Have you signed up to receive a summary via e-mail of the Tuesday Report every week? If not, go to the top of this issue (right hand corner) and sign up!

• This year’s U.S. presidential and congressional campaigns will cost a record $3.9 billion, 30% more than the $3 billion spent four years ago, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. (The presidential race alone will cost an estimated $1.2 billion.)

• Winemaking, one of man’s oldest professions, is rapidly moving into the 21st century. Some vintners have begun using software that allows them to manage, monitor, and analyze all production and compliance information, from grapes to bottles.

  The software not only helps vintners mix between five and 20 types of grapes through the wine-making process, but also aids them when it comes to compliance with taxes and regulatory filings. (All wineries have to file monthly government reports that detail all finished wines and wines in the making.)

• Despite foreign polls showing anti-American feelings running at its highest levels in years, you would never guess it by looking at the record earnings for U.S. companies overseas. For the first six months of 2004, U.S. corporations saw profits of $102 billion from their overseas-affiliate businesses...a 38% rise from a year earlier.

• IBM has recaptured the supercomputer speed title from the Japanese world champion, NCE Corp. The new record by a supercomputer—actually a “massively parallel” processing system that uses high-speed connections to link thousands of microprocessors together to perform tasks—runs 36.01 trillion mathematical operations a second!

  Such mind-boggling speed is beyond comprehensive, but very important for scientific progress as simulations on computers are expected to replace laboratories in the future. Scientists hope eventually to model how proteins fold...a process that’s important in designing drugs that can block cancer cells and other diseases.