You don’t always have to pay cash, or even borrow, for the things you want!  Here’s an ancient business strategy that has helped me get tons of business, contracts, inventory and more for basically free!

Wondering what this magical strategy is?  It goes all the way back to probably the first human beings with sense-bartering.

If I grow rice and you grow peas, I’ll give you some of my rice in exchange for some of your peas.

Even with the evolution of money, bartering has continued to exist and thrive in modern society.

Businesses of all sizes and industries do it, and here’s how you can use bartering to your advantage in your small business.

Let’s say you run a small accounting firm.  You may even be a sole trader, so you’re literally the only person in your business.

Something comes up, and you run into a legal issue with a client.  You realize you’re gonna need an attorney, but you don’t have the money to pay them.

You could look for an attorney who’s possibly also a sole trader and offer your accounting services in exchange for their legal services, with some caveats.

There are two keys to a good barter.

One – Find something that the other party wants or needs so much that they’d be willing to pay for it.

In our example above, if the attorney already has an accountant, they’ll probably decline your offer.

But there was one time an electronics company offered me a brand new laptop in exchange for my services, right when my old laptop was starting to give trouble. So that was a no-brainer!  Of course I accepted that barter.

In order for a barter to be successful, both parties have to feel like they’re benefiting. 

The second key to bartering is to ensure that you’re offering something of comparable value.  

Make sure that you get the approximate value of the goods or services that you’re bartering for, and that you place a value on your goods and services as well.

Let’s use our previous example of the accountant and the attorney.  If the legal fees would cost say, a hundred thousand dollars, then you want to offer a hundred thousand dollars worth of your accounting services.  That might mean filing their taxes, or free bookkeeping for a month, or whatever service you offer that reaches a similar value.

As the saying goes, fair exchange is no robbery.

You can do this with goods, services, or a combination of goods and services.  I’ve used this strategy many times in my business.

I’ve offered a Money Mission membership in exchange for a steep discount on a service that I needed.  I happened to know that the person wanted a Money Mission membership, so he was happy to accept that offer.

I’ve recently been using this strategy in some unconventional ways for an event I’m planning later this year.  I know I don’t have the money to pay the people I want, but if I can find out what they want and find a way to provide it to them, they may be open to working together.

Essentially, this is also the key to all sales.  Sales isn’t about forcing your item on someone.  If you can offer someone an item they already want, even if they didn’t know that they wanted it until you mentioned it, then buying from you becomes a no-brainer.  And accepting your barter, same.

Most businesses barter in some way, shape or form, so don’t be afraid to trade.

And that’s the bottom line.