By Bob Meyer

Barter through a trade exchange is a proven way of doing business, and a profitable form of distribution. Forty-six years ago this peer marketing concept was born in Los Angeles.

Built upon a sound debit and credit system, business owners could trade their products/services easily among each other. But they would not have to accept the other’s merchandise on a direct one-to-one basis.

Rather, they took payment for the trade in the form of a “trade dollar” which would then be credited to their account. And be immediately available for use in their future barter purchases with any other member (business owner of individual) of the trade exchange.

Today, there are over 400 trade exchanges across America, approximately 375,000 business owners take advantage of the opportunities for peer marketing through organized trade exchanges. (Trade exchanges number over 800 worldwide, and all are listed on the BarterNews website.)

Modern sophisticated computers are now commonplace, having replaced “ledgers” of the early days, with instant tabulation of every transaction.

Marketing through the network is invaluable (where hundreds of your peers are available and ready to trade) and much easier and effective than direct one-to-one trading.

Don’t minimize your trading efforts. In today’s business world your commitment to peer marketing could be that vital ingredient and the difference between success and failure.

In short, all of us must use every avenue available to compete and prosper in the ever-growing competitive marketplace.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 at 4:27 am and is filed under Entrepreneurs & Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.