Barter Agreement Proposal

~ Just Ask

Barter negotiations can go pretty much any way you can think of, and they are always different. What I have laid out here is merely an example framework for a barter agreement process, and by no means represents the way things always go.

Factors that you influence most; what you are offering/requesting as a trade, the mood and method of proposing, responses to their reaction, and weather or not the other party will be able to see a benefit by trading with you.

After some thought and practice, you will find proposing and negotiating a direct style barter/trade to be fun, easy, and profitable. Many business owners who don’t “need” to barter keep bartering anyways because they enjoy it.
Maybe you will too.

Example...

Dear Mr. Johnson,

I saw one of your flyers in the Downtown Daily newspaper, and ever since then I've been craving a SoundBlaster9000 sound system for my home office. However, I’m reluctant to part with the $1500, so I would like to propose a trade.

My company Best Desk Inc. builds custom desks from the most exotic hard woods. If you would possibly be interested in designing or helping to design a desk of your own, bound to be like no other desk ever built, I would love to have it built and shiped to you in exchange for SoundBlaster9000. The details for your desk we can negotiate, as far as which type of wood and what features the desk will have. An 1800 dollar (or so) valued desk would be fine with me.

Please take a moment to look at our portfolio online at www.bestdeskinc.com

Thank you for your time,
please call or email me with any questions.

Don Juan
President
Best Desk Inc.
009-234-5678

Notes-

1. It is a favor to tell someone which marketing is working. If you start out with a favor, it is already beneficial for him to be even hearing from you.
2. Benefits of the barter situation are expressed for each party, and then the benefits of the trade for the recipient of the letter are emphasized.
3. Reluctance to spend the cash is shown. Note- This is not an essential part of the message.
4. Including your company’s website gives a non-committal and low pressure call to action, which is sure to be reinforcing the benefits of the trade by providing more information and images of your offerings.
5. Offering for him to call you is another warm gesture which doubles as a call to action.
6. Offering to answer questions shows that he doesn’t have to decide until he feels comfortable.
7. A deal is even offered beating normal cash prices!