"The Pitch"

Unlock the secret to boosting your business with the power of barter! Ever wondered how you can conserve cash while still acquiring essential goods and services? Tune in to Episode 0, "The Pitch," where I, Trader Stu, sales manager of Metro Trading Association (MTA), introduce you to a revolutionary way of doing business. Learn how MTA helps businesses like yours lower overhead and enhance profits by using trade dollars instead of cash. This episode sheds light on our unique system that turns spare inventory and time into valuable assets, bringing in new customers and making your business thrive within an expansive network that stretches from Bay City, Michigan, to Toledo, Ohio.

Join me as I explore the dynamic benefits of our organized barter system. With trade dollars working like magic, you can keep your cash reserves intact and still expand your marketing reach through exclusive territories, newsletters, and our annual trade show. I describe a real-life example of how accepting trade customers not only introduces new clientele but also improves cash flow. Discover how our user-friendly app handles transactions effortlessly, turning potential downtime into a profitable opportunity. Feel the power of a community that supports each other, making every transaction a stepping stone to future growth. Don't miss out on unlocking a world of business possibilities beyond traditional chambers of commerce!

“Whistles In The West” was written, recorded, and produced by Durracell, exclusively for use with Trader Stu’s platform, always rocking the cowboy hat. The track is protected under U.S. Copyright rights to use have been granted specifically to Trader Stu for content and promotional use related to his brand and media presence.

contact:
 📧 durracellmusic@gmail.com
🌐 www.durracell.com

The thoughts and views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and do not reflect the official policy or position of Metro Trading Association. Although the host is an employee of Metro Trading, this podcast is intended to educate entrepreneurs on the benefits of professional trading, regardless of their location. Additionally, the host reviews various pieces of camping gear due to the association of trade, barter, and prepping.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Hello and welcome to the Trading Post. I'm Trader Stu and I am the sales manager of Metro Trading Association, or MTA for short. I did this episode because I'm calling it Episode 0, called the Pitch, basically for people who wanted more information. So if you're getting this in an email, obviously I've already probably talked to you and you've asked me for more information and this is the best way that I could figure out to do it. And you've asked me for more information and this is the best way that I could figure out to do it.

Speaker 1: 0:52

Mta is a local business network that together we grow each other's businesses. Through the use of organized barter, we help lower your overhead, conserve your cash and increase your profits. One other cool thing is that we try and provide an exclusive territory to our members, so the only time that we bring in another of the same category is if they're receiving too much business from the association. We also provide seven types of marketing for the commission that you pay. We have a flyer of the announcement of new members that come on board, a quarterly newsletter for members seeking new business, a listing in our directory, our annual trade fair and I'll get to that in a minute. Weekly email blasts that we put out. It's called the Barter Buzz, trader Brokers or the Trade Brokers, and then the Account Executives. One thing to keep in mind with trade dollars is that the trade members shop with their trade. They try and do all their purchases first with trade because it keeps their cash in their account and every purchase that they make seeds a future sale for them. So purchases are not paid with cash, obviously, it's paid with trade dollars and they're also paid with future sales. So, unlike cash purchases, association purchases, I should say, seed new sales and therefore help your business grow. And that's because it's like networking. Members can see who's coming into their shop and they can see who's spending with them and a lot of times you know they'll turn around and try and do business with the person who came in to see them and it's just kind of like reciprocation.

Speaker 1: 2:22

Think of it as a chamber of commerce where you kind of know everybody and everyone does tries to do business with each other. But in this way you're not locked into just that general town. Usually chambers are limited by the city. This is well. Our immediate membership is from Bay City, michigan, down in Toledo, as far west as Lansing and Ann Arbor and, of course, the entire thumb. So all right.

Speaker 1: 2:47

So let's go through an example of how it works. Say, someone comes into you and buys $100 worth of goods or services from you because you could be a plumber or you could be a restaurant, and then you get $100 traded to your account and then you gave up. You know only your cost of inventory or your spare time, which, if you are somebody in the services industry, as you know, once that Wednesday at two o'clock is gone, that's gone forever. So if you could take a trade customer at Wednesday at two, you know it's advantageous for everybody. So three good things happen to you when you take on a transaction like that. You gain a new customer thanks to us.

Speaker 1: 3:24

You have $100 in your trade account that can be spent with anybody and any one of our members, and you can have no and you have no receivables, because we take care of all that for you on our app. So let's just say you need something and you go out and you spend $100 on advertising. So you look in the directory, choose whoever will give you the best price and service for your $100 worth of advertising, but you don't pay with cash. You transfer your credit from your MTA account, and so, from your point of view, all the $100 actually cost you was your inventory or your spare time. So you've also acquired advertising by using your inventory or extra time on a sale that you likely would not have had without us, and instead of spending $100 cash, you've lowered your overhead. And the only thing that can happen to your profits when you lower your overhead, of course, is that your profits increase. So now you've acquired advertising without having to use your credit card, so your cash is still available to you. So now you've improved your cash flow. Purchased retail at wholesale price, so it's like we deposited $100 in your account, you know, the funny thing is, of course how many times would you like that to happen? To deposit that money back into your account?

Speaker 1: 4:30

And one cool thing about this, too, is that I always have to mention, because it isn't so obvious to everybody, I guess is that you can also use your trade card for personal use as well. It's not just you have to use it for business only, right? So all of this only costs you what, basically? We charge a 12% marketing fee or I call it a commission out of the profit that we produce for you. So you get the business first, you profit first, and then out of that, the next month you get invoiced for 12%. I wanted to mention, too, you can also do a 6% on the sale and 6% when you go buy something, so it's still 12% in the end, but it just depends on how you want to break it up.

Speaker 1: 5:10

Now, a lot of our members feel it really doesn't cost anything to join, unlike a chamber or something like that, where you pay four or 500 bucks or more per year. You only do a one-time application fee of $400 to join us, and then $19 a month in trade and cash per year, but that's after a year. So the cool thing is, though, is that we grant you a no interest credit line equal to your application fee, so it's like a secured loan of $400. So if you you know you pay the membership fee of 400, you get, you have $400 you can spend within the association right away. We do that for two reasons First, so you can see how well our credits spend before you sell, and then, second, so there's no immediate cost in joining us and we also have a no-risk guarantee on top of all that. So if MTA doesn't provide you with at least $400 in new business the first year, then your membership dues are refunded, minus whatever you spent. So if you went out to eat and spent $300 trade at you know, over the course of a year or whatever, then you're going to get back a hundred bucks. That's only if we can't get you $400 in sales.

Speaker 1: 6:15

The other thing is too it's kind of neat is that you can give a card to your kids or partner. So you can. So for the partner or spouse usually it's just a regular card that's on the business account and it's the full amount. But if you have kids or even employees we have a lot of members who have employees that give their employees a benefit of a prepaid barter card and in that way they could they load it on there before the trade show and they have some money to spend. So that's it, quick and easy.

Speaker 1: 6:43

That was a 10 minute pitch, a quick presentation, and yeah. So if you'd like more information, go to metrotradingcom and you can also just join MTA in the top right hand corner. There's an icon there that says that, and then also you can give us a call 248-244-0000. Be sure to follow along, however you're following along on iHeartRadio or Amazon or YouTube whatever, because I would like to do more of these episodes and go around and interview our members and see how trade benefits them. So this is just more than just a quick pitch podcast. It's going to be more. I want to do more with it anyways, and then go from there. So have a great day.