Featured Member Interview- October 2009

This month, Phillip Jones chats to Colin McCulloch who leads the team of Bartercard in the ACT region who recently became Schmooze's latest principle sponsor.

Colin McCulloch, Franchise Principal, Bartercard Canberra

1. You’ve been with Bartercard for 8 years Colin, what was your professional background before then?
Prior to joining Bartercard I was the Office Manager for a large Landscaping and Construction Company for 3 years. It was through this Company I became exposed to the Bartercard Trading Network and how beneficial it is to all businesses to generate extra Sales and offset cash expenses.
 
2. Bartercard has been around for a several years, operating in several countries and is very successful. Is there something about in the current financial climate that makes it a particularly attractive option for business now?

Although Bartercard has many benefits to all business types in all economic climates, it is especially effective in the current economic climate. Certain businesses at the moment may be struggling for sales, moving idle inventory etc.

That’s where Bartercard can help. We can guarantee extra sales for our members and is an invaluable tool to help recession proof your business

3. If you were to give some pointers on how a company could best take advantage of the Bartercard system what would you say?

The great thing about Bartercard is that any product or service can be sold into the network. You may have excess stock, a car, things around the house you have never used.

Also we help the businesses get extra sales and work with them to utilise the funds we generate. Constant contact with our staff is the key to getting the most out of Bartercard

4. Who else do you have working with you on your team?

We have three Account Managers in Canberra and one at our Satellite office in Wagga. Our account Managers work with the businesses on a daily basis to help them get extra sales they wouldn't normally get and offset current cash expenses using the Bartercard system.

We also have two Sales Consultants on the road constantly signing up new businesses into the Bartercard Network offering more opportunities and deals for our membership base


5. Are you seeing a shift in the way businesses are conducting their sales or marketing activities given the economy?

Definitely, more businesses are looking at alternate ways of conducting business in the current economic climate to gain extra sales and an edge over their competitors. Bartercard gives our members that edge and guarantees new sales they wouldn’t normally get.

We can also help them with Marketing and Advertising strategies to gain extra cash sales and increase their profits overall

6. Do you think there is a particular ways of doing business in Canberra?

It’s all about how much you put in. Networking, alternate marketing strategies all help to get interest out there for your business. It’s amazing how much business we have generated from just talking to other business owners in a casual environment.

Basically though no advertising is bad advertising, it’s all about brand awareness and involvement in the business community.

7. Bartercard recently became a Principle Sponsor for Schmooze – how do you see the opportunities this provides for our respective memberships

We are very excited about becoming involved with Schmooze at a corporate level. The fact that we can help any small to medium size business in Canberra means that through Schmooze we are meeting more business owners at the Networking functions and talking to them about the benefits of the Bartercard system.

We are also directly helping Schmooze by signing up our own members into Schmooze and helping them organise more functions and products they can utilise.