It primarily does 3 things:

• A sales and marketing tool that GUARANTEES to bring you new customers
• A financial tool that decreases the cost of buying things by up to 87%
• A SME network of over 77,000 business owners who do business with one another rather than the big chains

How does Bartercard work?

It puts into action 17 ways of selling your SPARE capacity [the difference between what you are currently turning over compared to what you could be doing without increasing fixed overhead] to fellow Bartercard members - you receive Bartercard currency [trade pounds in the UK].

You then spend those trade pounds with ANY of the other global Bartercard member businesses – so you in effect "barter" your unsold capacity without having to directly reciprocate with the same business at the same time for the same value . Bartercard send you a bank like statement every month so you can keep track of your transactions and account balance.

What would I spend my trade pounds on?

• Regular business expenses - Accounting, printing, office etc
• All things to get known and attract cash customers - Sponsorship, promotions, PR, advertising and marketing
• All things to get your website working for you
• Wealth Creation - We have our own real estate department.
• Charitable Donations - Our local charity is Julia's House
• Personal Lifestyle - Are you in business to be a slave to it?

If you would like to swap products or services to pay for tickets, hospitality or sponsorship at Serenata please call the Bartercard office on 0845 263 6789.

Please visit www.serenatafestival.com to see more details and ticket/hospitality prices.

Testimonials

• Chairman — AFC Bournemouth
  
  "AFC Bournemouth has been a member of Bartercard, the world's largest trade exchange since early 2003. Bartercard Dorset are also one of the club's sponsors. We are finding the system to be extremely useful to us, and I thought you might find it of interest too.
  
  Bartercard enables us to purchase a very wide range of products and services without having to pay cash, and at the same time provides our suppliers with a guarantee that they will be paid promptly. Where we are looking for new suppliers, we have now adopted Bartercard as our preferred method of purchase.
  
  In a nutshell the way the sytem works is that we pay Bartercard suppliers in Trade Pounds whcih they can use in turn to buy goods and services from any other Bartercard member. The Bartercard team also provide a purchasing and marketing service for members.
  
  The approach is particularly useful for a football club like ourselves as we frequently have cash flow problems, and we have spare capacity in the form of empty seats on match days and the stadium facility on non-match days.
  
  For more information regarding Bartercard please contact Geoff Shilton on 0845 263 6789, to more fully understand the business benefits of being a member."
  –› View Full Testimonial
  
• Lee Gallagher There was a Fault!
  
  "Anyway as promised I have gotten in touch with Bartercard Dorset, and I have asked Geoff Shilton to speak to you. Now Geoff I have known for quite a number of years, in fact it was him that set up my sponsorship deal with Bartercard. As explained before I can't praise Bartercard enough, infact I have just secured a corporate day during Cowes Week for £11,000 +VAT that I would never have gotten without Bartercard. I'm even considering getting a virtual office and PA through them in the centre of London because I'm often at sea and unable to answer the phone and I loose business because of that. "
  –› View Full Testimonial
  
• Karen Hall - Director — Ultra Clean Blinds
  
  "Dear Geoff, I just wanted to write to say thank you and let you know what a positive experience I've had with Bartercard so far.
  
  Like many people I was sceptical - why would I want anything other than cash for my business? As a new business especially, I was concerned that we would spend time on Bartercard work to the detriment of everything else.
  
  I have to say, my concerns were entirely unfounded. We have made some excellent contacts via our trade work, and it has only complimented our business. I have been able to save cash in my business and have purchased branded items, accomodation for an event and I have also enlisted a PR company. Bartercard has enabled me to grow my cash business, by spending Trade Pounds.
  
  By far the biggest benefit is on a personal level. As many new business owners will appreciate - we work very long hours for very littel salary! With Barter I have been able to book a very well deserved and well needed holiday! I can't always pay myself in cash, but I can use Barter to treat mtyself evey now and again.
  
  I find it very easy to recommend Bartercard, and you in particular Geoff, so I have also benefited from the very generous recommend a friend scheme. I will remain an advocate of Bartercard and look forward to many years of positive trading."
  –› View Full Testimonial