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By Catherine
Utah Trading Company is a more recent barter exchange to use Barter21 software. Owner Graham Norris, formerly the owner of ITEX Utah and one time ITEX president, recently launched his new barter exchange. Mr. Norris’s choice to use Barter21 software for his exchange further legitimizes BCL Soft as the new industry software leader.
Barter industry veteran Ron Keister chose Barter21 software for a new project he has created called Corporate Connection which deals primarily in the hospitality industry.
Just over six months ago, BCL Soft’s Barter21 product attracted its first well-established exchange when Scot Mathewson moved iTtrade Earth to Barter21. A few months later, Annette Riggs of Corporate Connect, moved her barter exchange to the Barter21 software platform. Both Mr. Mathewson and Ms. Riggs are using Barter21 as a standalone product.
In late January of this year, LeeAnn Busman of Barter Consultants International asked BCL soft to make several changes to the Barter21 platform in order to bring her exchange to Barter21. A large and well-established exchange of over 2500 members, BCI has brokers, sales staff, and licensees. Within three weeks, BCL soft was able to make the changes required by BCI, something no other barter exchange management software company was able to do for them.
Since December 2010, 18 Barter exchanges have started using or switched to Barter21 software. These exchanges are using varying levels of Barter 21, from a simple trading floor account to our complete management system with a professional account. Barter21 is truly the fastest growing choice in barter exchange software management.
BCL soft owners Barry Cohen, Catherine Cohen and Luther Monson developed Barter21 with the needs of barter exchange owners and barter exchange members in mind. “When an exchange owner comes to us with an idea or need we do our best to include it in our already robust functionality,” says lead developer Luther Monson. “We are always looking at ways to incorporate the best ideas of barter industry professionals into our software to make our software better for everyone using it.”
Launched in February 2009, Barter21 is the best barter exchange management software in the industry. For more information on how Barter21 software can help run your barter exchange, please call Catherine Cohen at 623–242–2537 extension 101.
By Catherine
BCL Soft held its first “Conference within a Conference” on October 28, 2010 at the 31st Annual IRTA International Conference. Barter21 software users and prospective users came from as far away as China to learn about Barter21 and our newest feature.
While swipe cards have been an industry buzz word for years, there has never been an effective or viable solution for using membership cards to process barter transactions…Until now.
Swipe Cards? You Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Swipe Cards
2D Bar Codes are the next generation of bar coding and Barter21 software has taken advantage of this technology along with the technology of Android and iPhones. Barter21 now has a true mobile application that allows exchange owners, brokers, and members to view and search the directory, view and purchase from the Trading Floor, review account balances, and post transactions using a membership card with a 2D bar code. No swipe cards needed!
BCL Soft researched the swipe card feature for Barter21 software since our launch 19 months ago. And we always came to the same conclusion – the cost is prohibitive and not every business in your exchange has a swipe box for their merchant account. And most businesses don’t want to change merchant processors or cannot add programming to their swipe box. Plus those additional swipe fees can really add up.
With so few exchange members that have actual credit card swipe boxes and with the expense of supplying members with swipe card readers for your members, BCL Soft looked for a better and more universal way to read a membership card to process transactions.
Mobile Apps and QR Codes
BCL Soft has incorporated a type of 2D bar code known as a QR Code into our true mobile app – the first mobile app in the barter software industry. A QR code can be printed on anything from a membership card to a simple business card or a gift certificate. A QR code can even be sent via email and you can read it right on your computer screen.
Barter21′s new mobile app allows your members to download a program to their Android device or iPhone*. With this application (app) your member can log in to the app, scan the buyer’s membership card, and process the transaction. It’s easier than taking picture with your phone.
Questions or comments? Want a demonstration? Please call us at 623-242-2537 or info@bclsoft.com.
* Development for the iPhone App will begin Q1 of 2011.
By Catherine
When you go into business for yourself, there’s going to be competition. Either you’ve come up with a great new idea and others create their version and follow you. Or, like Barter21, you’ve made improvements on existing products or services and now you’re the bad guy.
In his book “The Science of Getting Rich, ” Wallace D. Wattles instructs us to “pass from the competitive mind to the creative mind.” But what does that mean?
The barter business, like most businesses can get very competitive. Instead, in whatever business you’re in, try to be creative instead of competitive.
As a software provider, BCL Soft, along with professional associations such as IRTA (the International Reciprocal Trade Association), part of our job is to present information about barter to businesses. Through blogs, videos and other social media BCL Soft makes your job of explaining what barter is all about easier for you. We need to become creative in order to help promote a universal message – barter is good for business.
When you service your customers, bring them more information (knowledge is power) and help them increase their profits, you increase your profits. And you make things better for your entire industry. That’s what BCL Soft always strives to do.
Unfortunately, many business owners never move “from the competitive to the creative mind.” When your business becomes creative it becomes successful. Be glad in your success and be glad in the success of others. When exchanges do well and publicize it, that brings up all the exchanges and the barter industry as a whole.
Sadly, there are still businesses out there, in barter and in all industries, that think the best way to get ahead is to accuse their competition. “When in doubt, create false accusations,” seems to be their motto.
Work with your barter software provider, your professional organization (IRTA or NATE) and other exchanges to present positive messages about our great industry. And when someone else is doing well, don’t accuse them of being unethical or unprofessional if they aren’t. (That makes you look unprofessional.) Instead, look at what makes them a success and then mimic and improve on it. That’s what Barter21 is all about. That is how the creative mind succeeds.
By Catherine
PHOENIX, AZ — (MARKETWIRE) — 08/25/10 –
When the economy takes a nosedive, few businesses have anywhere to go but down. They struggle to sell their products or services, are forced to eliminate staff and, ultimately, may end up closing their doors forever. But one industry remains a force to be reckoned with, even in the worst economic climate: barter exchanges.
“We’re one of the few businesses that actually thrives during an economic downturn,” says Catherine Cohen, CEO and marketing director for BCL Soft, a company that offers barter exchange management software and specializes in helping new exchanges get established. “And we also lend a helping hand to other businesses that are fighting to survive by saving them cash, increasing their profits and decreasing their cost of doing business.”
Entrepreneurs evaluating potential business opportunities face several options: starting from scratch, purchasing an existing business, becoming a franchisee or joining a multi-level marketing (MLM) business. While the safety of an established franchise may be enticing and the promise of residual income that comes with MLMs seems irresistible, Cohen would argue that barter groups have a leg up on the competition.
“With barter, you’re in business for yourself, but not by yourself,” she says. “The start-up cost is low, you don’t answer to a corporation or franchise, and we give you the tools you need to run a successful barter exchange. You’re not forced to get your friends and family to use some ‘miracle’ product. You are working with existing businesses to help them conserve cash and attract more customers.”
As anyone who’s used a barter exchange knows, the software is the tool that makes all the difference. “Our software, Barter21, is a ready-to-deploy barter and trade application,” says Barry Cohen, COO of BCL Soft. “This cutting-edge trading platform, developed by Luther Monson, our chief technical officer, allows clients to easily run their exchange and increase transactions both within and outside their exchange members. It features on-demand bartering with an online trading floor as well as a real-time directory and search information. This easy-to-navigate solution is all you’ll ever need to run and manage your exchange.”
BCL Soft not only provides the Barter21 exchange platform, but also teaches clients how to use the software, how to train their staff, answers questions around the clock, helps with IRS forms, offers tips to gain membership and provides marketing materials.
For more information, visit www.bclsoft.com
Barry Cohen 623.242.2537 info@bclsoft.com
By Barry
Industry-first upgrade designed to substantially increase trade volume
PHOENIX, AZ — April 26, 2010 — BCL Soft (http://www.bclsoft.com) has released a major update their popular Barter21 barter exchange management software. A complete change from the barter industry standard software, these enhancements are designed to help increase trade volume. “We are making it easier for members of the exchanges using our software to find not only the products or services they were looking for, but also to find complementary products and services,” said CTO and Lead Programmer Luther Monson. “Whether searching through the Member Directory or looking on the click-to-purchase Trading Floor, the new layout and design associates similar items, leading to increased barter activity.” In addition to those layout and functionality changes, barter exchange owners now have the capability to select and rotate featured items throughout their website, enabling them to move and promote items that could otherwise sit idle.
A Different Way to Think About Business Categories
Barter21 has always been an industry leader in their approach to business categories. They were the first software to match Member Directory and Trading Floor categories, making it easier on both members and exchange brokers to place businesses into the Directory and items and services onto the Trading Floor. And in a new twist, rather than adding more categories that are very specific, Barter21 has substantially reduced the number of categories and made each heading much broader. This is contradictory to the industry norm for barter exchange management software. “Placing a member into a broader category rather than multiple categories that are very specific gives them the greater exposure. Rather than a specific category like ‘Italian Restaurant’ we’ve put all the restaurants together into one category. So for the exchange that does not yet have an Italian Restaurant perhaps their member will choose another place to eat in the same category. Instead of a lost sale, all the members will get greater exposure. Greater exposure leads to more sales and trade volume. More trade volume means greater profits for the barter exchange.” said Barry Cohen, COO of BCL Soft.
Catherine Cohen, CEO of BCL Soft, continued, “The combined power of a redesigned Trading Floor, a more robust Member Directory that shows not only the member information but items that member has on the Trading Floor, and a more intuitive category structure is sure to have a positive impact. The members will have greater ease of use and that will reflect well on the bottom line of barter exchanges using the Barter21 platform.”
Launched in February, 2009, Barter21 is the fastest growing barter exchange management software in the modern Barter & Trade industry. Barter21 specializes in assisting start-up exchanges as well as being able to handle the greater trade volume of established exchanges.
