What Does Your Business Card Say?

Business cards are the most underutilized andmisunderstood marketing tool in business. Manypeople spend the bucks for cards and don't make aneffort to get them into the hands of those who canhire them or buy from them.

Everyday people throw away stacks of undeliveredbusiness cards. Money down the dumper.

Your goal is to design and use a memorable cardand get so many delivered you have to re-order.Forget about those clever articles about what todo with stacks of leftover cards.

The only time you should have cards still in thebox is when something on the card becomes outdatedor obsolete.

If you designed your cards as a marketing tool andplanned your distribution, tossing unused cards inthe trash should become the exception rather thanthe rule. If one item on your card changes thecards are obsolete and should be pitched.

Car dealers are famous for finding ways to savemoney on business card expense. With the revolvingdoor turnover of salespeople, many dealers stoppedordering individual cards for new hires. Theyprint a master card with color dealer logo andphone numbers and leave a big space in the middlefor the new salesperson's name to be penciled in.That way, when the would-be fast talking, gladhanding flannel mouth doesn't work out, no newcards need be printed.

A swell image: handwritten business cards.

It would be interesting to run the numberson how much money was saved at the printers versushow much business went somewhere where thesalespeople appeared more professional. With cardealer margins, one sale would buy a lot ofbusiness cards.

Worse is using a business card with a black orblue marker blotting out a line of type and a newname,address or phone number written (or typed)above the black line. Ugh!

Some people painstakingly cut itty bitty strips ofcomputer labels printed with the new informationand stick them over the old just to save a fewbucks. Calculate what your time is worth and thesavings turn into an expense, not to mention whatthe "corrected" card does to future business.

Dig out that stack of business cards you have beencollecting for years and flip through them, youwill see at least one with a correction.

If you are in any business and venture outsideyour cubby-hole for any reason, you should carrybusiness cards at all times. You should be able to"whip one out" without diggout out your wallet anddigging thru pics of the kids, or plunging to thebottom of your purse past the hair spray.

You card says a lot about you. And you say evenmore about you when you offer your card.

Say it in business-like, professional style.

For more about buiness cards, get my article"What Does the BACK of Your Business Card Say?"

©2005 BIG Mike McDaniel All Rights ReservedMike@BIGIdeasGroup.comBIG Mike is a Professional Speaker and SmallBusiness Consultant with over 30 years experience,http://BIGIdeasGroup.com

eMail: BizCardBack@BigIdeasGroup.com

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