Your business card can either help you – or destroy your credibility.
In speaking at different trade shows, I receive a great many different business cards from people in many different walks of life and business, and I’m constantly amazed at how many people have business cards that work against them in the selling arena. Your business card tells your story in a very small and succinct way, and more importantly, it represents you after you leave. Is it telling the right story?
First of all, let’s remind ourselves of why we use business cards:
Business cards identify us: A business card is a very quick way to “place us” in the business world. In a very small piece of heavy paper, we convey who we are, what we do, and for whom we do it. We also let people know how to get ahold of us. Go to a networking event, and you’ll meet a bunch of people. You’ll also collect a bunch of business cards. You may forget the faces – but the cards remind you of the people.
Business cards are the best leave-behind: Salespeople love “leave-behinds,” those fancy brochures and packets that are supposed to remind our customers of why they should buy from us. About 4 out of every 5 of those fancy brochures are in the trash before you make it out of the parking lot – BUT your business card is saved and filed. That means your business card is usually your only meaningful leave-behind. It’s also why you shouldn’t attach your card to stuff that’s likely to be thrown away.
Business cards give us credibility: Business cards establish you as a “legitimate” businessperson. They begin the process of establishing that you are what you say you are, and can do what you say your can do. And, in sales, credibility is our main asset. “Credibility” is that quality that allows people to believe what we say because it is we who say it.
Your customers want to buy from someone who has substance and stability. Your business card needs to reflect thost qualities. To do this, it needs to have a few qualities. These qualities are:
Substance. Yes, I know; I already said “substance.” However, some business cards are substantial and some are not. Here’s a hint: Anything you run through your home printer isn’t substantial. Leave the ‘micro-perfed’ blank business cards on the shelf at the office supply store. Instead, invest in a commercially printed card of at least 12-point cardstock. Heavier is better. A good business card from a reputable printer only costs $100 or so for a thousand. If a hundred bucks is too much to spend in order to protect your image, get out of sales. By the way – if your company supplies you with cheap, flimsy, lousy cards – it’s still on you to get nice ones. It’s your career.
Good Contact Information. The primary purpose of leaving a business card is to help people to contact you, so why wouldn’t you have full contact information on your card? Contact information includes your name, your title, your mailing address, your e-mail address, phone number(s), and fax number if you have one. One element I’m seeing more of these days is a Skype username, as well. The most common problem with business cards is in the e-mail address; let’s deal with that specifically.
The Right E-mail Address. Somewhere in the neighborhood of half of the cards that I received do not have a professional e-mail address. What I mean by a “professional e-mail address” is an address that is along the lines of yourname@companyname.com. Too many people in this industry are still working with a ‘free’ e-mail provider such as Gmail or Yahoo, using an address like myadspecialties@gmail.com. This pegs you as a small, and perhaps a temporary, player in your industry – and will work against you with buyers. You need a website with your own domain name, and an email address that is personal and guided through your own domain. It’s not expensive. If you like free websites, a WordPress site is free. Domain names are cheap, and can then be attached to your free WordPress site. Email hosting isn’t expensive, either. Voila. A few bucks and a bit of thought, and now you have a professional E-mail address.
For small business, the best marketing material you can have is a quality business card, passed across the desk to a potential customer in a sales call. However, if yours doesn’t fit the above criteria, it can actually work against you.
