Danger: Flying Business Cards

From time to time, I sort through business cards I have collected—some from Chamber of Commerce breakfasts, some from other networking events. The ones I tend to value more are the ones whose owners I remember.

How do you make your business card memorable in a way that makes the receiver hang on to it? For me, it isn’t usually the card I’m handed after first meeting someone (As in, “Hi, my name is Joe and I provide gutter cleaning services. Here’s my card.”)

Rather, it is the one whose owner has engaged me in a meaningful conversation first. The biz owner who has taken the time (at least 5 minutes!) to get to know me.

As small business owners, we have always been told to blanket our market with our business cards. (They are a cheap way to advertise, so we should send them flying as fast and furiously as possible, right?) But building credibility as a business (or nonprofit) takes more thought than that. To get the most mileage from my business card, I’ve found this process helpful:

• If you’re standing, wait. At a stand-up, mixer type affair, listen first. Engage the person you met in a conversation. Then offer your card. At that point, it will actually mean something.

• If you’re seated, hand it out sooner. If you are at a sit-down event or meeting, give people your card after you have introduced yourself, but before the general business conversations have started. Most people are more visually oriented and they will better connect your printed name with you and your business if they have your card in front of them.

• Jot yourself a reminder. Have you ever gotten back to the office and forgotten who the person was and what they do? Jot a note on the back of their card, something interesting (and specific) you talked about, that you can use in your follow-up contact.

• Follow-up with an e-mail. It’s less intrusive than a phone call and busy people often appreciate this mode of contact. Include something specific the two of you talked about, or restate your promise if you said you would send something to them, like a lead, a referral or a copy of a resource.

If you make your business card do what it was intended to do, strengthen relationships with prospect and future customers, it will be less likely to end up in the trash basket.
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© Marketing Hotspots 2008 - Vol. 1, Issue 6