Is there a way to tell when a business card is going to waste? I’m
frequently asked if I have a business card, but the number of call backs is
no where near the amount of cards handed out. How can I tell if someone is
genuinely sincere or just blowing smoke? Is this a symptom of an entirely
different problem?

Great question from a new reader! Guy, unfortunately the answer is a resounding yes. Yes they are sincere. Yes they are blowing smoke. Yes there is an entirely different problem.

Sincere Customers

Here is the first principal. Business cards should be handed out at every opportunity, regardless of fact that only a small percentage will respond. Business cards are one of the cheapest ways of marketing you and your business and you never know when they’ll land in the hand of a buyer.

Are most people who you give a business card to interested? Probably not. However, that shouldn’t stop you from handing them out. Keep in mind that everyone has a sphere of influence and you don’t know who is inside their sphere.

If you own a high tech networking company and hand out a business card to a stay at home mother, the odds of getting a call from her are VERY low. However, maybe her husband is the night shift manager at a hotel. This hotel has networking problems and she gives your card to him. He gives your card to the general manager and two days later you have a contract to re-wire the entire hotel. All of that from a 10 cent business card. The reason it was so effective was because the business card came from a reliable source. You’ll never have perceived authenticity if you would have bought a billboard.

Non-Sincere Customers

While I sold cars, I worked with a guy who always told me that he could look at a customer and know instantly whether they were buyers. I never believed him and approached every customer as if they were ready to buy and had the money. Because of that I sold as many cars as he did my first month in the business, and half of his sales were from previous customers!

The fact that most of your customers aren’t actually “buyers” shouldn’t stop you from handing out a business card. Since they’re so inexpensive, hand them out as often as possible. One of my favorite techniques that I learned from Joe Girard was to stick a business card into every bill you pay. You never know who in the mail room has a brother who has a cousin that needs your service.

Other problems?

Since business cards are just one facet of an effective marketing strategy it is hard to gauge why they are not working as you have expected them to. Here are a few potential problems with your business cards:

1. High Expectations

Are you expecting 10% of your business cards to result in a sale? If so, good luck. Try to aim for less than 1 percent. That is where you’ll find your business.

2. Volume

How many business cards are you passing out? While I sold cards I would go through a box of 1,000 cards in about 30-45 days. That is an average of handing our 30+ business cards during a good time. I gave them to literally everyone I met. They weren’t all in the market for a car, but if only 1 percent knew someone, that was 10 extra leads per month just from my business cards.

3. Design

There is a chance that your business cards are so badly designed that people throw them away. If they’re hard to read, were designed in 1980 or they embarrass you, it’s time to get new business card templates. Professionally designed business cards can be had for less than $100. That is a small price to pay for an extra lead or two.

Given all of that information, many people ask for a business card just to end a conversation. I would recommend using the business card as an introduction tool, not a conversation stopper. Try to work handing the person your business card into the middle or beginning of a conversation. That way they already have your business card and you can focus on selling them your product or service.

Hope that helps!

1. Networking event with the specific intention of passing our a business card and giving your elevator speech.

2. Using your business cards whenever you can to establish new leads.

Personally, I’ve only been to one of the former, and it was a complete waste of time.  I didn’t generate any new leads, nor did I find any companies that I needed.

The latter however has been very profitable for me.  Here is how I do it.

Keep business cards everywhere.  If you are like me, you forget your business card case occasionally. When this happens, I have a few backup business cards stashed everywhere.  I keep them in my jacket pockets, in the pockets of my suits, a few in my wallet, and even a couple in my glove box of my car.  This way I am never very far from a business card even if I forget my business card case.

By having business cards wherever you are, you will constantly be reminded to hand them out, and when the opportunity arises, you’ll be able to give one to the perfect prospect!

Business card networking has been around since the time business cards were first created.

Whenever you run into someone, that is a chance to network with that person.  It doesn’t have to be at a convention or in a sales presentation.  Networking can happen anywhere at anytime.

Here is one example.  I was in an airport, standing in line talking on the phone.  I was trying to sell a website to a client who had never bought from me.  A guy a few places in line behind me heard my conversation.  In the conversation I agreed to edit the existing template to make it look the way the customer wanted.

The guy in line behind me said, “You do websites?”.  I turned and said, “Yes, do you want one for your company?”  He said, “We just met with a company last week, but they don’t seem like they can do what we want.”  He told me their plans for a ecommerce site, and I told him about the free software called OS Commerce.

I told him installation was fairly straightforward, but customization and importing his existing database could be problems unless they had someone experienced with installing MySQL databases and editing PHP.

He then asked for a demonstration.  I pulled out my computer and showed him an example site I designed (site is currently just used for testing).  He said he wanted me to design their new website, we talked about what all he wanted, talked about price, and talked about when it could be finished.

By the time my plane arrived we were already talking about hitting the golf course next time I was in town.

That is business networking!