Comments on: What were they thinking – 4 Biz Card Don’ts

By: Emile Paradis

Emile Paradis — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:03:57 +0000

About laying those cards out at events, Hazel: some states have laws against baiting game when you’re out hunting.

By: David_bdml

David_bdml — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:42:03 +0000

I heard someone say to me one time, they were either couk or extremely wise, You be judge:

“Everything happens for a reason, whether its good or bad. That is what was supposed to happen in this beautiful cosmos. “

By: Hazel

Hazel — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:54:26 +0000

Interesting concept! They do cold call me and like you I also have a habit of turning the cold calls around. OK, lets plan on going to the chocolate and blues again this fall, put our cards on the table and see what happens!

By: David_bdml

David_bdml — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:21:15 +0000

Hazel,

When is the next networking event in Indy where I can leave my business cards on a table?

This tip might be the total opposite of idea of the article, and isn’t for every business type.

But whenever I have a sales person cold call me, I always flip the the call. I have him on the phone, so I try to learn about their business and who the decision makers are.

This method works best when a decision maker is making to cold call to you.

I would like to test out how many people call me from having my business card laying on a table. And also how many appts. I set for selling my services. And Finally, how many deals I close.

Hazel, could this work for you? Wouldn’t those people who pick up the biz cards, do exactly the opposite of what you teach about leverage? It seems like they could be great candidates for your business success trainings.

P.S. I thought my first post never posted, good ‘ole google analytics showed me this back link.

By: watershedstudio

watershedstudio — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 15:23:17 +0000

I don’t know if stacks of business cards sitting around is really a bad thing, but I can say that to date I have never had someone come to me stating that they randomly picked my business card up somewhere (not that there’s really been that opportunity).

I agree that getting them from people you know, or have at least really talked to, is the best approach. For myself, those are the people I actually get a response from and it’s a win-win both ways and it leads to referrals which is where a good portion of our business comes from.

By: Alistair

Alistair — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:08:33 +0000

I feel most business cards are badly designed anyway – they often don’t have the “right” info on them.

Sales is not “telling” but asking numerous questions so that one can match the needs of the prospective client with the product/ service you have. A business card cannot do this.

Most business cards don’t have a “call to action”. So what if they know your email address: the card hasn’t solved any of the objections of “no worry, no hurry or no money”

By: 4 things NOT to do with your business Cards « Tiffanie Kellog’s Blog

4 things NOT to do with your business Cards « Tiffanie Kellog’s Blog — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:18:33 +0000

[...] from Hazel’s blog article on What were they thinking – 4 Biz Card Don’ts Here are 4 things that I do not recommend that you do with your business cards 1. Don’t lay them [...]

By: Hazel

Hazel — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:35:08 +0000

Agreed, for some it might work, for many it will not. Thanks so much for our comments.

By: JP @ Printclick

JP @ Printclick — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:30:10 +0000

I guess it can depend on the field your in whether to aggressively hand them out or not.

Personally I agree with the commentator David that you’d get more value in your cards if you used them as a marketing piece.

Displaying your business’ unique value proposition, or a strong call to action, or any other strong message to spark an emotion.

But again, depending on the field I’m not sure this strategy works for all.

By: Beth Anderson

Beth Anderson — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:40:23 +0000

Jeff Stay challenged me with this, and I did it. Had forgotten all about it until now.

Someone gave me their card at an event and he was a financial planner. I looked at the card, and politely handed it back to him, calmly explaining that I already had my primary and secondary referral partners, and so it would be disingenuous of me to take the card of someone I would not be referring business to.

The look on his face was priceless. We went on to get to know one another – he actually started a BNI chapter – but I never did refer him business. After all, once I have 2 levels of referral partners it takes a lot to displace them!