Business Cards - Front to Back

by BIG Mike McDaniel Small Business Advertising Expert

 

Business cards are the most underutilized and misunderstood
marketing tool in business. Many people spend the bucks for
cards and don't make an effort to get them into the hands of
those who can hire them or buy from them.

 

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

 

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

 

The only time you should have cards still in the box is when
something on the card becomes outdated or obsolete.

 

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

 

Car dealers are famous for finding ways to save money on
business card expense. With the revolving door turnover of
salespeople, many dealers stopped ordering individual cards
for new hires. They print a master card with color dealer
logo and phone numbers and leave a big space in the middle
for the new salesperson's name to be penciled in. That way,
when the would-be fast talking, glad handing flannel mouth
doesn't work out, no new cards need be printed.

 

A swell image: handwritten business cards.

 

It would be interesting to run the numbers on how much money
was saved at the printers versus how much business went
somewhere where the salespeople appeared more professional.
With car dealer margins, one sale would buy a lot of
business cards.

 

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

 

Some people painstakingly cut itty bitty strips of computer
labels printed with the new information and stick them over
the old just to save a few bucks. Calculate what your time
is worth and the savings turn into an expense, not to
mention what the "corrected" card does to future business.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Say it in business-like, professional style.

 

About Author: BIG Mike McDaniel http://BigIdeasgroup.com
is the Small Business Advertising Expert and author of
"Business Cards - Front to Back". This book tells you how
to make your business card the most powerful tool in your
marketing arsenal. To learn more visit
http://tinyurl.com/j6ol3

How absolutely anyone can start a business right this second

Copyright 2006 M Paglia

The other day I was driving down a street in a commercial
district and noticed a moving van. Two "blue collar
workers" were busy loading office furniture in a
company-owned vehicle. It was obvious that they were
employees of this major company and I surmised they were
making about $12 per hour. I then thought about the normal
lives these men probably lived. They had to punch a
time-clock every day. If they were sick, they had to report
to a boss and get permission to stay home. They had to
depend on the company to pay them a weekly salary. They got
paid the same amount of money every week and were lucky to
get a raise every year or so. Because of being controlled
by a time clock at work, they naturally arranged their
lives in the same fashion. They came home at the same time,
ate dinner at the same time, looked forward to Friday for 2
days of rest but ended up cramming all their neglected
responsibilities from the previous week into those 2 days.

The entire human race consists of two major groups of
people: (1) Leaders and (2) Followers. Leaders have a
built-in knack to not be happy with the normal flow of
existence. Leaders are continually striving for a way out
of this rat-race because they have a human characteristic
of wanting to lead instead of follow. But a good many of
these leaders don't have a lot of money because they have
been working for an employer all their lives. They
recognize that they will never achieve the level of success
they desire working for someone else. But they can't just
leave their job and survive on their own. How could they
pay the rent? Put their children through college? Buy the
groceries? Pay Visa and Mastercard?

With all these fears sitting in the leader will often exist
as a follower because he or she doesn't believe they have a
choice. But they do! In fact, the answer is right under
their noses. Allow me to explain . . . Let's take the guy
working for the moving company that I saw when I was
driving down the street. He could offer the same service on
weekends through word-of-mouth advertising.

By placing a simple classified ad under Services Offered in
the local newspaper, he could pick up a couple jobs a month
and bring in an extra income. Or how about the lady that
just had a baby and wants to stay at home with it. Her
maternity leave from her employer, only allows her 6 weeks.
If she doesn't go back to work then she will either lose
her job, her income or both. If her husband doesn't bring
in enough money to support her and the baby she doesn't
think she has a choice. The new mother will sacrifice money
for her child. But if this lady wants to stay at home with
her child, why doesn't she start a home day-care center?
That way, she would still make money and be able to be with
her new child at the same time. Good for the child. Good
for the mother. Good for the family unit. Good for other
working mothers who can trust a "mother-run" day care
center versus a commercial one.

Plus since the day care center is in this mother's home,
she can charge 40% to 50% less than commercial day care
centers and probably make more money compared to her old
job. Too often, people who want to break out of the mold
and start their own business will seek for products and
services they know absolutely nothing about. Someone told
them they could make a lot of money doing this and doing
that. But the truth is that it will take anyone longer to
make money with a product or service that they have to
learn. In fact, this learning period could take a year or
more. The person could easily be discouraged about a small
business if it doesn't make any money by then. So, if you
are considering starting a small business; entertain the
possibility of starting one based on the skills you already
possess.

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http://www.makemoneyathome.citymax.com