Are Most of Your Business Cards Still in The Box?

Without a plan to distribute your business cards, there's no need to print them in the first place.

The average person has more than half of their business cards still in the box at any given time.

Make a plan to empty your box of cards in 3 months or less; after all, those little cards are your most powerful marketing tool.

BIG Mike -BIG Mike

Here's a great way to get rid of your business cards. Take twenty a day and make it a point to give all twenty away before the day is done. If you do that Monday through Friday, that's 100 business cards a week and a whole lot of new contacts. -Jim Klein

Good idea Jim Klein! 20 a day brings Freedom my way! -nocci01

BIG Mike why do you think that's the case. Why do you think salespeople don't hand out cards more often? -AZBroker

I read that the life of a business card once it leaves a persons hand is 7 hours. Between the time it is given to its demise, perhaps it will be used as a device to clean a particle out from 2 teeth. Not the fate, I have in mind for my business cards.

Rather than focusing on giving out my cards, when I meet people, I inquire what they do, learn what kind of referrals they are looking for; give them a brief description of what a good referral would be for me....apologize to them for not having my own cards (whether I have some with me or not) and ask for theirs, so I can email to them a 'full description of what a good referral for me would look like'. Then I ask them to reply to my email with a detailed description of what a 'good referral for them would be'.

I treat my business cards as treasures, to be given out very carefully, not with 'reckless abandon'. Everyone I meet, doesn't deserve my card.

I get return calls, and referrals from my process...which leads to more business. -Paulette Halpern

Paulette,
It will work just as well, or better, by not apologizing. Just ask for their card and tell them why.

If you write something on your card before you hand it to them, the "life" of the card will be extended. -BIG Mike

Can I add to this although I am not as experienced yet in sales as you guys.

I spent my first week handing out flyers for my business by hand, face-to-face basically advising clients how my company can provide value to their business. Although I got no agreements to then survey their property there and then I made the beginners error of identiying their needs and actually handing the flyer to the relevant person who ould make the decison to buy my product. However do you think I can rely on the flyers to give me some form of business in the future for when the need arises? Or maybe schedule follow up calls in the future to see if the flyers got the buyer.

Yours in business -krashslaughta

Expect less than one half of one percent of the flyers to generate even a telephone call -BIG Mike

I haven't handed out a single business card in years.

I always hand out TWO. And I don't comment while doing it. -Ace Coldiron

I think Bob Berg has an interesting approach for handing out business cards. He hands out his business card (in the context of networking) for the sole purpose of GETTING someone else's card in exchange--and thereby permission to contact them.

Personally, since "networking" isn't my thing, I don't even carry my cards on me, half the time. -Rainmaker

Here's a different approach:

I do not use business cards to generate business... I use my current clients and ask them to refer my services to others who were in their shoes [however many months ago] before working with me. It has worked pretty well these two years, but I may use Paulette's strategy to generate a list of contacts of prospects. -Tahjia C.