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Many think what is great in a Visiting card?

In general we call it Visiting card, but truly speaking it is Business card.

Many will say “So what,” you say. “It is just my business card.” Yes, you are right. It is just your image. Just your identity. Just a reflection of you and your company, your product, your service. Nothing great, isn’t it?

I know and have experienced few things like, people who invest multi-lakhs in business, or say in office or in furniture–the look, the people who spend may be multi-crores in research of a product or may be a person who has spent many years to gather experience in his field – are stingy in spending for good Business card !

Why in India, we usually call it as “Visiting card”? Because it is to be given at the place or office or a person to whom we desire to meet. Generally person thinks, just name and address should be more than enough! How wrong he is!  Because, “even before we open our mouth –the Business or visiting card tells lot about us and our activities”. How?

Here are few things–what a Business card can do for you.

1. It speaks about you. It is a sample of the kind of work your company produces. Great card- great work. Ordinary card-ordinary work. Dirty card -Dirty work.

2. It sets the right tone. If you give your such card at a meeting, where number of people give their cards, you get a “nice card” comment, it sets the tone for a positive discussion or meeting.

3. You get multiple impressions most economically. If you have 10 Sales employees who use 1,000 cards a year (just 4 a day), that is 10,000 business impressions a year. If your card is good enough to be re-shown to others, and even if just ten percent people show your card to other two people – then you create 2000 additional impressions f_r_e_e of cost, which could multiply many times. Sure no doubt about it!

4. Your card will be saved. Not every card you give results in an immediate sale. If your card is really good, people may not like to throw it away. It will stay around a desk or drawer until the day it is finally USED.

5. It is like getting married. A spouse will bring you 90% of life’s joy or 90% of life’s misery — depending on selection — same is with business cards too. So please do pay special attention for proper selection of quality of the paper, matter, wordings etc.

I have seen people using a variety of materials that include translucent plastic, wood and metal. These can communicate an image and identity higher than their competition. But in India we may not be able spend that high, but in available resources we must be able to afford to make atleast good Business cards, as over the years, just think, how much Business card can help your business or your activities.

Five essentials to make a creative card:

You must have a logo. As instantly, not only people, can recall your company, but can easily search your card from bunch of cards.

A creative title. Instead of just Proprietor or Partner why can’t one use – Chief Executive or Chief Executive Officer ? Or some guys do use Distributor or similar titles!. If permitted by higher ups, they can use Consultant or Advisor or Health Information Officer or Beauty Advisor or if you are selling something – which is recyclable – then why not to call yourself as Earth Preservation Advisor!

Never ever make odd size card, as it is generally first to be discarded, when it does not fit into the Business card folder or box etc. Now a days computerised DTP is economical, so one can have exclusive style of typesets ( Fonts)
And they can help you to make the layout more creative, at reasonable charges and you need not print 1000 minimum every time, like earlier days.

Also a business card must have your full name, organisation’s name, full address, your phone number , fax number or email id and your website id (email and website address – should be clearly printed) and Your MOBILE number is must – (as now a days almost everyone has) that way, you can express your desire to help people at any time. Also the Card should give some idea about your business… i.e. when they see the card, may be after few months [as no one wants to trouble brain to recall about `what did you speak or what business you do?' ].

Now could you see the value of a creative card? They never get tossed away. And Good Cards often get shown and re-shown for years.

Tear off your old business card, which requires hand written phone number or name. That may offend you, but less than one in 500 is worth the ink and paper it is printed on. This probably includes you !.

However if you are some one from Slum dog millionaire or an Oscar award winner, then you need not worry about any card!

Good Luck.

Live excellent experience:

A new sales Executive – Ashok Arora who had walked in a Delhi factory could not create interest for the Vice President- Commercial, to spend few minutes time to discuss matter about spares, [ OEM] for machinery manufactured by the prospective buyer.

But same day other sales Executive – Mr. Nilesh Kumar could meet the prospect and after 3 meetings obtained a trial order too, just for Rs.12,000/-.

But can you imagine, how much business, in a year, Mr. Nilesh Kumar could make with this customer? Equal to Rs.23 lakhs!

Why Mr. Ashok Arora could not create the interest for meeting? Just because of his lousy / shabby card, the hand-written correction of the phone number, hand-written name of the sales person, which must have made the likely customer to believe that ” the firm, which can not afford to print cards properly” may not give quality product or financially the supplier seems to be in trouble and why to take risk of doing business with such a supplier!

So now workout, how much a lousy card did cost Mr. Ashok Arora or his company?

Not Rs. 1 or Rs. 2 what would have been spent for printing good card. In 23 lakhs business, the net profit could have been atleast 5% i.e. Rs.1.15 lakhs. So that one card – cost could be Rs.1 lakh, isn’t it?

Yes, whole business can not be done by just visiting or good business card, but without getting chance to meet a prospective buyer, can we obtain orders, for that kind of product and that way of marketing?

Please do create good card and print only for requirement of 2 to 3 months, as you will definitely get better ideas, within few more months.

•Names of both the sales Executives have been changed to save the customer from embarrassment.

• Thus by spending Rs.500 extra, if you can earn atleast 50 times more, is it not worth to try?

Please believe in saying ” Help others to Succeed and Success will search and come to You”
– Napoleon Hill

Brooklyn Vijay Not only top level Business Guide and Marketing Expert but likes to spread happiness everywhere.    ”We Care For YOUR Success©”
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In-case you want to use this article anywhere, any way no problem; only thing, please see that “nothing is added or removed” and with the following Para intact, you reproduce every time.
This is from real life experience of Brooklyn Vijay –President, Brooklyn Business Success Inc*.Mumbai. Send mail to brooklyn100@sify.com and also have look at our website at:    http://www.brooklyn-hrd/CEO.html
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Tags: Business, Businessmen, Enhance, Mahagaonkar, Passport, Vijay