Making Money With Your Business Card

"I'm getting my name out." I was visiting with a friend at an expo a few days ago. I asked him how it was going. He was so excited he could hardly stand it. "It's going great. I've handed out a lot of cards. I'm getting my name out."

I'm sorry, but getting your name out is not the purpose of a business card. How many trade shows have you walked through or networking events have you been to that you came home with a fist full of cards? What did you do with all those cards? Most people do one of three things.

1. They sort through them and throw the ones away that they have no interest in. The rest get stuck in a drawer never to see the light of day again.

2. They sort through them to decide who they are going to call to sell their product or service to.

3. They just chuck them after moving them out of the way a dozen times.

That's not really "getting your name out". Even if it was, do you know how long and how much money you are going to have to spend to get your name out there so people will think to call you? Trust me it's a really long time, but I digress.

The purpose of your business card is to get people to take some kind of action now. That action should not be to get them to buy your product or service. That is not going to happen.

Before someone will buy something from you, you need to build a relationship with that individual. How is that going to happen if they throw your card in the trash can or in the back of the bottom drawer? It's not!

The best way to get them to take action is to give them some type of low-risk offer. Send them to your website to get a free report and/or subscribe to a newsletter. Have them call a toll free number to get a free CD of your radio interview. These are just a couple of ideas, depending on your business you'll be able to think of a dozen or more low-risk offers.

The point is to get them to raise their hand saying, "I'm interested in what you have." Why worry about them if they are not a potential prospect? Now that they have raised their hands, you can start marketing to them. Send them information of value such as newsletters and other educational information. Send them special offers, something that they cannot get anywhere else.

Now, rather than getting your name out hoping people will call, you can market to those that are interested in what you have, so when the time is right they will know who you are, what you do, and how to contact you. Most importantly, you will have built a relationship of trust when they are ready to move forward.

Good luck and never give your card out thinking that you are going to get a call. If so, you may be deeply disappointed. Instead, turn your card into an advertisement for your low-risk offer.

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