I was out visiting a client today when I dropped my Blackberry into the street, which then proceeded to get run over by two cars. As I waited at the Sprint store for the repair man to fix my phone I started rifling through the business cards left by previous customers on the cork board. Since I was at the Sprint store which is part of Nextel most of the cards were for local contractors… right up my alley!
I usually take a couple of cards each time I come across one of these boards as long as there’s more than one left. I follow-up with the company letting them know where I found card and asking if they have gotten any results from their efforts. But something was pretty shocking about the batch of cards I had to pick from today.
Of the 10 or 12 cards on the board only 4 had anything more than a name, address and phone number. That’s right, only 4 listed an e-mail address or website. And of those 4, only 1 had a slogan. Ready for it? Watch out cause this one is going to knock your socks off!
“Specializing in home remodeling solutions”
Just takes your breath away doesn’t it? Ah the power of marketing. Listen, I get it, not everybody has the ability to be creative, but you have to put a little more effort into your brand than that don’t you? Think about it, your business card is one of the least expensive tools you can use to market your contracting business. When you consider that every contracting company large or small has the same opportunity and uses the same materials to create their business card you suddenly realize the playing field is pretty even…unless you write copy like that slogan above!
So, here are some tips on getting the biggest bang for your business card buck:
* Always use the best paper you can afford and whatever you do don’t print cards out from home
* Make sure to include your company’s tagline on your card
* Give details on your product or service
* Include a small map showing the cross streets to your office
* Show photos of your products or even a small before and after picture
* Include an email address and website
And my biggest pet peeve of all…list only one number to reach you. Whatever number you have the ability to get to all the time (usually a cell phone), list that number. No one cares about your office number and main number and cell number and backup pager number. Just give them one number to call!
Contractor Business Card Conclusion
Whatever you do you should think of your card as a mini billboard for your contracting business. But most importantly, your cards don’t do you any good if they are sitting in your wallet or worse, still in the box from the printer back in the office. Your business card will do wonders to help you grow your contracting business if you use them the right way…give them out to anyone that will take one!
Photo Credit: EnnuiDesign
