Business Cards

cleverbusinesscards.com

     There was another article in the Wall Street Journal this past week that caught my eye. This one, about business cards, was nowhere near as serious as the one by Mr. Morgenthau. The article is titled: Business Cards Aren’t Dead, They’re Just Getting Weirder.
     There are online companies like moo.com and cleverbusinesscards.com that specialize in creating cards that are different and standout. A business card is a handout and a reminder. Everyone has them and are happy to pass them out to prospective clients, people that we want to stay in touch with, or for general networking purposes. It is not uncommon to return from a conference, seminar, convention, trade show, or networking event with a stack of business cards. If you don’t do something with them almost immediately, these piles of business cards become desk or briefcase clutter. The next step is to toss them.
     What is an immediate action for business cards? Sales folks know what to do with them as the cards represent new contacts and leads that are essential to business development. They used to file them in a Rolodex to keep on their desk and so they could access whoever they wanted whenever they wanted to. The quality, depth, and breadth of one’s Rolodex was a sign of influence, importance, and connectivity in the 1960s and 70s.
     Now, of course, Rolodexes have been replaced with electronic contacts. They have been replaced by smart phones, LinkedIn and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. There is really no need to keep a business card after a LinkedIn connection has been made and the address, phone, and email has been entered into one’s contacts or CRM. It is even possible with phones to exchange contact information electronically.
    So, are business cards still important? Why carry them around and why pass them out?

     The answer?  They are still very convenient. Not everyone is phone and tech savvy. It takes no time and very little effort to take someones business card and put it in your shirt or jacket pocket to follow through with it the next time you are at your desk or on your computer. This is all well and good, assuming the card is not lost or you simply forget to do it; both of which, I have been guilty of.
     With the flexibility of programmable controllers business cards no longer have to adhere to a standard size. In fact they come in varieties of colors, shapes, and thicknesses that until just a few years ago were not possible. People have taken to making them unique in hopes that it will differentiate them from all the other business cards a perspective customer or client may have collected at a networking event or conference.
     This desire for differentiation is what draws folks to the moo.com and cleverbusinesscards.com. It is also what makes businesses provide coffee cups, pens, and calendars with the same information that is on their business cards. They want people to keep these handouts, trinkets and trash in promotional products industry slang, on their desk to keep their names top of mind. While I appreciate a good pen or coffee cup, I do not think I have ever thought of a product or service that I needed, looked at the pen or coffee cup, and then called or emailed that person or company. I have no idea what the statistics are for this or how one might even track such. 

4allpromos.com

     What led me to write this piece is the Lock Pick business card featured in the WSJ and on cleverbusinesscards.com. I was fascinated because I never thought of such a thing and for some reason I have always wanted lock pick tools… like I would ever use them. Clever Business Cards does indeed live up to their name with their offerings.
     A product that used to be more popular is the small desk calendar as in the photo. 4AllPromos.com, where I copied the photo, calls this the Legacy Desk calendar. I remember my parents always had one or two either from an Armenian Funeral Director or my father’s first cousin, John Baronian, who had an insurance agency in Medford MA. I cannot recall the last time anyone gave me one of these, if ever. Heck, I cannot remember the last time I actually saw one.

     Actually on cue, between editing and posting this piece today, I went to an operations/supply chain business networking cocktail party.  I met folks there from a Chicago based packaging company, PackSmart.  They were passing out mouse pads with a calendar on them.  They have been giving out these mouse pad calendars for years.  They are so popular that people call each year looking for the new one.  I will certainly replace my coffee stained old mouse pad with this one.
    A few years ago when I was trying to make a go of a consulting business, I added a dimension to my service offering: Business Writing. I would help folks write the business equivalent of term papers i.e. business plans, strategic plans, requests for proposals, responses to requests for proposals, and website copy. The reasoning was that the last thing most small business owners wanted to do was to put finger to keyboard and have to produce such a document.  I understood business and liked to write.  It was a good addition to my supply chain consulting.
     I thought to make a more creative and distinctive business card for this

more creative and distinctive service offering. I just seen the movie Hitch in which the star, Will Smith, had a square black business card with rounded corners and shinier black printing. I liked the shape and went for it. I did not go for the black on black opting instead for more legibility. My friend Rose Kostan-Schwartz (rosekostanschwartz.com) helped me with the logo and layout and the Alphagraphics in Bannockburn, IL printed them out. I got a lot of compliments when I passed them out as they were unique. Today, I still like them but they are not so unique.