A New Type of Business Card by Ruth King

Recently I had the opportunity to test a new type of business card. This business card tells what we do rather than who we are. The interesting thing is when I hand two cards to a prospective customer I say, “this is who we are” to describe the first card and “this is what we do” to describe the second card. I’ve tested this with over 100 potential customers. Invariably, people NEVER looked at the first card. They were more interested in what we do rather than who we are. I learned a valuable lesson. You can apply what I learned to your company too.

Two things happened at once to create the “what we do” card. First, we joined a new Chamber of Commerce. They requested a 50-word description of what we do at our company. Try writing only 50 words. The first draft had over 100. Frustrating! I discovered that you write it, leave it alone, read it aloud, and keep crossing out unnecessary words. Through trials and a lot of erasing I made it more and more succinct. Finally it got down to the maximum of 50 words.

The second thing that happened to us was that several companies began requesting information that they could hand out to their customers about businesstvchannel.com, our Internet television station for business owners and their employees. They didn’t want something big. They didn’t want a brochure. They wanted something like a business card. Business cards were easy to keep and distribute. They didn’t have to “store them” someplace.

The “What we do” business card was born! If you’d like a copy, send me an email (ruthking@pronetwork.tv) with your name and address. Yes, this has to come by snail mail so you can see and emulate what we did.

Here’s how to create it for your company:
Decide who your company is, what you stand for, the benefits it provides to customers and prospective customers, and why those benefits are important to the customer. Write down the information. And yes, you only have 50 words.

Answer the questions: What are the benefits of using your company? Why should they care? What makes your company unique? When you start this process look at companies you admire to see how they present themselves. Look at their websites. Note what you like and see what you can apply to your company’s statement.

Then, do the opposite. Look at companies who you would never want to be like. How do they present themselves? What do their websites look like? This exercise should give you a place to start.

Get input from your employees. Ask your customers why they use your company. These are the key words that should be among your 50 words. These words are printed on one side of the business card.

You don’t have to use two different cards. You can use one business card. Since you have two sides to a business card, you can put this information on one side and the traditional “name, telephone number, email address, etc.” on the other side.

Everyone should have the new cards. Yes, they are a little more expensive to print. However, you’ll probably get more impact and more referrals with these cards. Try them out. When someone asks you for your card, say, this is who we are to the first side, turn it over and say, this is what we do. I think you’ll find that people pay attention to the “What we do” rather than “Who you are”. And, they will keep them longer.

Remember, business cards are one of the cheapest forms of advertising. Make yours different and unique. It should help you generate word of mouth advertising and more sales. Then, once the cards are printed have a goal to distribute at least 500 per year.