A Simple Business Card Strategy Guaranteed To Turn It Into A Customer Generating Machine

It doesn't matter what profession you are in - most business owners know that once they hand out their business card one of three things happens:

1. They are either put in a wallet or hand-bag and looked at once to check the time of the appointment.

2. Used as a tooth pick or a roach for the ever increasing numbers of people that roll their own cigarettes,

3. Passed on to someone else as a referral tool.

It is this last one that I want to discuss just a little further and I want to show you a very simple strategy that will to your business card into a customer generating machine and convert prospects to paying clients whilst building your brand identity.

One area where a lot of business owners go wrong is that they are trying to give prospective clients and customers what they think they want - rather than what the client actually needs! Prospective clients are particularly interested in how long you have been in business, why you think you are special, what techniques you employ, why you think you are better than your competition and so on. All they want to know is that you can fix their problem!

According to the Pareto Principle or the 80 /20 rule you will find that 80 percent of your business is made up from fixing one major condition / complaint / making one type of repair / transaction or dealing with one specific type of client.

As a simplified example you will find that:
• Physical therapists tend to deal with one type of physical complaint,
• Computer repairers tend to be limited to mainly installing new software for people or removing viruses,
• Solicitors will specialize in a specific area of law,
• Plumbers will be called out to fix a standard item more than others - dripping taps, burst pipes etc.
• Electricians on the whole will repair fuses that keep blowing etc.

So, with that in mind I would suggest that in nice big, red letters across the top of your card you put that you are a specialist in dealing with that type of problem. You can then put your normal business details in the space that is left below. On the back of your card I would also include the sentence "For valuable updates emailed to you FREE go to..." and then list your web page where people can sign up for your newsletter / blog.

Target your business card to your main existing client!

This idea works extremely well if you are prepared to exam the reasons why your clients (those clients that have not been referred) need your practice or business. Even if you can help with other conditions or problems, the truth of the matter is that you need to appeal to what the majority of your clients want (in typical 80/20 Pareto Principal style!). Therefore if most of your clients want a certain problem corrected that is what you put on your card - you can always have another set of cards printed for your other speciality treatments!

This will work with any business where you find that most of your clients are presenting with one specific objective in mind. Whatever the main objective - that is the one you need to target - you need to target to the core of your practice. Therefore have a look around at how you are positioning yourself and your business and see if you need to change your business cards to match the EXISTING wants of the market place? I can assure you that if you do need to change your cards to target a specific niche it is well worth doing for the amount of increased business and profit that it brings in...

...as the saying goes "find your niche and you'll get rich!"