Home
>
Small Business
>
7 Card Tricks That Improve Your Personal Networking Power

7 Card Tricks That Improve Your Personal Networking Power

CARD SHARK

The humble business card has been a mainstay of business and industry for years. But despite it's small size and cost, it's one of the most powerful marketing tools you will ever possess. Because of it's low cost many people take the business card for granted and don't even think of the effect it can have on their networking and sales success. Here are a few tips for making your card do the business for you...

Card Tricks

Your business card can perform many different promotional jobs and usually all at once. I call these little jobs "Card Tricks" because they work like magic.

All you need to do is be aware of what you want the end effect to be and then set your business card up to work the magic for you.

Here are 7 Card Trick ideas:

Get a Most Wanted Response (MWR)

Get Read (Break The Ice)

Get Kept (And Referred To)

Get Passed On

Qualify/Disqualify Prospects

Sell Stuff

Make You A Celebrity

1. Get A Most Wanted Response

This is the action you want your new contact to take next as a result of your communication. In this case it's your business card that provides the communication.

You are responsible for the outcome of your communication so it goes without saying that you must have a clear outcome in mind to make the most effective use of your business card. If you don't create a business card with a clear idea of what you're expecting as an outcome then you can't expect to generate a consistent response. Your networking will be hit and miss and you'll miss more opportunities than you deserve to.

Although your eventual goal will be to get someone to buy, buy again and then tell all their friends your first MWR when networking will rarely be "buy my service" straight away. You may want your prospect to give you permission to follow up first or to book a meeting or request more information. These types of response all build the relationship and make your final goal much easier to achieve.

A good first response is to create curiosity and then follow it up with a specific action? Consider the following ideas:

Make Them Visit Your Website And Leave Contact Details By? offering a FREEBIE on the back of your card. You could handwrite the URL (website address) each time you hand one out for that extra personal touch.

Get Them To Set Up A Meeting Immediately By? offering a FREE consultation and providing an appointment reminder form on the back of your card which you fill in as you're talking to them.

Get Them To Call You As Soon As They Return To Work By? suggesting you have a secret FREE report and repeating your phone number nice and big on the back. You could give them a password or phrase to say when they call to be told more. People love to learn secrets, don't you?

All along you should be looking to build your credibility and their level of trust. Your business card isn't 100% responsible for this process but if it's wrong you'll be causing yourself unnecessary problems.

2. Get Read (break the ice)

3. Get Kept (And Referred To)

4. Get Passed On

5. Qualify/Disqualify Prospects

Be explicit about what you do, for whom and in what situation. This will help your card to do the difficult job of separating the wheat from the chaff, in terms of people you'd like to do business with.

A strong, targeted message on your business card will free your phone line up for enquiries from inspired, interested and applicable prospects. People who don't fit your target will then know not to waste your time or theirs, and if they like you they can pass your details on to people who are right.

6. Sell Stuff

7. Make YOU A Celebrity

A key goal when networking is to stand out and be recognised. When people know your face and know what you can do for whom, introductions and positive gossip will become rampant.

The problem is, people in general, aren't very good at putting names to faces until they've met you a few times. If you want everyone to know your name and to say, "There's Mr/Mrs X" when you enter a room then here's a really easy trick?

Put a photo of yourself on your card. Maybe even use up the whole of one side and include a link to a FREEBIE or a quote with it.

Then if you frequent the same networking groups and events often enough, your name will go before you.

It's also a great ice-breaker and gets people to take a second look.

Some people believe that a picture could put people off who judge by appearances (ie too young, too old, don't like the colour of that sweater etc). My question is? Do you want clients who make such assumptions in the first place? If not then fine. If you do then this might not work for you.

Did you want tricks 2, 3, 4 & 6 too? If you want all the top 7 Tricks plus loads of other ideas, including examples of real business cards and a business card makeover, then you can have them for free by going to www.leanmarketing.co.uk/card-shark

Speak Soon

'Dangerous' Debbie Jenkins

About The Author

"Dangerous" Debbie Jenkins is an author and speaker who takes no prisoners with her, explosive and scathing attacks on the greedy and lazy textbook marketers who've never spent a penny of their own money on marketing in their life. See why she's mad and "Detox your Marketing" at... http://www.debbiejenkins.com

http://www.debbiejenkins.com

detailed home cleaning Park Ridge ..

In The News:

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

New Android malware NGate steals NFC payment codes in real-time, allowing criminals to withdraw cash from ATMs without your card. Learn protection tips.

DoorDash confirms data breach exposing customer names, emails, addresses after social engineering attack. Learn how to protect yourself from scams.

Concerned about Google's AI scanning your Gmail? Learn how to disable Gemini features that access your emails, Drive files and Chat messages for privacy.

Google warns Android users about dangerous fake VPN apps hiding malware that steals passwords, banking details and personal data from phones and tablets.

Apple's digital passport feature lets iPhone users breeze through TSA checkpoints this holiday season using Digital ID technology at 250+ airports.

7 Card Tricks That Improve Your Personal Networking Power

Small Business