Your Business Card
No matter what you sell -- including yourself as a future employee at a different company -- you need a business card.
The most expensive part of a business card is the time it takes to make a personal contact to be able to hand someone your business card. Don't waste this investment. Your time is valuable.
Business cards are cheap to produce. You can produce them yourself on your printer. Use Google to search for "business card software." Or use a business card template on your word processor. There is no good reason for not having a business card.
If you sell more than one product category, you need a separate card for each product category.
Don't try to sell anything directly with a business card. It's step two in a sales strategy. Step one is meeting the person, so that you can hand him your business card.
A business card is a tool for generating a follow-up contact. An ideal business card pre-sells the person before he calls you. This way, you don't need to spend as much time on the phone.
Don't forget to put your personal e-mail address on your card. Pre-selling by e-mail is faster and cheaper than selling over the phone.
Most important, don't use a standard business card model. You don't want your card to look like all the others. Use the same size as a standard business: one that can be fit into a wallet and then taped into a Rolodex.
If you have procrastinated about this, get it solved by the end of the day. You need a business card. Produce one.
For specific strategies, see my article, "Basic Business Card Design."
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