Does your business card help you to make sales?
18 Nov 2007
Last week I presented two keynote speeches and, because I have some exercises I use during the presentations, I collected most attendee’s business cards. My PA dreads my return because she has to enter all the details on my newsletter database and on this occasion I came back with approximately eight hundred and fifty of them.
During my journey back, something prompted me to go through these cards and two points really hit home. Firstly, out of all these seven hundred and fifty business cards, less than forty percent of the company’s names gave me the vaguest idea of what the business did. The rest remained a total mystery to me. Secondly, of the entire seven hundred and fifty, only eighteen – yes just eighteen! - had a description of what the business did. So if I had collected these cards in any networking session, it’s most unlikely I would have made contact with any of the people who gave them to me afterwards unless they had made a real impact on me at the time. And if many had made an impact, then I’d be just as unlikely to remember who was who and who did what.
Let’s take a closer look at these two points. First of all the company’s name. Well if yours does not describe what you do and you are not a recognised brand name, then it’s essential you have a description of what you do printed on the card to remind people. I’m referring of course to a mission statement, although based on what I see of most company’s mission statements, they are best kept hidden anyway or re-worked. I have seen some dreadful examples but cannot reproduce them here, especially as some are those of my clients.
The purpose of a mission statement is to help employees and customers truly understand why the organization exists and what it does for their customers The ultimate test is if everyone in your company can tell you what it is and what benefits your customers receive. If they can, then you’re onto something meaningful and memorable. If they can't, then it won’t work. Some people use the Granny test – if your Granny doesn’t understand it, nor will most other people. And when you have a good one, it should be printed on the reverse of your business cards so potential customers can read it and understand the WIIFM - ‘what’s in it for me’ (everyone’s favourite radio station).
A great mission statement should not be difficult to produce. I’ve seen sixty or more managers and executives sitting in a room for two or three days with a facilitator trying to produce one and getting nowhere. It doesn’t need everyone in the organisation to produce it. It’s up to the CEO and maybe one or two others at most to come up with one that everyone can understand and buy into and one which clearly excites potential customers to want to find out more about what you do.
A good mission statement is an essential sales tool to help you get more business! Does yours do that for you? Do you even have one?