Business Card Tricks – How To Make Them Work!

1. Get a Positive 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.

2. Get Read (Break The Ice)
It sounds obvious, but just how many business cards do you put straight in your pocket without giving them a second glance?

3. Get Kept (And Referred To)
Your business card gets looked at more times than a typical ad. In fact, even if it’s not very good it typically gets looked at 3 times:
When You Hand It Over
When They Take It Out
When It Gets Filed (Or Chucked)

4. Get Passed On
Just getting your card passed on once doubles your exposure. Again the new recipient gets to look at it 3 times:

1. When Your Contact Hands It Over
2. When Their Contact Takes It Out
3. When It Gets Filed (Or Chucked)

5. Qualify/Disqualify Prospects
Be explicit about what you do, for whom and in what situation and you 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.

6. Sell Stuff
If you have products (books, eBooks, widgets, unique inventions, gadgets) to sell then why not list a couple of your best sellers on the back of your card with their price and how to buy.

7. Make You Stand Out
A key goal when networking is to stand out and be recognized.

Here are some of our recent designs:

Open Houses

The debate over whether to hold an open house or not rages on and the answer is different depending on the region or city you live in. Providing there are no local or market forces preventing you from holding an open house they are an effective tool for attracting new clients.

There are buyers without representation that might be interested in working with you. Every buyer is a potential seller and your open house is a stage for you to impress them and differentiate your marketing plan from all of the other Realtors. The vendor is one of your best sources of referrals and you need to impress them with your marketing.

What are some of the Open House Tools we create:

Feature Sheets
When a buyer walks away with a colour feature sheet your marketing will stick in their minds above all of the other Realtors they meet that day or weekend. The vendor will also hand them out to their friends.

Here are a few samples from our clients.

Amenity Maps
Using a program like Microsoft Streets and Trips or Google Maps it is easy to print out street maps that indicate where the schools, churches, hospitals etc are located. Add your name to the map and it will stay with the prospect throughout their travels.

Aerial View
Providing an aerial view of the property has never been easier with the advent of services like Google Maps, but the local city, town, municipality, district or government web site is still the best source of aerial views in most locations. I like to include a high aerial view and a zoomed in view with the property dimensions. In Canada we include both meters and feet to eliminate any confusion. These can also have your branding on them:

Features & Improvements
It is a great idea to make a list of all of the features, enhancements and improvements as the buyer would not be able to pick these things out for themselves. Here are examples of a couple of branded sheets:

Floor Plans
A professionally drawn floor plan with accurate measurements helps the buyer visualize how they can fit all of their kids and furniture into a house. By adding your branding to the floor plan it once again reinforces your professionalism.

File Formats for Printing

Not a week goes by without a question or problem with file formats for images. What’s a jpeg? What’s a tif? You get the idea. Here is a handy reference:

File Formats

eps
An eps is a vector image of your logo. This means you can make it as big or as small as you like without compromising print quality. It is also the file you can manipulate should you ever need to make changes to your logo.

• Stationery & Business cards
• Signs & Billboards
• Brochures & Flyers
• Ads
• Packaging
• Direct marketing & Postcard
• Vehicle graphics
• Embroidered & Silk screen
• Some Microsoft Office Programs

jpg & gif
A jpeg is perfect for use on the Internet. Since it has a much lower resolution file than an eps and cannot be enlarged without losing design detail it is not recommended for printing. A gif is another low resolution file, great for web and computer use.

• Website
• Internet Marketing
• email signature
• email marketing
• Some Microsoft Office Programs

tif
A tif can be used for basic printing and transferring digital images among various applications.

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook

bmp
A bmp file is a format used by Windows. This format also has a lower resolution.

• Invoices in Quickbooks

Marketing Guy Code of Conduct

I find working with clients on their marketing involves a far more personal relationship than some people might imagine. Mutual trust is the key to a successful marketing relationship. I got thinking about how I can establish trust with a client that has not had the benefit of a referral and started to write out what I thought were the terms and conditions of working with a client.

Then I realized how impersonal terms and conditions are and they have now evolved into a personal and Corporate Code of Conduct. Here’s my Code of Conduct:

Marketing Guy Code of Conduct

Professional Conduct
-Accept only those projects that we are qualified to undertake.
-Ensure that our staff are competent and effectively managed.
-Confirm in writing the objectives, scope of work, responsibilities and fees payable for each project.
-Advise clients of realistic expectations of a project.
-Respect the Intellectual Property Rights of others.
-Respect the confidentiality of all client information before, during and after projects.

Impartiality and Objectivity
-Put the best interests of the client first at all times.
-Disclose promptly to clients any conflicts of interest.
-Always act impartially, objectively and with integrity.
-Refuse any form of inducement, commission or payment which could impair objectivity.

Quality
-Exercise good management by careful planning, regular progress reviews and effective controls.
-Provide accurate and timely documentation.
-Carry out projects in accordance with client requirements.
-Ensure that all individuals working on a project understand and follow identified quality procedures.
-Take responsibility for the quality of all aspects of the project and compliance with this Code of Conduct.