Take the Customer’s Word to Heart

As a businessman, I am always looking for ways to improve my competitiveness in the market. I am not your typical businessperson, in that my product is my ability to write, rather than a tangible item, but I still have a product to sell. To me, the best way to find out how I can better serve my clients (customers) is to ask them.

Since I first became a freelance writer, I have been handing out business cards to virtually everyone I meet, even if they do not think they will ever use my service. Recently, I decided that perhaps it was time to reevaluate my business cards, and make sure they were as effective as they could be.

So I started asking my friends and family about them. Of course, I asked them to give me an honest response. I don’t write for any of them, so I assumed that they were speaking as consumers, not as clients.

I had my business card printing company print up two versions of my card: one in black and white, the other in color. I would then show a friend or family member each of the cards, and ask them which they would be more likely to respond to.

In the end, the full color business cards won in a landslide. Not one person that I talked to indicated that they preferred the black and white business card printing as opposed to the color one.

One of my friends, after saying she would respond more favorably to the full color business card, said, “If someone hands me a business card with color like that, it just makes him look like he’s got his stuff together.”

Another friend commented, “The black and white one just looks cheap.
The color one looks like the person cared a bit more.”

This was a common theme among all of the people who participated in my completely unscientific survey. Many thought that the color business cards looked more professional and of a higher quality. The final assessment was that any businessperson who would use a plain, black and white business card would be considered cheap or not committed to his work.

I’ve also learned through this experience that including more information on my business card can be beneficial. I usually just put the normal info on there, such as my name, company name, and contact info. But many of the people that I talked to noted that, on the sample cards that I made up, I included some additional information about my business. I wrote, “I proudly boast that I have never missed a deadline.”

I included that line as an afterthought, but it became a big hit (especially on the color cards). Many people mentioned that putting little tidbits on the cards would make them more likely to trust the person handing them out.

So I am convinced that all of my future business cards must be in full color, and they must include some additional advertising information as well.

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