How much thought do you give to the business cards you carry and hand out? Are they a reflection of your personality? Do they indicate what you really do? Are they bland or do they act as a marketing tool for your business or profession?

An even better way at looking at these cards is to imagine what the recipient will do with them after receiving it from you. Did they take it because it was forced upon them or out of courtesy? If they really needed it, how will it be filed so that it can be retrieved when the information is needed? Many end up rubber banded together, some go into mechanical and electronic Rolodexes and some even end up in a computer.

Those of us who don't have steel trap minds can go back through some of the cards a few months later and say to ourselves "who is this and what do they do?" And this is especially true if the name of the company or the person's title does not provide a clue as to the service or product they represent.

I am not suggesting a cluttered card nor information on the back side of a card. And while I have seen some beautiful folded 2-page business cards, these innovations seem to be impracticable for the recipient unless they just go into a rubber banded stack. A card displayed in a card holder, a business card plastic sleeve, or used in non-profit publications or scanned into computer needs the primary and important information on the front of the card.

Think about that one minute speech you make whenever someone asks you what you do! Does your business card reflect and support that statement so that the recipient remembers you, your service and product?

Many of you have received my old business card that emphasized the name of our company, but after many months of explaining what we (I) do and reviewing business cards received, we decided to utilize a card that described our business. We would like to hear your comments because a lot of thought and psychology went into this product.

© 1997 by Donald L. Woods, All Rights Reserved