Why do you have those business cards?

Do you have piles of business cards near your desk or computer stand? So what are you doing with them?

Waiting for a few spare moments to enter them into your database or hoping that a new sale or customer magically appears right before your eyes?

Have you considered how much potential gold is within all of those hills of business cards?

Prospects vs. Suspects

First, why do you have those business cards? The correct answer is to stay true to the first purpose of business: attract customers.

Until you know who your potential customers are, you may be attracting a lot of duds also known as suspects.

Now that you have achieved the first purpose, what is your next action? That correct answer is to solidify that attraction.

Now how do you do that? The correct answer is to return to your marketing plan and follow that plan.

Of course, if you do not have a marketing plan you may need to construct one and then you will probably need to develop a sales plan because you truly need both to mine all of the gold in those cards.

Since leads get cold at the speed of light, you need to touch these individuals at once.

This means within the first 24 hours. And your touch should be memorable so that your intended prospect begins to separate you from your competitor or competitors.

With the marketplace being far more global, you can find resources that allow you to create customized note cards to postcards. Using these cards, you can quickly write a note, slap a stamp on it and get it in the mail within 24 hours.

If you keep some in your card along with the necessary postage, you can literally mail them the same day that you met that new sales lead.

With the cards that you have and have not taken action, start calling them, sending them a quick email or dropping them a belated card.

Whatever you do, start developing an attitude – a habit of thought – for all newly acquired business cards. Make sure that follow up is one of your best sales skills and this begins when you accept that business card.