No cards in the chapter box!

6/12/08

I have been to a few chapters recently for the first time and as usual when the chapter business card box was passed to me I took one of each card from it. I then tried to put a face to each card I had and the interesting thing was that on each occasion there were at least four members who didn’t have a card in the box.

After the meeting I asked these people for their cards and received a mixture of replies. ‘Yes of course’ from those that hadn’t topped-up the box, to those that had left their cards in the office, and, most surprising, to those that didn’t even have a business card!

Upon checking I also discovered that these same members didn’t have their business cards represented in the other members' BNI card wallets.

That’s just amazing! How many referrals are these members missing out on?

Each week when the business card box is passed round, members flick through the cards taking out those they need, but at the same time they register all the other cards, reinforcing that member in their memory. But even more important, when a member's card wallet is being passed round possible contacts, these missing members' cards are never seen – possible referrals are lost for good.

So, next week when you get to your chapter check that you have a really good number of cards in the box and if you don’t have any cards, get some this week! But, please don’t be tempted to buy those cheap, odd sized 'cards' from the internet. Your business card says a great deal about your business. As soon as you hand out a cheap business card, it tells your prospect that you are a small company with very little money. It might just make them think twice about using your services!

And, how about this for an idea? If you are the printer in your group, why not see which of your members don’t have business cards and then offer them a group deal for a really smart set?