10 signs that you might need a new one.

Business card printing is an investment, which means that you must be anticipating a return. But for some reason, you're not making new connections. People just aren't following up. Here are the top ten reasons why your business card isn't doing its job.

10.

You don't have a business card.

“I had something designed, really I did. I even found a printer! I just…got busy, or something…”

9.

That thing you give out? It's not actually a business card.

“It was the day before the conference! I panicked and wrote my name on a bunch of playing cards/matchbooks/post-it notes.”

8.

It has your pager number on it.

“So what if I've been using this card since 1995? All my information is still basically the same…”

7.

It's shaped like a star, a heart, or a turtle.

“I wanted to stand out from the crowd! Sure, it doesn't fit in your wallet, and yeah, maybe it looks like a kindergarten project, but that's just my style…”

6.

Smeared ink/crooked type/visible pixilation.

“Hey, my desktop printer can do anything a commercial printer can do. Then I got my mom to cut them. She's got a real steady hand, see…”

5.

It's not the card, it's you.

“Not every person I give a card to is completely drunk. Sometimes, I just leave one on the table after a meal, or I slide it into someone's pocket when they're not looking. Creepy? Nah, I don't think it's creepy…”

4.

It's got dirt on it.

“It's not dirt! It's just…dusty…and creased. I guess it's been in my wallet for a while. Hey, these things take time. You can't just hand out your card to every person you meet…”

3.

You wrote all over it.

“We moved from Seattle to Jacksonville. But I'd just had 1000 cards printed. I wasn't going to waste that $60.00! So I got my husband to change the address on every card. So what?”

2.



It's about as thick as a gas station receipt.

“I go to order cards, and this salesman's telling me I need to break the bank on some 16 point premium card stock. Ha! I know a guy who'll do it for me in his basement for half the price…”

1.

It's not your card.

“When I started to work for BigMax, they gave me fifty company cards with my name and number on them. Sure, I don't work for BigMax anymore, but the card is still good, right?”

Wrong, wrong, wrong. These bad business card printing mistakes may sound ridiculous, but they happen all the time. And in this case, the old “anything is better than nothing” philosophy does not apply. If you don't have a business card that makes you look professional and on-the-ball, it's time to start printing.





