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The Ultimate Business Card System For Entrepreneurs

Chris Record — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:28:50 +0000

I received a great question from one of my readers today and I figured I would take a moment to post about it.

“Hey Chris, what do you use to scan business cards into your computer? Where do they sell them?”

In a previous post I wrote about the many benefits of using Digital Business Cards on your iPhone or PDA. In that article I talk about the idea of keeping a database of every single person that you ever give a business card to.

But what about everyone that gives you “their” business card?

I believe that you want to go into every contacting scenario with that in mind. You want to get their business card or contact info so that you are in control of the follow up, and you also want to give them your digital business card so that their is a high chance that they will respond back to you. The problem with most entrepreneurs is that they get dozens of business cards every day, but they end up in the oddest places around their house in the most unorganized fashion. Believe me, this was how I did it for years myself!

Then, I created a system for all of my business cards where I would scan them into a nice and organized database, which I could easily access at any given moment. This system has worked wonders for me. Here is exactly what I did:

I purchased the CardScan Executive Card Scanner on Amazon and it arrived at my house a few days later. I installed the CD, hooked it up and started scanning my business cards. At first I was scanning them one at a time, but then I quickly learned about the “batch scan” feature which allowed me to scan in entire categories at a time in just minutes. This truly is a fast machine!

Now some of you might already be incredibly organized with your business cards, but mine were all just shoved in a shoebox! So I simply put them out on the kitchen table and quickly organized them by category before beginning. I did this very quickly because I didn’t want to spend all day on it and I figured I could always just updated them in the system later.

The first problem that I encountered was that some of my cards were so old that the system wasn’t getting all of their contact information right. So when I was done scanning I did a “once-over” update on the whole database where I at least made sure that the email was correct because that was the main thing I was interested in. This part of the process actually took longer than just scanning the cards! But when it was all done I was happy because we had a movie playing in the background that I was kind of watching, and I was able to get about 500 business cards done during the time it took to watch one movie!

The next thing that I did was sign up for CardScan @ Your Service. Note that this website is located at cardscan.net and not cardscan.com. This feature is awesome because it allows you to keep your business cards up to date.

You can set up the preferences so that it will send out occasional emails to your database to ask them if their information is up to date. Every time that it sends them an email, it also includes a picture of their scanned business card reminding them that at some point they gave it to you. I am sure that some of you have received these emails, but they are very simply to use and update.

Setting up a system is one thing, and following through with it is another. I set up a small container next to my CardScan and next to my Mac and that is where I store business cards at the end of the day. If I have time then I quickly scan them in, and if I don’t then I will get to them later. As soon as they are scanned in then I put a rubber band around the stack and throw it in a shoebox. Pretty dang simple! Now that the scanned card and contact info is in my computer, there is very little chance that I will be needing that card again.

BONUS TIPS:

Before you scan a card, consider writing a quick note on the FRONT of it reminding that person where you met. This will serve two purposes. It will help you remember them months or years from now, and it will also be the picture that they will see when they are asked to update their info via email. This is a quick little tip that makes a big difference. For example I might write: “Met at Starbucks – Discussed Foreclosures” or something along those lines. Get to the point in as few words as possible.
You can export the entire list of emails from the business card database for multiple purposes. For example, you can import the list, and then copy and paste the emails into the Facebook Invite Tool and they will all be sent a request to become your friend on Facebook. Normally you are only allowed to send out 30 or so friend requests per day, but with this tool they will let you send out several hundred at a time. The ones that are already on Facebook will get a simple friend request, and the ones that are not will get an invitation to join Facebook. I have found this is a pretty good way to connect with this database.
Consider creating a “Nice to meet you” template email follow up that you can copy/paste/send to everyone after you scan in their cards. It can be very simple and can have all of your social media profiles for them to check out as well as your blog or website. Little added touches like this usually make the difference in business. Just make sure you send them one at a time or put all the addresses in the BCC field. The last thing you want to do is send out a bulk email with everyone’s email addresses visible!

So hopefully this blog post has inspired you to get more focused on creating a system to organize your business cards. Most of you will be collecting cards for life, so you might as well get the system in place now. Imagine that you will one day become an author and write your first book. Everyone that you have ever met is a great candidate to buy your book right? If you can get your database built right from the beginning, you could potentially email that book link to tens of thousands of people and possibly become an Amazon.com best seller for the day, which could catapult your career! Just a thought :)

QUESTION: What system have you currently been using for organizing your business cards? Or has it just been one huge mess up until now? Please share your comments with the rest of us below!

Digital Business Cards have 50x the response rate!

Chris Record — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:10:56 +0000

Answer this question seriously. If you pass out 100 business cards, how many responses do you end up getting? 1%? 5%? 10%?

I bet most of you get no more than a 1% response rate from your business cards yet we all use them every single day. I would propose to you that the traditional business card model is outdated and is not effective.

About 6 months ago I switched from regular business cards to digital business cards and I watched my response rate from prospective clients jump by over 50x!!!

I use the iPhone as my phone/PDA, and it has a cool notepad feature that allows me to type up notes and then email them to people. I decided to create a “digital business card note” and then everytime someone asks me for my business card, I tell them I have a digital business card and pull out my phone, ask them for their email address, and then send them the note.

The note includes all of my contact information and a paragraph asking them to reply to the email with their contact information as well to let me know that they received mine. What I love about using digital business cards is that I am automatically “following up” with my prospect, which was one of my weaknesses, because when they get home their is an email from me sitting in their inbox! Not to mention that digital business cards are FREE!

Another thing that I did was created a filter in my gmail account that organizes all of the digital business cards that I have ever sent out. This allows me to track all of their emails as well so that I can stay in touch with them or add them to a mailing list of some kind. It also allows me to see how many of my sent emails were directly responded to. I am pleased to announce that I currently have a 70% response rate to my new business cards! I love how technology helps to simplify our lives!

STEP 1:

CREATE THE DIGITAL BUSINESS CARD IN YOUR NOTEPAD

STEP 2:

CLICK THE EMAIL BUTTON TO SEND THE NOTE AS A MESSAGE.

CLICK THE EMAIL BUTTON TO SEND THE NOTE

STEP 3:

ENTER THE EMAIL ADDRESS OF YOUR PROSPECTIVE CLIENT.

ENTER THE EMAIL ADDRESS OF THE RECIPIENT.

Another cool benefit is that you can log into your email client and you will have a record of everyone you have ever given your business card to! I use Gmail and I simply do a search for sent messages that say “Digital Business Card from Chris Record”. It gets even better though, because not only do I have an email database of everyone I have ever exchanged contact info with, but I can also identify which ones responded and which ones didn’t. I can simply reply to the email I sent and remind them to respond with their contact information so that I have it on file. The last time I did this I improved my response rate to well over 70%. This is flat out one of the most effective strategies that an entrepreneur can use to get greater results.

What are your thoughts on this creative marketing strategy???

Past, Present, Future – The Key to Connecting With People Everywhere You Go!

Chris Record — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:54:52 +0000

About 10 years ago I had a very successful entrepreneur teach me about the “3-Foot Rule”. He said that my Net-Worth would be equal to my Network, and that I should start building a database as early as possible because it will come in handy my entire life. That advice has been priceless for me!

He taught me about a contacting approach called PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE and how it would help me make friends with complete strangers everywhere I go, and that approach is still working well for me now. Here is how it works.

Let me paint a typical scenario for you, so that you can put it into action. Let’s say that you are eating lunch with some friends at a local restaurant. Your waiter is a sharp young man named John (you can see this on his nametag!) So here is what you would do:

START WITH A COMPLIMENT:

John, i must say that you are very outgoing and come across as a sharp young man.

PAST:

Q. How long have you worked here at this restaurant?

A. I have worked here about 2 years now.

PRESENT:

Q. Really, that’s great, what do you like best about working here?

A. I would have to say the people. But the paycheck doesn’t hurt :)

FUTURE:

Q. Do you see yourself working here for the next 5 years? Is this your career?

A. Oh no way! I plan on one day starting up my own business.

Q. Really, what type of business were you thinking of starting…

———-

Now you have engaged in a conversation where you can get a complete stranger to start talking about their future goals, dreams and aspirations, and in MANY situations they will tell you that they are looking to get into real estate. That allows you the opportunity to talk about what you do and exchange contact information to stay in touch. This will lead to more referrals for your business, more exposure, a possible new agent, a possible new home owner, etc.

Another twist on this is to use Past, Present, Future by talking about your local area. You could ask John how long he has lived in the area. What he likes best about the area, is this where he plans on settling? Does he have a family here? Then you can move right into what he does for a living, how long, etc.

PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE is a simple technique to help you easily meet people wherever you go. It has worked well for me for years and I hope it will work well for you too!