PrinterBees.com

Many years ago, when I started my first business I was short on cash and pinching pennies where ever I could.  This included printing my own business cards on my color printer at home.  I figured I would spend what I needed to spend on more professional business cards once I had some actual income.  As a consultant, my consulting fees were anything but "a bargain", if you asked the guy writing the check.  The sales people I worked with thankfully thought differently.

Well, I was meeting with a prospect and we were going over my fees, the training program, what was involved, included, etc.  At the close of the meeting, I handed him one of my "business cards" so he would have my contact information.  I was feeling pretty good about the meeting and that I had definitely landed this account.  I was totally stunned…and I mean stunned when this prospect looked me straight in the eyes and told me that he wasn't sure he could work with a consultant that didn't thing enough of his business to have a professional business card.  He let me know that my business cards were very unprofessional and really reflected poorly on my ability to help his sales staff.   This was like a punch in the face right between the eyeballs and I was thankful for this kind mans input.  I proceeded immediately to the office supply store (online business card printing was not an option at that time) to get myself some much more professional business cards.  The funny part is that I really think I walked a little taller and felt a bit more confident once my nice new business cards arrived and I could hand them out with pride.

The point of my story is that your business card is often your first and possibly only impression in business.  It is the marketing piece you carry with you every day and should always be "handy" to hand to prospects.  It is all too often the ONLY marketing piece your client will receive from you.  How tacky is it in this day and age not to have professionally printed business cards.  When you consider that 1000 Business cards is only $49, frankly you can't afford not to have a professional card that shows YOU ARE A BUSINESS PROFESSIONAL.

I also recommend something that makes people stop and think or sometimes even say out loud, "wow, this is a nice business card".  This happens frequently, but only if your business card is unique.  Plain white business cards can and do get lost in the shuffle.  Use the PrinterBees on-line designer if you don't want to pay to have it done, to create a business card that is professional and stands out.

This nice man gently let me know that I would not succeed without proper business cards and this is the same advice I would give to anyone printing business cards at home.

Updated:
I must add one more note that just astonishes me.  In doing some specific keyword research I found that there are an average of 400,000 searches on the Internet every month for the keyword "printable cards".  Now I'm not any more clear than anyone else what exactly these people are looking for…but I sure hope they aren't printing business cards at home!