The Rochester Penguin Group was formed several years ago to enhance the research capabilities of Balkin Information Services. Here is a description of one of our products.
The Value of a Business Card
One of Penguin's products is called Trade Show Followup (TSF). It's a system which allows a client to make more out of a collection of business cards than they might otherwise do. Whether the cards are collected at a trade-show or not, a stack of cards containing client information is a valuable resource. It's something that should be preserved and mined for leads, but that is not always the case.
Stacks of cards gathering dust in someone's drawer, are of little value. (HINT: I am as guilty as anyone.) The first thing that needs to be done with the cards is to get their information into a database. A CRM system is ideal for this purpose, but it's a pain to type all that information in. So it seldom gets done. (HINT: I actually like typing the stuff into Outlook, Excel, etc.)
Card scanners, such as the ones Penguin uses, can make that job quicker but even once the data is in digital form, it still needs to be characterized and indexed so that it can be used. In some cases today cellphones are used to collect business card information. That information can be merged with that from conventional business cards.
One of the advantages of Trade Show Followup is that it adds additional content to the business cards. By querying each cardholder the caller is able to find out why they contacted the company in the first place and what their interests are regarding the company's products. Also, notes taken on the backside of the card can be put into the database. (HINT: If you don't make notes on the back of cards, you should. Contact me and I'll tell you why.)
TSF calls automatically move the card owner up the sales stage ladder closer to a sale, and can also remove those cardholders that are unlikely to become customers, suppliers or other connections of value to the company.
So make the most of your business cards. Angella Luyk has said: "Never go out without your business cards. You will never know when you will need them." Make the most out of the business cards you collect; don't let them gather dust in a drawer.
To help you with those dusty cards, contact us at Penguin. We will show you what can be done with them.
NOTE: This has been adapted and edited from Business Metamorphosis' January, 2016 newsletter. Dick Blazey is one of the members of The Rochester Penguin Group. See http://www.businessmetamorphosis.com/ for more information on his company
Angella Luyk, author of: "Wisdom in a Traffic Jam. The Secrets Nobody Tells You About Owning an Amazingly Successful Business" owns Midnight Janitorial, a Rochester NY based company. See http://www.midnightjanitorial.com/
Balkin Information Services can be reached at: www.balkininfo.com
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