By Sande Saimon

You're standing in line to check out at a store. You finally find the courage to strike up a conversation with the person behind you. You chat about life and, because you are a distributor for a network marketing company or direct sales company, you gently lead the conversation in the direction of “What do you do?” “Do you work outside the home?” “Are you happy with your current situation or are you looking for something more?”

You then hand your new acquaintance your business card and ask them to take a look at your website and/or give you a call.

These are business cards that you may have created yourself or you may have had them made up from a company like VistaPrint. These little pieces of cardstock tell people what company you represent – or the name of your business. It tells people your name, website address, phone number – and it may have a logo or a pretty graphic on it.

Your new friend is polite. They say, "sure I’ll take a look at your site" – they glance at your card, put it in their purse or wallet where it is generally forgotten until the next time they decide to clean out their purse. Then it’s usually dumped in the trash because they can’t even remember where they got it from.

Were they interested? Maybe ... maybe not. What happened? Why didn't they go to your site like they said they would?

Well, for starters – whether or not they were really interested at the time, they are not going to hurt your feelings by telling you they’re not. It’s much easier to agree and then toss your card. It’s human nature and you can’t fight that. But you can generate interest. How?

If you want people to look at your business card and pay attention to what you have to offer – tell them something they want to hear.

• What are you offering them?

• What are you going to do for them?

• What do you provide that they can’t get somewhere else?

• Do you want them to join your team?

• Do you want them to buy your products?

• Why should they spend their time going to your website?

In other words -- What’s in it for them?

Giving them a prospecting card instead of a business card tells them right up front what’s in it for them!

It’s the same basic card available from the same locations you buy your business cards from now – a prospecting card just has different information on it – it’s designed to pull people in the direction you want them to go.

Get your prospect’s attention.

• Ask them important questions.

• Are they happy with the job they currently have?

• Do they need more money?

• Wouldn’t they rather stay home with their children?

• Are they tired of the rat race?

• Do they want more free time?

• Are they worried about retirement?

• Are they concerned about their financial freedom?

Make them curious – what do YOU have that they don’t?

• More money?

• More free time?

• Work from home?

• Spend time with family?

• Incredible products?

Offer them something for Free! Everyone loves a bargain & you can’t get a better bargain than free.

If one-side is good, double-sided is better! Use double-sided prospecting cards. They may cost a bit more, but are definitely worth it. The back of the card is where you hook your prospect or customer. I’ve never seen a person look at a business card that doesn’t flip it over and check out the back of the card – a blank back is wasted real estate!!

• Go to my website for a free gift.

• Sign up for my business newsletter and I’ll send you “this & that” for free.

• Click here and I’ll send you my latest eBook that will show you how to make $$$ from home.

• If you are selling items – the back of the card is where you offer them % off their next purchase or a Buy 10 and Get 1 Free Special.

The above is truly important because while they are on your site you want to capture their contact information so that you can send them information periodically. You want them to fill out a form, sign up for something -- then you can start dripping information to them about your business & products.

Now that I've told you want to DO, let me make a couple of suggestions for what NOT to do.

Don’t use “free” business cards.

• Free business cards from some online printers will put their information on the back – “Get free business cards by visiting our website.”

• It gives the wrong impression. If you are doing so well in your business, why are you using free business cards?

Don’t use home printed business cards. If they look like you printed them yourself, don’t use them.

• Check to make sure your printer ink is waterproof. How many printers out there use inks that run.

• Flimsy, lightweight cardstock looks cheap.

• Perforations are a dead give-away that you printed them at home.

• Again, it gives the wrong impression.

If you want someone to join your team, etc., give the impression of wealth. Your potential partners are not going to know that you didn't realize that the free logo info would be on the back & you didn't want to waste them. Or that you created the cards yourself because you like creating them. They will just make the assumption that you can’t afford to buy cards from a printer.

So; to recap:

• Use a prospecting card instead of a business card

• Get your prospect’s attention

• Tell them something they want to hear

• Make them curious to learn more

• Give them something for free

• Give them a reason to come back for more

• Use double-sided cards

• Don’t use free cards from printers if they put something on the back saying that they were free

• Don’t print your own cards at home if your printer ink will run, your cardstock is flimsy or you can see perforated edges – it gives the wrong impression.

You will find that handing out these cards to prospects – or using them for guerilla marketing strategies -- will result in more calls & more visits to your website by people wanting to hear what you have to say!

Sande Saimond owns a successful Home Based Business with Scent-sations Mia Bella Gourmet Candles. http://www.MiaBellaGourmet.com. A self-admitted computer geek, she also owns & operates a web hosting company at www.WorkingFromHeartandHome.com, a website building company at www.GreatBigSmallSites.com & an autoresponder service at www.OnlineDistinction.com. When she doesn’t have her nose buried in a computer screen, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Tony, and their two "boys," rescued racing greyhounds, Phantom & Archer.