Business cards came in existence sometime in 17th century. Earlier the practice was to deliver a visiting card to someone through a servant. If no one was there to receive, the card would be left with a note as to who had called. Today business cards are considered an essential tool for carrying out serious business and trading activities. When you meet a prospective customer you begin with offering him/her your business card, this gives this gives impression your serious in business and a good business card is still an essential business tool even in the modern electronic age. Whenever a vendor and customer meet, it is common courtesy to exchange business cards.

Have you got your business cards printed? If not, give a little thought about its design and layout before you approach the nearest printer. Different designs and layouts may prove useful to people in different professions. Some business Houses or showroom owners prefer using business cards as a publicity medium. Different service providers like plumbers, taxi services, cleaners & landscape gardeners etc are particular in distributing their business cards, hoping for calls from prospective clients in need of their services. It’s a common practice for taxi services to place their business cards in pubs and restaurants, either a single card pinned to the wall or better a quantity of cards left in a suitable dispenser. This helps a prospective passenger avail quick taxi service. These services size their business cards to easily fit in evening stroller’s wallet. Some service providers like oven cleaners, drycleaners or window cleaners like printing relevant logo or product picture to easily relate with the services they are specialized in. Printing your location map on the back of the card may give added publicity to your business.

Business cards add to your image and quickly grab the attention of the receiver. When you visit to see a busy corporate executive and pass on your card to the receptionist, you really feel elevated if she announces as “Mr. John Morgan from Motorola” instead of “some sales person here to see you”. Cards are also useful to pronounce uncommonly spelled names.

It is worth considering some helpful tips on how to keep the business cards and effectively offer them to the people you are visiting. Use a proper business card holder. In a networking meeting consider having a thick pile of cards in the breast pocket of your suit or the outside pocket of your handbag and practice of taking out one at a time. One should avoid keeping the received business cards in the same pocket, as this may slow down your card pulling process and make you look disorganized. Keeping few cards on you at all times is a good business practice as you never know when you may have a marketing opportunity waiting for you. Keep some cards in your pocket business card holder to make them handy when you need to use them.