After reading Emily Brackett’s series of blog posts over at the Design Advances Success blog about online printing and namely printing of business cards I have been thinking quite a bit about business cards and observations I have made over the past few months, which are not really different from ones I have made over all the years I have been in the working world.

About the business card itself:

May be your sole physical presence – In some cases, your business card is the only real physicality of your business. As many business are virtual or home-based, other than computer equipment a business card is the only real-world tangible item that shows you exist.

Business cards are cheap – Compared to other costs of running your business, the cost of designing and printing business cards is relatively inexpensive, whether you go with a commercial or online printer.

A business card is not a contract – Why would I state this? Read on and you’ll see why.

When you add people to the mix of business cards, here are some unfortunate observations I have made:

Some people don’t have business cards at all – I don’t know how any times I have been to a networking event and a person tells me they don’t have business cards in any way, shape for form. They will proceed to ask me if they are expensive to order, and where should they order them. Some are embarrassed, but most simply have a “whatever” attitude.

“I just ran out of cards” – This is another think I hear. Business cards are small, and fit neatly in a pocket, wallet or purse. If you have them, why not make sure you have enough, especially at a business event? I keep a business card holder on my desk, as pictured, to remind me to keep plenty on hand.

Someone says they ran out of cards but they just don’t want to give you one – This ties into my statement above about a business card not being a contract. I believe some people think if they give someone a card, they have entered into some form of relationship they could never get out of. From my past experience, I hear from less than 1% of the people I give business cards to.

Poor quality business cards – Where the design of a card is subjective more than objective, I have received cards that are either physically damaged or simply don’t have any contact information for a person. Just putting a Web site URL on a card may be creative, but it does not make a personal connection.

If you don’t believe me, Jason Jacobsohn has no shortage of articles on business cards and networking on his blog Networking Insight.

Spending a little time on creating a clean, clear and professional business card will go a long way towards your success in networking and business.

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I am proud to announce that Dunkirk Systems, LLC yesterday launched the Active Travels blog and forum!

If you are looking for more than a stroll down Main Street at Disneyland, Active Travels is for you. Steve Jermanok is a travel journalist and has written several book and has contributed to the Boston Globe, Men’s Journal and Outside among other publications. Through Active Travels he shares his experiences over the years with unique travel destinations throughout the world on his blog. The forum, aptly named Go Play!, will “fill in the blanks” as he calls it and allows people to discuss destinations and activities. Simply browse the conversations and register to participate.

You can subscribe to Active Travels by RSS feed or by email or visit the site at activetravels.com. Though launched yesterday, it has had a soft launch over the last several weeks and there is already a wealth of travel information and destinations to read about. I think I found my summer getaway already, maybe you are next?

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The next likemind will be Friday, July 17, 2009 in dozens of cities around the world.

In Chicago, it will be at Argo Tea, 140 S Dearborn St. at the corner of Adams and Dearborn Streets in the Loop from 8:00 am to 10 am.

I call likemind a gathering of creative-minded people, from various disciplines including Internet, advertising, art, social media, et. al. For more information on likemind, you can read this great article on likemind from the New York Times.

No RSVP is required. You are also welcome to join the likemind Chicago Facebook group.

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You get those offers in the mail all the time - open a new bank account with us and get X dollars, where can be anything from US$50 to US$150. As enticing of an offer it is - who doesn't want free money - it does not take into consideration the total costs of switching over to this new bank.

Allow me to introduce what I call TCS - the total cost of switching.

Taking the bank example above, some of the activities involved in switching bank accounts include the time to actually open the new account, balancing 2 accounts until you close the original account, switching auto deposits and debits to the new account (if switching a payroll check, add the hassle of getting a paper check in the middle of the switch), the cost of new checks, and learning the processes of a new bank. And these are just a few things that come to mind. When you consider paying somebody to perform these tasks, their salary negates any "free money" from the bank.

Of those, learning the processes has the longest lasting impact. When things work, everything is OK. When it is not, the first time going through the process is truly a leaning experience. Unfortunately this is nothing you can find out for yourself until it happens to you or your business personally.

Poor Service Always a Catalyst to Switch

One factor that outweighs switching cost is poor service. The opportunity cost of dealing with poor service from a vendor is huge, especially if their products or services are in turn offered to your clients or customers. This is something that has unfortunately happened to me one time too many! It not only cost me time in the interim dealing with the vendor but setting up with a new vendor, accommodating my client and not to mention stewing over it.

Plan Ahead with Backup Vendors

If you do need to switch, it is good to already have a vendor lined up and some form of working relationship with them. Even a list of names and emails is better than nothing, and names and mobile numbers are the best. Depending on the service, doing some amount of business with them will help mitigate risk. The cost of spreading business around may be more upfront, but it can help preserve client relationships and revenues - not to mention brain cells - in the long term.

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Editor’s Note – The following is a guest post by Ralph Ingrassia, President of Endeavour Technologies, LLC, and a project management consulting guru. A longtime reader of The Hot Iron – not to mention client of Dunkirk Systems, LLC and close friend of Mike Maddaloni – he shares some of his wisdom and experience here, which we hope will be the first of many guest posts.

Who isn’t trying to cut costs these days, whether those be business or personal costs? One cost I was considering cutting was my weekly pool service. But, having tried that in the past and failed miserably, I had decided that maybe this wasn’t a cost worth cutting yet.

Over the years I’ve used the larger pool servicing companies, but have always been left disappointed by the higher prices, nickel and diming and lack of professionalism. So, being a small business owner myself, I settled on an independent Pool Guy and have been happy for the last few years. I could pick up the phone and he’d be here if I was having a party or if I had any problems whatsoever and it was always clear that his priority was that I was happy with his work.

Things started to change this year. The first point of concern was that his price went up this year again for the third year in a row. Now last year I understood a price increase due to the rising cost of gas but this year’s price increase left me confused. If anything I would have anticipated a steady price this year. Still, his prices were much more competitive than the larger companies mentioned above so I didn’t say anything. Then the nickel and diming started. Not much, but a few bucks here and there. Again, I was still saving money so I decided to just keep an eye on these charges over time.

Last week, however, was the deal-breaker. After completing my service he knocked on my door for payment and I happened to be on a conference call that I had muted. I decided that it would be easier to pay cash which left me $8 over the service price. I informed him that if he didn’t have any change we could just apply it to next week. The response was, “Ralph, you’re cheap just like my Dad.” “He won’t give a tip to save his life.” Now, anyone who knows me knows that I value good service and in situations where a tip is warranted, it is awarded. I worked in the restaurant industry and completely understand how the American restaurant system makes it so gratuities make up the lion’s share of a server’s income. Jokingly, I also thought that the fact that I actually had a Pool Guy would classify me as being not cheap.

But from the customer perspective, a line had been crossed here. As small business owners, we try to price ourselves competitively, prevent scope creep to manage the need for cost increases or business losses, and provide the utmost in professional service. In most cases, I find that it is the professional and personalized service that is most valued by my customers relative to my fees. The example I’ve detailed with my Pool Guy can be applied to my own business as well.

So what has gone wrong here? Is it just a case of temporary insanity or has the service provider forgotten that I am a long term customer that he has a pleasant relationship with and not a friend? Or, is it that this particular small business owner has forgotten to holistically look at their services and fees and evaluate if his customers are really receiving a superior service for their dollar regardless of a competitor’s price? In this case maybe it’s all three.

In the end, the decision that I made was to cut back on my service to bi-weekly instead of weekly. Was this decision driven solely by the lack of professionalism? No. But, it was a factor in a decision I had been teetering back and forth on.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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