A mangy street dog can live seven years or more.

A four-colour, embossed, laminated business card would consider itself a veteran if it survived till next spring.

Because spring brings along spring-cleaning
And mysteriously, all over the world, business cards meet a horrible, recycled death.

So why don’t business cards work as well as they should?
Pull out your business card.

What does it say?
It gives your name.
Your address.
Mobile Number. Office Number.
And somewhere smack in the middle is a logo of sorts, possibly telling me what services you offer.

Um…Does your business card teach me to increase my profits?
Does it show me how to reduce waste?
Does it help me do my tasks more efficiently?
Does it help me get…er…more customers?
Does it do anything, that I would be remotely interested in, at this moment?

It probably doesn’t, huh?
So how about a card that shows me how to increase my profit.
Or help me do my tasks efficiently.
Or help me get more customers.
Or tell me just about anything, other than a boring name, address, and contact details.

We’re talking about a business card that creates instant attention And while you’re playing ‘God’ here are some solid rules to create an extremely action-based business card.

Rule 1: Make your card look like the cover of a book
And let the front part of your business card look like something a customer would want to buy. Put in a title.

Rule 2: Make the title interesting and captivating
You don’t need to go very far to get an interesting title. You’ll probably find something in about sixteen seconds at Amazon.com Once you’ve found a title, simply adapt it your business.

Examples:

Dietician: 7 simple tweaks that will stop over-eating for life Real Estate: 7 reasons why most homes are under-valued
Consultant: 7 powerful techniques to increase closing ratios Car Mechanic: 7 Instant Fuel-Saving Techniques
Landscaper: How to transform your garden with less than $100 investment

Rule 2a: Write the report or booklet

I know this is spoon-feeding, but hey, you’ll have to write the report or booklet that you’re going to give away. Don’t aim to be Mark Twain–just write a few profound tips that will help your customers to get ahead in their lives.

Rule 3: Do not (I repeat), do not ask the prospect to subscribe
Yes, your card will give intimate details of how the prospect can go to your website; and yes, it can tell them to call you for the report or booklet, but under no conditions will you have the word ’subscribe’ on your card.

The prospect is solely interested in the information contained in the report. When the prospect calls in, or fills in details at your website, you should tell them that they will be subscribed to your mailing list–and that they can unsubscribe whenever they wish to do so.

But under no conditions are you going to put that dreaded ’subscribe’
word on your card.

Rule 4: Flip over your card
Put bullet points. Tell the customer what they can expect to see in the report or the booklet you’re offering. Put in at least five to seven enticing bullet points. You darn well want the prospect to act immediately. Well, make the information compelling, so that the prospect feels the need to take a decision sooner than later.

Rule 5: Your logo and contact details come last
At the bottom of the card, there’s always a little space to put in your logo and your contact information. Just so that the prospect knows exactly how to reach you…just in case.

So will these steps prevent your business card from ending up in the trash?
Business cards have a grim fate.
They all end up in the trash eventually.
But there’s a difference between the card you currently have, and the card you know you really should have.

And the difference is that the prospect has voluntarily gone to your website or given you a call. And voluntarily agreed to be on your database.

And here’s a solemn, profound, earth-shattering fact…
That even if the prospect loses your card, or horrors, throws it away (by mistake of course), you can still keep in touch, because YOU now have their contact details and permission.

So that when a job next pops up, you’re in the prospect’s face.
They’ve read your booklet or report. They know you are the expert in your field. And it’s more than likely that the prospect will call you before they call any the competition– if they call the competition at all.

Your business card can be a piece of paper. Or a conversion tool.
What would you prefer?

P.S. The key to getting people to ask for your business card, or to get them to call you instead of you chasing after them, is to “give information”. And that way you live up to the ideal of BNI: namely “Givers Gain.” So give freely. And you’ll receive. And on that note you may be interested in this fancy giveaway (that’s free by the way). It’s at http://www.psychotactics.com/freezone (And judge for yourself).

And the brain works best in two direct situations.
Situation 1: Change.
Situation 2: Problem.

On a normal day, you’d stand up and give your one minute speech. But what if you decided to squat on the floor instead? What if you decided to tape your mouth instead? What if you decided to use a bunch of cue cards like the famous Bob Dylan video? Instantly you’ve got the audience’s attention. It doesn’t matter what they were doing when you stood up, the ‘change’ in the routine got their attention.

So yeah, think about it for a second. How do you create change?

Now you’ve got their attention, it’s time to keep their attention.
Anyone can get attention by doing something different. But you sure as heck can’t keep their attention for too long if all you’ve got is a gimmick. What does keep the attention going is reverting to the “problem’. If all you do is simply tell them about how your company does this and that, then the audience quickly reverts back to their coffee and breakfast. And because you’re so keen on whatever it is you’re saying, you don’t notice that they’ve zoned off.

But if you bring up a problem, you’ve created continuous attention.
e.g. If you fix computers. And you talk about how a virus attacks the system, you’ll get and keep their attention.
e.g. If you sell houses, and you talk about how to spot a crappy house from a mile off, you’ll get and keep their attention.
e.g. If you sell time management, and you talk about the biggest reason why time management fails…then ditto.

The point is not to be lazy
Laziness is when you simply stand up, and rattle off what you do, and what you do, and what you do. And blah, blah, blah. That’s just boring. That ‘what you do’ commentary that you’re so used to giving is just putting your audience to sleep. Instead see if you can bring in the two factors, namely ‘change’ and ‘problems’. And then watch as your audience’s eyes grow wide.

Now you’ve got their attention.
And you’re keeping their attention.
And that’s what your networking one-minuter should be all about.

Waking up an audience is easy. Try it. It works.

First put in a factor of change. Then a factor of the problem. And then end with your company name and the referral you’d like to receive. And watch the difference in the response.

Sean D’Souza is the author of The Brain Audit. You can read more about him (and read the first chapter free) at http://www.sevenredbags.com

P.S. The winner of last week’s “The Brain Audit” giveaway is Angela Murray. Angela, please get in touch to get your copy.

Suddenly you feel relieved.
Suddenly the anxiety-factor washes off you and you start to relax.

That friend is simply acting as guide
She shows you around the place.
She introduces you to others.
She makes you feel welcome.
You actually start to have a good time and enjoy yourself.

But what if that friend hadn’t shown up at that moment?
You would have looked around cagily.
Others at the party would look at you briefly over their margaritas and pinacoladas, and gone back to talking to their own friends.
You’d instantly feel isolated.

Even intimidated to some extent.

To avoid this situation you must have these core principles:
1) Create a welcoming zone.
2) Reduce intimidation, fear and frustration of being in an unfamiliar environment.
3) Isolate actions to ensure consumption.
Step 1: Create a Welcoming Zone.
Like the party, all members need to get a warm welcome. And someone to show the visitors around.

This simple act dramatically reduces intimidation.

Step 2: Reduce intimidation, fear and frustration of being in an unfamiliar environment.
It doesn’t matter how warm your welcome, there’s still a factor of fear and frustration, because of dealing with unfamiliar situations.

Not only are visitors not sure if they want to ask a question…But they aren’t sure if their question won’t appear foolish. And they’re not sure who’s going to answer the question.

What if no one answers the questions? A million thoughts run through a visitor’s head. And these thoughts are normal for everyone, because no matter how bold you are in your own environment, you aren’t quite sure what to do when getting to another environment.

So having someone who can answer your questions; give you specific instructions; lead you through the labryinth of information, makes a newcomer confident.
And you know you’re dealing with someone who’s willing to hear you out.

But most importantly, you don’t feel like you’ll make a fool of yourself in front of everyone.

Step 3: Isolate actions to ensure consumption
If you go to a party, and you’re introduced to everyone, then you suddenly can’t seem to remember anyone’s name. But if you’re introduced to one person, then you can talk to that person one on one. And you actually get a conversation going.

This concept is used to ensure one action. So get a visitor to do one thing. And then report back. Both the action and the reporting back is critical.

So what makes one better than the other?

Not surprisingly, it’s the unifying theme.  So what’s a unifying theme? And how can you can make your information product (whether it be a report/book/audio series etc.) better? Visit here  and click on the audio link to either listen to the audio, or the download link to download it and listen to it on your iPod.

So what makes an information product really, really sticky?

When you watch this video, the concept of the Unifying Theme will come home to you.

You’ll notice it anyway, but here’s a clue: The TRAY.
 
The TRAY is the unifying theme. As humans, we need a unifying theme for everything. If we don’t get the unifying theme, it’s much, much harder to get a point across.

Have fun. It’s a funny, funny video–with a unifying theme!

But is there another way to wake up an audience?
Yes, there is. It’s called demonstration. If you demonstrate something, your blah-blah won’t end up being so yawn…and you’ll actually engage people. Now if your 60 second presentation is tough, think of how tough your ten-minute presentation can be. And how tedious for the audience listening to what you have to say. But hey, it doesn’t have to be tedious, if you use the power of demonstration.

Just like Greg Lee (yes, he’s a BNI member from Maryland, USA) did.

Here’s his story: And he’s talking about how he demonstrated a solution for ‘chronic backache’.

“I ended up putting two large sheets of paper over my whole body down to my toes. And had people write on me what causes back pain: accidents, menses, stress, strain, injury, etc. On the second piece, I had people write down what do they do to relieve their back pain: meds, chiropractic, acupressure, aspirin, etc;

Then we talked about what these all have in common.
One of the members said that they only address the symptoms and don’t address the cause.

Then we talked about how I address the causes of back pain, in particular the emotions that are held in the pain.
We had a 9-year veteran of BNI say that this was one of the most engaging presentations he’s been to in a while.

So it’s time to wakey-wakey your audience. And yeah, demonstration does it very, very effectively.
Even if all you have are two large pieces of paper

Sean D’Souza
http://www.psychotactics.com

And unless you say something extremely interesting, your message will pass like a ship in the night.
So how do you use stories to create drama? And how do you link the stories back to what you do for a living?

Let’s take an example:
Let’s say you help your customers get rid of chronic back pain. So yeah, you stand up, and say, ‘Hey, I help my customers get rid of chronic back pain.’

Now don’t get me wrong.
A business that is so crystal-clear about their target audience, is easily streets ahead of other businesses. But in a networking scenario, it’s that ship-in-the-night-syndrome. If you really want to wake up your audience, you need to tell a story. And then relate that story back to what you do.

So how would you use a story?
First, take a story that anyone (and almost everyone can relate to).

E.g. Superman.
He’s on the floor.
He’s writhing in pain.
At which point you ask the audience: Why do you think Superman’s writhing in pain on the floor? And guess what? Your audience will revert back to the story they know. And most people will say Kryptonite.

But you reveal that it’s not Kryptonite, but chronic back pain.
That back pain prevents Superman from being Superman.

Now your audience is wide awake, and it’s time to link back to what you do. About how back pain works and makes Superfolk into non-super.
Then you bring up the solution to the back pain. Which is your service, of course.

There are many ways to use well-loved stories to spruce up your presentation, and link it to your business:
1) Goldilocks and the Three Bears:
Occupations:
1) Detective Agency: Hired to find the perpetrator.
2) Real estate agent: Because the bears are sick of people breaking in.
3) Pest control: Because yeah, yeah that Goldilocks is a pest.

2) Red Riding Hood
1) Marketing Consulting: Because you don’t want the wrong advice
2) Travel Agency: Because you don’t want to go into ‘nasty’ areas
3) Car Rental: Because walking can be ‘dangerous’ to your health.

3) Santa Claus
1) Hiring Staff: You want a good employment contract with all those elves.
2) Finance: You’ll need some cash to manufacture all those toys.
3) Gym: Santa’s going to need some help getting down those chimneys (after putting a few kilos)

As you can see, I’ve linked businesses and well-loved stories. And so can you.

So you know what you have to do, right?
Find a three-year old kid. And borrow some of those story books with well-loved stories.
Link them to your business and you’ll find your audience listening, loving and most importantly remembering your presentation for a long, long time.

Stories work really well to get an audience awake.
But nothing quite beats well-loved stories.

Sean DSouza
http://www.psychotactics.com