Is Your Silent Salesman Well Dressed?

by guest blogger Katie Brandel

Imagine this. Your doorbell rings, and you open it to find a salesman from ABC company eager to tell you about the services he can offer you. It so happens that you’ve been looking for these kinds of services, so the chance that he could convert this visit into a sale is higher than your average cold call. But as soon as you open the door, your eyes are assaulted by his horribly mismatched plaid shirt and floral pattern tie. On a second glance, you notice that the entire shirt is misbuttoned by two buttons, giving it a cockeyed effect as it hangs on him. “No thanks, I’m not interested,” you say as you close the door before he can get more than a few words out. If that’s their idea of professional representation, you think, there’s no way I’d get quality services.

We all know the power of a first impression. No one who runs a quality business would ever send out a representative who was so clueless about how they present themselves. Yet every day, many quality businesses do send out “silent salesmen” with poor appearance: their collateral and marketing materials.

Business cards. Letterhead. Brochures. Anything that has your business name and/or logo is a silent salesman for your business. When you send these out into the world, they become your representatives, sometimes to people you’ve never met. Yet often, especially for small businesses, these are the items where people feel they can cut expenses by just throwing something together for themselves. What they don’t realize is that those savings can actually translate into a loss. A badly designed business card can drive customers away because their first impression is a negative one and they assume they could expect the same negative experience if they worked with you. An average looking brochure could lose your business to your competitor who had his professionally designed to give it that extra eye-catching shine.

One of the best things you can do for your business is to respect the influence of your marketing materials and leverage them to your best advantage. Analyze your business and your customer base. Where do they get their information? What are their demographics? What do they find appealing? If you have the type of business which flourishes with lots of networking event attendance, then it is vital for you to have a business card which makes you stand out from the crowd when someone is sorting through the piles of cards later. If your customers often get referred to you from third parties, having a brochure or information sheet with an easily readable, appealing layout that you could leave with those third parties can easily guide a higher percentage of those referrals your way.

Find a professional who is willing to have a conversation about your unique business and customer base and help you translate that into engaging, professional designs that will truly represent the quality of your services. It might cost you now, but sending your silent salesman out with a shoddy appearance could cost you a lot more.