Learn how digital business cards can help you streamline client interactions, track performance, and achieve better outcomes as a field sales professional. We will also explore effective field sales use cases of digital business cards across industries.
Field sales remain among an organization’s most demanding yet important job roles.
But traditional networking mediums (such as paper business cards) often used for field sales pose unnecessary friction.
For instance, as a sales representative, sharing your business card details and tracking the progress of every interaction may get tedious for you.
If you wish to streamline client interactions, efficiently track progress, and get better overall results as a sales professional, you must move away from traditional, outdated field sales practices and adopt more modern and efficient solutions.
One such solution is digital business cards (or virtual business cards). Unlike paper business cards, you can use this innovative networking tool to significantly improve communications with your prospects.
Moreover, you can use them to track engagement and gain insights to optimize your field sales strategies.
Let’s learn more.
1. Why are paper business cards ineffective for field sales professionals?
2. 7 ways digital business cards streamline networking for field sales professionals
3. Industries that can use digital business cards for field sales
4. Make field sales most effective with NFCCARD’s digital business cards
Sales professionals have always relied on paper business cards as their primary networking tool.
But as digital transformation continues to change the field sales landscape, physical business cards are becoming less effective and outdated.
A traditional sales call usually begins when you visit your prospect in person.
Each call can have either of these two outcomes: The prospect buys from you immediately or agrees to speak to you in the future.
The second outcome is when a business card becomes handy, and a paper business card is not the best choice in such scenarios.
Let us look at the three reasons why:
Paper business cards are small (usually 85 mm x 55 mm) and can only hold your basic contact information.
They will look cluttered if you try to incorporate additional information, such as your services or your products’ details.
Even the slightest update in your contact information makes your existing paper business cards outdated.
Now, you will have to reprint an entire batch of updated cards and reshare them once more with each of your prospects.
If your salespeople have already handed over numerous copies of their business cards, resharing another batch of updated versions becomes a significant redundancy.
The average annual cost to print paper business cards can go as high as $194 in the US. For a team of 250 field sales agents, you would incur, on average, $48,500 in annual printing expenses.
This average cost can increase further if you apply sophisticated designs and use expensive materials for your paper business cards.
Digital business cards let you provide your prospects with an interactive business card experience, increasing your chances of winning a conversion.
However, there is more to digital business cards than just high interactivity. Here are seven more ways digital business cards can boost your networking:
1. Showcase all your professional details
2. Digital business cards enable paperless networking
3. Personalize and update your cards in real-time
4. Cut down on lengthy turnaround times and save money
5. Monitor card engagement with virtual business cards
6. Digital business cards enable two-way contact sharing
7. Digital business cards are sustainable and eco-friendly
Unlike paper business cards, digital business cards do not have space restrictions. These paper business card alternatives allow you to showcase all the information you wish to convey in one place. You can add as many phone numbers, web URLs, and social links as you require.
A digital business card that can be shared in a paperless and contactless manner via Apple or Google Wallet.
Field sales often require representatives to carry a considerable number of business collaterals. These collaterals include paper business cards, brochures, direct mail promotions, and more.
However, switching to digital business cards reduces the need for carrying so much ‘paper.’ You can share your contact information with your client in a paperless and contactless manner.
How, you ask?
Simply send your digital business card to your mobile device and share your card via Apple Wallet (or Google Wallet). This way, you can avoid using paper, and your client can instantly access and save your contact details on their mobile device.
Unlike paper business cards, creating, updating, and customizing digital business cards is possible in real time.
You can flexibly customize and personalize your digital business cards based on the demographic you’re addressing—or the service you’re promoting.
For example, if you promote two different services in two different locations, all you need to do is create two corresponding variations of your digital business card.
Each card will have its own distinct design and content based on the intended audience. This eliminates the need to carry two separate batches of physical cards. You simply share the more suited card variation directly from your mobile device.
Learn more about updating a digital business card in less than 5 minutes.
Procuring paper-based business cards takes time and effort.
Designing your cards, finding the right company to print them, and internal procurement procedures can take up to 30 days.
To eliminate lengthy processes and have your cards available for use as soon you purchase, switch to digital business cards.
This is because you can instantly create and share your cards as soon as you purchase a digital business card solution.
Furthermore, digital business cards are significantly more cost-effective compared to their paper counterparts. As discussed earlier, you would have to incur, on average, $48,500 in annual printing expenses for a team of 250 field sales agents.
In contrast, digital business cards come only at a fraction of this annual cost. You only need to spend $48 – $72 annually per employee (depending on the digital business card pricing plan you choose). As a result, you can save as much as 75% on your business card expenses.
Your sales team might have already shared hundreds or thousands of physical business cards. But there are no means to track if and how your prospects engage with them.
Digital business cards, however, come with advanced analytics features that track card interactions and provide performance metrics.
You can gain insights into card engagement, such as the number of times a card is viewed, who views the card, and how often it is shared.
Having this information allows you to measure the success of your sales efforts and make data-driven decisions to enhance your strategies.
Typically, a physical business card only allows you to share your contact details. This results in you not knowing if your prospect has your contact information or not.
Digital business cards offer a two-way sharing option. This allows your prospects to share their contact details with you as soon as you send them your digital business card. The prospects can enter their details directly on your digital card, which you can instantly receive.
By enabling two-way contact sharing, you eliminate the need for manual entry of contact information, thus preventing possible errors and streamlining the follow-up process.
Paper business cards contribute to environmental waste. Even if you recycle them, they can still result in a significant amount of waste that may not be completely biodegradable.
In contrast, digital business cards are eco-friendly. They do not require any physical materials and do not contribute to waste.
Using digital business cards can significantly reduce your company’s carbon footprint and make your field sales processes more sustainable.
Virtually any industry can benefit from digital business cards, but specific sectors where field sales are critical may see exceptional value. Examples of these industries include:
- Real estate
- Insurance
- Automotive sales
- Pharmaceuticals
- Direct selling
Digital business cards enable professionals in these sectors to streamline client interactions, manage contacts more efficiently, and improve overall sales effectiveness.
NFCCARD’s digital business cards can provide you with many of the benefits listed above and more.
Our digital business card solution includes the following features:
- Customizable templates for various industries
- Real-time updates and personalization options
- Advanced analytics and performance tracking
- Two-way contact sharing capabilities
- Eco-friendly and cost-effective
By leveraging NFCCARD’s digital business cards, you can enhance your field sales efforts and gain a competitive edge in your industry.
