Transcript

Hi, I’m Carmen Sognonvi and I’m coming to you with another “Steal This Idea” video.

This is an occasional series where I share with you cool things that I’ve come across that other companies are doing and I show you how you can apply these ideas in your own business.

Today’s tip is how to do a better version of the business card drawing that you see so many restaurants and shops do.

So, one day I was in Chelsea in Manhattan, and I walked into a deli to get a cup of coffee. There was a jar sitting near the cash register that really caught my eye.

The jar was full of business cards and above it there was a sign that said, “Free Lunch, drawing everyday at 11:45 a.m. Drop your business card in the jar.”

Now, there are so many restaurants and stores that use this idea of doing a business card drawing, but this is the first time that I’ve seen it spelled out in such a specific way.

Not only do they specify exactly what you get by dropping your business card, but they make it clear that there are going to be many, many winners because they are going to do this drawing every single day at 11:45 a.m.

Now, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this jar was probably the fullest I’ve ever seen than any other restaurant or store.

By the time I stopped in there it was about 10 a.m., so the morning breakfast crowd had already seen the jar and thought, “oh I’ve got to get my card in there at 11:45, otherwise I’m not going to be eligible for this free lunch drawing.”

So, if you collect business cards for lead generation in your business, think about how you can make your offer more specific and therefore, appealing to your customer.

If you don’t specify how often the drawing happens, people are going to wonder if those cards have been sitting there for months at a time.

So, if you can actually set a set schedule for when the drawing happens, it’s really going to encourage people to want to drop their card.

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Thanks for watching and let me know if you try out this idea in your own business.

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