Business card ideas.

[dan_bo]

Gear inch calculator?

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re:

These seem relavant to us, but what is relavant to the modern biker? If that's a target for the business too?

Anyway back to retroland...
Spoke Wire gauge to mm comparison.
What is Enduro?

But why you'd want all that on a business card I don't know. It's too messy.

Keep it simple,
Company name, contacts and a few stylised example of what you do.
Forget the rest of the faff.
Just use the info sheets you are making as just that info sheets with your business card placed in it.
Most that info is pointless, rear hubs now seem to use front hub balls. Quantities vary, lots are cartridge.
Etc..

 

[Rampage]

Re: Re:

Gear inch calculator?

Good idea, but ran out of room!

73,70 and 68mm widths marked on longer edge for bottom brackets?
Common threads (e.g. cantis M6)
List of left hand threads (which side of BB, pedal etc)

Plus a list of how to tell it's a real Zaskar...

The BB widths is a good idea, unfortunately I think it's too late now. There is an imperial and metric ruler though.
There is a list of BB threads and directions, didn't think of pedals though!
The thread gauge idea didn't work, printing it on the card didn't work for the smaller sizes, it would need the pattern cut out into the side of the card and that would cost a fortune I think! I did have various bolt thicknesss's underneath the charts, but it made it a bit unclear and jumbled.
I wanted to put on common thread but ran out of room!

I like the Zasker idea!

These seem relavant to us, but what is relavant to the modern biker? If that's a target for the business too?

Anyway back to retroland...
Spoke Wire gauge to mm comparison.
What is Enduro?

But why you'd want all that on a business card I don't know. It's too messy.

Keep it simple,
Company name, contacts and a few stylised example of what you do.
Forget the rest of the faff.
Just use the info sheets you are making as just that info sheets with your business card placed in it.
Most that info is pointless, rear hubs now seem to use front hub balls. Quantities vary, lots are cartridge.
Etc..

Yes, modern biker wouldn't want some of the stuff I've put on, but most work I get is from the retro people, as they seem more interested in custom stuff. I had an amazing belt drive chainring here last week though.
Didn't think of the spoke gauge and unfortunately it's too late now, although there is a ruler!

The idea was to make a business card that people would keep, I had to cram as much information as possible on to it, the front is quite and and simple though. I wanted something hat people would keep in their wallets, so a leaflet was a bit too big. A downside is that I have to cut them all out myself because digital guillotines seem to have quite a big tolerance!

I will keep one on me just for the BB bracket direction (always forget when in a rush!) and the chainring BCD gauge which works surprisingly well!

So we have:

Chainring size gauge for 4 & 5 arm.
Headset size chart, crown race, cups, TPI, stem sizes,
Common Bottom Bracket chart, threads and thread direction,
Typical bearing sizes and quantity,
Various conversion formula's,
Imperial ruler,
Metric ruler,
Common bike Imperial fractions conversion on ruler.

 

[stewlewis]

Re:

A business card already serves a function in the garage, toeing in and spacing brake pads and blocks.

You'll put all that info on there and then after one use it'll be covered in oily finger marks and ruined.

The business card is to point people to you, once they've learned who you are it isn't needed, it could point them to a website though, with a blog post at the end of which you offer them a PDF to download with all that info on. They laminate it, stick it on the garage wall with your name address logo website etc on it.

 

[technodup]

Re: Re:

You'll put all that info on there and then after one use it'll be covered in oily finger marks and ruined.

True.

The business card is to point people to you, once they've learned who you are it isn't needed,

Bollocks. If that was true the advertising industry would barely exist. You think Tesco, McD's et al spend their millions on adverts, email marketing, loyalty schemes etc for the fun of it? People are stupid. People are fickle. People need reminded, all the time. And let's not kid on it doesn't work either. I've been straw polling this by asking everyone I meet (many of whom claim advertising doesn't work) where's the first place they think of to buy a sofa. Every single person bar one has said DFS. One weirdo said Ikea. Must have had a Swedish granny.

My solution would be a plastic card with some of the information previously mentioned on the back (ruler on the front edge?).

Benefits: everlasting, eyecatching in full colour, perceived quality/attention to detail, added uses eg. emergency scraper, screwdriver, chopper upper...
Drawback: (relatively speaking, much) more expensive than paper. But still pennies.

When I meet new clients I scrunch up their paper card in front of them. Then they ask how much plastic ones are and can I get some for them.

 

[Rampage]

Mine are laminated card so should be wipe clean, as long as the edges don't absorb anything.
Plastic ones were working out at £1 each, these cost £62 for 500.
Also all the plastic ones I've seen have rounded edges which wasn't suitable.

Someone came round yesterday with a Bullseye crank and BB, a prototype card happened to be on the workbench. I used it three times while he was here. Twice to measure shell widths and once to check BB thead direction.

 

[technodup]

Plastic ones were working out at £1 each,

Were they making them one at a time by the hands of angels? A third of that and I'd still be making 100% as a middleman.

 

[stewlewis]

Re: Re:

The business card is to point people to you, once they've learned who you are it isn't needed,

Bollocks. If that was true the advertising industry would barely exist. You think Tesco, McD's et al spend their millions on adverts, email marketing, loyalty schemes etc for the fun of it? People are stupid. People are fickle. People need reminded, all the time. And let's not kid on it doesn't work either. I've been straw polling this by asking everyone I meet (many of whom claim advertising doesn't work) where's the first place they think of to buy a sofa. Every single person bar one has said DFS. One weirdo said Ikea. Must have had a Swedish granny.

I think you misunderstood, its the business card that's redundant not the advertising as a whole. I no longer need to refer to a business card for the people I do business with.

You get the attention with you're personal introduction meeting, with the card you give the customer a reminder of your details, you keep the customer with the product or service.

By the time you give a contact your card you've sold them on you and your services right,?

A business card is contact details and pointers to your advertising, nowadays, the website. Keep it simple.

I stand by the idea that a flyer is advertising, stick all the workshop ideas on that, it may even find its way to a potential customers wall.

 

[joe careless]

I keep mine simple, elegant and straight to the point. I do get good feedback from them.

 

[mattr]

Guy i know round here has his business cards made from rosewood.

Tree surgeon.
It's a nice touch.

Or there are the CDROM business cards that were in vogue 10 years ago.

TBH, i'd be looking at two business cards, an expensive, all singing all dancing one in aluminium or stainless, drop that in with big high value orders, or for *proper* commercially viable customers. Then a simpler, cheaper card one for "ordinary" customer.