Leather Business Cards

[lightingale]

Having just received some makers stamps for Christmas, and also having possession of a pile of leather scrap too small do do anything else with... this is a brilliant idea. I usually attach a cardboard business card to all of my creations before they are sent out, but this might make more of an impression, pun intended.

[WayOutWatty]

You know, I'm pretty guilty of not posting very much here, I'd rather observe and keep my mouth shut than offend any of the "artisans" around here... That being said, grab a tissue, here comes an opinion: I would never hand one of my clients a piece of leather (business card shaped or not) that didn't represent exactly what I produce.

A dairy farmer wouldn't give you a shot of sour milk to try to sell you farm fresh milk and a gourmet chocolatier wouldn't give you a Hershey bar with his business information printed on the wrapper.

Why would you want to give a client a piece of leather that doesn't represent your product? I couldn't take myself seriously if I told a guy that his custom seat was going to be $800 and then handed him a hunk of cheap Tandy leather with some Microsoft Word embossing on it.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate how much lasers cost. I'm also pretty familiar with materials and their price points. That being said, there's no way that I would spend $65.00 to make this kind of impression on a client. Business cards are cheap - I'd rather make a neutral impression with a traditional business card than have someone question my craftsmanship based on a gimmick.

The OP is right, I don't carry around a box of seats and saddlebags to self-promote in the grocery store, but I sure as hell don't carry around a box of Tandy scraps with my name stamped in them either - that doesn't exactly scream "quality."

(I'm off my box - carry on smartly.)

[Potroast]

Dear Embossing Die Co.,

Sometimes it's how we promote that rubs people (competitors and potential customers) the wrong way. I believe that business it's all about building rapport and earning trust. So I do get what Joyce is implying about all of the free blatant self-promotion some of the posters seem to get away with all over this forum for non leather items. I enjoy this forum and all of the wonderful people and talent here and like me, she is probably getting tired of Spam advertising too. I thought "Tacky" was being generous by the way.

Think of your initial post from any of your competitor's view point. They read your pitch and then you admit that yes it is self promotion. You are knowingly flaunting your item and business here to gain market share over them. Who wouldn't have felt cheated.

My words are not to damn you... But to shed the view point of an outsider.

I personally find that my customers see the attention to detail in the items that I make for them. So my customers are my best business cards. So when people say "hey, where did you get that belt?" My customer can easily look to the tip of their belt and easily read off my name and phone #, thanks to the cool stamps that I have received from Joyce. I personally could not say enough about Joyce and her business-she is wonderful!

As for leather vs paper - no offense, I prefer paper as I can put 5-10 in my wallet.

Edited December 30, 2012 by Potroast

[immiketoo]

I'm surprised this topic has turned snippy so fast. I have often thought a leather business card would be a great way to differentiate myself from the sea of other paper crap in the world.

I agree that a plain stamped piece of leather might not be appealing to you guys, but I would have thought that of anyone, leather workers would muster up a little creativity. As I read this thread, I came up with several ideas on how to make the leather card distinctive and not look cheap.

Additionally, I can't imagine just handing any kind of business card to someone cold without taking the time to develop a relationship with them first. Take the time to engage the customer, talk about your stuff, show them the product slap the card in their hand. Of course, there is the debate that business cards are a polite way for a customer to say "no" and walk away from you.

Anyway, it's just another way to reach out to a new customer. You don't have to use it if you don't like it.

[RavenAus]

I must admit, sniping at each other doesn't engender much in the way of desire to use either service.

I do like the idea though and will keep it in mind once I get big enough to need something like this. My preference would be something I can do with a standard makers mark as a small keyfob, supplied with items sold, rather than a full business card but I'll leave the decision until I've got a name worth the outlay .

[mikesmith648]

I do like the idea of a makers mark type business card/ tag to use to promote my business. But if and when I do decide to get one it will be of my own volition and design. And I agree that the forum is for everyone and "constructive" criticism is usually welcome and even encouraged. But it should be constructive and not attacking or demeaning in nature. It is of my opinion that Joyce is not attacking or demeaning in any way, rather she was stating her opinion about the making of a stamp in HER shop and that she prefers not to make them "unless they insist".

We are all here to learn and grow and it is a blessing for all the help that others and myself have reaped from this forum. I thank all of you for the fellowship and friendship that I have had brought upon me in the time on here, and I will continue to share any knowledge I have and hope to learn even more as time goes on. Thanks for this forum.........and God bless you all!!

ok....off MY soapbox

[Chief31794]

I been reading this one with interest for a few days. Personally, I don't think I would ever spend shop time making leather business cards. I'm in there 40-60 hours a week so If I don't have any orders to work on, I'm going fishing not dampening, pressing, drying, dying, and finishing leather business cards, but that's just me.

Chief

[EmbossingDieCompany]

Immiketoo.....yes, I'm surprised too.......I thought it was just a marketing idea.......yet others have turned it into "spam to gain market share"

Dear Potroast.....I've read your other posts with your testimonials for Joyce and you are obviously one of her very satisfied customers. Had you thought this was a great idea, do I really think that you would buy from me rather than you simply contacting Joyce who could clearly make it? And there are 3 or 4 other stamp makers on here that also have happy satisfied customers too. I'm sure that if one of their customers saw this idea, they also would go back to someone they know and trust, rather than come to me. My idea is not copyrighted....any of those other stamp makers could just as easily make them.

Wayoutwatty.......thanks for your opinion on the idea. You taught me a valuable lesson: that I should not market these to the few hundred artisians that make $800 seats who consider Tandy as the evil empire. Rather, I should focus on the hundreds of thousands of Tandy customers that buy $70 million of leather from Tandy every year.

I also think that some of you can't see the forest for the trees.....you are focusing on using "Tandy scraps" that don't scream quality as a piece of raw vegtan business card. Yet others see that you can use offcuts (that may be cheaper and better quality than the Tandy pieces) and decorate them to make them distinctive and not cheap so they represent the quality of craftmanship that you want to display to potential customers.......that way you won't have to leave them with a neutral impression so that your paper card gets lost in the obscurity of the other dozen paper cards that they put in their pocket.

Although the sample uses the standard "Ariel" font from Microsoft (another evil empire), there are literally thousands of different fonts that can be used (you won't be limited to the four fonts that Tandy offers on their stamps) and you can easily add your logo, or a graphic or swirls or other decorative elements. The point being....you can design and decorate your card in any way that you see fit to reflect your business or personality. But Chief is right too.....I'm sure most leatherworkers that spend 40-60 hours a week filling orders don't want to spend dozens of hours making and decorating leather business cards.....which is why I was trying to show that with using a stamp on inexpensive pre-made pieces simply sprayed with a little SaddleLac, you could crank out 50 or 100 in less than an hour.

And yes it is a gimmick. But gimmicks work. There are millions of sales people and small business owners that look for and use gimmicks every day just so they can give themselves any possible slight edge over their competition. Would you rather have your paper business card buried with hundreds of others in someone's Rolodex ("Hmmmm.....did I file that leatherworker's card under the word leather? or seat? cool stuff? or his name.....what was his name? I can't remember...") or because it doesn't fit in a standard Rolodex it is likely sitting prominently on the person's desk, or counter or computer.......because as Benlilly1 said......everybody loves the smell and feel of real leather......and the cards are too nice to just throw in the garbage like they do with all the other paper cards they collect.

So like I said in my original post......I could have posted this in the "free" Marketplace section........but I didn't because I truly believed that this was more appropriate in the Marketing Section. I was not trying to be sly about it either....I admitted right up front that it involved a little self promotion, but I did that so that any of the Mods could easily move the thread to the Marketplace Section or simply remove the link to my shop so that I wouldn't get an unfair advantage to "gain market share over my competitors who might feel cheated".

Edited December 30, 2012 by EmbossingDieCompany

[Wishful]

I like the idea.

[Spence]

Needless to say, I like the idea too. I guess I'm a bit biased because I've had a few stamps made by him. I've been very satisfied with the service and workmanship, as have my customers that benefitted from it.

I guess my initial "jump" was more out of shock that Joyce would slam (I still believe she did) another business person. I mean, we have an awful lot of leatherworkers here and that kind of snarky stuff is extremely rare.

Enough from me.