Real estate business cards: what an agent card has to do
An agent card is kept for months before it is used. What to print, what to put behind the code, and the mistakes that make a card get thrown away.
Read it →Business cards for small business owners in the trades have one job: to be found in a kitchen drawer eight months from now and rung. That takes a large number, the work named plainly and the area covered. Almost everything else is decoration.
The front: four things, large
A drawer card is a different job from a card swapped at a networking event, and it changes what goes on the front.
Your trade, in the words a customer uses. Electrician. Plumber. Boiler repairs. Not "integrated building solutions". The person hunting in the drawer is looking for the word they would search for.
Your name. People ring a person.
One phone number, as the largest thing after the trade. Not three. A card with a mobile, a landline and an office number gets none of them dialled. If you take WhatsApp, say so beside the number.
The area you cover. "Across north Bristol" saves you calls you would turn down and wins you the ones you want.
That is the front. Resist the fifth item; space is what makes the number easy to find at a glance.
The back: what you actually do
The back is for the list a customer scans to check you do their job.
- Five or six services, plain words, one line each.
- Whether you do emergencies, and what hours.
- Your registration or licence number if your trade has one. This is the single most persuasive thing on a trade card.
- A QR code.
Keep the list short. A back with twenty services reads as a man who does none of them well. We have filled-in examples for electricians, builders and contractors and cleaning services, each with the buttons that trade uses most.
The one thing that turns a card into a call
Put a code on the back that opens a card carrying your photographs of finished work.
A customer with a leak does not want a brochure. They want to see that the last bathroom you did looks like a bathroom they would want. A digital card handles that in a way paper never can: a gallery section, a few testimonials, opening hours, a map, and a big button that rings you.
Make the code a tracked link rather than your bare address. Then a new mobile number is an edit on your phone, and the two hundred and fifty cards in the van stay good. The QR code guide covers size, contrast and placement, which are what decide whether a code scans from a card held at arm's length.
Paper, for a card that lives in a van
Trade cards take a beating. Three practical notes.
Heavy matte stock. Card of about 350 gsm survives a pocket and takes a biro, which matters when you scribble a quote on the back.
Avoid gloss. It fingerprints, and a card handled with working hands shows it.
Print two hundred and fifty, not a thousand. You will change something within the year.
The printable cards guide covers the files and the margins.
Where to leave them
The card only works if it reaches a drawer. Leave one with every job whether or not you were asked, two if there is a neighbour who watched you work, and one with the merchant, the letting agent and the estate agent who send work. Give each of those a different tracked link and you will know in three months which one is worth the coffee.
Being the number they ring next time
Most repeat work is lost to forgetting, not to a cheaper rival. When a customer scans your code and saves your digital card to their phone, you can send card notifications later, such as a reminder before the boiler service is due. The WhatsApp add-on does the typing for you: a thank-you when the card is saved, a follow-up a few days after the job, and a reminder the day before a booked visit. Pro is $0.99 a month, about the price of one washer.
What to put on the digital card
Keep it to what a customer checks before ringing a stranger into their home.
- A photograph of you, not a logo. Trust is a face.
- Call and WhatsApp as the two main buttons.
- A gallery of six finished jobs.
- Services with a line each.
- Hours, including whether you answer out of them.
- Your registration number, written out.
- With bookings, an add-on to Pro, a Book a session button for a short call about the job, at a time the customer picks.
The guide to custom business cards sets out the other sections available, and the help centre's card page tab lists every one of them. It takes one evening: make your free card, then put its code on the back of the paper one.
Questions people ask
Should I put my home address on the card?
No. An area covered is more useful to the customer and safer for you. The digital card can carry a map pin for a yard or a shop if you have one.
Is a logo worth paying for?
Less than a good photograph of your work. A clean card with your trade in plain type and one strong photo behind the code beats a logo on a crowded card.
How many services should I list?
Five or six. The list is there so somebody can confirm you do their job, not to describe everything you have ever done.
Do I need both a printed and a digital card?
The printed card is what reaches the drawer. The digital card is what convinces somebody to ring. The free design and files here cost nothing, so there is no reason to choose.