As a person who works with his share of aging clients, you would think I would be instantly aware of what daily issues affect (sometimes ail) them. However, while many aging individuals do have a noble sense of modesty, many of them do not like to share their physical and mental impairments. While I could spend weeks discussing many poorly-developed products the aging have to endure, let me focus on one of the most obvious: Your funky business card.
- Small / Faint / Inappropriate Font: I am stunned at the number of professionals who have business cards that have extremely small type, rounded fonts, or light printing. Any one of these three is difficult for the sight-impaired to make out. Try using larger fonts that your grandmother could read in her living room with the lights dim.
- Missing Occupation / Service: The aging remember what worldly services are available to them, but do not always remember a specific person’s name or what that person does. Many business cards may name you as “Manager”, but of what? Are you the head of a company unit that sells cherry croissants? Manage a company that hires people who professionally bob for apples? If that prospect is finally ready to purchase a new geriatric-friendly mattress, but your business card merely calls you a “Founding Partner” you just lost a sale: Your title may impress you and your mom, but an aging individual wants to know you are an “Accountant” or that your company provides “Wills, Trusts and Estate Law” services.
- Funky Shapes, Wacky Textures, Crazy Colors: I appreciate that a hipster coffee shop owner in Brooklyn might appreciate his graphic designer having a rhomboid business card that is dimpled, chartreuse and intentionally smells like an apple turnover. An older person feels / looks / smells this thing and says “Yuck, what is this?” Old fashioned business cards have been around for decades, and you are dealing with old fashioned people, so just go with the standard approach if your business is geared toward the aging.
The problem is that many of us consider our business card an extension of ourselves, so when we are told we should consider changing them we take that recommendation as a personal attack and think about how we want to torture this condescending jerk.
And that pride is the worst part of it: The aging have more money than any other age group, make decisions more slowly than most, and tend to hold onto business cards of the people they eventually want to do business with…and CONTINUE to hold onto them afterward (it is not unusual for my clients to have a copy of my business card in their wallets, even though I never ask them to do that). If your card is not aging-friendly, you are only hurting yourself.
