Professional Grade: Business Card Slits

Before delving into our main subject, it would be proper to have a quick note about an invariably connected matter: business cards.

In the professional realm, a business card serves as a compact and tangible representation of your professional identity and contact information.

While some might dismiss it as archaic — especially in a world of increasing casualness and digitization — its usefulness, impact, and positive effect are timeless, particularly in conveying formality and treating the business at hand wih utmost seriousness.

One of the points brought up by those who dismiss business cards is that it can be superfluous and cumbersome; however, in the context of a presentation folder (and its aims), this may not apply — and indeed, its inclusion could be critical.

How so? Read on...

By and large, the main purpose of a custom presentation folder is to present your organization's proposal or credentials. As such, you would want to give your audience as much essential and relevant information. One key piece of such information is your contact details, which is, as previously mentioned, laid out in your business card.

Sure, one can look up your contact information online, but as regards your specific proposal, it would be much more convenient for your prospects to get them when they review or peruse the documents included in your presentation folder submission. This makes your business card integral in the success of your pitch — being inescapably tied to it.

But how should you include your card? Where do you place it? Surely you cannot just haphazardly insert it inside the pocket, and have it flailing about inside the folder; furthermore, doing so would cause it to be lost among the larger accompanying pieces, or worst of all, fall out of the folder.

Enter the humble business card slit.

A business card slit is a small cut or series of cuts made on the pockets of a presentation folder, designed to securely hold a standard-sized business card. While the slits can be cut on any part of a folder, having them on the pockets utilizes an otherwise seldom used piece of real estate within the folder.

It also happens to be a strategic location, in that it is visually inescapable upon opening the folder. Add to this the fact that it is surrounded by what is usually a wide blank area, thereby making it the literal center of attention within the outer pocket's surface.

This neat and established placement also eliminates the issue (however petty) of a business card's cumbersomeness.

Business card slits come in a variety of configurations. The idea being the ability to hold a card stably. It consists of at least two cuts — one on each side of the card. The most common orientation being diagonal.

It is important to remember that, however the slits are arranged, the object is that your contact information are easily found and retrieved when a prospect has your folder in their hands.

IN CONCLUSION

Ultimately, the aim is to give your presentation all the tools and support at your disposal, with the end goal of winning the business. As you've learned, a business card and the slits that secure them to your folder, can be an integral part of the process. Aside from the points listed above, at the very least, it gives a completeness and more polished look and feel to your submission.

Perhaps best of all — it is usually free when you place an order for a personalized presentation folder.

The only decision to make now is: which configuration to go with.