King Pin Business Cards

Austria is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. With hundreds of miles of mountains and valleys, picturesque alpine villages and town and scenery straight out of Mary Poppins.

Doing business in Austria is not for the faint hearted. This isn’t meant as a slight, merely an observation. The Austrians are very formulaic and detail oriented. Any visiting businessman must be very experienced and know his company and product or service very, very well.

Austria is a very formal place. First impressions are very important and visitors are judged on appearance and demeanour. Although they prefer third party introductions, or through an intermediary, they don’t need personal relationships in order to do business. Austria appears to be a very rigid and formal society, and it is. Deference is given to authority, education, position and achievement. Business dealings are very formal and direct. Meeting times and agendas will be adhered to precisely, almost on a timetable. There is little joking or small talk in meetings, Austrians often being direct, almost blunt. This is not meant to be rude, but is borne of a desire to achieve the stated goal.

Punctuality is regarded as extremely serious. Do not be late for an appointment, and if a delay is unavoidable, call immediately to inform them and be prepared to provide a valid reason. It is regarded as very rude to cancel meetings at the last minute and has been known to spoil relationships. Deal honourably, formally and properly with them and things will be fine.

As Austrians are so formal, introductions are too. A handshake with friendly eye contact at first meeting with a verbal greeting of title and surname. It is rare than Austrians use their first names with anyone but close friends and family so don’t be put off. Often visitors are referred to simply by surname, this is a cultural thing and not meant to offend.

It would be wise to order business cards with German on one side and present it that side up to the contact. Although business cards aren’t regarded as important, the attention to detail that it shows will create a good first impression.

During meetings or negotiations keep discussions factual and precise. Austrians hate inexactitude and ambiguity. Back up every claim with hard data and expect to be questioned on every detail. Have promotional material on hand to leave with the delegation, ensuring it has lots of facts and hard data about the subject matter. There will inevitably be lots of follow-ups and paperwork as everything is nailed down. Austrians like to have a complete paper trail of every detail of their dealings. Expect to provide lots of answers to questions and general feedback on issues before a deal is signed.

Dealing with Austrians can be hard work, but it isn’t without reward. Once proven to be reliable and honourable a long term relationship can be easily forged between organizations. Being prepared for the cultural demands of doing business there will ensure any visit will have the positive outcome required.

When creating a brand from scratch it is tempting to go for free stuff every time. There are compromises to be made when shopping the free way however, the biggest being quality and originality. If you are shopping for free templates for a website or stationery then you can guarantee other people are too. Everything from nametags to business cards are available for free online, with varying degrees of success. It is tempting to just accept the norm, or to be conservative, especially when first starting out. We are often risk averse until we know our field a lot more, or have been in business a while. After all, just starting up on your own is risk enough, right? The problem with that mindset is that more often than not without risk there is no reward. Unless you have a unique selling proposition you are going to need to do all you can to stand out from the crowd and get noticed.

One of the most prized accomplishments in business is originality. It can make or break a company, product or service. A newcomer to any market isn’t going to get anywhere if they just offer the same thing for the same price as everyone else. When shopping, people tend to go with what they know. Established brands spend millions of dollars creating an emotional connection between their brand and their audience. They want buyers to think of their products as the only one to buy, the most reliable, best value or whatever. Unless you have an advertising budget of at least seven figures you aren’t going to be able to compete with this. This is where originality comes into its own.

If you can devise a product, service or offering that’s original, or done in an original way then you don’t need millions of dollars to sell it. Once you can spread the word about it, it will sell itself if done correctly. The same with your business brand. Come up with something original and it instantly becomes memorable. Go with the standard and it becomes forgettable. When competing in any field, with any competitor you have to have or offer something they don’t in order to win, succeed or often to even be noticed.

Think twice before doing something supposedly mundane like ordering business cards online. What does the design say about you? Is it going to grab the attention of your target audience? If it sits among others on a table does it say “look at me”? If it doesn’t, it needs to. It is a marketing and promotional tool, just like your website, flyers, leaflets and whatever else you use to advertise yourself. Being run of the mill isn’t acceptable nowadays, especially if you want to be a success. Business cards like anything else need a great deal of thought and most of all originality in order to make them worthwhile.