College freshmen experience a barrage of emotions--excitement at their newfound freedom, apprehension about classes, bewilderment at the prospect of finding classrooms. At the top of the list, though, might be homesickness. Many universities offer orientation programs to offset the blues of students who find themselves miles from home. But some colleges are bolstering their programs with a smaller touch: prepaid phone cards.
Jason Murphy, a sales rep for distributorship Business Forms Plus Inc., Akron, Ohio, sells prepaid phone cards to approximately 10 universities. The schools place the 30 mil cards in freshmen orientation packages, encouraging students to call home on the colleges' dimes. "A lot of kids, especially those from out of town, use the phone cards," says Murphy, who also sells phone cards and other plastic cards to retailers, banks and credit unions, car dealerships, and florists.
Murphy supplied a Midwestern university with 20,000 prepaid phone cards last year. The 4-color cards depicted the school's name and a prominent university building on the front. The back included a brief thank-you to students for selecting the university and instructions for using the cards. The cards, worth 20 minutes of long-distance phone time, were inserted in die cuts in 5 x 3-inch folded carriers imprinted with a message from the university.
While students appreciate the cards, the school benefits, too. When students activate the cards, they hear a short thank-you message from the university's president. Then, they're asked to answer a 5-question survey prior to placing calls. For example, one of the questions is, "Why did you choose the University of [ABC]?" Students use touch-tone keys indicating their primary reason was financial support, academic programs, geographic appeal or so on. Another question asks if the students' parents or siblings attend or attended the school.
Business Forms Plus offers this survey system with the help of its plastic card manufacturer, Ward/Kraft Inc. The Fort Scott, Kan.-based manufacturer tracks answers and provides results to the university in conjunction with the long-distance phone carrier. Murphy says it's a true win-win application: Business Forms Plus profits from the sale of the cards and the survey service, the university gathers valuable information and homesick students get to hear their parents' reassuring voices.
Striking a Chord
Distributors find rich potential for plastic cards sales by targeting virtually any company that needs a customer-loyalty program. Clients often pay extra for bar coded cards, which can hold information such as shoppers' habits, discounts, account balances, membership information and more. To most clients, distributors say, price falls a distant second to a card's marketing value--and that includes its weight, size and graphics.
Retailers aren't the only ones who praise plastic cards. Other ripe target markets are companies that have large customer bases, such as libraries, alumni groups, insurance companies, video stores and trade organizations. Popular plastic card applications include employee badges, time cards, frequent-buyer program cards, credit cards, hotel room key cards, season passes for amusement parks, prepaid phone cards, ATM cards, ID cards, security access cards and gift certificates.
Clients choose cards depending on budgets and applications. Thin, 7 mil cards make for affordable, short-term membership cards. Heavier, 30 mil cards are more expensive and serve as strong marketing pieces for long-term purposes such as credit cards. Some cards are thin enough to run through an end user's printer and can be included in an integrated product. For example, clean-release cards are applied to paper with a label air machine. Affixed cards are attached with removable adhesive.
A product that has received hype--but not much use--is the smart card, which implements computer technology to store large amounts of information, such as the user's favorite web sites and purchase history. Currently, national credit card corporations buy most of the smart cards in the United States.
Singing the Blues
Distributors who sell plastic products face several challenges. Some niches require extra product research. For example, to sell prepaid phone cards, distributors might think that reselling long-distance phone time from service providers is the way to go. But service providers occasionally have failed to uphold their end of the deal, sticking distributors with the bill. One way to prevent such problems is to have the manufacturer buy time from a service provider and split the commission.
Another challenge to selling plastic
cards is the random timing of when they need to be replaced. End users lose
their cards or let them expire, terms of credit arrangements change, and company
logos on private-label cards change.
Personalizing plastic cards also can be
difficult. While integrated cards (ones printed on the same stock as the
carrier) run through printers relatively easily, most plastic cards are a bit
trickier. If a customer plans to print cards on its own equipment, distributors
should thoroughly test the cards' compatibility with the printer beforehand.
Successful distributors check for printer jams, melting cards, cards that slip
off-line and smudging. Explaining the significance of testing to the client can
be especially helpful if the client's main printer breaks down or the client
decides to print on different equipment.
Thanks to Rainbow Printing, Uniontown,
Ohio, for assistance.
* Serve as a consultant.
Take a tour of your client's
facilities. What processes can the client make more efficient by
using cards with magnetic stripes or bar codes? Can plastic cards
enhance the company's promotional programs? Armed with answers to
these questions, distributors can turn simple plastic card sales
into value-added system sales.
* Target marketers.
Because plastic cards
serve as excellent advertising, sales and promotional pieces, marketers
care more about their own image than the cards' costs. Distributors
often find that marketers are good "inside" people who heavily influence
purchasing departments.
* Include bar codes
or magnetic stripes.
Distributors can add value
to plastic cards by doing so. Grocery cards that include this technology
can help retailers track shoppers' purchases. Employee badges can
restrict access to certain areas of buildings. Distributors also
can sell embossing equipment, which gives customers power to personalize
their own cards on demand.
* Target sales-oriented
customers.
Prepaid phone cards are ideal products for
companies trying to attract customers, says Jason Murphy, a sales
rep for distributorship Business Forms Plus Inc., Akron, Ohio.
He sells phone cards to car dealerships. When potential car buyers
test-drive cars, they receive prepaid phone cards. "Car dealerships
want people to come back in," Murphy says. "The cards are an incentive."
He also has sold phone cards to chambers of commerce that hope
to attract business members, and companies that want to lure attendees
to their trade-show booths.
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Table of Contents
Cover Story
Links:
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Hit Applications
Alumni Membership Cards
ATM Cards
Credit Cards
Employee Badges
Frequent-Buyer Cards
Gift Certificates
Hotel Key Cards
Key Fobs
Library Cards
Medical Bags
Insurance Cards
Open/Closed Signs
Point-of-Purchase Displays
Prepaid Phone Cards
Season
Passes
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