Quick$hots

Profitable Plastics
Part II

Plastic card sales are expected to grow 18% per year thru 2005!

In the last segment we discussed selling plastic Gift Cards and Hotel Key Cards. Those are two of the hottest selling plastic products today and both can be sold as revenue generators. However, there is even more profit to be found in other plastic applications. In this article we will look at some of those opportunities. Keep in mind that all of these cards are available in one to 4 color process printing face and back. Depending on the application, they may have magnetic stripes applied to the back.

The pre-paid telephone card market seemed to hit and run however there are still orders to be made. There are four main markets for phone cards: retail, collectable, promotional and information gathering. The retail market is often sold just for cheap phone time and we suggest you skip this market. There is no value to this type of card except cost savings. The collectable card can be sold where you have a team or organization. For example, a school could use phone cards as a fundraiser, printing football team member's photos and then selling them throughout the year. Car collector associations could sell them with various photos of club member's antique and classic cards. Other groups like Nascar, PGA and NRA could be good targets.

Promotional cards can be used to launch a new product line or boost sales. Auto dealers can give them out for test-driving a new car. They may be given out at grand openings of new stores. Banks may offer them for opening a new account. In any case, the face of the card can carry the advertising message to the viewer every time the card is used. You will also find markets at colleges and universities where the president will give them to incoming students with a pre-recorded welcome message that plays the first time they activate the card.

The key to selling any product is providing a value to your customer. The retail card has little value, the collectable card has value to specific people and the promotional card has value in that it can drive customers in the door. The information card can have even a greater value in the fact that it can be used as an information-gathering tool. With Ward/Kraft's cards your customer can record a survey that must be answered before the card can be activated. For instance, a bank might mail out 1000 phone cards as gifts to prospect clients. When the card is activated, the user would hear "Do you have children between the ages of 14 and 18 years old? Press 1 for Yes and 2 for No" We can record 3-4 short questions regarding buying habits or other areas of interest to your customer. Our phone company will compile the results as the cards are activated and return those to your client. So the bank could get a response back stating that out of 1000 cards, 800 people answered "Yes" to questions number one. Then the bank would mail to the same potential clients and target market them with college loans or used car loans, as these will be the next major purchases for the parents. Giving your client the ability to gather data from customers and potential customers adds high value to your services.

In addition to pre-paid phone cards, there are several other applications you should consider. Identification, calendars, season passes, video rentals, access control (usually mag stripe), membership or informational. Membership can be in health clubs, zoos, libraries, museums or associations. Information cards can include football schedules, CPR instructions, mission statements or tip rates.

FLASH!
One new application we just noticed has strong potential. Our HR person worked out a program with a local car company. The idea began as a method to give our members additional benefits. The auto dealer purchased enough plastic cards to give each employee two cards. An employee can go to the car lot and negotiate their best deal for a used car. As they are completing the transaction the member shows this card and the dealer will give them an additional $400 off the car or truck. The auto dealer sales rep does not know if the buyer is an employee or not so they cannot up the price. The card can be used by anyone within the immediate family. Imagine the number of opportunities the auto dealer will get just by giving 410 employees' these cards! The program is a little over 2 months old and I can tell you the dealer has sold 6 cars! You can take the idea to a large corporation and suggest they consider it as a member benefit. The great thing for them is the cost.....$0000. The auto dealer buys the cards and takes the discount. You can also go to the auto dealer and start from that end. Either way, it's a great new idea for selling plastic cards.

For more information call our Ohio customer service group at 800-351-9302 or click here to request your FREE Plastic Card sample packet. Or, you may click here to request a FREE one hour WK Live educational training session on selling Plastic Cards.

Roger Buck, CDC
National Sales Manager, Forms Divisions
rbuck@wardkraft.com

Copyright 3/1/03