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Digital business cards for dealer and field sales networks
A digital business card lets a company manage dealer and field team cards in many cities from the centre. This guide covers choosing the card address, what to do when a dealer changes, tagged QR codes and comparing dealers.
Contents
Plans: QR codes, Save Contact, event QR codes, the contact form, NFC and card templates are in Starter and higher; documents, presentations and analytics in every plan; the CRM connection and company branding with your logo and colour in Pro and higher.
A digital business card lets a company manage the cards of dealers and field teams in many cities from the centre. The QR code on a badge, a brochure or a product sticker always opens the card's current page; when details change, you update the card in the panel instead of reprinting. When a dealer leaves, you switch their card off and its slot in your plan opens up for the next dealer's card. Give each print run its own tagged QR code and you also see where requests come from.
This guide is for manufacturers and distributors with dealer networks, authorised service partners and field sales teams. It covers choosing the card address, what to do when a dealer changes, a tagged QR setup and comparing dealers. For the per-listing QR example from estate agencies, see digital business cards for real estate agents.
The hard part of business cards in a dealer network
Head office prints a brochure, dealers print their own cards locally, and the field team carries a box of cards in the van. After a while the same brand's cards drift apart: one circulates with the old logo, another with an old number. Staff at a dealer change, a dealership changes hands, a location closes; meanwhile brochures and stickers stay with customers for years.
With a digital card, all of that printed material points to the same address. The QR code carries the card's address, not the page itself. As long as the address stays fixed, the QR code on a brochure, a van or a device shows the card as it is today, every time it is opened.
Who creates the cards, and who gets the leads?
Head office creates and manages the cards. Dealers do not need to sign in to the panel as users, and the card owner field can stay empty. A request from the contact form is emailed to three addresses: the card owner (if one is assigned), the company account's first admin and the email address shown on the card. If the dealer's email is on the card, the request reaches the dealer too, while head office sees the same request on the Leads screen and under the panel's notification bell.
To send requests into head office's own CRM as well, the CRM connection is in Pro and higher. It sends requests that arrive after it is set up; it does not transfer older ones.
The card address: name it after the location, not the person
In a dealer network, choosing the card address matters more than the card itself. The card address is where printed QR codes and NFC tags lead, and you should not change it after publishing. Name it after the location rather than the dealer's contact person, for example "izmir-bornova-dealer". The card wizard suggests an address from the name on a new card; replace that suggestion with the location. Changing the name or details later does not change the address.
When something changes on the dealer side, it is usually one of three cases:
| Case | What you do in the panel | What the printed QR shows |
|---|---|---|
| The contact person at the dealer changed | Update the card's name, title and phone | The same card, with the new person's details |
| The dealership changed hands, same location | Update the company name and contact details for the new dealer | The same card, with the new dealer's details |
| The location closed | Switch off Card is live; open a new card for any new location | "This business card is not published" |
An inactive card no longer counts towards your plan's card limit, because the limit counts live cards only. That is why a closed location's slot can go to a new dealer's card the same day. Each location counts as one live card; for a network larger than the biggest plan's card limit, ask for a quote with the Get a Quote button on the pricing page. Nothing on an inactive card is deleted; to switch it back on, the number of live cards still has to fit within your plan. In the card list you can also select several cards and change them together with Deactivate or Activate.
Three things that differ on a dealer card
Contact details, the location link and the contact form are set up the same way in every sector; for those, see the setup list in digital business cards for real estate agents. Three things are different on a dealer card. The card address is covered above; the other two are:
- Region: the wizard asks for a first name, last name and company. Enter the dealer's contact person, "Authorised dealer" or "Authorised service" as the title, the service region as the department and the dealer's trading name as the company. Title and department appear on one line above the name, so customers see at the top of the card that they have their region's dealer.
- Shared catalogue, local About text: head office's catalogue and price list sit on every dealer card as the same PDF; a card holds up to five documents of up to 5 MB each (see how to add a catalogue, presentation or PDF). Region-specific opening hours, districts served and service details go in each dealer's own About text, which is also written to the notes of the contact saved with Save Contact.
The logo needs one distinction too. On Pro and higher, the White-label branding logo and colour apply to every card together. The card's Company logo field, however, is kept per card: you can put the dealer's own logo there, and the templated QR image takes its logo from this field.
Changing the message from head office
What changes on a dealer card is usually not the person but the message: a new catalogue, the current price list, different opening hours, a deck for a new product. All of it changes in the panel. When you save the card, its page shows the new version; brochures and stickers stay as they are.
- Undoing a wrong change: Version history on the edit screen keeps earlier versions, and you can go back to one. Restoring does not change the card address either.
- Old entries in contacts: a contact saved earlier with Save Contact sits on the phone as a file and does not update itself. The current details are always on the card page, and customers see them when they scan the QR code again or open the link.
Tagged QR codes: plan by how long the print lasts
In a dealer network, QR codes go onto prints with very different lifespans: a badge is replaced when the person changes, while a product sticker stays with the customer as long as the product does. Download a separate Event QR code for each print and you see which one a request came from. Open the card for editing, scroll to Sharing and this card's pages, type the tag, then choose Download for the QR code alone or Card image for a portrait image with the photo, name, title, QR code and logo.
| How long it stays | Card it links to | Tag (Example) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field team badge | Until the person changes | The person's card | badge |
| Brochure printed by head office | The season it is handed out | The region's dealer card | brochure-2027 |
| Service van | Until the van or its livery changes | The dealer card | van |
| Sticker on a product sold or installed | With the customer, as long as the product | The location's card | product-sticker |
| Dealer window and counter: a QR table card (requests from an NFC tag arrive without a tag, with NFC as the channel) | Until the dealer changes | The dealer card | counter |
The rule: link long-lived prints to the location's card and short-lived prints to the person's card. Because a product sticker's QR code leads to the location's card, the customer still reaches current service details even if the dealer providing service changes, as long as the card address was named after the location.
Tags use lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, up to 60 characters. Requests from these QR codes carry their tag. For print size, see QR code business card best practices; for using the same method at fairs and events, see preparing business cards and leads for November–December fairs.
In the field: sharing from the phone and NFC
Field staff share their card from the phone: they show the QR code on screen, the other person scans it and adds them to contacts with Save Contact. If the contact form is on, a "Share your details too" window opens after saving; if the customer leaves their details, the request reaches head office and the email address on the card. A team with NFC cards just holds the card near the phone and the card page opens. NFC is in Starter and higher; writing the card is covered in how to make an NFC business card, and the product details are on the NFC business card page.
Head office's view of the dealers
Head office tends to ask the same questions, and each answer sits in a different place in the panel. The analytics screen is in every plan.
| Question | Where to look in the panel |
|---|---|
| Which dealers' cards are being used? | The most scanned cards on the analytics screen; the card filter shows one dealer's scans and link taps |
| Which print brings requests? | The Event filter on the Leads screen, which lists each QR tag separately |
| Is the NFC tag on the counter used? | The channel on the lead row: a request through NFC carries no tag and shows NFC as the channel |
| Are requests being answered? | The request email goes to both the dealer and head office; go through the Leads list with the dealer regularly |
Analytics does not show the identity of a visitor who opens the card; a person appears only as a lead, if they leave their details. General rules for running team cards are in managing team digital business cards.
Common mistakes
- Naming the card address after a person: when the contact changes, the old name stays in the address on printed material; name it after the location.
- Head office's card on every brochure: customers call head office instead of their nearest dealer; link the brochure to the dealer's card.
- Head office's email on a dealer card: the request email goes to the address on the card; if that is head office's address, the dealer does not receive the request by email.
- Leaving a closed location's card live: customers call a dealer that no longer serves them, and the card keeps holding a slot in your plan.
- Untested prints: scan the QR code with several phones before printing van graphics or product stickers.
Frequently asked questions
Do dealers need to sign in to the panel?
No. Head office creates and updates the cards. Because the request email also goes to the address on the card, dealers receive requests without signing in.
Do we need to reprint brochures when a dealer leaves?
Not if the card address was named after the location. Update the card with the new dealer's details, and the QR code on the brochure keeps leading to the same card.
When can we open a card for a closed dealer's replacement?
Straight away. The card limit counts live cards only, so switching the old card off frees its slot.
Does the old entry in a customer's contacts change?
No. A saved contact does not update itself; the current details are on the card page.
Which plan do we need?
QR codes, Save Contact, event QR codes, the contact form, NFC and card templates are in Starter and higher; the CRM connection and company branding with your logo and colour in Pro and higher. See pricing to choose by the number of dealers, and the lead capture page for the form.
