Whether you are in sales, a word-of-mouth business, looking for a job, or simply looking to connect with other professionals, you probably attend a lot of networking events. If not, you should. Rather than go on a tangent about the importance of networking (we’ll save that for another post!), let’s talk about a necessary, often undervalued, detail of networking events: business cards.
Networking is not just about going and meeting people, it’s about following up as well. As I heard at a recent networking event, “The fortune is in the follow-up.” However, after attending a few professional events you may find you are inundated with business cards.
Business Card Takeover
Here are a few suggestions to keep you, and others, sane and classy.
DO carry a business card on you… or five.
It doesn’t matter what business you are in, you need a business card. Having a card demonstrates professionalism, confidence in yourself, and that you were thoughtful enough to plan ahead. And I’m going to flex a little image consultant knowledge here and suggest a cocktail napkin isn’t a good fallback plan. You never know who will need a job, who has your next job, or who wants to buy your refrigerator and then you’ll need to exchange contact information.
NOTE: If you are in between jobs or just starting a new venture, VistaPrint is a good, inexpensive, easy way to print cards if you are in need! Moo.com is another great online option with some classy, custom options. I love the triple-print, middle-layer color they and other printers are offering these days.
DON’T engage in business card spam.
The goal is not to hand out as many business cards as possible. The goal is to meet quality contacts who you can work with, who can connect you to their quality contacts, and vice versa. Handing out your business card upon exchanging names is a bit like asking for and handing out your number right after you ask to buy the stranger at a bar a drink. And how effective do you think that is?
DO note where you met the person and how/if you want to connect with them. After meeting 10-15 new people in a two-hr time period, it’s easy to forget anyone beyond the one or two you may want to connect with immediately. On the card or in your Contact notes, note where/when you met the person and why you want to reach out to them. This is especially handy if it’s a contact that you reconnect with several weeks or months later, you can give them context and remind them how you met. I strongly recommend doing this the same day while the details are fresh in your mind!
DO consider a business card scanner.
In this age of simplify, I don’t want business cards to take over my office but I, of course, want the data. Who has time to manually enter each new person’s contact details?! There are many options on the market and I use ScanBizCards for my iPhone (also available for Android and Windows Phones). At the end of an event, I snap a pic of the business card and let ScanBizCards pull their contact details from the card and store the data in my Contacts. The app also lets you send a LinkedIn invite with customizable text and set a follow-up reminder which I find incredibly handy.
A little extra personal style, a little more etiquette, and a little more of a networking genius. That’s you after reading this post. Not a bad way to spend a few minutes!
How do you manage the business card mania from your networking adventures?
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