Where Do All Those Business Cards Go?

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Do you cringe after spending $35 on a box of business cards?

Yeah, sometimes I can’t figure out why I have them either.

Seems like I give them out and they fall into a black hole or perhaps a waste receptacle. About 90% of the time, I follow up with people that I’ve exchanged cards with, but those people respond back to my initial contact maybe 10% of the time. Even sadder, I rarely hear from the other party first despite their enthusiasm when meeting me.

Seems like a big waste of energy, no? I’m almost imagining that there’s a land far beyond Middle Earth where all those lost and discarded business cards strive to travel to. They face the fierce battles of rain, sleet, snow and (and let’s not forget) fire, to arrive at a perfect world where humans will never touch them again and where they can simply mingle with their own kind and complement each other on their designs.

But wait! Business cards aren’t intended to go off to their own version of utopia. So, just what IS the purpose of the business card anyway? That would include:

• For sharing your contact info with someone that ask for it and wants to follow-up.
• Creating awareness and imagery of your brand (handing out at events or having a stack of them available somewhere)
• Sharing information that perhaps someone doesn’t need today, but may need tomorrow.
• Networking reinforcement…here’s my card (now don’t forget me).
• For throwing in the free lunch bowl…high chance of being a winner there!
• Providing information that explains who YOU are and what YOU do.

Naturally, not all of the above may apply to you.  But you get the idea.

And the shelf life of a business card? Five minutes to several years.

Been pondering the life of a business card for some time now. As an experiment at a meet-up, I purposely didn’t bring business cards and after giving my “oops, I switched purses but neglected to move my business cards from one to another” spiel, I simply collected cards from those I spoke to at the event. There were about twenty folks there in total and I collected eight cards. I followed up on every single one, and guess what? No replies! Interestingly enough, I received an invite to connect on LinkedIn about five months later from one of the eight (let’s call this gent “JR”):

Geraldine, 
I noticed that we share a similar LinkedIn Group called ConnectOC and thought it would be appropriate to connect here. 
Please feel free to investigate who’s in my Contact Sphere that might be able to help you in your business endeavors. 
Be more than ordinary… 

I shot back a message reminding JR that we had met a few months earlier and was he perhaps challenging my recall abilities?

Needless to say, I did not connect with JR on LinkedIn.  Humph.

So we’re giving out little pieces of heavy paper that cost money and do very little for us? And why even bother going to events to meet people if you’re not going to follow up with some of them?

Stayed tuned for part two (tomorrow) where I share some best practices with you that will make those little cards do more of the work for you.

It's a Small Twitter World, After All.

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Do you go to tweet-ups? I do. Hey, I’m a people person and I like to yadda yadda. For those of you who may not know, Tweet-ups are simply gatherings of people who Tweet. Some good souls like to organize them. Lots of times, they're at a restaurant. And perhaps better yet, sometimes the food and drink is free. But you don't have to be a tweep to go; anyone is welcome. However, if you don’t tweet the likelihood of your hearing about a tweet-up event goes way down.

For me, tweet-ups are fun. It’s great to meet those you’ve been tweeting with “in real life”; on the other hand, it’s an opportunity to meet those that you haven’t "met" on Twitter. This year I've been to four or five of these gatherings; not counting!

But I'd like to discuss one in particular. Back in February, I attended a tweet-up about 27 miles from my home. Many of the folks there were people I had met before at other gatherings. This particular tweet-up was small, maybe 50 to 60 people, held at a restaurant.

After purchasing some liquid refreshment, I chatted with a few folks. Was feeling rather hungry and a long table had been set up in that area of the establishment just for us. I continued to chat with one gent, and invited him to sit down with me. We talked some more, then ordered some food. Meanwhile, the seat to the right of me was now occupied. I said to my new friend on the left, “Let me say hello over there for a moment”.

Turning to the right, I introduced myself. We started talking about that area of Southern California in a broad sense. As the conversation continued, the geography narrowed; shrinking from Orange County to Central Orange County, to a city, and then parts of that city. Imagine both of our surprises when we discovered that we lived around the corner from each other! Sadly, it has taken me close to nine years to meet my neighbor!  And now, six plus months later, if we’re together at a tweet-up talking to someone, we both start blurting out the story.

Indeed, it’s a small world after all. And Twitter is but one medium that has made it smaller.

Post tweet-up. About a week after, we met for a friendly neighborhood walk where we paused twice to show off our homes. Bob* has also cheerfully helped me keep my kitchen stocked with Hass avocados, fresh from his backyard tree. And since then we’ve saved on gas by carpooling to tweet-ups. Thank you Twitter!










* not his real name