It’s that exciting moment when you finally get your own business cards, now you are formally legit, so you are going to pass them out to family and friends, enemies, the mailman, anyone that you come in contact with. To you they mean so much, but to other people, maybe not so much.
But they should.
Over the years I’ve handed out and collected a multitude of business cards. Many are from the line of business I’ve haven’t been in for years, others from within the last 10 years. So, what do you do with these cards? Pitch them? Nope. You just never know when they may come in handy.
Now, this doesn’t mean you need to keep 500 cards stacked up on your desk. You can start by prioritizing them, if you don’t recognize the name or at least the company, you probably won’t keep the card. Next, decide whether you want to keep them as hard copy or digitalize them. Many of these cards can be scanned in to your phone or tablet with software that will automatically match it up with your contacts. Others can be kept the old fashioned way in a Rolodex or some sort of card file.
So, why do I mention this ? Because at some point in your life you may find yourself wondering about that contact you made years ago and need to talk to again. Just recently I was contacted by someone that I met 5 years ago, but they remembered my name and still had my business card, and though I’m no longer with the same company, they were able to track me down and continue a conversation we started long ago. As a new business owner, that’s important to me. As someone seeking information from someone they trusted and thought could help them, it was important to them.
So don’t just dismiss that pile of cards you have garnished over the years. One day one of those cards may be just what you are needing
Leave a Reply