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Business Card Basics -- Putting Those Little Scraps to Work for You
Taken by permission from Susan RoAne's fun and informative book, How to Work a Room, published by Warner Books.
Some people take business cards for granted. They grab a fistful before leaving their home or office, give some out if others happen to ask them for one, and collect other people's cards at the bottom of their purse or in the deep recesses of their wallet. Some time later (a week or three years) and for whatever reason (usually a new purse or wallet), these potentially valuable resources surface -- dog-eared and well on their way to biodegrading from a trip to the cleaners.
This is not the purpose of business cards. The purpose of business cards is to give people a tangible, physical way to remember you and something they can slip directly into their Rolodexes. This is also how you should use other people's cards.
Susan RoAne's Guidelines for Business Cards
1. Make sure that your name, your company name, and your phone number are readable. Select a typeface that is big enough and clear enough so that even Baby Boomers who are now turning forty don't need a magnifying glass or four-foot arms to read your card.
2. Devise a system for carrying your own cards and for collecting cards from others. I use a large cigarette case, with a baseball card to divide my cards from those I've collected. Filing a card is helpful only if you can retrieve it by remembering the person's name and why you wanted to contact that particular person. Tip #3 will help you remember.
3. Write a mnemonic device on the other person's card -- as soon as possible -- to help you remember who they are. Dennis Berkowitz, owner of Max's Opera Cafe in San Francisco, hosted a Chamber of Commerce business social. He served the most gorgeous smoked fish . . . and I told him so! He wrote "SMOKED FISH" on my card and, three years later, he still calls me The Smoked Fish Lady. While this is not my favorite way to be remembered, he does let me know whenever he is having a special shipment of smoked fish flown in from New York.
4. Bring enough cards. I learned from my "femtor" (female mentor), the late Sally Livingston, that no one wanted to take home a used napkin -- even if it had my name and number on it. Napkins don't fit in anyone's Rolodex. The excuse that "I just gave out my last card" is questionable and smacks of poor planning. No one is impressed by how many people we met moving down the buffet from the brie to the meatballs.
5. Never leave home without them! As mom says, "You never know who'll you'll run into." I keep business cards in the pocket of my running suit!
6. Do NOT pass out brochures. Brochures are expensive. They are meant for people who are genuinely interested in doing business with you. They are also bulky. People at a reception have no place to put them, and nobody wants to leave looking like they should have brought a shopping cart. Brochures are also a great way to follow up, so don't waste that opportunity by giving them away at the first meeting.
7. If you want to give your card to someone but they have not asked for it, ask for theirs first. Most people will respond in kind, especially if you hold your own card conspicuously, as if you are ready to trade.
8. Avoid "sticky" situations. Don't reach for the buffet with one hand and your card with another. No one wants to take home a card caked with sweet and sour sauce.
9. Pass out your cards discriminately. Not everyone should have your business card. Keep your own safety and sanity in mind. The exchange of cards should follow a conversation in which rapport has been established. Don't hand them out on the bus, and don't give them to people in whom you can barely detect a pulse. Ask yourself if you actually want this person to call you.
Susan RoAne is an author and keynote speaker based in the Bay Area. To buy her book, visit the Idea Cafe Store. And for more of Susan's savvy networking tips, check out her website.
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