I recently attended a local micro-mixer (that’s what I call last-minute networking ops disguised as a promotional event, usually at a bar or similar,) and chatted up an attendee about the promo, is she a Chamber member, what’s her biz – the usual talking points. She was a little gruff about the Chamber and proudly extolled its missing virtues and why she’s not a member, blah blah. She publishes a small regional green-themed magazine and I asked her about its online presence, layout, adverts, etc. I had checked out the rag earlier and was hardly impressed design-wise, but perhaps it had its merits with content and readership.
Wrapping up the conversation, I asked to exchanged cards to add her as a contact should I run into a prospective advertiser, and she promptly admitted that she never carries her cards, and rarely accepts them because SHE JUST THROWS THEM AWAY. I replied, “I’ve got 1,000′s of these so I don’t mind giving you one anyway.” She whipped out one of those little spiral memo books, tattered and nearly out of sheets, jotted down her email address (as if it was an absolute pain to do so) ripped off the sheet and handed it to me. Of course the handwriting was nearly illegible but I managed to extract the details and typed it right into my phone, right in front of her.
BIZ CARD RULES TO LIVE BY
- Always carry a handful of cards (and keep a couple in your wallet, briefcase, pocket, backpack, phone skin)
- Ask to exchange cards
- If the card itself is interesting, comment on it, and make sure YOUR cards are interesting
- Jot something about the person on the back of the card, like where you met them or something to remember them by
- After the event add each into your address book and tag
- Add/invite them to your Linked In, Facebook, Biznik, Twitter or other networking app
- Send a brief email rekindling the meeting and follow up if appropriate
LESSON LEARNED
Maybe we don’t really need to haul around biz cards thanks to instant capture on our mobile devices, but to state that one just tosses them as useless contacts is hard to imagine. Its a small small world, fellow networker. Why are you even at this event?
