Are business cards a necessity for networking events?

At a recent networking lunch one of the other people on our table apologized for forgetting their business cards and promised to send everyone their contact details after wards. They did this thereby demonstrating an important part of networking follow up - doing what you promise you will do.

I know some people who deliberately have no business cards and always make a point of following up after receiving cards. This generally provokes a reaction in the people they meet. Some people think their approach is good and different. Others hate it and feel they are not really participating in the right way.

What do you think?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sherry Goncharsky on September 23, 2009 at 3:53pm: For over 30 years I was part of the corporate world involved in research and development so I wasn't involved in soliciting business. Then I retired and started my own business - Shoulder to Shoulder Computer Training & Consulting. Learning how to network and use business cards appropriately took some work.

Looking back, I refer to my original networking as Sherry preceded by a business card. The first thing I did when walking up to someone new was to present my business card. How WRONG is this!!

I hope that I have learned a lot in the past several years and make sure that someone is interested before I give them my card. I want to make quality connections. And by sharing business cards, people sometimes don't remember meeting me before until they see my card again. (Nothing wrong with this - we need to try everything possible to make connections.)

As to not having business cards - at a recent event, I arrived and noticed that I had only two business cards. So I proceeded to commit to sending an email to those I met (and followed up right away.)

I still think I like getting business cards on the spot so I can take notes. But it also worked when I contacted people later.
Sherry; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Linda Landry on September 25, 2009 at 5:28pm: Ahhhh the beauty of networking is always in the follow up. Think I'll write a blog about it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Andrew Avella on September 27, 2009 at 5:12pm: One member sent me this in an email.....Please consider this in your networking. Thanks!

"I got an ill feeling when I saw someone was in sensed by someone else who showed up for a function without biz cards. How ridiculous a complaint. It is so pathetic, so mean. In the first place did that someone get in sensed because they valued the other person's biz so much that they needed a biz card to pursue using valued services. Certainly not, they could have used good old-fashioned speech to do that. So what would they have done with a biz card for a biz they had absolutely no interest? To burn at their next B-Q. To collect needless rubbish?

Would I want to engage in a biz relationship with someone so vindictive and petty? No, I value customer service and in doing biz with people who look into my eyes to understand my needs, and not look inside my pupils for dollar signs.

Yes, I did arrive at the mixer without biz cards thinking it was a social gathering, a celebration of the end a busy week and of hard work, and of giving thanks for the good life. How stupid of me. I knew it was going to be a tough crowd when I noticed several people give me dirty looks before I stepped two feet into the patio.

I am creative, innovative, and analytical. I did not have biz cards but the ones I did have before never generated new clients. I've been told the cleaning biz is a word-of-mouth biz and I believe it. But what about the other people at the mixer? What statistics have they collected to show that handing biz cards, repeatedly to basically the same crowd, has had significant impact in growing their company?

My mentality is different. I don't understand their rational."; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Linda Landry on September 27, 2009 at 5:37pm: Andrew; I have previously invited people to join us at the mixers and heard the excuse 'I don't have business cards'.
My suggestion has always been to attend and 'collect' the cards you will receive because the beauty in networking
is not the first meet but the follow up. One can collect dozens of business cards and toss them or let them pile up.
The business card is only a benefit if it is utilized to maintain contact and establish a connection with either a referral
or business; or both!

Andrew Avella said:
One member sent me this in an email.....Please consider this in your networking. Thanks!

"I got an ill feeling when I saw someone was in sensed by someone else who showed up for a function without biz cards. How ridiculous a complaint. It is so pathetic, so mean. In the first place did that someone get in sensed because they valued the other person's biz so much that they needed a biz card to pursue using valued services. Certainly not, they could have used good old-fashioned speech to do that. So what would they have done with a biz card for a biz they had absolutely no interest? To burn at their next B-Q. To collect needless rubbish?

Would I want to engage in a biz relationship with someone so vindictive and petty? No, I value customer service and in doing biz with people who look into my eyes to understand my needs, and not look inside my pupils for dollar signs.

Yes, I did arrive at the mixer without biz cards thinking it was a social gathering, a celebration of the end a busy week and of hard work, and of giving thanks for the good life. How stupid of me. I knew it was going to be a tough crowd when I noticed several people give me dirty looks before I stepped two feet into the patio.

I am creative, innovative, and analytical. I did not have biz cards but the ones I did have before never generated new clients. I've been told the cleaning biz is a word-of-mouth biz and I believe it. But what about the other people at the mixer? What statistics have they collected to show that handing biz cards, repeatedly to basically the same crowd, has had significant impact in growing their company?

My mentality is different. I don't understand their rational."; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Hana Ripp on September 27, 2009 at 8:55pm: I don't do buis cards anymore ~ I give out my website - if they are interested in my offereings or whatever - they make the effort to explore otherwise it's a waste of time & energy -however, I do collect other people's cards !; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Linda Landry on October 5, 2009 at 4:12pm: Just wondering Hana; what is your purpose of collecting business cards from others? Most likely it is for you to follow up; no doubt to see how viable they are toward your business objectives. If so, don't you think they would like to have the same option regarding
you? Wouldn't it be nice if each of you were able to contact the other even to discuss the pleasure of meeting or the mixer in general
further establishing a rapport/friendship. Or perhaps on or the other may have a 'lead' to share. Of course providing a web address
is great additional information, however, if that is all someone shares with me I won't pursue that avenue because my thinking would be their only motive is to 'sell' me. In otherwords; if one is thinking of me as a prospect and nothing more I am not interested. I can do business with strangers all day long. IMHO the mixers are a way of establishing connections and building business relationships. You may not do business with everyone you meet but you never know who they may know to refer or whom you may be able to refer to them.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Linda Holly Sheehan on October 16, 2009 at 5:51am

My business cards fulfill a specific function for me. They say one picture is worth a thousand words. My business is visual, so I have a vivid example of my work on my card. I designed it specifically to be memorable so that if someone got my card and threw it into a drawer or a file, they could find it again three years later with no problem. The nice thing is, it works. I've had people tell me that they got my card two or three years ago and kept it, and now they need a face painter so they called. So I do hand out cards to likely customers. Standing in line at the grocery store is a good opportunity. When I see parents with children of the right age group I try to give them a card. If I forget them, or if I've run out again before realizing it (all too often!), I write down my web site url for people. I guess I should get one of those nice card holders to carry in my purse.
I've attached photos of the front and back of my card for an example.

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