Business Cards, what are you doing with them?

You just left a great networking event and you have a handful of business cards of the new people you just met for the first time. Here are a few tips:

At the event:
1. Ask for two cards, they are small, so of course you'll need two. (Thanks for the humor David Marshall). But truly you need two, one to give away and one to take some notes and keep.

2. Write notes on the card about the person you met. Location, date, details, the more notes the merrier. You might want to carry a Sharpie so that you can write permanently on any surface.

3. And as Liz M. Lopez suggests, ask "Would you like to stay in touch?".

4. Last, ask what their preferred method of communication is and if you may connect with them on Social Media. "Do you prefer email, text, phone? Would it be okay to connect with you on the Social Networks?

After the event:

1.Enter your new contacts in your database, sync your Smart Phone so you become the hub of connections everywhere you go.

2.Connect on one Social Media platform. (Connect on the others after they connect with you.)

3.If you had a great connection and want to have future contact, be certain to USPS mail a personal card or note.

4.File your cards in a business card holder/rolodex, you might want to organize them by industry.

5.Keep you business card/rolodex accessible, perhaps in your car, so that you have connections for others readily available.

6.Finally, if you do use a Smart Phone you can download programs like "Bump" to share contacts with other Smart Phone users. Or use QR Codes as a method of sharing contact info. (More on QR Codes in a future blog.)

A few more tips:

People do business with those they know, like and trust. Go back to the next event, the next and the next in order to build rapport with your new contacts.

Be sure to choose 1 to 2 contacts to have a personal one to one meeting to learn more about what they do.

-Katie Akers
IPA Accomplice and Co-Founder of "Build Your Net" Networking