Business Cards

I have a lot of unused business cards. Most of them are in my basement. I’m convinced there are more that I have misplaced elsewhere in the house. Alas, none of my business cards are current. The little boxes of business cards are like a tiny museum exhibit of my past work lives.

I’ve never run out of business cards before I needed new ones for various reasons: new job, new title, new contact information. Business cards can have a short shelf life. And, of course, they come in boxes of 500.  Does anyone except a sales person ever go through an entire box of business cards?

I recall one guru who said to worry less about handing out your business card and more about getting the business cards of others. His reasoning made sense. A lot of business cards that are handed out at meetings and conferences are discarded in airport trash receptacles and in wastebaskets back at the office. But if you collect the business cards of others, you have people’s contact information for the all-important followup.

With a book coming out next year–and multiple writing and blogging hats–I need to update my business cards. I figure I need at least two different sets. Perhaps three.

Plus, while out to lunch with a business contact last week, I was asked for my business card, a rarity. I was caught empty handed. But I did follow up with a letter on nice stationery, folded and sealed in a handsome envelope, then stamped and mailed the old-fashioned way. That’s another rarity these days.