You may spend hours and hours designing a business card that you think is Immaculate. However, simply just designing a card is not going to do any good to your business. You actually have to step up and hand out your business card to the right people in a professional manner. There are two things that are just not going to work for you. The first thing is having a stack of cards lying idol at your office inside a box. The second thing that is not going to do any wonders for your business is handing out your card to every other person that you meet. The only thing that you would be doing is spreading your card all over the neighborhood as if it were a piece of confetti. For this reason, there are a few networking ideas that you ought to follow to get your business car out there to the right people.
The first thing that you need to do is make sure that you always have your card with you. You can keep them in a wallet or perhaps even get yourself a card holder. Trust me, this looks extremely professional and your card get to remain clean. If you think that you might be giving out a whole lot of cards at a networking event, all you have to do is keep a spare box with you. You don't want to be standing in front of an influential business man and not have a card with you, right?
A smart way of effective networking through business cards is acknowledging the fact that you are not just meant to give out your card - you have to accept a few from others as well. Building a network is always a two way thing. The best thing to do whenever you come across someone that you think is going to make a good contact is ask for their card. Once they give you theirs, hand over your own in return. To make a professional image, don't just tuck away their card. Instead, give it a bit of respect; read through it and then place it carefully in your card case or wallet. A good networking trick is carrying out further conversation related to business cards. Think of a few people that might be interested in the business that the other person deals in and ask him for a few extra ones that you may forward to other people. In return, there is a good chance that they may ask for a few extra ones of yours too - this is the beginning of an amazing networking relationship and you need to make the most of it.
Another thing that you need to do to make sure that your card is handled well by the recipient is that you could consider handwriting something, like an extra bit of detail, on the back of your card while giving it to them. This might be an extra phone number, a personal cell phone number, an added website that you think they might find useful etc. However, you need to make sure that it is something that is totally associated to the conversation that you are carrying out at the moment. This would help them recall your card right away when needed and they are bound to keep it safe. Another good trick is to send out your business card with every single mail that you send out. This guarantees that your existing contacts would be able to have a couple extra cards of yours that they might forward to other people that are interested in your business.