Author: Brenda Everson-Shaw
Are Business Cards Passé
For approximately three years I have been running a little experiment, just to satisfy my own curiosity. Up front I will state I am a proponent of the business card! I’ve used them over the years and collected many from years gone by. About once a year I take out the box I keep them in and grab some to research if that person is still with the same company or even still residing in the USA.
For this very unassuming experiment I also found it a great way to converse with people and lighten up their day. Probably because the LAST thing they expect to hear while in line at the local supermarket is, “do you have a business card”? But if you’re shopping the local big box builders’ supply chain and strike up a chat with a contractor, well, they “get it”.
Long ago (20 years+) when I was handed my first business card by a small company I was representing, I thought, “Wow! I’ve finally made it!” From then onward, with each change of jobs and industries, I made certain I always carried a card.
UNTIL the one day, approximately three years ago, I didn’t. That, my fellow businessperson, is the time you sincerely wish you shoved some in your jeans pocket while running to the local building supply store. I was in Lowes on a Saturday, standing behind a gentleman who had, in the cart that contractors use, wood trim, full length, for a project. I decided to simply ask, “weekend project”? He told me, “Yes”. He offered up it was for his own house he recently purchased while he was on duty one day in his other role of a Real Estate Agent. The owner asked him to give him an estimate to remodel the kitchen and he decided, as a contractor he could make this home his as his other job is a building contractor, which lead to an interesting discussion for the lengthy time we were in line (after all) it was a Saturday!
I shared that I have a client who is a RE Broker and my two sons who both build high-end residential homes and developments, plus commercial structures. I asked him if he had a business card. “Jeez, I don’t” he said while patting his shirt pocket. Then he asked if I had one after I told him I was a Freelance Writer. I parroted, “Jeez I don’t, they’re in my briefcase at my office!” LESSON LEARNED after all the years of being a proponent of the business cards!
I thought of exchanging info via text, but both of us had our hands full. When I got in my car, I told myself this was an interesting subject for me pursue considering it has been part of my little experiment: are business cards passé!
Reader’s Digest version: it all depends on whom you ask and, what generation you are speaking to. Technology has taken over so much of our lives, that I know many professionals who tell me that ALL their contacts are in their cell phone.
Personally, I find that dangerous as nothing is private these days. And, I’ve asked the tech generation what will happen when they drop their phone overboard on a boat trip or leave it in a washroom by accident, only to never find it again. They honestly look at me like I have three heads!! I simply smile and walk away.
I’m wondering how other’s view the subject of business cards. It’s a neat little surprise to find a business card at the bottom of your bag or coat pocket days or weeks after it was presented to you. You never would have thought to look in your cell contacts as you had most likely forgotten the name of the person. But that card in your jacket pocket or purse rang that bell!!
