Be honest…do you have business cards piling up on your desk? Are there lots of them? Those cards are not very helpful in pile on your desk, so let’s get your cards organized and more useful!
The first step is to sort through the business cards to get rid of the ones you don’t need. When sorting, ask yourself these questions:
* Do you remember who the person is?
* Do you use their services?
* Would you refer out their services?
* Do you want to form a business relationship with this person or company?
If you answered “no” to these questions, put the business card in the recycling bin. Don’t bother hanging on to cards you won’t use.
The next step is to organize your business cards in a way that makes it easy to find what you are looking for, when you need it. Here is what I recommend:
- Electronic Organizing – Use a card scanner or input the information manually into your contact database. Categorize them under the services they provide either in folders or by using keywords. That way if you forget their name, you can still search by category or keywords.
- Card Organizing – Create a binder. Insert the business cards into business card pages. Organize them by categories. Again, you won’t have to remember the company name, just the service.
Happy Organizing!
Melissa,
Thanks for sharing these great tips. Business cards are only useful if you develop a relationship by adding value right away. I use http://www.Shoeboxed.com to enter my cards into a database. Then I use an auto-responder email series, voicemail and a postcard to nurture these relationships. The most critical part of business cards is the follow up!
Elaine