Christmas cards? Birthday Cards? Playing Cards? Nope, nope, nope. Business Cards! Nothing devalues you more than to have someone or everyone watching you romp through a networking event flipping business cards at all and sundry. It actual tells others that you actually don’t value them. You can’t ‘like’ everyone in the room. You cannot have something of value for everyone in the room. So don’t try.
Strike up a conversation. Ask them what they do. Wait to be asked what before you tell them what you do. If they do ask, giving them a 30 second overview, no more and make sure you ask a question at the end of it like…’would that be of interest to you or your colleagues?’ Don’t worry if it isn’t. Then assess if you can contribute to the current mood of the conversation and if not, just excuse yourself and move on. If they ask for a card, excellent, give them one.
Just remember, giving out your card is tacit agreement to receiving phone calls, emails and newsletters. If you do want one of their cards, ask for one and tell them why you want their details. Perhaps it is to send them info on the conversation, perhaps to organise a time for a coffee and if it is to add them to your database, ask permission if that is OK. If not, mark the card accordingly and thoughtfully recycle or file.
previous blogs;
http://johnmasonstuff.blogspot.com
http://john-mason-stuff.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment