I run a small business and do a lot of networking and I’ve noticed that people aren’t really handing out business cards anymore. Do you still use them?
I don’t even work in “business” and I have gotten at least 15 business cards in the last year.
Yeah ppl still use them in my expierence
I work in healthcare-- cardiology. So I am frequently handing out business cards for cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, interventional cardiologists, and electrophysiology doctors. Most of the patients appreciate them. Of course, most of those patients are older… Boomer or Xers.
I’m using personal calling cards, so not in a business context. Mine only have the few pieces of information I can trust to never change (name, phone, email) and are made to look very vintage - but have a QR code with the same info on the back, because I know that people want digital.
My overall experience is that it’s very convenient in the moment, and leaves an impression of a rare and slightly quirky exchange. I’ve never had a negative reaction.
For me, yes, cards are still used. I work in transportation. Half the certified companies are small hands-on repair shops, so there’s probably a beige office with a real rollodex. Most traveling auditors are semi-retirees so cards are the default, but certainly not required. Most presenters at conferences are from the biggest ~5 companies, fighting each other for market space, so they like handing out cards with a big company logo and their latest job title. I hand them out because this is the first job that provided them to me, so it’s been exciting. Plus, people seem to actually like my company. And, with a box of 500, I’m likely to change job titles before I deplete them at this rate.
My industry is not trying to be on the bleeding edge or marketing and buzzwords. Product goes through years of tiered in-service testing before market release. It’s all about results, not techy contact scans
Which industry
Rail. Buzzword marketing is for the leasing agencies. Everyone else wants test results. The playing field for sales is greatly leveled when everyone has to be certified to industry standards, are selling only approved designs, and are largely playing within a mutually-assured-destruction set of requirements defined by competitors working together. Defects are reported to the regulating body. It’s almost beautiful.
On the other hand, demonstrably good improvements are slow to be implemented.
If I get one I take a picture of it and then throw it away.
Yes. Also there’s a belief among some in sales that by giving something (even something small) to a person, that person will feel like they owe you. BTW not saying I believe this but I’ve heard it a few times from folks in sales.
This is demonstrably true by experiment, but I think it has to have at least SOME value. Like you can give a drink or buy them a candy bar before you ask for something and they are more likely to donate more money to your cause. It’s called “influence debt” I believe and is discussed pretty palatably in “Influence” by Robert Cialdini. Unfortunately I couldn’t find my notes on it with a quick search.
Depends on the demographic you are interacting with. When networking with other professionals it is probably easier to just scan a QR code to a file of contact information. A quick import and you’re already in my contracts.
In terms of being able to leave the information somewhere, cards work well. Attaching to a project portfolio, handing to someone so they can pass it on, leaving as a support contract after a project is complete, etc.
Literally yesterday I was given a business card with a QR code on it haha
Did the QR go to their website or did it have their vcard on it? I do the latter, and the former annoys the hell out of me, because it’s way harder to type a bunch of contact info than to type a fckin URL.
Also yes, this means I have business cards. I don’t use them much but they’re handy for leaving with other business owners in case they want to contact me (hopefully, to order!).
I’m gonna be honest, I have no clue, I didn’t scan it. Not because it wasn’t interesting or anything like that, but because making deals isn’t my job. I got it because it (sort of) used to be mine, but since it isn’t anymore I passed the card on to the person whose job it now is haha
Por que no los dos?
Business cards should have QR codes for both the website and the contact info. And they should be labelled.
My logic is:
a.) Two QR codes could confuse some scanners… or some people
b.) In the vast majority of cases, it’s faster to type the URL than it is to scan a QR code to go there.
But sure, there’s no reason you can’t do both! And if you do, they should definitely be labelled. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk 😅
When networking it’s easier for me to quickly pocket a card and deal with it later than take my phone out and scan a QR code.
I have so e personal and professional cards that also have a qr code on them. It’s been a good way to not get lost in an address book with a thousand names
Maybe NFC cards would work better than QR and normal cards
NFC cards are far more expensive than printed paper business cards.
You make one and each time your client ask for contact infos you use the card to give 'em your phone number/email/website instead of giving a card to each client
I feel like a business card is something physical to hand people so they have it to look back at later. If you’re just looking to NFC tap your contact info onto people’s phones, why wouldn’t you just use your own phone to do it?
This reminds me of something tangentially related. Sometime around the turn of the century I worked at a small business where some vendor came in to solicit interest in his business’ services, and left a working CD-ROM business card. That mildly impressed the manager because CD-ROMs were still pretty fancy and nobody there had seen a business card like that before, and when run the card had some simple Flash-like slideshow thing with a little video clip or two about their business (which was still impressive when you couldn’t really have embedded video clips on your average dialup-friendly website.) Around a week later that same vendor returned asking for the card back because “they’re pretty expensive to make and I want to give it to my next prospect,” and the manager’s impression of him went from mildly impressed to thinking this guy was too hilariously amateurish to bother engaging with.
A NFC is just faster than with the phone or with voice, i am looking at the pratical side of it tho, i hate those business cards because i have to type the phone number anyway
What if there’s a QR code on the card? Then it’s basically the same amount of work as getting that NFC tap.
Business cards are useless unless they’re bone with silian rail lettering
If you are going to a convention use a colleagues business cards so they get all the calls and follow-ups from the vendors. I’ve never done that but one guy kept doing it to others at a place I did part time work for until one year everyone else there did the same thing to him. He finally learned it wasn’t as funny as he thought.
I use paper business cards all the time. They’re fun and cheap.
Also, plain boring unimaginatively-designed business cards are so ubiquitous that if you’re using a design that’s at all interesting yours will easily be way ahead of most of the other business cards people will get.
I once got one made from very thin steel. You could have used it as a weapon in an Asian martial arts movie. But I was really scared of even touching the thing because it was so sharp.
Hacker Kevin Mitnick had a famous metal business card for his computer security firm which was a set of lockpicks. The lockpicks really worked if you knew how to pick locks.
Patrick?
No, this is the Krusty Krab.
They still make sense for local business, I think. I get and hang on to the service industry cards I get(HVAC, driveway grading, roofing, etc.)
That absolutely depends. In my experience, business cards are still super important and a polite thing to provide.
I work at a print shop and produce business cards all the time, like two or three different business card orders on a typical day. Most of my customers are in finance.
I still recieve them and see them handed out and used quite often
Yes, even if it is for just scanning them.
