Headed out to a reception, Craig plans to hand out business cards and bring home business cards and leave his phone in his pocket! Because “Face-to-face conversations are precious and screen interactions are a dime a dozen,” he explains.
Craig disagrees with the popular wisdom that business cards are becoming obsolete.
Showing respect and engaging in meaningful and memorable face-to-face conversations contribute to good group decisions. Business cards help.
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Here’s what Craig says in the video
Hi everybody. Hey it’s Craig Freshley here. I’m headed out for an evening reception and I put some business cards in my pocket. It made me think of a recent article I read somewhere on the Internet that basically said business cards are becoming irrelevant. Leave them at home.
The author said when you meet somebody; rather than exchange a business card, exchange email addresses, pull out your phone and do a quick add them to LinkedIn, or maybe even jot them a quick note or drop them a note later. I think I disagree.
When I am at a reception or anyplace and I’m in a face-to-face conversation with somebody, I take it as a sign of disrespect if that person turns their attention away from me, puts their head down, and performs what is essentially a data-entry task while I’m standing there.
Isn’t it much easier to simply hand somebody a card while maintaining contact and keep the conversation going? I’ll get their card and you know what; I’ll pull it out of my pocket and do that data-entry task later. On my own time. Face-to-face, real-time conversations are precious. Screen interactions are a dime a dozen.
If you want somebody to remember the conversation — if you want somebody to feel that they are truly respected by you — the whole time that you’re in a conversation with them — focus on them and save the screen time for later.
