Always carry an old school business card. It allows you to ask others for theirs!  More importantly, you now have all their pertinent contact information in the palm of your hand and they have yours. 

Make sure to note three things on the card you receive:

1. The date you received it.
2. The place you received it.
3. Something unique the person you talked to mentioned (child’s age, favorite hobby, etc.)

When you get back to your computer, make sure enter all that information in your contact database and finish up with a quick e-mail of “thanks” to the individual, mentioning something interesting about your discussion – maybe the unique quality you learned. 

Radio didn’t kill the printing press and TV didn’t kill the radio.  PDAs won’t kill the business card, at least not for the most productive business developers.

© 2009, Paul H. Burton. All rights reserved.