

How we deal with business cards [infographic] - kluivers
http://blog.mynameise.com/post/3086146716/how-we-deal-with-business-cards
The business card problem and the solution we're building on a daily basis
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alex77
This seems like it would be a bit of a faff. With physical business cards,
exchanging them is as simple as moving a card from your pocket into the hand
of the person you are giving it to. You can even collect a whole bunch at once
and arrange them in front of you to remember everybody’s name at the meeting
table. Who really struggles to keep track of physical cards? Insert into
holder in alphabetical order when you get back. O(n)

With this there would be at least a couple buttons to mash on the phone,
something will almost certainly go wrong with it in the middle of the Big
Sales Meeting (sods law), you have to fiddle with your phone instead of
looking your new contact in the eye etc etc.

If you are the sort of person that enjoys meticulously tagging mp3 files and
has to add every single person they meet to FaceTweetMyspaceLinkedBook then
maybe this seems great, but to me this is a solution to a nonexistent problem,
that just makes life more difficult.

~~~
cd34
You've not dealt with enough business cards.

You go to a meeting, you get 8 business cards, you have to add notes in the
lobby or parking lot so that you know who the decision maker was, who the
person was that was driving the initiative, and, the person that pays the
bills. Identifying the people that you need to contact while it is fresh in
your mind is important. Cards are usually traded at the end of a meeting, but,
I've always made it a point to swap cards as early in the meeting as possible
so I could take notes. Am I going to take notes on my phone? Probably not.
That said, people need to quit using glossy two sided cards. I do have a legal
pad, but, it is much easier for me to write a quick note on a card because I
don't have to worry about two people having the same initials and did I write
down the wrong piece of info, etc.

Would transferring those cards be any easier via phone? probably not. I can
write quicker than I can open a card, select the person I'm talking with and
enter the notes. Having a quick way to pull up the 3-8 cards I just received
to type notes, added bonus. Having a way to add a voice memo that can later be
transcribed or translated, additional bonus. Able to integrate with my contact
management software, extra bonus as well.

That is half the problem, and, in particular, one that Bump, Google Goggles,
this product and many others don't appear to handle well. When I go into a
meeting, I have to remember who I promised what, who I need to follow up with
and when. So far, dead-tree cards fit this purpose better.

Scenario two, I'm at a bar/restaurant or some gathering, perhaps even
<http://ftlhackandtell.eventbrite.com/> this weekend. I know the community
there is likely to be technical, they are probably going to be on top of
things, but, if I am there making contacts, there's one thing I need and that
is a simple, seamless way of getting that data. I've got to carry Bump, Google
Goggles, mynameise, and whatever other possible method I can to make sure I
can swap info without having to swap a card. Email addresses are difficult to
transcribe in loud settings, certain letters can be confused, people have
cutesy names that miss a vowel so that it has to be spelled out letter by
letter, etc.

"No, that's mgacontrl.ly yeah, megacontrol without the e and o, well, the
first o in control, but not the second o, and .ly, but an l before the .,
well, our sales staff liked the name"

Then, you have the conventions. In this case, business cards reign supreme. If
I'm at a booth, I'm going to walk away with 200-500 business cards. People
will hand me cards just to not hear a sales pitch and to get whatever promo
goodies are being handed out. It isn't worth my time to get those cards
electronically because 50% or more won't be interested and will give enough
cues when I call back that they get moved aside. Of the interested ones, then
I'll get those input into the system.

While each of these companies appear to be solving a problem, they really need
to talk with the people that have the problem they're solving.

I was talking with a client this morning about the very issue. Three-four
month android user, stack of 550 cards gathered over the last month. You know
she deals with cards?

Lay them all face down on the photocopier, photocopy 10-13 cards at a time,
puts them in a file folder to key into her contact management software on the
plane to the next convention. She's very technically savvy, but, there are a
host of reasons solutions don't work. Even the conventions have moved away
from the barcode reader that reads the id badge and then hands you a list of
each person you scanned at the end of the show.

I did tell her about Google Goggles for scanning the cards and she's going to
try it on the next stack, but, out of 86 cards I scanned, 3 had errors - those
three used serif fonts for the phone numbers. While it is nice for archival
purposes, I can't depend on using google goggles at a function (unless it has
a way for me to save a copy of the picture somewhere that I haven't seen).

I miss being in sales. :)

~~~
ktsmith
We print our cards glossy front w/ contact info. Matte back with small qr code
containing contact info from front and the remaining area blank for quick
notes. If someone wants to retain my contact info they can scan the qr code
with one of the dozens of scanners currently available without having to worry
about typos, data entry etc. It's also a bit of a conversation starter with
those that have never seen one or don't know how they work which can make the
meeting more memorable if it's a convention type setting.

~~~
cd34
I don't mind a glossy front as long as I have a matte side. I've used Sanford
Uniball Micro blue pens since the 80s, but, at times have had to swap to the
bic ballpoint disposable to write on a glossy card. Funniest thing ever was a
prospect that had a card printed on actual photographic paper and he said, let
me write my direct phone number on the card... after a few tries, flipped it
over, still no joy. He ended up writing his number on one of my cards, which
meant I had to keep both of those cards together. It was a beautiful card
though and after 10 years, it is still in my desk.

------
cd34
Some notes regarding your app.

Created card, added logo, meant to add it as the picture, no way to remove the
logo, won't allow me to upload a picture of the same name? Actually, won't let
me upload at all, Chrome/Mac 10.6.6

Autofill tries to fill in the street number with the City, and the address
line gets my street with the number. I'm not sure why you're separating the
two fields. You don't ask for my state. The address appears to be incorrect,
as I'm in the USA, our street number comes first, so, I'll assume you're not
in the USA?

When I try to add my linkedin profile, it says 'Could not add service'. Wasn't
obvious that I needed to enter the full url when twitter accepted just my
username.

As you get further down and click about.me, the dialog box requires me to
scroll up for input, then back down. I couldn't see a way to add my self-
hosted blog.

After saving the card on step 2, I am able to upload my photo and deactivate
the logo.

I'll give it a try this weekend, however, on android, it is based on email
which means I have to hope that the email gets delivered. Does the IPhone app
transfer it locally? or still go through your server?

It looks good, pretty easy to navigate. I hope it works out well for you.

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OliverM
Saying that an area the 120% size of Central Park is deforested yearly to
create business cards doesn't at all follow from what they claim. There may
well be 24,000 trees in NYC's Central Park, but the last time I was there it
was far from covered in trees. 30,000 could grow in a far smaller space.

That kind of reasoning doesn't inspire confidence!

~~~
renn
'Guesstimates'.

~~~
OliverM
... can also be wrong?

~~~
renn
Very much so - the graphic is very much tongue in cheek though, can be taken
lightly.

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Alucarddrol
I could see something with NFC being much more productive than this. Actually
have a plastic card, and just scan that sucker to each other's phones. This is
an interesting idea but still doesn't really get rid of the paper usage
because people like to have something physical.

~~~
renn
We're diving into NFC - although still doesn't solve even half of the problem.

And something physical? Like cassettes? CDs? Newspapers?

~~~
Alucarddrol
Sorry about the belated reply, but what I meant to say that something tangible
will always have a higher value than anything that is intangible. So while the
business cards are really a great idea, it's gonna be a bitch to get people to
use them. People prefer to have the cards in their hands, each one
representing something individual, while E on the other hand represents the
combination of all separate information onto one thing. Also, because business
cards are physical, people other than those intended are able to find them and
create opportunities. Finally, business cards are like the magic rabbit in my
black hat of a wallet. I always seem to be able to pull one out that I need at
random. It's less likely that I will find the business card of somebody I'm
not looking for, if I'm not looking for a business card in the first place.
Business cards help me by making sure I have contacts with whomever I want,
whether or not I look for them. The only way I can think of this being
implemented is if there is a card randomizer that pops up with a random card
each time I look at the collection. I'm sorry if this doesn't make much sense
and also I hope that this will be read, as I believe it should be taken into
consideration.

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sgt
I like their little cartoon example... "Nice meeting you, got E?"

Just be careful who you ask.

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unwind
There's a typo when under "How do we fix this?", it says "inculding" rather
than "including".

~~~
renn
Fixed! Thanks.

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user24
You can't scribble on an E.

~~~
renn
Actually, you can! <http://cl.ly/3s010o3p3O0M0M0I473W>

~~~
user24
yeah, I saw the vid.... it's not really the same though, is it?

~~~
renn
Nope. Notes on E get pushed back into the cloud. Notes on cards get stained.
;)

~~~
user24
touché ;)

