Last month at The Branding Spot, I received a lot of great feedback on my Business Card Psychology 101 post, so I was inspired to expand upon the topic even further! I previously discussed two types of business card people (The Enthusiast and The Detractor). Realizing this didn’t quite cover everyone, I decided to add a few more types I’ve noticed over the years at a variety of networking events.
Look Out for These Types!
Type 3: The Collector. This person isn’t necessarily looking for any sort of valuable future business relationship. We’ve all seen this person: they’re running through everyone in the room, moving from person to person quickly in order to obtain that precious, overflowing stack of business cards. The Collector’s intent is often to get a multitude of viable email addresses, which he or she will then use to spam you constantly and possibly for the rest of your life.
Type 4: The Dealer. Like the Collector, this type of business card person isn’t looking for a real, beneficial business relationship. They just want to cram their business card into as many hands as possible. Either this person is completely clueless on the entire point of networking, or they’re under the mistaken assumption that this effort is the best way to “get their name out there.” Not a good approach!
Type 3.5: The Dealer-Collector. A combination of these two types is often the most common negative type I’ve run into. This is the best way to establish yourself as completely unmemorable right off the bat and the easiest way to irritate potential business associates for months or even years to come.
The Resulting Stack
Depending upon the size of the room and the length of the networking event, I usually walk away with between ten and fifteen business cards:
- 5 cards are from people I would say I had a fantastic first talk with and we hit it off immediately.
- 4 to 5 business cards are true leads: I know they have a need for my services and that they understand and value what I do.
- 3 to 4 of the cards are from professionals who I may be interested in hiring in the future and/or I may know someone to refer this person to.
- 2 to 3 cards comprise a group of people that I was not able to connect with them on either because of time restraints or no commonly found interest.
- Overall about 3 cards end up being duds. Not every one is a match for each others services.
Follow Up is a Must
I recommend following up with each and every one of the professionals on those acquired business cards. Yes, even the duds and those you feel are from those Dealer-Collector types.
Here’s why… A lot of people freeze up at networking events. Some of those people who may appear to be Dealer-Collectors or duds may simply have an understandable case of stage fright, or maybe they just weren’t feeling 100% that day. Follow up is always important – if you don’t, you could easily miss out on a potentially great future business relationship!
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