How do you organize your business cards?
How do you organize your business cards?
(OP)
As the topic title says,
do you organize them alphabetically by name, by firm, ... ?
I've come to a point where my current system (throwing them all in a cardboard box, and I know roughly who's in there) does not work anymore: when looking for someone, sorting out the box just takes too much time.
Problem with organizing them by name is that if I want to search for someone that works in a certain firm, won't go.
Problem with organizing them by firm they work for, is that, if someone jumps ship, it won't work either.
A friend of mine started an access database, so you can search for whatever keyword you want. I might get around to do this, but when looking at my shoebox 1/4 full of cards, I don't quite feel like spending some days doing nothing but inputting data...
How do you organize them?
do you organize them alphabetically by name, by firm, ... ?
I've come to a point where my current system (throwing them all in a cardboard box, and I know roughly who's in there) does not work anymore: when looking for someone, sorting out the box just takes too much time.
Problem with organizing them by name is that if I want to search for someone that works in a certain firm, won't go.
Problem with organizing them by firm they work for, is that, if someone jumps ship, it won't work either.
A friend of mine started an access database, so you can search for whatever keyword you want. I might get around to do this, but when looking at my shoebox 1/4 full of cards, I don't quite feel like spending some days doing nothing but inputting data...
How do you organize them?





RE: How do you organize your business cards?
Phone apps and special machines exist which use OCR to convert the information on a scanned card to a database.
http://www.scanbizcards.com/?gclid=CJPj9-iGyrYCFax...
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/category/ca...
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
Your computer can search for last name, first name, city, company, or state much faster than you can. The only thing the computer can't do is separate the card stock cards from the fancy vellum cards (unless you enter that tidbit as a note!).
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
Clients and potential clients get punched into Outlook contacts. Important resources like specialty consultants get punched in too. Sorry, other vendors and consultants -- when I need something I'll look you up on the web. You're in the stack, later in the box.
Best to you,
Goober Dave
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RE: How do you organize your business cards?
Best to you,
Goober Dave
Haven't see the forum policies? Do so now: Forum Policies
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
Another thought would be to see if coworkers already have the contacts and have them email you a vcard
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
Business cards expire too. I don't know how many times I've pulled a card out of the stack (or had the contact in Outlook) only to discover that they've moved on.
Only put as much effort into your contact management as you think you'll get out of it. No point in putting all the cards into an access database if you're going to have to spend just as much time updating the db when things change (also the sticky issue of finding out when things change, is it better to call each card and ask?)...
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
I guess that alone (all in favor for digital) already proves a point.
Thanks for all of your suggestions, I might actually do the same... Now all I have to do is convince myself to pick up that shoe box...
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
- Steve
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
I have been meaning to buy a rolodex but gmail seems so much easier.
B+W Engineering and Design
Los Angeles Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer
http://bwengr.com | http://bwstructuralengineer.com | http://bwcivilengineer.com
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
I'm collecting all the business cards to see how high a stack I can get.
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
tagged as 'business'
and one of these:
'family business' (i.e. we do family business with these, e.g. our drycleaner)
'coworker'
'former coworker'
I have special tags for
'car sales persons'
'recruiters'
'deceased'
'friends'
'family'
... and more,
but mostly I just search for whatever I can remember.
The Android apps that take a picture of a business card and extract information from it,
mostly work well enough to say they work, but not well enough to just flash a pic and go,
so I still do a little editing.
The nice part about syncing with Gmail is that I can do much of the editing on a computer, not a tiny screen.
A reverse search on a business phone occasionally produces interesting results.
They go into the note associated with the contact.
I usually save the actual business cards for a couple of weeks, which is enough time to back-check my entries, and usually enough time to lose track of the cards regardless.
I tried the binder sleeves, and some nice bizcard book/holders that I got at trade shows, but I needed a bunch of them even decades ago, and they're slow to search; the phone is much faster, and can include an image of the card, or of the actual person if you like.
I never got used to using or maintaining a Rolodex or a DayTimer.
I used to use Windows' Cardfile, but the amount of data you could put on the cards was too limited.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
I still keep the actual cards for some reason, but I stopped filing most of them. Now, when I get a bunch of cards specifically for a project, I put them in a business card binder sleeve and keep them with the project files. Other cards get tossed in a box, which I cull about once a year. In the old days, I filed cards by company, then name. I also don't toss the really interesting cards.
==========
"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
I don't put them in any order. When I need one, I kind of do a visual sort. The issue with sorting them is if I can remember the company name, I can't remember the persons name and that's what I have them sorted by. And vice versa.
I do sort a little for anchor companies (Hilti, Red Head, etc.). I only started doing that when I noticed the same guys would come in, but they were working for different companies.
I like to put the date I got the card and reason we met on the front of the card to introduce myself when I call.
I bought one of those Rolodex holders and still have it. but I never liked it. It seemed to fill up very fast and not have much flexibility.
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
I sort mine alphabetically by Company name, and right the year I received the card in the top right hand corner, to keep track of how likely it is to be out of date.
Works well for me, I can't be bothered to update all my contacts in outlook!
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
I used to have pages in the binder for different companies. Related businesses that I only haed a few cards from would be after the main company page(s).
I like the idea of dating the card when you recveived it and maybe where.
"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
Ben Loosli
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
- Steve
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
"Free" in that CardMunch gets to collect on all the vendors who spam you with business cards, who in turn probably get spammed by CardMunch.
Sounds like a win-win for me and CardMunch.
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
I found this:
Signing a contract or writing a person’s name in red ink is the worst thing you can do in Korea, since this indicates that the person is deceased.
- http://www.communicaid.com/cross-cultural-training...
tom
RE: How do you organize your business cards?
Another one: in some countries you should accept business cards with your both hands, as that is a sign of respect,
in other countries, you should never touch the card (or any food) with your left hand as that's the hand you (should) wipe your ass with.
Better to check beforehand where you're going, as local manners/habits might be important enough to win or lose you a contract!