Nextworking: How to Turn Strangers Into Contacts With Your Business Card

If you are a professional, you probably have a business card. Maybe you have one on your desk where you can look at it right now. Take a look: I'll wait. There's one thing you should ask yourself about your business card before you hand it out again. "What is this card trying to achieve?" Most people have never posed this simple question. By understanding what a card is capable of, you can make it work for you again.

Most business cards share the same fate as most resumes -- they're on the way to the trash by the time the reader gets them! For resumes, the average shelf life is as little as one minute. For business cards, it's half that.

There are two things a business card can do, only two kinds of responses it can elicit:

1) It Can Do Nothing: The hope here is that people will keep the business card "on file" the next time they need you. Whether you're an accountant, plumber, or mime, everyone has handed out business cards with this hope at one time or another. Unfortunately, this just isn't how most cards work out. Fewer and fewer people have a rolodex full of cards.

2) It Can Do Something: A business card, like an advertisement, is much more likely to succeed if it provokes an immediate response. Your business card shouldn't have an ad on it, of course -- but it can be "targeted" to the event you're at or the people you're going to meet. This is a way to spring a great surprise on your next batch of contacts.

How can you make your business card "do" something? There are several ways, and they're especially helpful if you want to make a terrific impression at a professional conference or meeting -- the kind of event where everyone has something to offer everyone else, but you absolutely have to break the ice first. Preparing your business card as a tool to break that ice and move people along in the process of knowing you better is "nextworking."

Here are two ideas:

1) Make Your Card Your Portfolio: Have you seen those big square barcodes on products and billboards? They're called Quick Response codes, and just about anyone with a smart phone can scan them. You can generate a QR code for free online and have it printed on your business card so that when it's scanned, it leads directly to your website. Even better if you have a complete portfolio of your achievements and a personal greeting.

2) Make Your Card a Social Event: Nothing tells people that you are an expert like maintaining a website on the latest industry news and events. If you are at a conference, you can break the ice by inviting your fellow attendees to share their impressions and experiences after the conference -- just make sure your QR-enabled business card links them to your blog. This is the high tech way to say "meet me after the party."

With either of these methods, you become the curator of the relationships you create. You give people an incentive to move into your territory, associate you with the event, and even be thankful for your invitation if they happen to meet more contacts after logging onto your blog or site. This is a great way to get introverts, who don't enjoy the scripted rituals of professional networking, to open up and offer to help.

When you think of networking, think of "nextworking." The spirit of nextworking is to take the boring stuff -- like business cards -- and turn it into a highly social extension of your relationship. That makes everyone more comfortable discussing what they have to offer, and gives you a chance to be "top of mind" among the kind of people who go the extra mile to get the most out of industry events.

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