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User Panel
User Panel
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:28:24 PM EDT
[#1]
Business cards are passe. Beaming contact information to PDAs and Blackberries is the way you do it today.
I have the same box of 500 business cards for the past three years. Still have 2/3rds of the box. I hand out cards to those who ask for one, or give me one of theirs. Very few do today. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:30:02 PM EDT
[#2]
My new company never bothered to buy me new cards. Not that I'm terribly concerned.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:30:49 PM EDT
[#3]
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:31:01 PM EDT
[#4]
I hand out a 100 a week or more.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:31:52 PM EDT
[#5]
I work in electronics manufacturing. Everyone has the latest gizmo. YMMV. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:36:15 PM EDT
[#6]
i use e-mail so much by the time you meet me in person you have all my info in an e-mail addy.
i have a little stack of cards from vendors but if i want to talk to them i click on the folder and reply to an e-mail or call them using their "signature" info. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:36:39 PM EDT
[#7]
I always hand out 2 to a person and tell them to give one to a friend who may use my services.
It works. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:37:20 PM EDT
[#8]
I give out aobut 2000 at each trade show.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:40:31 PM EDT
[#9]
Maybe they don't have them.
Just a idea....... |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:40:52 PM EDT
[#10]
Thanks for the reminder, I've been walking around without any for a couple of weeks now.
Yeah, I'm a sinner. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:43:03 PM EDT
[#11]
I chalk it up to poor comprehension of basic business communications protocols. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:43:12 PM EDT
[#12]
what kind of engineering are you in?
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:43:19 PM EDT
[#13]
I still use/give/exchange business cards all the time.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:43:35 PM EDT
[#14]
I hand out about 20 cards per month.
It is really annoying when some long-term employee of one of my customers says, "Oh, I just don't carry them around with me." |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:46:30 PM EDT
[#15]
At my place of work we have the ability to print our own. About 6-8 months ago I printed out about 20 of them for myself. I still have 15 of them and 3 of the ones not in my office are in my truck. I talk to customers through e-mail or on the phone. Rarely in person.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:47:18 PM EDT
[#16]
I've only worked here a year (been out of college that long, as well, I'm just a normal engineer), but I damn sure went and found our graphics department to have a stack of business cards made up after the first time someone asked me for a card and I had to reply "I dont have one yet" in front of a Vice President of Northrop Grummam and my boss's boss.
 And yes, its annoying as hell when you dont get a card from people in return, I always keep 5 in my shirt pocket so I can hand them out if I run into someone in the hall. I'll throw a stack of 30 in my pocket if I'm going to a meeting with people I dont know. I suck at names and faces, so I'll make notes about people on the backs of their cards so I remember them. I give out about 40 a month. Kharn |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:47:47 PM EDT
[#17]
I got some made, that seemed to be the thing to do. Since I moved 4 years ago I never bothered getting them again. I don't like cards and promptly lose the ones i've been given. People that need to get in touch with me will find a way to do it, giving them cards doesn't make them call me more often. I'm in the contacts list/address books of all the people I care to communicate with, that's enough. I don't want to be "out there", I don't want more new business.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:48:17 PM EDT
[#18]
Business cards, not Pokemon cards kiddo. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:48:25 PM EDT
[#19]
I'm guilty, I don't carry my cards with me. I don't carry a wallet (I use a credit card holder and a money clip instead) because I had the George Costanza huge wallet before and I got sick of it.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 12:48:34 PM EDT
[#20]
When somebody gives me a card it usually ends up on my dresser with my pocket change. Later on it ends up in the trash. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 1:03:51 PM EDT
[#21]
Oh I see.... you don't *have* your special Chinpoko Mon game controller....
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Posted: 8/25/2005 1:14:06 PM EDT
[#22]
The company I work for is small - 13 total full-time employees. In an organization this size, every person, from the president down to the field office clerk, is integral to the presence of our firm with our clients and associates. I met a guy once who kept a record of every person he ever gave a business card to. He hand-numbered each one, and kept this crazy little logbook that detailed who, where, when and for what purpose each card was handed out. That's a bit much, I should say. I know a lot of people who don't have business cards at all. One guy is a jewelry broker. He figures that anybody who needs to get ahold of him already knows how. He buys from about 5 or 6 people worldwide, and only sells to 5 or 6 wholesalers/dealers. I got him some joke cards once for his birthday. They just said "NOYB" in tiny letters on one side. I think I paid $8 for 100 cards. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 1:30:46 PM EDT
[#23]
I hand them out .
I am in sales and alot of times when we are slow and everyone is whining about no cust's walking in the door... i am busy returning vmail and emails due to the fact that i always hand them out.. < sell or not.. you ask what time it is.. your getting a card...  > some people call back.. most seem to give them away as most vmails and emails start like this " so and so gave me your card and ................" |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 1:46:35 PM EDT
[#24]
Maybe your not "card worthy". When some Amway dope gives me a card, I sure don't reach for mine.  |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 1:50:20 PM EDT
[#25]
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Posted: 8/25/2005 1:50:58 PM EDT
[#26]
What are you guys paying for 500? I'm in the printing biz and might be able to save you some money.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 1:54:46 PM EDT
[#27]
I have enough cards from past jobs to start a small bonfire...
I just give/get email addys |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 1:55:01 PM EDT
[#28]
They probably didn't want to see you again? Just a guess. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 1:55:12 PM EDT
[#29]
The last place I worked only provided 125 cards at a time to people. However, their printer in Detroit required a minimum order of 500. So, if you ran out, you had to wait until 3 other people needed cards to fulfill the minimum order. Like an idiot, I asked, "well, since I need more right away, why can't I just get 250, or 500 even?" The reply, "Because we need 4 people to get 125 to make 500, and if you got 500, then that would make the total order 875, and then we'd need another person to make 1000." 
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Posted: 8/25/2005 2:01:02 PM EDT
[#30]
"Don't call us, we'll call you."
Did you have some spinach in your teeth? Leave your zipper down? I'm just saying... |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 2:04:42 PM EDT
[#31]
You could just tack 'em up in the men's room.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 2:06:45 PM EDT
[#32]
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Posted: 8/25/2005 2:12:29 PM EDT
[#33]
I went through a period of time a few years ago that I was ordering new business cards every 3 months or so.(to add on new certifications I was earning) The smallest # I could get at a time was 500. I would have lik 490 left and I'd be ordeing a new one.
Finally I landed a promotion and got rid of the alphabet behind my name. I haven't ordered a businss card since. Unreleated - I know group of contractors who worked for a company who had all workers listed a V.P. on their business cards. I'd be working with contractors make @ $20/hr and they would all pass out business cards listing them a V.P. of consulting. 
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Posted: 8/25/2005 2:20:16 PM EDT
[#34]
What do I know? I'm just a dumb kid, we're all the same. Well I'm not an expert on business cards, nor do i pretend to know about the personalities of engineers. But I do know something. I do not like to have alot of things in my pockets. Ever think that they don't care to carry a whole lot of excess crap? |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 2:22:05 PM EDT
[#35]
+1 |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 2:28:07 PM EDT
[#36]
Where I work, the vendors/customers that come in usually have business cards... so I made my own and always bring a few to the meetings. Exchanges always take place.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 2:30:15 PM EDT
[#37]
I got either 250 or 500, can't remember, for free from some online businesscard place. well I had to pay $3 shipping
I keep a few in my wallet and mainly only use them if I run into someone I know but have lost touch with, usually classmates from high school |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 2:31:46 PM EDT
[#38]
I should dig out my copy of American Psycho so I can type up that whole Business Card thing he was doing...
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Posted: 8/25/2005 2:34:44 PM EDT
[#39]
We all know you're too busy memorizing Huey Lewis lyrics. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 2:45:47 PM EDT
[#40]
Yup. If I'm helping with Pre-Sales, I'll hand a bunch out, because PHB's and Sales weenies like them (and everybody does it before they even sit down). When it's a bunch of engineers? Well, they probably already have my email containing the vcard attachment (I send these on every outbound email). If not, they just ask me. I don't keep them in my pocket. I have a huge stack in my laptop backpack. In 8 years of being a business card toting IT guy, I've never ran out. I don't think I've even given out 500 in 8 years, including the ones I drop in the fishbowls. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 3:32:26 PM EDT
[#41]
my cards are in front of my desk, if someone wants one they are in plain view....handing them out is tacky....i receive a ton of cards and most end up in the garbage...
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Posted: 8/25/2005 3:49:26 PM EDT
[#42]
I'm a middle manager and travel a moderate amount, the only time I really make sure that I have business cards with me is when I'm going to a company for the first time. Otherwise I don't bother unless I know someone new is working there. (I'm not in sales)
When people (sales reps usually) call at my facility I *rarely* have cards with me to give out to them. They're trying to sell me something, if I want to call them back or buy something from them I'll look up their number. Not trying to be rude but if I don't have my cards on me I'm probalby not going back to my desk to get them just because some rep comes in (since I'm walking around a building where everyone knows me, I usually *don't* have them with me). If they had enough information to schedule a meeting then they probably already know who I am anyway. When I'm out at a contractors and there's a large meeting scheduled I get a crapload of other people's business cards...many of whom I'll never see again because they're just there for the 'meet n greet' and won't be actively involved in our project. Yeah it's a nice gesture but now I've gotta keep track of which cards are important and which are just filler. My take on the whole thing, I wouldn't get my panties in a bunch because some pointy headed engineer forgot to bring his card. But that's just me. 
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Posted: 8/25/2005 4:01:28 PM EDT
[#43]
An exchange of business cards always happens in my meetings.
Whether it be with new management from my customer or first time visting suppliers. Then I typically load it all into outlook and file the card. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 4:02:52 PM EDT
[#44]
Damn I give them away like emmys.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 4:07:55 PM EDT
[#45]
if i give you a card it means you have a way to contact me. i dont care to deal with 90% of the people i deal with. my salary is not impacted by others so frankly i don't care.
i only people i give to are people i actually like. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 4:18:09 PM EDT
[#46]
I have huge numbers of business cards, mainly because of working for large companies who re-org every 5 minutes and the job title and usually the division I worked for no longer exost, so I get a new batch.
After a while I gave up and violated several different company business card policies by having mine printed with just the company name, my name, my home office address and phone number and an e-mail address. No matter how many times I was re-orged the cards remained valid, whereas most of the people I worked with either gave up on trying to keep up, or were told not to spend money on new business cards until the old ones were used up -- these are the people who leave them in the other building, at the office etc. They are ashamed of the out of date cards, and reluctant to give out cards which identify them as not being what they represented themselves to be to you 5 minutes ago. One advantage of my company and name only card is that several people have commented later that they thought that I must be someone really important if I didn't have a job title and division printed on the card - just my name. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 4:58:39 PM EDT
[#47]
funny story,
my company uses an online ordering process for our cards. No one verifies or checks them. you pretty much put what ever title you want on them. a few years ago my title was Expert Voodoo Priest Miracle Worker Engineer Physchiatrist Guru Faith Healer Protector of Virgins Dragon Slayer If i can't fix you and your problem your beyond help. went over REALLY well with customers until my boss got one by mistake  I am thinking my next Batch might list me as a Pirate
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Posted: 8/25/2005 5:05:50 PM EDT
[#48]
IM me your address and I'll send you mine.
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Posted: 8/25/2005 10:03:31 PM EDT
[#49]
Whenever I need new cards, I just remove them from the laundromat
bulletin board, make an X through whatever is on front and write my info on back. That said, I've never found them especially useful for drumming up business. |
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Posted: 8/25/2005 10:08:35 PM EDT
[#50]
Take a shower. 
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