Stress the value of having your phone number handy. Elaborate on the benefit of a business relationship with you and your company.I am a keen networker, as most of you know, and I occasionally do training sessions for colleagues on the topic. I had been scheduled to do it again the other week, and picked up this book fairly cheap in the hope that it would refresh my thinking. Well, it didn't really. First off, it's aimed at people whose business model is very different from mine (and from the younger colleagues who come to my training sessions) - the entrepreneur, selling a particular hard product or service, whose customers generally live within a reasonable travel distance. Since I started in my the line of business where I needed a client base, I've barely had any clients based in Brussels. (A lot have Brussels representation, of course, but the relationship is normally owned by headquarters.) Most of the business I pick up are useful contacts in the policy or business world, without much prospect of becoming clients in the short to medium term, and that is the spirit in which I hand mine out also.
Second, the book is barely conscious of the internet, with the injunction to have your email address clearly and correctly on your card almost the only reference. I had to check the publication date in disbelief. (2000.) I think even Popyk's target audience now would have Facebook pages set up for their business outreach, and frankly will find that much more useful as a driver of business than business cards.
Also one of the pieces of advice given is to go a bit gimmicky with your business cards, scenting them or making them odd shapes or using odd fonts. Personally I find this a bit annoying. You have to explain unexpected scentedness to your partner and colleagues, and it's tricky to scan oddly designed business cards into the system.
So basically this book was not for me. If you want, you can get it here.
