[Digital Workforce #1] How to manage business cards well?

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If you want to ask office workers what troubles they usually encounter, I believe that-how to do the damn business card management will definitely be at the top.

When people are wandering around the world, how can they exchange business cards without getting stabbed? But the problem is how to manage and store a lot of business cards? Storage may be quite simple. We have all seen many salesmen or journalist friends just tie up stacks of business cards with rubber bands and then throw them deep in the drawer. If you are more particular, you can of course buy a few business card boxes or business card books for storage.

But what should we do about business card management?

Attempts at various business card management methods

To be honest, in these years of working in the workplace, I have probably never used it except asking a secretary to do it for me. I have tried almost all other methods! They can be managed with a business card scanner or app, or taken with a mobile phone, or even stored in [Evernote](https://help.evernote.com/hc/zh-tw/articles/209005777-%E5%A6%82%E4%B I have experienced all these things in D%95%E7%94%A8%E6%89%8B%E6%A9%9F%E6%8E%83%E6%8F%8F%E5%90%8D%E7%89%87%E5%88%B0-Evernote-) or Google’s cloud database! Organizing business cards is not only laborious and time-consuming, but also often unsustainable.

I wonder if you have similar experience? Even though I have spent time sorting and archiving, I still can’t find the contact information at the critical moment!

Look, is this a common scene in the office?

I still remember that when I was working in the media, a senior reporter mobilized all colleagues in the editorial department to help. Everyone dropped their work and began to filter through thousands of business cards one by one, just to find the contact information of a certain interviewee from many years ago.

This experience was so painful that it still impresses me to this day! Catching up with the popularity of apps a few years ago, I even thought about developing a mobile software for people management, and even designed the wireframe and operation interface! (If anyone else is interested, please feel free to contact me!)

My business card management secrets

I know that some people are used to writing down some key information on the back of the business card when they receive it (for example: the place where they met, the industry they work for, whether they have any friends in common, etc.). To be honest, I think this is a good way! But first of all, I don’t want to ruin the beauty of the business card (I can’t even bear to draw lines in books, and naturally I don’t have the habit of writing on business cards). Secondly, in this digital age, this method still feels a little inconvenient.

Although the App has not been successfully developed yet, I found a simple and convenient method. Since I did this, I have never been unable to find contact information at a critical moment!

Write a letter and leave a digital footprint

Okay, let’s not be too pretentious! In fact, my business card management method is very simple. On the day I receive the business card, no matter how tired or busy I am, I try to write a short and concise greeting letter to the other party. It not only states the occasion and opportunity for the encounter, but also contains each other’s contact information and key information.

What should I write in this letter? ✔ Opportunities and occasions to meet new friends. ✔ Briefly introduce yourself and remember to include your contact information. ✔ Hope to keep in touch in the future so that we can ask for help from each other.

This is not only a kind of workplace etiquette, but also a way of deepening your impression of yourself and this new friend by writing a letter. Of course, what’s more important is that it leaves behind “digital footprints” that can be traced later.

Thanks to Google, today’s search technology is so convenient and powerful! As long as my Gmail is always safe, the difficult problem of business card management will naturally be solved.

Dear office workers, are you still worried about managing your business cards? Would you like to try my method of leaving “digital footprints”? Save money on buying a business card scanner or app, you can also have a cup of coffee with your friends (http://acoffee.club/) to connect with them!

★ Image source: Geraldine Lewa

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