Networking is a huge part of establishing and promoting your business, and collecting business cards is essential to helping you follow up with the peeps that you meet, whether they are fellow wedding industry pros or potential clients. But after a few networking events, chances are you’ll have a LOT of cards to keep track of, and if you just throw them on your desk or in a drawer, it can be difficult to find a specific one that you’re searching for. So what I do to solve this problem? NeatDesk!
Sure, you can go the old fashioned route and put all of your business cards into a binder, but why do that when you can go high tech and make finding the information you’re searching for that much easier? NeatDesk is def my new fave toy, and I’m not really sure how I went so long without it. It’s basically a scanner that allows you to import your business cards {a bunch at a time!} into your computer, giving you a digital image of the card {in case you lose the physical one}, and organizing the info in the card into digital contacts that you can search through with keywords! Can’t remember that Charlie guy’s last name? Just do a keyword search for “Charlie” and scan through the names until you have your “aha!” moment. It’s simply genius!
Plus, you can even use it to help you keep track of your expenses {just scan in your business receipts} and create expense reports. You can export the info to TurboTax when April 15 rolls around. Such a smart machine!
Attend a lot of networking events in other cities, or take a lot of business trips in general? NeatReceipts is a smaller, mobile version of the NeatDesk scanner, so you can keep track of all those business cards and cab receipts on the go.
Hey, being organized is good business, and who doesn’t love a “neat” little gadget that makes running your biz that much simpler?
Of course, keeping track of your business card info is just one part of being successful at networking. We’re sharing lots more tips for spiffing up your networking skills in the Spring Issue of ISS Magazine, so if you haven’t already, you can subscribe for your very own copy here.
On a side note, I also want to wish Associate Editor Carolyn Dix a very Happy Birthday today!!!
