Are you a Smiley Face or a Star? A quick networking tip! 

Hey Gang~~

As you know I am all about networking and I just love being around people.  Every chance I get I look to see if there is something about the person I am meeting for the first that I can grab ahold of and assist them.  I am gonna give you a great tip that you can use as soon as you are done reading this post.  Let me start with the end in mind.  I am all about connecting at live events with people and If you have read very much about me or have seen me speak live, you know I always carry a sharpie to write on business cards.  The reason I use a sharpie is that it is the only pen that can write on all the various card stocks that people are using nowadays.  Even the glossy cards that are a giant pain if you only have a ball point!

Well, here is the tip.  Start coding the cards you get at events so you can quickly determine who you would like to chat with after the event.  Here is how my coding goes.  Very Simple.  If I meet someone and the are sharp and give me some reason to chat with them further, I take my sharpie and draw a star on the front of the card.  When I get home or back to the office, I know this is a person who I will make the effort to stay in touch with.  If however, I meet someone who I think is a total dumb ass or they just threw their card at me as if their goal was to just distribute as many cards as possible I will draw a happy face on the card.  This means when I get back to the office that the card gives me a smile as I throw it in the trash can!

Funny story, I used to write “dumb ass” on the cards of people who I had no interest in talking to ever again but I learned the hard way that this was not the best approach.  I was working a trade show when a total tool started pitching me all about his business in the MOST obnoxious way possible.  I took out my best networking tool (Sharpie) and proceeded to write Dumb Ass on his card and threw it in our leads bowl.  He watched me write on the card AND put it in our leads bowl. Wouldn’t you know it, he came back a few minutes later still convinced there was a snowballs chance in hell I would be following up with him.  He asked if I could pull the card out because he had failed to write his “new” mobile number on the card.  I had to do the dance because I knew what I had written on the card.  I now draw a smiley face!

Anyone who just hands me their card or is a tool gets a smiley face.  However, everyone I think is AWESOME gets a HUGE star!  I get so excited when I come home from an event and my pocket is full of Stars!!  As a side note, I always ask myself when I am handing out a card whether the person on the receiving end thinks I am a star?  If not, I work hard to make them draw a star on my card!  I suggest you do the same!!

Give someone an AWESOME day!  If you like this post, please share it on Facebook or leave me a comment on what you do with the cards you get at events.

P.S. When you are ready to leave either here or www.CaseyEberhart.com I am happy to give you a really cool download of a teleclass I did on how to turn business cards into cash.  Your free gift aka bribe for putting in your name and email address to the annoying pop up that is gonna appear. I hate spam and I promise to only send  you cool stuff!

P.P.S. Thank you for making it to the bottom of this post!  You would get a star on your card! 😉