Like it or not more of your business is going digital.  There is always going to be a desire for tangible things.  For instance, I have not yet made the full transformation from print books to digital books.  However, handling business cards is an area of my business that I transformed completely to digital.  I would like to share two scenarios and a simple tool for each to convert paper business cards into digital ones.

The first scenario involves the way that you use your own business card.  If you're still carrying around a business card, how many times have you found yourself in a situation where you didn't have one available?  C'mon, be honest.  Someone asked you for your card but you didn't have one in your possession at that exact moment.  Maybe you found one buried in your work bag or center console of your vehicle.  Or maybe you apologized and exchanged email addresses to make contact at a later date.

I used to find myself in that situation countless times over the years.  In fact, it happened to me again earlier this week only this time I was ready.  I was flying back to Orlando from a client meeting in Detroit.  I sat next to a CEO of an innovative marketing firm.  Near the end of the flight he asked me, "So Dr. Brad, can I get your business card and follow with you later this week?"  Rather than having to fumble through my bag or stumble with an explanation for not having a card handy, I calmly replied, "Jack, I don't carry a business card any longer.  However, you can get all of my mobile card by texting Dr Brad to 90210."  My reply raised Jack's eyebrows, "Ok, I'll do that" he replied.

We continued to chat as the plane taxied to the gate.  Jack asked more questions about the technology that I was using for my mobile card.  Later that day, I saw his request come through and called me a day later.  Personally, I find the use of a Mobile Card (also referred to as an MCard) to be a win-win.  I don't have to carry business cards around.  Jack doesn't have to worry about carrying mine, either.  With one simple text to a memorable short code (90210), my vCard was sent directly to Jack's phone.  No card.  No data entry.  No scanning.  Done.

Think about the purpose of a business card.  The purpose of a business card is to exchange information so that you can contact an individual again.  By digitizing and delivering an MCard, my contact information is instantly in his phone.  I don't have to worry about him losing my business card or relying on him to use the card to make contact with me.

Now, reality is that traditional business cards are still a way of life.  So receiving a business card from someone else is the second scenario (opportunity) to digitize your business cards.  As we were waiting to deplane, I accepted Jack's card and stuck it in the inside pocket of my sport coat.  Before I started to use a system for managing business cards, Jack's would have no doubt remained in my pocket until the time that I wanted to contact him.  However, the next day after arriving home I digitized his card using a personal system that works for me.

Not surprisingly, Evernote is the application that I use at the center of my system.  Whenever I collect a business card from someone else, I scan the card into my Evernote account using my Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 scanner.  Both sides of the business card are immediately scanned and a new note in Evernote is created.  In order to be consistent and make it easy to find a person's contact information in the future, here is the details of how I fill-out the note:

Note Title: Firstname Lastname | Company | Title (optional)
Notebook: People
Tags: Contact
Content Area: Usually only the scanned business card although sometimes I'll add a reminder note about the event/location we met or about a specific topic of conversation.

By following this system, all of the business cards I receive are scanned and stored in Evernote and then shredded.  It makes it easy for me to lookup a person's information at anytime and from anywhere.  I plan to continue to manage business cards in this manner until one day when everyone has a MCard (or some other type of digitized contact information).

So how about you?  Do you have a system for managing the business cards that you receive?  Are you still carrying and exchanging business cards or have you ventured out into the digital world?  I'd love to to hear from you by commenting below.

evernote