I was knocking on a few doors one day introducing myself to various people at an office center, when I came across a portion of the building that had not yet been built out. The door handles were buried under cobwebs and dirt, and showed signs of a bout with the outside elements. It was clear the site hadn’t seen attention in months.
It wasn’t the unfinished space that caught my attention though. In passing, I noticed something stuck in the door jam. As I moved closer, I realized it was a business card; one that was weathered, tattered and looked as if it had been through three wars.
What struck me was the mindset of the salesperson who had come before me and had left it.
The thought might have been that somehow merely the card’s presence would create business. Maybe it would jump up and down and fly into the front pocket of a viable prospect?
This situation reminded me that business cards, like other forms of advertising and media, are often relied on too heavily to do our job for us. Instead, they should be regarded merely as extraneous tools, tokens of remembrance left behind after a connection has been made. We are the ones that need to do the work, not our business cards.
