Whether you are in a job where you accumulate a ton of business contacts, or in the middle of a home project, you may be looking for the best way to organize business cards. Well, we have some simple ways you can begin organizing important details about the businesses you need in your sphere. These options are without having to hold onto a stack of physical cards.
Similar to our blog post on the Best Way to Organize Contacts, the easy way to do so is the way that works best for you. We’re going to share the great way that works for us, and some others that may be best for you.
Gone are the Old Days of Business Card Storage
The traditional method of organizing business cards, such as using a Rolodex or a physical business card book, has become a relic. They are so old school.
Did you know that over 80% of business cards get thrown away? It is done either by accident or because the receiver doesn’t think they will ever need the contact information.
I (Shannon) remember my first sales job where I had to store business cards. My days consisted of sales calls to doctor’s offices all day. I had to remember important information. I took notes on the back of the card with my pen after I returned to the car. My business card collection became pretty large.
I tried storing them in alphabetical order. My second attempt was by geographical location, then by the priority level of the potential clients. I also tried to create an order of the clients I enjoyed visiting the most to least. You name it, I tried it. I recall purchasing a binder that had plastic sleeves in it to store each card in order of company name.
I had a boss who used her old-fashioned address book and taped the business cards on the pages. It got to be so full and a scattered mess. On a ride with her, she literally cried in her car as she was struggling to find a contact. Yikes!
The first time I worked for a company that had a CRM, I then made time once per week to manually enter the new business cards I collected into the platform.
When I went to a networking event or a trade show, I almost dreaded the amount of business cards I would take home with me.
The Digital Way is the Best Way to Organize Business Cards
Enter the digital age. Once I attended a trade show where you could secure a business card scanner from the event staff. I convinced my company to pay for this added perk. My argument was about how much time it took me to manually enter all of the cards. I then made sure they understood the return on investment would be worth it.
It was.
Now today, even further into the digital world, everyone has a smartphone in their hand. There are plenty of ways to manage contact information. Each time I encounter the next good idea, I begin to realize that we all just need to have digital business cards.
Digital contact information streamlines the organization process but also ensures accessibility and versatility. We are sharing the top ways to organize your business cards, but just so you know, they are all digital. We aren’t going to waste our time leading you astray with some paper route that enables you the opportunity to lose a phone number or email address. We’ve all been there. You are digging in your desk drawer, at the bottom of your work tote or under your car seat, all for the actual cards you really cannot afford to lose. It’s stressful, so we aren’t taking you there.
1. Get a Digital Business Card
Why is the number one solution something that you need to do for yourself? Because, when you exchange business cards with someone, you will be leading my example when you pull out your phone and you show a QR code that the person just needs to scan. The QR code takes them to a digital space that you either created yourself as an image that has your contact information in it, or you can use a platform that someone else created.
For example, in my other business, we have a digital business card that sends people to a landing page on our website. By clicking the link, or scanning the QR code, it takes you directly to a digital landscape with all you need to know about our business.
If you don’t have a website, or that sort of thing makes you nervous to create, consider a digital business card app like Blinq. Blinq is a mobile app that allows you to enter all of your own business card information. You can bring up a QR code, someone scans it and the digital format of your card is now on their phone. Easy peasy!
Your new leads will be so impressed by the easy access to your contact information that who knows!? The next time you hear from that person, they may just be asking how they can utilize whatever service you are offering.
2. Use a Business Card Organizer App
Using a business card organizer app is the best way to organize business cards. Whether or not your business relationships or encounters have a digital card themselves, capturing information on new cards is a breeze when you just need your phone.
An app that has been around for a while (well, in the world of business card scanning apps) is CamCard. There is a free app version that you can start with to see if it is something you will use on a regular basis and are comfortable with.
CamCard does have integration tools for some CRM systems like Salesforce, but you can also create a Zap via Zapier to automate this for you. So, when someone hands you those traditional paper business cards, you just tell them to hold it for a sec while you scan it. Tell them to save their card, you’ve got their information already, digitally. Voila!
There are a ton of different apps that do this. Some have an extra cost depending on the perks you get by upgrading. You may or may not see it is necessary for you.
3. Google as a Storage Solution
We use this option as the last one because the other two are just so easy, but, if you want a third option, you can still use your phone.
How do you organize business cards with a photo app? We’ll tell you.
Download the Google Photos app for your phone and sync your images. You can easily take a photo of a business card and it will be searchable in your photo app. For example, take a photo with your smart phone of physical business cards and your next event. When you get back to the office, go into your Google Photos app and search “Business Card.” The cards you took photos of will come up in your app.
You can create folders/albums of the events you attend, or you can add them to your Google Contacts as an image. When you pull up the contact, the image shows up with all of their information in it.
Leave a Lasting Impression
Whether you opt for an app, a website landing page, or simply using Canva to create an image for business partners, and potential customers, going digital will definitely leave an impression that you are on your game. A digital business card is an essential tool for you as an entrepreneur. It should be a priority as a business owner. This route is also best if you are managing all of the contacts you need to have within your household.
The physical storage of those paper cards is just a bad idea for you to keep important contact information. It is also less sustainable for you and the environment.
The first step is to consider a more advanced digital tool. It is the most effective way for you to keep track of your business cards. Also important, tracking the efforts you make along the way. There is no doubt that the best way to organize business cards is the way that works for you. We hope you will consider the digital route.
FAQs | Frequently Asked Questions
Of course, you can! I attended an event even last year where the facilitators said the same thing and even encouraged people to pin them on a board. Instead, I scanned all of those that were on the board and sent their phone or email my card, digitally. They all loved it and asked how they could get their own.
If you read this blog post and you still cannot utilize one of these, you can always hire a VA to manually enter them into a platform or CRM. We would strongly consider one of the other options though.
Most CRMs do have the ability to upload a spreadsheet of contacts into their system. This is usually how companies switch from one CRM to another. Just contact the CRM company and ask them for the format they need the contacts in and they will give you instructions.
