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Stood in a Gilbert coffee shop for 40 minutes and counted 11 people hand out cards to nobody
I was at a coffee shop on Gilbert Road last Tuesday morning waiting on a vendor who was running late. I grabbed a seat near the door and just watched the room for about 40 minutes while I killed time. What I saw was guy after guy walk up to a table, say something quick, slide a business card across, and walk away with a smile. Not one handshake lasted past 30 seconds. The person left holding the card usually glanced at it for a second and then set it right back down on the table by their laptop. I counted 11 of these in 40 minutes and I bet 9 of those cards went straight in the trash when the person packed up. It hit me that most of the networking I have done in the East Valley looks exactly like this and I have been guilty of it too. The folks who actually seemed to get somewhere were the two guys who sat down with a stranger for a full 20 minutes and never pulled out a card at all. Has anyone else noticed the quick card drop never turns into an actual call, or is it just the spots I end up at?
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hayden4668h ago
The part about the card going "straight in the trash when the person packed up" is what got me, because I used to be the guy sliding the card across the table. I thought that was just how it worked, you make the rounds, you hand out your card, you build the list, and eventually something sticks. Then I started paying attention to what actually came back from those quick drops and it was almost nothing, maybe one call out of fifty, and that call was weak. The two guys you saw sitting for 20 minutes are the whole point, they were not trading cards, they were learning what the other person actually needed. Took me way too long to get it, but a card with no reason behind it is just a piece of paper someone has to throw away later.
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