Today, I’m going to write about business cards. Those collected during business meetings, trade fairs, holidays or random meetings. Those that we don’t really know what to do with, but we don’t want to throw them away because they can be usefull… someday… maybe…

Personally, it is when I travel that I receive or ask for them the most. It’s so convenient to help you find this incredible taxi driver again or to remember the address of this romantic little restaurant by the ocean. But here is where the problem starts…

How to classify them in order to be able to find again the information, when the day comes ?

How to classify casual contacts?

I have tried several options such as:

  • A box on my desk
  • A address book
  • An Excel list on my computer
  • The contact list of my mobile phone
  • I even went so far as to create an Access database

In short, a lot of lost hours… because when the time came, I often didn’t find the information I wanted or I didn’t have my directory, my list, my box… with me.

Managing business cards is easy!

Yes, you read it right. Managing business cards is very easy to do with your mobile phone. And on top of that, you find the information you are looking for so quickly. Here’s how to do it:

  1. First, write the date of receipt on a corner of the business card.
  2. If necessary, add a comment or a keyword.
  3. Then photograph this business card on both sides if both sides are used.
  4. Then sort these photos by grouping them in folders by affinities, for example…
    • By country if you travel a lot
    • By fair if you are a representative
    • By training location if you are a trainer… etc.
  5.  Finally, save a copy of these folders to your smartphone’s SD memory card. And that’s it.
  6. The image gallery function will make your life easier when you search for an address, a name, a phone number…

Benefits of using this method

  1. In principle, we always have our phone with us.
  2. All smartphones have an image display function.
  3. And our brain records the images better than text. Therefore, it will find the address of your contact more by the shape or the color of its business card than by its name…

Try it! You’ll see for yourself!