I have been to several networking events over the years, and have reached out to those contacts immediately and shortly after our meeting with little or no success. These business cards have been in my collection for several years, and are just taking up space.
So, I now have several questions:
- How long should you keep business cards of people who you may never contact for services and may never see again?
- Would you really want to work with anyone who does not respond to your attempts to connect online or over the phone?
- How many attempts should be made to reach out to people who clearly do not respond your contact for whatever reason?
Can anyone help me with this?
Keep as many as reasonably possible.
It’s hard to predict future needs, and from a business perspective, it’s better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them.
Should I still keep the cards of people I haven’t spoken to for years though? I don’t think we’re ever going to make a connection.
I’d throw the cards out, because the contact is clearly not interested. Just like in my personal life this week. I’ve reached out to someone who I thought was a friend, only to find that they made the choice not to stay in contact. I can take a hint.
Trece
I’ll probably do a spring cleaning and put all of those cards in one pile. If they are not used within 6 months, I’m gonna have to let them go.