Business Card Pre-Mature Ejaculation
Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to speak at Web 2.0 and met a fair amount of people. Thanks Dave for hooking it up. The audience was mostly asleep but it was still great speaking and I hope people got some value out of our panel. But the point of this article is about some of the people at Web 2.0.
Ladies? Do you know about pre-mature ejaculation? It sucks, no pun intended.
How does this relate to business? People do this ALL the time with their business cards.
Scenario:
Guy: Here is my business card. Hi I am Andy
Noah: Looking at card. “Okay, hello.” [Thinking: Why are you giving me this? It's too soon. I barely know you. What's the point?]
Guy: Blah. Blah
Bottom Line: You don’t have sex on the first date (mostly). Get to know someone before you just shove a business card in their pants, pun intended.
There are 23 comments. There will be one more after you add yours, though.
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Noah Kagan wrote Business Card Pre-Mature Ejaculation on April 18th, 2007 and there are 23 comments. There will be one more after you add yours, though. Read more posts by Noah Kagan.
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23 Responses to “Business Card Pre-Mature Ejaculation”
April 18th, 2007
11:32 am
I always see people come back from conferences with dozens of cards. Then they sit down and type in all the information. I think to myself “are you really going to use/help/keep in touch with that contact?”
As humans we all do it. Facebook and MySpace, it’s the same thing. Click “friend me” for any reason I feel like.
April 18th, 2007
11:34 am
1. I love the picture for this post. Oh the memories of high school homecoming…
2. As a rule, I never give/ask for a business card unless they specifically ask for mine, or we have an engaging conversation about something that requires following up. Its the same thing as people who collect contacts on LinkedIn. I almost feel like its a hobby for some people where they go home and have this massive books of peoples biz cards in plastic holders.
April 18th, 2007
11:36 am
I realized awhile ago a business card means nothing without the relationship. Get to know the person before you have a reason to follow up. Think about if I gave you Bill Gates email address, does it matter if you didn’t really connect with him in person?
April 18th, 2007
12:01 pm
Excellent. My thoughts exactly. 99% of the time when people shove their cards on my face, i just end up throwing it away.
I wonder if someone can come up with something where you will retain a business card given to you (apart from the calendars etc that is on the back of the card).
April 18th, 2007
12:06 pm
How about a business card with the following information at the back: [have a set of business cards that will be given out to locals, for example, a realtor]
1) Phone number of local cab company
2) Phone number of local electrician
3) Phone number of local plumber
4) How about if the entire back of the card is a subway coupon
5) Phone number of local mechanic
I wonder if someone can come up with mass produced electronic business cards. If its mass produced, should cost less than $1 (think of cheap calculators)
Or if everyone had an electronic business card that capable of accepting electronic transfer from another business card instantly.
April 18th, 2007
12:51 pm
Why? You’re holding onto my business card because you can’t remember 333-3333? I don’t know if I’d give it to you in the first place..
April 18th, 2007
2:55 pm
Totally True! This happens to much.
Digg my friend? http://digg.com/world_news/VIRGINIA_TECH_MEMORIAL_GUESTBOOK
April 18th, 2007
3:21 pm
Noah, I feel this way every time you walk into the office…
April 18th, 2007
5:19 pm
Hahahah. I love you. This is something that has always bothered me. I often just wait a day before going through all the cards I receive. If I can remember the conversation I had with the person, I write them an email. If not, it goes into recycling.
I didn’t know you were speaking there. I would have liked to see you. Are you going to podcasthotel?
April 18th, 2007
9:41 pm
I like the analogy between business cards and social media. Collecting cards for the sake of quantity just wastes time, especially if you have no intention of making an ongoing connection.
April 19th, 2007
6:07 am
I totally agree–in theory. The thing about conferences is that there were probably 20 people waiting to speak to Noah. They might only have 1 or 2 minutes to talk to him, so sometimes people do take a short-hand approach of giving the card first, so the YOU can follow-up if you want to and if you see a connection. I absolutely agree, I’d rather get to know the person, see if there is a connection organically and THEN get the card. However, there have been MANY times in my life when I was having an excellent conversation and for some reason, we are interrupted and don’t get a chance to exchange cards, then the opportunity is lost. So, I’m playing the devil’s advocate here and just saying that sometimes people want to be sure to at least exchange cards because after all that is why most people go to conferences, to meet new people and hopefully continue to build the relationship.
April 19th, 2007
7:17 am
HAHA! I cannot tell you how many time people went all the way with me on the first time meeting (at Web 2.0 expo)! I now have a bunch of business cards that I can use as coasters!
BTW, I think you should start a new trend with the business cards you were handing out.
April 19th, 2007
10:37 am
I’d have to disagree here – I ask and give my business card all the time here in the Philippines. You never know what opportunity may present itself in the future, whether its 5 days or 5 months from now, and I’ll gladly take someone’s contact information on the first date as you never know, we may get married in the future!
April 19th, 2007
10:47 am
Karen,
I am not going to podcast hotel. I am glad you feel the same;) It’s nice to know there are others like me out there. Are you based in Sunnyvale now?
April 19th, 2007
10:49 am
Paul, I always think of the business card in terms of quality and not quantity. Are you asking to marry me;)
April 19th, 2007
10:51 am
Will,
Maybe I will start my new business cards as a new trend.
Laura,
I spend as much time speaking with anyone who will bare to listen to me:)
April 19th, 2007
11:01 am
Noah, that’s too bad. We would kick and scream if they made us go down there:). We just moved into a new space on 3rd and Bryant. I love the new space.
April 19th, 2007
11:44 am
Damn you, Noah, from now on, whenever I receive a new biz card from someone, I’m gonna have this nasty image of you pre-maturely ejaculating. Ewwww….
April 19th, 2007
11:47 am
Karen,
Not to worry. Noah uses Exten-z. It enhances that certain part of the male body and prevents it.
April 19th, 2007
5:28 pm
Noah,
You just hit on my new business idea – the business card condom.
Now you can give out your biz card to anyone, anywhere – even at large meetings and conferences.
April 20th, 2007
3:42 am
1. Don’t quite see how premature ejaculation and sucking are closely related enough to be construed as a pun
2. Having a pocketful of meaningless, one-sentence convo business cards isn’t all bad. You can hand those out to the next person who prematurely asks for an exchange
3. Personally, I completely forget that I even have cards. But I’m comfortable throwing them around because I know if anyone calls up asking for Jolina, they don’t know me. If they ask for Joe, I know I’ve at least intoduced myself to them.
May 13th, 2007
10:00 am
I also got a business card shoved at me while at Web 2.0, but while I was listening to a Keynote which was kind of rude. I was thinking, WTF is this?
August 12th, 2007
8:19 pm
This post has fired me up…last comment for the night, promise!
I recently listened to a woman speak who said, don’t give someone your business card unless they ask for it. It’s rude to do so otherwise. I really think people offer their cards because they want yours and expect you to give it to them. How rude!
What really annoys me is when I get back to the office after a conference and start receiving ‘spam’ from people who I gave a business card to, against my will. I didn’t ask to be added to their mailing list, but all of a sudden I start getting emails and phone calls from them (Noah–quit calling and emailing me already!).
I think there should be a 2 minute rule before exchanging cards. Make a connection with the person first and then consider if you think it would be worth it to contact them in the future. My tactic…have 2 sets of cards made–one with the correct info and one with the bad info. Then you don’t feel bad about giving out your card, when asked, of course, but don’t have to worry about getting ‘spamed’ later.
Say something witty