What are your views on business cards and business card holders? Have they become redundant like CDs in this age of streaming or relics like the typewriter ribbon now we all use PCs or Apple Macs?
I’d welcome your opinion because when my daughter landed her first proper job, I proudly presented her with a beautiful silver business card case to mark the occasion. To me, this symbolised my confidence in her at the start of what would undoubtedly be a stellar career climbing the corporate ladder. While she appreciated the gesture, my thoughtful gift was met with utter bewilderment.
It was as if I’d presented her with chalk and a piece of slate to make notes!
It was as if I’d presented her with chalk and a piece of slate to make notes! Her unexpected reaction took me completely by surprise. Since starting out in business more than 35 years ago, I’ve always used business cards, relying on them at client meetings and networking events to help me make a memorable impression and keep in touch with those I meet. I treasure my elegant business card case, which follows William Morris’s maxim of being both useful and beautiful. So I naturally thought my tasteful gift was an inspired choice.
How wrong can you be! My son, also a Millennial, explained somewhat scornfully that “no one uses business cards anymore!” Apparently, on meeting new business contacts, this generation doesn’t do anything as passé as exchange business cards, they simply whip out their ever-present smartphones and connect there and then electronically.
Apparently, the time-honoured tradition of giving and receiving business cards at meetings and networking events is a quaint custom practised only by prehistoric creatures like their mother, making my gift (from Aspreys, no less) about as useful as a chocolate coffee pot. And, before you suggest it, I can’t even take it back as, to make it even more special, so I thought, I had it engraved.
Am I hopelessly out of touch or are my offspring being unduly harsh? Comments welcome!
