TIL a free IKEA pencil can unlock a networking goldmine if you use it right

At a video gear swap in Portland, a guy named Rob handed me his card written with one of those tiny store pencils and said 'makes people stop and laugh, they always remember me.' I tried it at my next 3 meetups and got 2 follow-ups from people who said my card stood out, anyone else use a dumb trick to get past the business card pile?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray6132d ago

Wait, has nobody else seen someone pull this off in the wild? I had a buddy who did something similar at a woodworking meetup. He had this beat-up old business card with a hand-drawn map on the back to his favorite taco spot. People would see the tiny pencil scribble on his card and ask about it, and he'd launch into a five-minute story about finding that taco place after a fire call (he's a volunteer firefighter, not me). The whole point was to make people stop and chat, not just toss the card in a pile. He swore the dumb map got him three real good leads on custom furniture gigs, all because people remembered the taco route.

xenam841d ago

That taco map thing worked because it's a physical object with a story attached, not just a static piece of paper. Your buddy's card forced interaction, which is the whole point of networking. Most people hand out cards hoping someone will call later, but the map made the conversation happen right then and there. The fact that he connected it to his volunteer firefighter gig probably made him come off as more trustworthy too, like a real person with a life outside of selling furniture.

the_nancy2d ago

Well dang, I never thought much of gimmicks like that but @ray613 you might've just changed my mind.