Here’s a counterintuitive rule from the best networkers in the business: stop handing out your card. Ask for theirs instead.
Why Handing Out Cards Fails
When you push your card on someone, you surrender control of the follow-up. Your card goes into a pocket, then a drawer, then the trash. You’re left waiting on a call that statistically isn’t coming. Handing out cards feels productive — it mostly isn’t.
Ask for Theirs Instead
When you ask for someone’s contact information — their card, their LinkedIn, their number — you keep the power to follow up. Now the relationship moves on your timeline. You decide when to reach out, what to say, and how to add value. The follow-up is the whole game, and this puts it in your hands.
It’s Also Just Better Manners
Asking for someone’s information says “I’m interested in you.” Thrusting yours at them says “be interested in me.” One flatters; the other imposes. Guess which one gets remembered fondly.
The Modern Version
Today the exchange is as likely to be a LinkedIn connection or a QR scan as a paper card. The principle doesn’t change: capture their information, and follow up within 48 hours with something specific from your conversation. That message — not the card — is what turns a handshake into a relationship.
Go test it this week. Find your next event on the Network Vegas calendar — and come home with cards instead of leaving yours behind.
