Business Card or Online Intro?

Not many people know of the special awareness ‘Salesperson Day’ on December 6. SMEs are sales-oriented in a way employees in larger businesses are not always, considering their more rigidly defined roles. So, the day marks one of those moments where it’s worth sharing some wisdom for those that sell, strive, and bring home the bacon, whether they are formally salespeople or bear another job description.

It used to be that sales started with a business card, but now it’s more likely to start with a LinkedIn connection request. The format of a sale has changed, but the fundamental process remains the same.

IT analyst firm Gartner’s research states that 80% of business-to-business sales activities are expected to happen digitally by 2025. SMBs must find a way to punch above their weight when it comes to standing out, being visible, and making online networking and marketing really work for them.

While the business card is analogue it’s not totally outdated. In a real world meeting it’s a professional gesture akin to gift giving, a moment of genuine contact as something is handed from me to you. That’s increasingly rare. Although, where exceptionally large deals are made, there’s a greater likelihood that some of these rituals will still be used. It can be worth standing out with a touch of physicality and charm in our predominantly online oriented world. That said, the digital domain is where most of us expect to find our growth.

Join your game, pick your avatar, plan your play

Promoting yourself and networking online is objectively strange. We know we should not lie, but it seems like there are endless ways to make yourself look better. Accuracy is vital, so any airbrushing and marketing claims should still be the truth – losing the trust of prospects, leads, or customers is a waste of time and effort. Reputation is something that can’t be earned back like a lost sale and doesn’t renew each day, like our working hours.

Choosing the right places to be for your brand, both the business and in a personal capacity, is important. X (Twitter) may be a place to have a presence, but perhaps Bluesky, Threads, or the classic LinkedIn, is the right place to share content. The answer depends on your brand values and where your prospects and customers want to be. LinkedIn is one of the most natural places to promote both yourself and the business and to make professional connections either as the setup for a sales-focused conversation or as a prelude or follow-up to a real-life conversation. Unlike Facebook or Instagram, LinkedIn doesn’t have the connotation of being a fully personal, friend-oriented network.

Wherever you choose to grow a network you should share posts on a regular basis, picking topics that will resonate with your audience and tie back to your business and brand. Regularity leads to visibility and varying the types of posts, from the topic, keywords and hashtags, using images, polls, questions, and so on, allows different types of content and interaction to be experimented with. Note that authenticity really is an important feature if you are planning to make these connections for the long term rather than momentary, transactional leads. So have a plan as to how you show up over the long term if you’re networking and marketing with goals in mind.

Merge your worlds

Remembering that online is an extension of the real world, you can merge these aspects. When you meet people there are ways to bring them into your online sphere as leads and connections that don’t put the work on them to find you or write and type out account handles. Doing work, even one minute of searching and clicking, can be a turn-off.

You can use a QR code, NFC or Bluetooth to send a lead to your site, blog, or social media, or drop them a calling card of some type. Some CRM tools have apps that integrate with your phone camera, which can read someone else’s business card and take that information into a contact database without you having to type anything either.

To get pragmatic, whatever you use as a business card, be it a flyer, an advertisement, or your Bluesky account, i.e., that initial moment of contact, you must be clear with what you intend to deliver. Then, you need to have your understanding of the other party’s needs and expectations, how to read their signals, and what the next step will be.

So, around Salesperson Day, remember, people matter, and however we meet and greet them, with a business card or a tweet, have a plan, follow a process, and treat them well. Every relationship holds the potential to grow ourselves or our business. The fun is in finding out which it will be.