Some businessmen tend to keep it old school and store albums and albums of business cards. Why not? They’re little calls to business waiting to happen. The fact that someone gave you a business card means that they’re open to business (though some people may think it’s just common courtesy, but a “business” card is meant to for business, right?).

Most, however, overlook that there’s a lot of business in that pile. So better make full use of them and organize a contacts database.

Make use of your collection of business cards create a contacts database. Sooner, as you database grows, you actually expand contact information to become a business profile datasheet. Find out the other people related to one contact, their positions, the business size, their relation to your business, thing like those. This way you are creating data that will help you in planning and targeting. In today’s world, information is crucial.

Having all the relevant information can even help you put up different ways in interacting with them. Having a collection of e-mail addresses can let you send them newsletters or invite them to a mailing list. Having contact details of the decision makers can help you target easily.

It’s also wise to keep a contacts database for yourself for personal record keeping. I do recommend getting the most out of your mail application like Outlook and Thunderbird or even just use online suites like Google’s extensive range of services.

The reason why I encourage using more of these mainstream apps is because they support file formats that lets you export data as database files. Just in case you have a very comprehensive database and your company has grown, it’d be easier for you to pull out the data and transfer it to your own CRM software.

Now once you start your database, the next challenge is to keep expanding it and updating it. As you know business happens so fast that the people you’ve come to know in one company may not be there the next time. Phone numbers also change so better weed out outdated and keep your database fresh. Even the process of cleaning out your database can be an avenue for relationship building. Send them a card on an occasion like a holiday and attach a contact information update card. Sure you spend some on postage but you hit two birds with one shot.