Real estate agents accumulate business cards quickly. Here are ways to organize that information and keep it at your fingertips:
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Rolodex: OK
Pros:
- Easy for you or others to access on your desk
- No special skills required for entry/retrieval
- Can’t be erased accidentally
- Not easily lost
- Inexpensive
Cons:
- Must be manually entered unless a Rolodex business card.
- Alphabetical entry only
- Not portable.
- Can’t email directly.
- Difficult to make a complete duplicate record. If lost –oh no
- No photos unless a Rolodex business card.
- Updating normally done by cross-out.
- Can lose cards if you remove them
Vinyl Album: Better (I actually like this in conjunction with scanner)
Pros:
- See complete card
- Can see both sides (some cards are 2-sided; can also see your notes on back
- Easy to peruse and read
- Keeps & protects original card
- Allows for indexing according to your needs (see sample below)
- Portable
- Inexpensive
Cons:
- Updating requires cross-out
- Difficult to duplicate —if lost, oh my
- Can’t email directly
- Can be misplaced if portable
- Can lose cards if you remove them
- Limited storage
Manual Computer filing: Better yet
Pros:
- Large storage cabability
- Allows for varied indexing and sorting
- Email capability, including in bulk
- Can easily duplicate entire record & store backup (CD/DVD)
- Can access from laptops or shared network computers
- Can capture & store card images if scanned to Flickr
- Easy to search, edit, update
- Allows for tagging
- Easy to import, export and share
Cons
- Must be manually input—time consuming
- Must scan/crop to capture photos
- Data can be input in error
- Data be accidentally erased or lost in crash. If no backup, loss is permanent
- Others cannot retrieve data for you unless they have access
Dedicated Business Card Scanner: Best (if combined with vinyl album)
Pros: Same as manual except
- Easier to upload (via USB)*
- Data auto copied and parsed to useful fields (name, company, address, email, phone)
- Virtually error proof data entry
- Entire card image captured
Cons:
- Not all cards can be scanned (you must then manually enter the data)
- Only most expensive models can scan both sides
- Cost for a machine with good OCR software about $200
- Some cards not scanned on first try
*Download the included software & insert the card into the scanner where the data is copied and sorted.
FILING TIP: Here is a simple and effective business card filing system:
- Clients (subset is past clients)
- Prospective clients
- Professionals you would refer to others (or call yourself for help), including lawyers, appraisers, home inspectors, mortgage brokers, contractors, etc.
- Colleagues (other agents or brokers)
- Business Goods & Services. Usually companies that supply your business
- Miscellaneous. Someone always falls into this category. Good place to put a card temporarily.
A rating system of A,B,C (Ds and Fs are sent to circular or dead file).
MEMORY TIP: Make notes on the back of cards for special information and file them as soon as possible.
