In this challenging economic climate, businesses that effectively promote themselves for the purpose of capturing their share of the limited opportunities available will be the businesses that survive and prosper.

For small business owners who derive the majority of their clients from a local geographic area, building word-of-mouth referrals is essential.

Web based social networking is the current phenomenon. It is effective and inexpensive but it is also slow and time consuming. For this reason there is new buzz about face-to-face networking. It also is cost effective – – but faster paced. Both the advantage and disadvantage is that one has a farther geographic reach than the other. In my judgment these two networking approaches are not in competition with each other. They are two tools that look similar but achieve different objectives. Think of them as a flat head versus Phillips screwdriver. Would you discard one because you have the other? I think not. Neither should these two networking approaches compete for space in your marketing tool box.

In my book “Turn Your Business Card Into Business” I provide readers with the fundamentals of building entrepreneurial business relationships and encourage them to consummate the deal with a business card.

I am available to lead business mixers, business card swaps and networking events. I have also personally trained thousands of salespeople in hundreds of companies how to prospect effectively. Trade show exhibitors who use my book as a promotional gift for their distributors or salespeople can contract to have me on hand at their booth to sign books or talk about effective networking. 

I will be quoted in an article that will appear in Entrepreneur Magazine in June 2009. There is more information and a press kit at www.businesscardtobusiness.com .