It’s hard to know the exact number, but I have probably seen over a thousand business cards in my business lifetime.  I like looking at business cards of my clients and networkers to see the different designs, arrangements and fonts. Every so often I encounter a card which is really nice and then I see one I can hardly read because of the color choices or small fonts.

Another consideration is the content of the card. Occasionally, I find a business card of a networker or client which has the company name, but no name of the person. Their rationalization was they wanted the person reading the card to focus on the company name and not their personal name so they leave it off. It’s usually the owner of a company who does this.  Another reason they may do this is the generic card can be used by multiple people in the company.  A third reason may be they don’t want to be bothered and hope you will call their company, but not them.

My thought is at a minimum the person’s name should be on their own card they hand out. If there is a company name, it should be there as well. The reason is I want to know the name of the person the card represents. If it’s missing It looks like they are hiding something or they don’t have confidence in themselves.

What are your thoughts about personal names on business cards?IS there ever a reason to leave it off?