The Business Card Exchange Shuffle – all you need to know

This is how Asians exchange business cards …

When you do it this way it’s as though you are handling a million dollars worth of fragile valuables.

It’s designed to express a degree of submissiveness by both parties – this I guess is there to demonstrate that, when needed, they will go the extra yard for the other party.

It’s actually so gawky that I have to always suppress a smile when engaged in this little rigmarole.

Often there is a little lame handshake after the card exchange and not a lot of eye contact.

This is how cards are exchanged in the West …

The emphasis is on the firm handshake and solid eye contact – an act of implying trust between equals.

The exchange of the business card is a casual side-affair to the main game.

‘Trust’ is how each party demonstrates their desire to go the extra yard.

In Asia there isn’t much of an effort to create the impression of trust on the first meeting.

That is saved for later, over dinner or some-such.

As much as I like doing business in Asia, this is one area of business where we have it all over the Asians.

That first impression on that first meeting is rarely wrong. So you may as well know what you are dealing with straight up.