I was in Las Vegas at The Palazzo having coffee at Espressamente Illy, where they serve (arguably) the world’s best java. At the bar, I noticed someone obviously not from America. (Fashion reveals all.)

“Where are you from?” I asked. “Belgium,” he replied with pride. “I’ll buy your coffee,” I said. “As a welcome to America.”

He said, “I’m also buying coffee for two of my friends.” I said, “Fine, put it on my bill!”

We began to exchange cultural information, and I discovered all three of them were in sales. Their name badges revealed they were attendees of the conference where I was to be a featured speaker.

Now we had a link.

They wanted to know what I knew, and I wanted to know what they knew.

Marcel’s first question to me was one I have been asked a thousand times: “What’s the secret of selling against fierce competition?” My immediate answer was, “Differentiate with value, or die with price.”

He said: “I agree. I’m a value provider.”

I said, “Hey, let’s tweet it,” and immediately we turned the conversation to social media. I asked them how many followers they had on Twitter. The first guy had none. The second guy had none. The third guy, Marcel, said, “Not too many,” and sheepishly smiled. Turns out they want to use social media, but they just don’t know how.

NOTE: I am amazed at how many business people don’t take the AHA! or impactful information exchanged in a business conversation and send it out to the world.

IT’S YOUR CHOICE: You can tell three people, or 30,000 people – even 3 million people. The power of Twitter, when applied to business social media, allows you to broadcast your brilliance to your followers and all the followers of those who re-tweet you. From a casual conversation in a coffee bar.

We spoke for an hour. We had lots to talk about. We were familiar with American culture and European culture, and had their company in common. I gave them my business card, my business coin and two signed books and said, “May I have your business cards?” Each of them said, “I didn’t bring any,” and I thought to myself, that doesn’t work.

But my thinking was 1990, not 2011.

REALITY: Pascal, the guy I bought the coffee for, said, “Just connect with me on LinkedIn.” Cool.

REALITY: Business cards are not necessary to connect anymore, especially if they’re boring, or have been created by a marketing department, or both.

Right then we each took out our mobile devices and connected with one another on LinkedIn. Not a business card, rather a permanent connection. We each receive 100 times more information than could ever fit on a business card.

BUSINESS SOCIAL MEDIA LESSION LEARNED: When you link with people, like people, follow people, photo with people, “bump” with people, and tweet what is said, all of a sudden the business card becomes relatively irrelevant.

EPILOGUE: Less than an hour later, 22 global re-tweets of “Differentiate with value, or die with price.” And the re-tweets are still piling up.

TRY THIS: The next time you attend a networking event, don’t bring any business cards. Force people to link with you or follow you if they want to connect with you. Realize that a business card only really represents simple exchange, but that a LinkedIn or Twitter or Facebook connection creates engagement. Long-term engagement.

Oh, cards will be here for some time, but I can already hear my 3-year-old granddaughter, Isabel, asking me in 15 years, “Pop Pop, what’s a business card?”

How are you connecting?

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2011 Jeffrey H. Gitomer