Somebody asks for your number. You start reading it out. They repeat it back wrong. You say it again slowly. They read it back once more, still wrong on the last two digits, and by now both of you are slightly embarrassed and the conversation you were actually having is over.
There is no reason for this to happen any more. Everyone in the conversation is holding a phone with WhatsApp open.
The three ways, and when each one fits
| A contact card | Best when you are sending someone else, or your own saved card. One tap saves it. Carries only what is on the card. |
|---|---|
| Plain typed text | Best when they need one thing, such as a UPI id or an address. Easy to copy. Nothing to open. |
| A link to your card | Best for a new client or anyone who needs to know what you do. Opens in a browser, no app needed, and stays correct when your number changes. |
The mistake is using one of these for everything. A contact card sent to a customer who has never heard of you is not much help. A long paragraph of details sent to a friend who wanted one number is annoying.
Sending a contact card properly
- 1. Open the chat, tap the clip or plus icon, and choose Contact.
- 2. Pick the person and check which numbers are ticked before you send.
- 3. Send one line with it. Sending a card with no message reads as abrupt.
- 4. If it is somebody else you are sending, say who they are and why. This is Imran, the plumber who did our bathroom. He works around Bopal.
That one line is the whole difference between polite and careless. A bare contact card lands on the other side as a name and a number with no context, and they have to ask you what it is.
Ask before you send somebody else
This is the part most people skip and it matters. A phone number is personal. Forwarding a tradesman to a neighbour is normal and welcome. Forwarding a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant or a customer to somebody they have never spoken to is not.
- • For a shop or a tradesman, forward freely. Their number is their advertisement.
- • For a professional or a private individual, send a message first. Can I give your number to my cousin for a house matter.
- • Never forward a customer list to anyone. It is not yours to hand out.
- • If you were asked not to share a number, do not share it, even with family.
The five seconds it takes to ask are what make people happy to be recommended by you again.
What to write with a link
If you are sending your own card to a new client, the message around it does most of the work. Keep it short, say who you are, and say what happens next.
Good speaking with you just now. My details are here, you can save them in one tap. I will send the estimate by tomorrow evening.
That is three lines and it does four jobs. It reminds them who you are, it gives them everything without a single digit typed, it tells them what to expect, and it leaves them a link they can forward to the person who actually makes the decision.
An Ahoyy card is one link that opens in any browser. Your name, your work, your rates and buttons to call, message or save you. Edit it later and the same link shows the new details.
Make your free cardYour profile is a card you already have
People look you up on WhatsApp before they call you, and most of what they see is left at the default.
- • The About line is a free slot for what you do. Electrical work, Kothrud, on call till 8pm.
- • Your profile photo can be your shop board, your work, or a clean photo of your face. A blank grey circle makes a customer hesitate.
- • Your name should be the name customers know you by, not a nickname.
- • You can put your card link in the About line, so anyone who reaches your profile can get your full details.
Four things not to do
- 1. Do not send a photograph of your visiting card. It cannot be tapped, cannot be searched, and it dies in their gallery with the family photos.
- 2. Do not send your details as a screenshot. Same problem, and the number cannot be copied on many phones.
- 3. Do not send five separate messages, one per detail. Send one message.
- 4. Do not send a broadcast of your details to your whole contact list. That is how you get blocked by people who like you.
The rule underneath all of this is simple. Make it as easy as possible for the other person to keep you, and give them a reason to. Dictating digits does the opposite of both.
One more habit worth building. When somebody shares their details with you, save them properly before you reply. Name, trade, area, and one line about the conversation you just had. It takes fifteen seconds while the chat is still open, and it means the next time that name appears on your screen you know exactly who is calling and why.
Politeness here is not about manners in the formal sense. It is about not making the other person do work you could have done yourself. Reading out ten digits is work. Typing them is work. A tap is not.