By Liza Jaipaul
Gannett News Service

It's a relatively little thing, but it is a mighty important little thing. At 2-by-3.5-inches and anywhere from $50 to $100 for a nice big box of this product, you get a lot of bang for your buck, especially if you're trying to network.

Business cards. You know how it is - you can never find yours when you need it, and it's everywhere when you don't need it. Career consultants, though, advise being more scrupulous about carrying business cards and actually using them.

"You never know when you're going to meet someone who could become a customer, business associate or sphere of influence," says Jeffrey Mayer, president of SuceedingInBusiness.com and author of several career advice books.

Mayer tells story after story of people he has met who couldn't find their cards or who have had to look endlessly through packed purses, messy briefcases or bottomless pockets before finally producing one. And then, once they do find their own card, they'll probably lose yours.

It's time to change all that and start taking business cards more seriously, says Mayer, because it might just make a difference in your career.

Make your card memorable, says Jonathan E. Perelman, president of the Wharton Club of New Jersey for alumni of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Perelman says he gets tons of cards at various business functions, and they all become a blur after a while. He jots down notes for himself on the backs of cards so that he can remember the person and immediately enters them in a database when he gets back to the office.

But the cards he really remembers are the ones that are different.

"Once $5 fell out of a card," he says, adding that that card was a definite keeper. "It folded open, and in it, it said 'make money for you and your clients.' " That, along with the $5, prompted Perelman to follow up with a phone call to the man, an insurance salesman. He now does business with him.

More advice experts offer about business cards:

• Always keep an adequate supply of business cards in your briefcase, wallet or purse.

• Make sure to replenish your supply after events.

• Create a system for giving and taking the cards, always keeping them in the same part of your purse or briefcase or pocket. For example, you could collect cards in your right pocket or briefcase divider, and give out ones from your left pocket or briefcase divider.

• When you take a card, either make a mental note of what the person looks like and what they said, or jot down notes on the back of the card.

• Don't forget to follow up. If you don't ever contact them, you might miss out on opportunities.