Your Most Valuable Business Skill

We have all done it – we meet someone and get introduced.  Then we promptly forget the name of the person we just met.  It happened to me last week.  I met someone at an important business lunch.  Then her name just flew right out of my head.  It was only because the person with us used her name in the conversation that I was able to recover and call her by her name.

The valuable business skill I’m talking about, of course, is remembering people.  Actually, it is remembering their names.  We all say, “I remember so and so – I’m good at faces but lousy at names.”  In business you cannot be lousy at names. With customers, employees, vendors, other business people, if you remember names you will have a huge business advantage.

The value of remembering names.  Remembering names improves your success in business for several reasons:

• It improves your credibility as a sharp business person.  Because most people are so bad a remembering, you stand out as someone special.
• It improves your relationship with the person.  If you can use someone’s name in conversation, it helps connect you to that person.  I’m not saying use it every two minutes like a used-car salesman.  I’m saying use it once or twice in the first conversation.
• It gives people a positive connection to you.  Everyone likes to feel special and important, and using a name improves the person’s self-image.  If they feel good about themselves when they are around you, they want to be around you more.  Kind of subtle, but I think you get what I mean.

Learning to Remember Names. So how do you improve your ability to remember people’s names?

• Repeat the name. Say, “Hello, Sue.  Nice to meet you.”  This helps imprint the name in your mind.
• Comment on the name. “That’s an interesting name.  Is it a family name?” Or, “I have a cousin named Cameron.”  Don’t comment on the ethnic origin of a name unless you can follow with a positive comment.  For example, “Ah, sounds Irish.  My family on both sides are Irish.”
• Find a mnemonic for the name. Find something memorable about the name to attach in your mind.  You can use a mental picture of something striking or funny.  For example, for Cameron, you could think of a camera on his head.  (This one can get you in trouble if you start laughing when you see the person.)
• Use the name in conversation, but not too much.  Twice is usually good during the first conversation with the person.  If you are meeting a customer at the cash register, you may not have time to use the name more than once.

Then practice. As you can see, I’m out of practice.  I used to teach at a business school and I could memorize up to 75 names each term.  After a few terms, it was easy to employ my tricks and remember all the names.

So make it a habit, find whatever tricks work for you, then practice to hone your most valuable business skill.