Reviews by Hubie Goode: Let’s Talk About Mental Leverage, Pt. 7

Enjoy Total Name Recall

One of the tricks salesman use is to overuse someone’s name when pitching to them. Accordingly it can become a type of hypnosis as the listener is consistently addressed and MUST maintain attention in order to comply with the implied request by the mere fact that one’s name is used consistently.

Conversely, one of the easiest ways to lose someone’s attention is to forget their name and not be able to freelance an acceptable response to ease the moment. This makes it look as if you couldn’t care less about the person, and this can hurt you in ways you would be hard pressed to imagine. You can lose friends, business associates, respect, employment opportunities, and career advancements.

Why is it so easy to forget names? The main reason is that they have not learned one fact, Mental Leverage can help you out of a tight jam when you forget or use the wrong name for someone. If you are like me, you remember faces forever, but names just roll right out of your head every time you toss your head to one side. So what can you do?

Here are five steps you can use to get that memory to respond when you need it:

1) Make a conscious decision to remember the name of every single person you run into. Remind yourself of the decision each day and make an effort each time you meet someone new.

2) As you are introduced, make sure you get the person’s name correct and then repeat it several times on purpose. Use it again afterward, when no one is around and picture the person in your mind.

3) Use it again afterward, when no one is around and picture the person in your mind.

4) Associate the name with a physical characteristic, a personality trait or something else that reminds you of that person. Now, don’t do this like the comedy show The Office suggests. Don’t call the bald headed man baldy or shiny. Or use ethnic background as a memory pin. That’s not nice. ;-) But you could picture a skinny person as a hillbilly who says, “I ain’t et all week.” and this will ground your memory.

5) At the end of the day make a written note of each person you met today, and link them frequently with silly associations - associations that are your business and YOUR business alone.

All five steps are important, and if you skip something you weaken your ability to make that long term connection. Remember, if the name is Travelini, you picture someone who travels lean. If the name is Rosenberg, she grows roses on an iceberg. Easy enough?

Review the process at the end of each day and you’ll see how the memory actually improves and makes social contacts smooth and easy.