ave you ever had an acquaintance ad-
dress you by name while you frantically
searched your brain for theirs? Drawing
that blank is embarrassing for you, not to men-
tion potentially off-putting to the acquaintance.
And it’s especially poor form in business.
“The No. 1 skill to master when it comes to
business etiquette and networking is our abil-
ity to remember people’s names,” says renown-
ed brain training coach and public speaker
Jim Kwik, who will deliver the opening key-
note at Imaging USA 2020 in Nashville.
“People don’t care how much you know un-
til they know how much you care,” Kwik says.
“It’s hard to show somebody you’re going to
care for them as a person—for their family,
their wedding, their future, whatever you have
to offer them—if you don’t care enough to just
remember them. I believe the two most cost-
ly words in business and in life are I forgot: I
forgot to do it. I forgot that meeting. I forgot
that conversation. I forgot what I was going
to say. And probably the largest one is I for-
got that person’s name. Every time we thinkor say those words, we lose respect, we lose
credibility, we lose character, we lose con-
nection, and we could even lose the sale.”NAME THAT NAME
It’s said that a person’s name is the sweetest
sound to their ears. So it’s unfortunate that
for most people, a new name bounces off
their brain and falls to the oor the moment
it’s shared. BE SUAVE is Kwik’s mnemonic
for getting those names to sink in and stay
for the long haul. ➔VISUALIZE IT.
Most people are better at
remembering faces than they are at
remembering names. “You say, I remember
your face, but I forget your name. You never say
the opposite: I remember your name, but I forgot
your face,” notes Kwik. One way to retain a name
is to visualize it. For example, if a person’s name is
Mike, imagine he’s jumping on a table singing
karaoke into a mic. For Mark, imagine yourself
making a checkmark on the person’s forehead.
For Mary, imagine her carrying two little
lambs. The sillier the visualization,
the better, as that makes the name
and the person easier to
remember.USE IT.
Try to use the person’s
name three to four times in
your conversation with them.
One, people love hearing
their own name. And two,
it helps your brain to hang
onto it. Just don’t overdo
it—a few times is
enough.ASK ABOUT IT.
What do people love to talk
about more than anything?
Themselves. So asking a question
pertaining to their name is generally
well-received. Who were you named after?
How do you spell that? What is the origin
of your name? These questions can spark
an interesting conversation that will
help you connect with the person
as well as remember
their name in the
future.END IT.
When you say
goodbye, say
their name.69