Can you remember everyone you meet?
If you attend networking events regularly or are always meeting new clients but struggle to remember names, don’t worry you are not alone.
The main reason for this is distractions. When you are meeting someone new you may be thinking about your own situation, what you are wearing, will they like you, how you look, what you want to say. So in essence you aren’t really listening in the first place, this is not bad memory, just lack of focus or being easily distracted by things going on around you.
A lot of people remember faces not names or remember names not faces. So bringing the two together is important. Imagine how remembering someone’s name after only one meeting will impress them and lead to better trust between the two of you, maybe even landing you future business.
On the flipside can you do anything to help people remember your name, do something to become more memorable. Wear bright colours, have an unusual pitch, use your surname first on introduction, gets people listening, focuses them because they would not be expecting it.
Here are some tips for helping you to remember details that will impress your prospects:-
- Take regular exercise – it is proven that the brain cells stay healthier when they receive a regular supply of blood and oxygen which is optimised when exercising
- Visualisation and association – try and visualise an image in relation to the name or detail you are trying to remember and associate it with something personal to you
- Stay focused -try not to get easily distracted then listen to what the person says and repeat it back to them, it is more likely to stay in your subconscious
- Chunking – breaking down information into chunks helps them stay in your memory longer, this works particularly well with phone numbers
- Don’t get anxious – becoming nervous and negative self talk will make it harder for you to be able to retain information
- Use the person’s name during your conversation, this will also help you remember through repetition
Do you find that you are impressed when someone remembers something about you after only meeting you once? Have you won business because of your super memory?
Do we actually suffer from poorer memory as we get older or is it just simply that we have more to think about as time goes on? Maybe it is just a case of decluttering your mind!
