I'll never forget "what's his name"

Last year I was at a business function. I went up to a friend who was talking to someone who had their back to me. So I didn't realise that it was the premier of Tasmania, Will Hodgman. He turned to me and said without hesitation, "Hello Bill." I was impressed. He must meet hundred if not thousands of people and I am neither important nor had I met him more than a couple of times at other functions.  How did he do that?

If you call everyone you meet, mate, then pretty soon they are going to figure out that you don't know their name. They will then deduce, rightly or wrongly, that you are too self absorbed to bother and you don't consider them a person of consequence.

Try having a conversation with someone who has that thought rattling around their head. What chance do you now have to make a sale, form a relationship, or make a friend?

That's why political leaders remember names. They make a point of it because they know that your name is the most important word in spoken language. Most of them don't have a natural ability. They have learned techniques and then practiced them. Will's father Michael, a former Premier,  was famous for remembering names so perhaps he learned the art from him.

Imagine if everyone you worked with had a trained memory. Wouldn't that be a far more effective and cheaper way to improve your organisation's performance than spending money on advertising or a new CRM system?