How many times have you walked into a room and seen familiar faces but cannot put a name to each person there? I think almost everyone I know is in the same boat with this one. I heard a story about a real disaster on a huge sale because the salesperson could not remember someone's name. The salesperson was sitting having lunch with a client and they were discussing an order for product. As the lunch finished and the client had left, another client saw the salesperson at the table. He walked over to the salesman and said that he needed to have his usual order a month ahead of schedule and if could he look after it immediately. The salesman said no problem and was too embarrassed to ask for the client's name. After the second client left, the salesman scrambled around the restaurant trying to find out the name of the client.
No one knew who it was. He finally ran out of the restaurant to see the client driving away. He managed to get close enough to the car to write down the license number. Unfortunately the car belonged to someone else. And so the story goes, it took him a great deal of time and effort to track down the client's name. All he had to do was ask for his card so he could write down the order. Or even better yet ask for his name.
Tactics
If you have trouble with names, but not faces, then you should practice using their name several times when talking to that person. The more often you use the name the easier it will be to remember.
Memory Tactics
Bette Daoust, Ph.D. is a speaker, author (over 170 books, articles, and publications), and consultant. She has provided marketing, sales, business development and training expertise for companies such as Peet's Coffee & Tea, Varian Medical Systems, Accenture, Avaya, Cisco Systems to name a few. Dr. Daoust has also done extensive work with small businesses in developing their marketing, training, and operational plans. You may contact Dr. Daoust at [http://BizMechanix.com]. You may also view her latest publications at http://BlueprintBooks.com. Dr. Daoust also writes for the National Networker http://theNationalNetworker.com.