If you’ve been reading my posts this week, you’ve seen Fortune’s “3 Skills You Can Improve Right Now.”  We covered public speaking and negotiation skills.  The final skill you can improve is (and I quote Fortune)…

Memory Skills:  Never confuse Don with John again

• Introduce yourself first so you can focus on the other person
• Connect the name to your brain.  When you meet a guy named Bill, think of other Bills you know.
• Use the name three times.  Once to confirm you have the name right, then in mid-conversation, and again when you say good-bye.

Good advice — this is a skill that I won’t claim to have mastered.  Even so, I have a few other tips:

• If you’re not sure how to pronounce a name — even though you’ve heard it once — don’t be afraid to ask for clarification.  You don’t want to spend the rest of the conversation messing up a name.
• If you’re in a meeting use business cards to help you keep the names straight.  Arrange them on the table in front of you like the meeting attendees are sitting.  If no cards have been exchanged, draw a table diagram as people are being introduced.
• And finally, if you forget a name, ask for it again.  We’ve all been there many times.  So bite the bullet and tell the person you’ve forgotten.  Then promise never to forget their name again!

Thanks, Fortune.  And I promise to renew my subscription to discover more secrets!

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