Kevin Willett says remembering someone’s name is a sign of respect and a courtesy.
People often ask me what you should do if you forget someone’s name. I always smile and say I have two strategies. First, if I am standing near someone else, I will introduce them to that person and hope they say their own name so I don’t have to admit that I forgot it. Of course this only works if they say hello my name is Kevin. You can always just be honest and say “I am sorry; I know we have met but I don’t recall your name.” Most people will smile and forgive you.
I do want to take a second to speak about the importance of remembering people’s names. I have friends who say “I am so bad at remembering names”. I have to be honest, I cringe when I hear people say this because it’s like they are accepting this situation, and you really don’t want to do that. If I have met someone 5 or 6 times and they don’t remember my name it makes me feel like they don’t value my relationship with them. Is that really the message you want to send? So please work harder to remember people’s names. It goes a long way to building relationships.
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Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon
Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events.