- Always introduce yourself first. Execs can be so intent on selling themselves or their ideas that they fail to really make an impression by remembering someone's name. Instead get your own intro out of the way, fast. Then you can focus on the other person.
- Confirm and repeat. In the first 20 seconds, make him feel there's no one else in the world.
- Connect the name to your brain. When you meet a guy named Bill, start thinking of other Bills you know. Like Bill Clinton. Or, "Oh, my uncle Bill." Or a duckbill or a dollar bill. We need reminders.
- Use the name three times. No third-rate salesman rap: "Well, John, great to see you, John." Spread it out--once to confirm you have the name right, then in mid-conversation, and again when you say goodbye.
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Memory games
Have you ever confused a Don with a John? Benjamin Levy, author of Remember Every Name Every Time: Corporate America's Memory Master Reveals His Secrets, lays out his "catch and match" technique:
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