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We have all been there.
We are attending a social event or in
some other public place, and all of the
sudden, we hear our name called out.
We turn around and see
the person calling our attention. The
face appears familiar, but we just can’t
place a name. “Hey you!”
we reply with a slightly exaggerated enthusiasm.
“How is it going? It’s been
a while!” we exclaim, hoping that
that our ignorance will not show through.
But in that moment,
it does. They know it. And you know it.
You have forgotten them.
For many of us, it’s
an all too familiar experience—most
of us have forgotten someone else’s
name before, or have been in situations
where other people have forgotten ours.
Sometimes we can be gracious and anticipate
that, and simply reintroduce ourselves
when presented with a surprise encounter.
That’s thoughtful and empathetic.
People appreciate that. I know I have
many times.
And of course there
are techniques you can use to remember
the names of people you meet, such as
repeating it back and using it in light
conversation. Writing the name down in
your PDA or a notepad (if not receiving
a business card) with some phonetic hook
that ties to the person’s appearance
is another trick.
However, for this topic,
I am going to offer up one single, simple
suggestion. It’s not the ultimate
solution to this problem, nor might it
be the best. But if you maintain an address
book in Microsoft Outlook (or
a CRM system that synchronizes with it),
and you and your contact use LinkedIn
and/or Facebook, this
is one simple step that I sometimes wonder
if people use as much as they should:
When you connect
with someone new, and enter their contact
information into your address book, attach
their photo too. How tough
is that? When the photo becomes part of
the entry, it synchronizes to your smartphone
as well, whether you use a Blackberry,
a Palm phone or Windows Mobile device.
The steps are very simple.
- Enter your
new contact’s data into Outlook
- Go to your
contact’s LinkedIn or Facebook
profile page. On their profile photo,
right-click and choose “Save picture
as…”
- In your My
Pictures directory, create a sub-directory
called “Contacts”
- Re-name the
image file for the contact you are recording,
and save it.
- (Outlook)
In the contact entry dialog box, double
click on the photo box in the top right
column, and assign the photo accordingly.
That’s it! You’re
done. Now, as you routinely go through
your address book, be it on your computer
or hand-held device, you will see that
person’s photo with others and be
better prepared to match the name to the
face!
On using photos:
don’t have a photo of yourself online?
Get it up there. If not a portrait photo
then a simple cropped headshot from a
snapshot will suffice. If you want
others to attach your name to your face,
then you must help them attach your face
to your name. It’s that simple.
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