Mike Lehr's Blog

The way people look at things is greatly influenced by how they feel about us. People like to hear their names and to have them remembered. Therefore, you can influence their intuitive processes by doing these. While many of us know this, we don’t realize how important it is. It’s an effort very deserving of our time and resources.

In journalism class, instructors will tell students that using names in articles is critical to securing readers’ interest. At a party, someone told me his favorite class was statistics because the professor remembered everyone’s names. A college professor said that a student focus group told his colleagues that professors could improve their course evaluations and standing with students by simply starting to remember and use students’ names in class.

What do names have to do with enjoying statistics or evaluating professors? A lot. They affect people’s intuition which in turns affects their cognition. Their cognition is responsible for producing the rationales that support people’s preferences. The more they like the messenger the more likely they’ll like the message; they’ll learn material, adopt initiatives and perform tasks much quicker and more effectively.

However, remembering people’s names, especially all your employees, might be difficult, but virtually all of us, if we work at it and “cheat” a bit can remember close to five hundred names. First, it’s a matter of saying, “This is important.” Second, it will initially seem like a daunting task, but we become better as we train ourselves. In this sense, our minds work very much like our muscles. They become stronger through training and practicing.

Here are some techniques for using and remembering names.