FINANCIAL PLANNERS – Are you good at remembering people’s names?

Oh, and by ‘people,’ I mean your ‘clients’.

If you bumped into a client in Tesco today, would you be able to greet them by name?

Or would you awkwardly try to keep the conversation going, clinging to the faint hope that your fumbling mind might stumble across their name before it becomes painfully clear to everyone that you’ve completely forgotten it?

People buy people, and they buy how they make them feel.

The best way to make someone feel valued, important, and comforted is simply by using their name.

And likewise, the best way to alienate someone and make them feel small and unimportant, is to forget their name.

So, for a Financial Planner to say, “I’m not good with names,” is a lot like saying, “I’m not good with money.”

It’s not a good look.

In fact, it’s an excuse.

What you’re really saying is, “I couldn’t be bothered to take the time to learn the simple skill of remembering your name, yet somehow, I found the time to understand how top slicing relief applies to investment bonds.”

“And to cover up this professional oversight, I’ll try to convince myself (and anyone who will listen) that I have some permanent mental block that forever prevents me from remembering names.”

But that’s simply not true.

Remembering names is a skill. Like anything else, it can be learned.

You just have to put in the effort.

The same kind of effort you put into passing all those pension and investment exams you thought were so important.

Even though your clients won’t remember any of the technical details you share for more than a day.

But they will definitely remember if you call them John when their name’s actually Dave.

And they’ll remember that forever.

So, here’s your chance: if you’re willing to spend just three minutes learning how to always remember your clients’ names, watch the video.