Having cold called at the top as well as far from the top, I noticed something curious. Irrespective of whether the prospect was interested, those at that top of the organization did something with far more frequency than those many levels down:  They used my name.

Interesting.  As prospects, these executives were in no way attempting to make a positive impression.  In certain cases, they were trying to terminate the call; yet with great frequency they would capture my name right from my introduction, retain it and use it.

When talking with gate keepers and managers at “lower” levels of the organization, I noticed that use of my name was far more infrequent.  Counterintuitively, I found that in cases where there was no interest, the executives were equally short, but far more courteous than their subordinates.  In a certain way, calling at the top can not only be a more fruitful experience but also a more pleasant one.

To be honest, I’m not sure if the case is that many executives are groomed and trained in the fundamentals of business success or that they simply tend to have stronger interpersonal skills.  In any case, you’ve heard it before and here it is again: executives and leaders tend to remember and use names more frequently in their conversations.

Many of us get tripped up on names when we are networking or socializing.  It does require decision and effort.  Right before every introduction, we need to make a conscious decision that we will listen for the name and use it. It takes effort to fulfill this commitment because it’s clearly easier not to be concerned with the detail while we focus on what we are going to say next.  The long-term payoff is that eventually it will become second nature, just as it is for many of those executives we cold call at the top.

If you have methods for remembering names, please share for our readers’ benefit. Thank you.

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