Page 233 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

101 WAYS TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS

110 Remember your customers’ names

Every time I go into my local video shop I am cheerfully
greeted by a number of people behind the counter who all
know my name. I am not an outstanding customer who
rents a thousand videos a week but I do go in there
regularly. The staff at this video shop have made the effort
to remember my name. When you spend a bit of time in
the store you soon realise they have made the effort to learn
the names of many of their customers.

I like it. Whenever I walk into this shop I always feel
welcome and I appreciate the fact that I am no longer just
another customer. I am someone important enough for the
staff to make the effort to remember my name.

We all have customers we deal with a lot, sometimes
on a daily basis, yet we don’t make the effort to find out
their name so that instead of a casual anonymous greeting
we can actually say, ‘Hi Bob’. If you have been dealing with
each other for quite a while it may be embarrassing to ask
their name (especially if they know yours), but forget pride,
say you’re sorry and ask for their name.

This familiarity can really change a relationship from
simply business to a more personal interaction, which I
believe ultimately increases business. Make it easy for
people to know your name by making up name tags for
you and your staff. If someone is making the effort to wear
a name tag I always make the effort to use their name,
once again making the interaction more personal. One of
the greatest motivational speakers and writers of all time,
Dale Carnegie, emphatically believed that the sweetest
sound to any person was the sound of their own name.

Of course the hardest part of asking names is to remem-
ber which name goes with which face. A little trick I use
when introduced to someone is to picture the face of a
friend with the same name next to the face of the person
I have just met. Whenever I see the ‘new’ person I get a

218