Tips on how to remember people? I started a new job and I meet so many people and then create their order and then see them again.
Some of them will bring up stuff and I have no idea who they are or what they are talking about.
I need tips to better remember different groups of people (without being like insulting because i thought i could nickname them on my phone to sort of remember but if i get caught out that could be really bad ie. big nose dude, lady with squeeky voice etc)
Any tips from anyone that has faced this issue?
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9 Replies
Just pretend you know what they're talking about. Smile and nod and agree with whatever they're talking about. That's what I do 🤣 (I work for a chain store in a capital city and there's way too many customers to remember everyone)
I'm a caterer so i physically write different jobs in my diary so I can easily add notes etc. I never just title it with a name but what the event is, the special requests etc. You could do the same thing no matter what you're doing, have their name in your phone, keep your diary in your bag so you can quickly grab it out and look up their page to look at what they spoke about last time. Just make dot points so it's easy to glance at. If you're face to face say, oh yes, let me see what I put in my notes and having those little pointers there should be enough to get your memory going.
You don’t have to remember the first or second time, so use this time to probe further. If they’re bringing up things, like family, health, their sons wedding etc, then ask questions so you form a story that you will remember. Fake it til you make it.
I started a new job in August. I've pretty quickly gotten to know our regular customers, although I've always had a pretty natural ability to remember people.
Most of this will just come with time. The more often you interact with your regulars, the more familiar you'll become with them.
However, a certain amount of it does require some effort. If you can remember a derivative nickname, you can learn to remember people's faces and conversations you may have previously had. You've just got to make sure you're actively engaging with people and not just going through the motions.
You will also get the occasional customer who you've only dealt with once before but they remember you distinctly because they had a positive experience with you, but you may not remember them because it's been months and you've served a thousand people since then. In those kind of situations I like to light-heartedly say something like "You'll have to forgive me, I never forget a face but I'm shocking with names/orders etc. Would you mind jogging my memory?"
I think her problem is that she only deals with each customer a few times, like they're ordering a one off, unlike hospitality or retail where you would have regular customers.
She must have at least some kind of semi regular ongoing business with her clientell if she feels obligated to remember them.
I feel like everything I suggested could be applied to any situation where you need to remember people in any case.
If you read her post again you will see that your last paragraph is what she deals with. She sees them once, then a second time and she's battling to remember who they are the second time. Not picking it's just I've worked in hospitality where it's easy to remember the regulars and then also a job where you have hundreds of customers a week that are once off, it's impossible to remember them.
Genuine interest and care goes a long way!
Actually listening rather than hearing people!
Time. I worked in hospitality for 6 years and more often then not I'd remember their order before their name but eventually I knew all my regulars life stories and they knew mine 😊 I now work in retail and I'm almost at 1 year and I am picking up names more frequently because I'm used to it now I guess? It's really lovely that you care enough to want to remember, that kind of thing goes a long way with customers 😊