Better memory better sales.

How often have you attended a networking event and you bump into someone you’ve met before and you cannot remember a thing about them?

Imagine the impact you could have on your business and your sales if you could walk into a networking event and recall the names of everyone you previously met?

This is the difference between a trained memory and an untrained memory

Take two salespeople selling a comparative service/product, similar features, benefits, price range. They both meet a potential client at a networking event. Two months later all three of them are attending the same conference. Each of the salespeople individually encounter the potential client. Salesperson 1 cannot remember the name of the potential client or where they previously met. Salesperson 2 not only remembers the potential clients name and where they met, but also their partners name who was introduced to them in their first meeting, they also recall they were a huge soccer fan and they were a die-hard Arsenal supporter …. who do you think gets the sale?

Salesperson 2 is not selling a superior product or service; they are selling a superior encounter. People do business with people they like, people they trust, trust builds relationships, relationships builds business.

Salespeople with a trained memory will always outperform salespeople without.

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Your brain doesn’t always tell you the truth, it often lies to you.

Answer this problem quickly.

A coffee and a cookie together cost $1.10. The coffee cost $1 more than the cookie. How much does the coffee cost?

Most people say $1, which is wrong.

The coffee costs $1.05 and the cookie 5¢.

Our brain often takes shortcuts based on how important it thinks accuracy is over speed. It usually opts for speed, giving rules of thumb too much consideration over straight logic.

This is evident when we make assumptions about someone based on how they are dressed and even how they speak.

By the way, if you know of a place that sells coffee and a cookie for $1.10…let me know!

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Here I show a customized ending to a keynote for my Australian client.

One of my biggest challenges when I keynote is convincing the audience that I do NOT have an innate ability to remember things, it is not a ‘natural’ ability…it is an application of systems that ANYONE can learn, adapt and apply to their business. Adapting these systems allow you to stand out from your competition.

Watch the video, it’s just a couple min’s, it will show you the untapped power of our brains.

Funny, unique and interactive in his entertaining conference keynotes and workshops, Bob Gray reveals the untapped potential in each of us. His empowering systems and their many applications in the business world give participants immediate ‘walk away’ value. Book Bob Gray today as your next conference keynote speaker.  Watch Bob in action.

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Ask the average person what percentage of our brain we use and the majority will say 10%, very few will say we use 100%, which would be the correct answer. Imaging methods have shown that even simple tasks produce activity throughout the whole brain.

So where did this 10% myth come from?  It seems to be traced back to the American psychologist William James, who in his 1906 speech ‘The Energies of Men’ said:

“We make use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources.”

He never actually stated a percentage, yet somehow along the way this ‘undeveloped potential’ was picked up and morphed into a percentage. One example is a 1929 ad that ran in The World Almanac, which read:

‘Scientists and psychologists tell us we only use 10 percent of our brain power’.

But it really took hold and was popularized in 1936 when American writer Lowell Thomas, in the preface to Dale Carnegies best seller How to Win Friends and Influence People, falsely stated that:

“Professor William James of Harvard used to say that the average man develops only ten percent of his latent mental ability.”

Then there was no stopping it. Fortunes and careers have been made over the years with self-help books tapping into this myth. Individuals involved with the paranormal have championed this ‘fact’ to explain the potential for psychic powers.

Even Uri Geller, remember him? He made a career out of convincing people he could bend metal with his mind. He claims in his book, Uri Geller  Mind-Power Book:

“Most of us only use 10 percent of our brains if that.”

Having us believe that he has tapped into some, if not all of the remaining 90%.

Think about it logically, if big chunks of our brain were never used, then damaging them would have no effect on us.

Funny, unique and interactive in his entertaining conference keynotes and workshops, Bob Gray reveals the untapped potential in each of us. His empowering systems and their many applications in the business world give participants immediate ‘walk away’ value. Book Bob Gray today as your next conference keynote speaker.  Watch Bob in action.

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If I asked you to go grocery shopping without writing a list, how would you attempt to remember it? Let’s say you needed:

1. Chicken
2. Eggs
3. Milk
4. Ketchup
5. Laundry Detergent
6. Toothpaste
7. Bread
8. Mushrooms
9. Lettuce
10. Peas

Most people would use rote memorization, constantly repeating the list over and over until they thought they had it, painful stuff. Here’s a better way, which shows the power of visual memory.

First memorize these rhyming objects:

1 = Bun

2 = Shoe

3 = Tree

4 = Door

5 = Hive

6 = Sticks

7 = Heaven

8 = Gate

9 = Wine

10 = Pen

Now I’d like you to link, in as crazy way as possible, the 10 item-shopping list, to these new images representing the numbers from 1-10. I’ll start you off with the first three.

Bun to Chicken. See a gigantic Chicken sitting between the two halves of a hamburger bun, perhaps wearing the top half as a hat, see it pecking at the bottom half and the top half keeps falling off, so it keeps picking it up and placing it back on its head.

Shoe to Eggs. Imagine yourself cracking eggs into your favorite shoes. See yourself sliding your feet into your shoes and breaking the yolks. They spray out from your shoes covering the whole area with a thick yellow gooey mess.

Tree to Milk. Imagine tipping over a huge Oak tree with your hands, as it topples, gallons and gallons of Milk gush from the ground like an oil geyser. It’s a milk geyser. See yourself covered in dripping milk.

Okay, go ahead and do the same with the remaining list. Remember, the more ridiculous the image the better. Once you finish, see how many you can remember. Then come back.

So how did you do? If your images were crazy, you should not only have been able to remember all ten in order, but you should also be able to recall them out of order. If I say 3, what do you see? 3/Tree, uprooting the tree and the geyser of milk. How about 5, 8, 7? Easy isn’t it?

This is an easy demonstration of the power of visualization. The next time you go grocery shopping or go to write down a to-do list, try this method, your brain will thank you.

Bob’s book Right Brain Rapid Recall which covers this system (The Peg) in more depth is available here http://www.memoryedge.com/online-store/

Download my new app for remembering names  BOB’S APP

Funny, unique and interactive in his entertaining conference keynotes and workshops, Bob Gray reveals the untapped potential in each of us. His empowering systems and their many applications in the business world give participants immediate ‘walk away’ value. Book Bob Gray today as your next conference keynote speaker.

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What’s the most effective way to keep your brain healthy and stave off dementia as you age? You may not want to hear the answer….but it’s physical exercise, the type most of us hate, where we elevate our heart rate for at least 30 minutes several times a week….but it’s not all bad news.

You don’t need to be on a treadmill or stationery bike looking at that dreaded clock countdown, just to have the machine tell you you’ve burned off the same calories as a chocolate chip cookie.

I’m not talking about weight loss here, that’s a whole other story. I’m talking about our ability to stay cognitive savvy in our later years…..so you can ditch the treadmill if you want, a fast walk works just as well. I have a dog and our daily walks are something I actually look forward to.

Technically the neurons in our brain need oxygen and glucose from our blood supply in order to operate correctly, and as our circulatory system ages it has a more difficult time delivering it……and exercise helps overcome this.

There’s a whole bunch of other stuff about growth factors, plasticity and proteins that support synaptic growth in the brain….but who cares? Well actually I do, but most people don’t. I just find that in most every keynote presentation or memory workshop I give, more and more people are concerned about the decline of their cognitive abilities as they age.

So don’t think it’s too late! Middle agers who exercise regularly are one-third less likely to get Alzheimer’s in their seventies as those who do not. Even people who begin exercising in their sixties can cut the risk down by up to one half.

You don’t have to join a gym, gym memberships spike every January then fall off come March. New Year’s fitness resolutions are made with the best intentions but most people don’t follow through. You don’t have to join a gym. If you don’t currently exercise, go see your doctor and ask him/her about starting an exercise program that can be done at home or involves walking. Maybe start with a walk two or three times a week, then crank up the pace….who knows, you just might get to finish that Sudoku by the time you’re ninety!

Funny, unique and interactive in his entertaining conference keynotes and workshops, Bob Gray reveals the untapped potential in each of us. His empowering systems and their many applications in the business world give participants immediate ‘walk away’ value. Book Bob Gray today as your next conference keynote speaker.  Watch Bob in action.

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How to memorize the US Presidents. In my previous posts I had you memorize the 1^st fifteen presidents by linking them together in groups of five to three separate rooms in your home, with the first president, Washington, associated to your 1^st location in your home, I used my downstairs hallway and placed a huge Washing Machine there. If you don’t recall them, please go back and review these fifteen images. Here is a link to that first post with the other two directly after it. http://bit.ly/13zWvBM

So to continue memorizing our next five presidents, Lincoln to Garfield, we will again link together a crazy sequence with the first, Lincoln, to your next (4^th) location or Loci. In my home it would be the Living Room. This is where we open our fourth folder containing the next five presidents.

Here are the images I personally would use to represent these names. These are by no means the strongest; they are just the ones that would work for me. Your own images will always be stronger, but feel free to use any or all of these if you wish.

Lincoln = A large black Lincoln Town Car.

Johnson = Johnson’s Bay Powder

Grant = Money, hundreds of Dollar Bills

Hayes = Hay Stack

Garfield = Garfield The Cat

So off we go again. The image that reminds me of my Living room is the large 70” TV I have mounted on the wall, this is my starting point. Obviously you need to pick a piece of furniture or appliance that reminds you of your fourth location or room in your house. So I have the large TV with which I need to associate the Lincoln car. How about visualizing a gigantic Lincoln Town Car driving out of the TV and landing on my living room floor. Hear the sound of the shattering glass and the sound of the car’s engine, smell the fumes from the exhaust.

Next: Lincoln to Baby Powder (Andrew Johnson)

Imagine this: After the car has landed on my living room floor I open the passenger door and a ton of white Johnson’s baby powder pours out, knocking me over…I am completely covered.

Next: Johnson, to an image of Money (Grant).

Imagine this: As I get up and start to brush off the powder with my hands, the powder immediately and magically turns into $100 bills that flutter to the floor.

Next: Money to Hay stack (Hayes)

Imagine this: After brushing off all the powder that has magically turned into $100 bills littering the floor, I grab them all up and stuff them into a gigantic Haystack situated in the corner of the room.

Next: Hay Stack to Garfield the cat (Garfield)

Imagine this: As I am stuffing the haystack with $100 bills, a gigantic Garfield springs out and jumps on top of me scratching the crap out of me. I imagine wrestling on the living room floor with this enormous cat. Hear the loud sounds of the cat screaming.

So, to review. What flies out of my large TV on the wall of my living room? A Lincoln Town Car = Lincoln

I open the car door, what pours out? Johnson’s baby powder = Johnson

I brush off the powder from my clothes, what does the powder turn into? Money = Grant

Where do I stuff the $100 bills? The haystack = Hayes

What jumps out of the haystack and starts a fight with me? Garfield the cat = Garfield

Just as with the first fifteen presidents, you need to review these images within the hour then again tomorrow, then review them each time I post another five. By the end you will know all 44 in sequence, a great exercise to show how images need to be formed to take advantage of memory systems. Remember to share with your children.

Funny, unique and interactive in his entertaining conference keynotes and workshops, Bob Gray reveals the untapped potential in each of us. His empowering systems and their many applications in the business world give participants immediate ‘walk away’ value. Book Bob Gray today as your next conference keynote speaker.

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They say that a good deal of success in life just comes down to who you know. That’s certainly true, but I might amend that to include the people you’ve met and can remember.

If that seems like a small distinction, it isn’t – most of us meet hundreds, and maybe thousands, of people who could help us live better lives in dozens of different ways, if only we could make the right connections and associations at the right times. In other words, if we could recall the name of that great contractor we met, the recommendation for the dentist we got, or who the boss’s nephew was again, more things would tend to go our way.

That’s why it’s important that you make the most of holiday parties this year. It’s a virtual guarantee that you’re going to meet someone you’d like to know, or at least remember, at a later date, but most of us aren’t as strong with names and faces as we would like.

With that in mind, here are some quick tips for remembering the names and faces of people you meet at holiday parties this season:

Make a quick image association. This is one of the easiest memory techniques to learn, and one of the most powerful. When you meet a new person, associate their name with some image in your mind; perhaps they remind you of someone you know or someone famous. Or simply associate them with someone you know or someone famous who has the same name. Hold it firm for a moment or two. The stronger the picture is, emotionally speaking, the easier it will be to recall later.

Remember where you are when you meet someone. If you can recall where you were when you met someone, or who you were with, you stand a much better chance of recalling their name later. So, take a quick mental snapshot of your location and associate it with the new name.

Spell their name. Spelling their name forces you to hear it, most times we don’t actually forget a name, we just don’t remember it in the first place, and this is usually because we don’t hear it.

Say or repeat their name. Use the name once or twice in your initial conversation. Say the person’s name, either out loud in conversation or quietly to yourself. Then, remind yourself again at a later time of their name, and it will likely stick in your memory.

These are only simple techniques, of course, but they work. In my keynotes and workshops, I teach attendees to quickly memorize names and faces in rapid succession, and you can easily learn to do the same. Best of all, if you practice these techniques regularly, the names won’t just stay with you, but you’ll be able to recall them later, and maybe even for years to come.

Imagine how convenient it would be to remember the names, faces, and details of everyone you met at holiday parties, industry events, and social gatherings!

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” Bob Gray has a humorous, entertaining approach to improving memory and other business skills. memoryedge.com ”

Check out the full article by Loren G. Edelstein here.

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One of the easiest ways salespeople, self-employed professionals, and just about anyone else can get ahead is to enhance their memory. Learning to remember important details about clients, executives, coworkers, and other contacts can be just the ticket. These details include names and faces, of course, but could also be things like their birthday, spouse’s name, children’s names, even the name of their dog – ask any dog lover!

For a long time, getting this kind of information together, much less remembering it, required a lot of work. You might have to make detailed notes after a conversation, keep a filing system, or even put together a set of index cards with the person’s photo, if you could even find one. That meant that your post-networking event routine could turn into something resembling an FBI profiling chart.

With that kind of hassle involved, it’s no wonder very few people took the time to try. All of that has changed with the rise of social media, however, meaning that there is literally no excuse for not knowing what you should about your most important customers or contacts. With a simple look through someone’s Facebook or LinkedIn profile, for example, you can enhance your memory and remember the details

Enhance your memory with information like:

What their face looks like
The names of their spouse and/or children
Their hobbies and interests
What city or college they come from
What sort of positions or careers they worked at in the past

… and the list could go on and on. While I’m certainly not advising you to engage in cyber stalking, what I am recommending you do is start to build a mental profile – and maybe even a quick set of reminders that you can look over at regular intervals. You can then apply a memory system so you can recall this information quickly and easily. It’s not so difficult to enhance your memory after all.

The benefit? Well, let me put this scenario to you. How often have you bumped into a client outside of a prearranged appointment, where you don’t have the luxury to reacquaint yourself with all their personal information, say at the supermarket, and you find yourself ducking down the next aisle to avoid them because you can’t remember their name? Well, now when this happens, you’ll have the confidence to ask how their spouse is doing, or whether they are still hitting the golf course on the weekends. Doing so makes you seem more sharp and professional and their estimation of you is immediately raised. Recalling important information about a client or customer is after all the foundation of all relationships, and in any client-based business, a good relationship eventually spurs into referrals.

Isn’t that worth the effort for a few minutes a week using social media as an easy info-gathering tool? Try these tips out and enhance your memory.

Bob Gray is a popular keynote speaker and memory expert. You can find out about his speaking availability, rates, and other information by contacting his office directly.

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