I forgot

As long as we are talking about forgetfulness, one thing you need to be successful in Direct Sales is a good memory. Ok, maybe that isn't true. What you have to have are some really good tricks and ways to improvise when the inevitable happens... the forgetful moment.

As I outed myself earlier (and as I outed a few things that have happened to friends of mine...) what is crucial in the forgetful process is the recovery. Like in the example of going to a demonstration and forgetting your entire bag of catalogs. If you can get your hands on even ONE book, you can pass it around and give everyone paper to write down their orders on. If you forget your products, you can make some calls and see if guests can bring some of their own, or see if you can borrow from the host. But remembering names can sometimes throw you. Have you ever had an encounter with someone that YOU know, but does not remember you? And sometimes they handle it well, and say graciously, "I'm sorry, I have forgotten your name." And other times they say something awkward like "And you are???"   Don't you feel bad? I always feel awkward and "forgettable" when that happens.

Now we all can't own a button like my husband's that says "HI, I can't remember your name either!" (He wears this primarily at reunions.)  Instead a one word generic phrase usually works until you can find some context clues. Here are a few commonly used, "Buddy", "Pal", "Dude", "Sweetie", "Honey" or "Hun", my word of choice is "Friend". Now as a disclaimer, I call most people that I know and like "Friend" even when I do know their name. And that is why it really works for me.


So one day I was standing at the name tag table at a fundraiser and someone I recognized came up and was holding a baby. She says to me "KATHY!!! HOW ARE YOU!!???" And greets me with the most warm hug. I say "friend, it is so great to see you! Your baby is getting so big!" (my brain has completely malfunctioned) I can not think of her name, but my first bluff has gone by with out a hitch! (The baby was hers!).  So then she chats it up with me, asks a few thoughtful questions and then realizes there is a line gathering and she needs to move along. So she says to me "do you mind filling out the name tag for me - my hands are full!"   And thinking myself so clever... I say "would you spell your name for me?" And she looks at me with a "you dummy" look... "K-I-M    J-O-N-E-S."   Busted.