Wild Parties, Dead Athletes And Good Memory

By Bob Gray

When I began working in the fitness industry, I made up my mind that I would not let the chance to relate better with all my members slip through my fingers. I was already familiar with memory systems that had been developing since ancient times; I adapted them for my own needs and concerns as a membership coordinator for a fitness club.

One of things that makes the fitness industry unique among service industries is the amount of personal interaction between clients and club representatives. Unlike the automobile industry, where a customer comes into contact with the business once every few years, or the fast food trade, where people make frequent, but rapid, contact with an all but anonymous server behind the counter, fitness clubs offer room for continuous and developing exchanges between members and people in the business. At its best, these relationships can become friendships.

When interaction is at such a high level, personal knowledge and sincerity can be a club representative’s greatest ally or foe. Being able to talk casually about the specifics of the business and socially about the lives and general interests of the members can be absolutely invaluable.

Within a short while, not only was I able to recall the names of every member to whom I had sold a membership, but all sorts of personal details about them: their spouses and children’s names, their favorite hobbies, sports teams and the fitness goals they had set for themselves. Anytime I ran into them at the club, or even on the street, I had a wealth of material to draw on. My relationship with them always grew stronger, never weaker, because I wasn’t reduced to saying, “Oh, uh, hi there,” anytime I bumped into one of them.

I began teaching the techniques I was using to other members of my sales team. In a year, client retention went up 13 percent. I have since taught these techniques to organizations and corporations outside the fitness industry in both North and South America, South Africa, Europe and Asia.

By coincidence, the techniques I was using to do this were first invented for another group of fitness-conscious people. The results, however, were much more gory.

The Poet’s Power
In ancient Greece, there was a poet by the name of Simonides. Poets back then were like professional speakers today. They were usually hired to provide the after dinner entertainment mixed with plenty of good advice. On one occasion, Simonides was hired to entertain at a party given for a wrestler. The wrestler had just won big at the Olympics and was throwing the ancient equivalent of an athletics banquet to celebrate.

After his stint at the podium, and as the party started to degenerate, Simonides got a call to the door. There were a couple of guys who wanted to talk to him. No sooner had he stepped outside, than the ceiling collapsed, killing everyone inside. While traumatic, another problem still remained. The bodies had been so mutilated by the disaster that no one could identify who had been there. Simonides, however, had memorized his audience, and by revisiting the spots where they sat, was able to recall all of the attendees. This got him thinking. If he could use a system for memorizing dead athletes, why not other things? Maybe even living athletes!

Over the centuries, newer and more advanced systems would develop and be adapted for newer needs. Today, in most industries, direct customer contact is the nature of doing business. Without a firm hold on the basics, such as knowing the products and services you sell, the way your business works and, most important, the clients you relate to every day, a vital tool is lost. Memory, like the body, needs proper training and a regular workout to operate at peak efficiency. It’s no wonder it took the ancient Greeks, who invented athletics, to tell us that.

So What Can a Trained Memory Do for You?
Along with world peace, the mystery of life and a few other trifles, one of the things humankind has been searching for throughout the ages is a way to train one’s memory. Despite all the libraries of books, gigabytes of computer information and Post-It notes that cover office walls around the world, nothing can replace what’s inside our heads.

This is especially true in the business world, where important, complex information can be required at a moment’s notice, and where your professional credibility and personal integrity can hinge on something as simple as remembering a person’s name, an appointment or a technical detail. A good memory is profitable for any business or profession. After all, companies do not hire people with fancy degrees because of the textbooks on their shelves, but for what information they have managed to absorb into their brains.

The most successful and efficient people are those who can remember, rapidly and precisely, with confidence, what they’ve filed away in their mental hard drives. It’s no wonder they make the ideal executives, the most capable employees!

Increase Your Personal Value
Beyond the office and the boardroom, memory skills allow for all kinds of personal growth in many directions. People who have spent time developing their memory talk with clarity and intelligence and are more captivating and persuasive. Socially, they are the most enjoyable to be around, because they have a wealth of knowledge to draw on in conversation. They inspire respect and admiration from others through their ease and comfort with facts, figures and faces.

The beauty of this is that enhancing your memory is not particularly difficult. In fact, by simply applying memory techniques and tools, you can dramatically increase your retention of information, thus increasing your value to your company, your job satisfaction and, most important, your value of yourself.

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The PEI Journal • Fourth Quarter 2007 • Volume 1, No. 4 • Contents are Copyright © Data Key Communications, Inc.
All rights reserved. • Nothing may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission of the publisher.