To Know & To Remember

My Trainers Networks in Kuching

One of the most important things in the principle of networking is to know & to remember. Last week, after paying for my lunch with my wife, I stumble onto someone who looks familiar. And that someone was also looking at me as if I also look familiar to him. My hesitation during that split second was, I know that I know him somewhere, but what is his name & where do I know him? So, I make a guess & greet him with the hope that my guess is right. 

So, I'm guessing that he is a Sarawakian whom I met in Kuching during a religious class that happens to be in Kuantan having lunch with his colleagues. And I still don't know his name. I greeted him in Sarawakian dialect, "Apa khabar kitak? Kitak dah kerja di sitok kah? Lamak sik dengar berita".

And, there it all went wrong. I HAVE MADE A WRONG GUESS. He gave me this awkward look don't know how to respond to my greeting. That couple seconds of silent awkwardness seem to be a couple of minutes to me. Then he breaks the ice and introduce me to his colleagues as Ustaz from the Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (YADIM) with a fluent Malay (Terengganu) accent. I see, then only I remember who he was! he is a lecturer who has been in one YADIM training courses and I was his group facilitator.

After a quick chit chat, I went in the car & my wife burst into a laughter. She knows me very well when it comes to cases like this. And this is not the first time I ran into embarrassing networking situation like this. I SHOULD KNOW & REMEMBER PEOPLE WITHIN MY NETWORK. But that is my problem. I really have a bad memory of remembering people whom I met. I may know him as in he may look familiar to me, but that's it. 

Well, this should not be happening. In networking, it is important for you TO KNOW & TO REMEMBER people. The act of knowing & remembering the people you greet is an act of respect towards them. That is a very good 1st impression that you will portray towards the person you greet especially that person is a VIP. 

When you stumble onto someone you have met before, the act of knowing and remembering him shows that you appreciate you meeting with him before & acknowledge him for who he is. This will help you to even break the ice faster & open up the discussion & opportunities that you may seek from him. 

To know and remember in empowering your networking skills requires training & practices. This, I may be able to share with you guys but not now. I am in no position right now to teach you as I, myself need to do my own training & practices first.