Story By Joe Zlomek

The head honcho in the city of Wilmington DE doesn’t know me from Adam. But when Mayor James M. Baker sends a letter or postcard lately, I’m eager to read his words.

Wilmington is running a campaign to bring more commercial projects to its riverfront. Mayor Baker has written to me, personally, seeking my help. His mailed letters are chummy and inviting. “Dear Joe …,” they start warmly. His postcards shout urgency: “Joe, time is running out!,” the latest proclaims. In his e-mails, Baker even supplies me with a personalized website, one that uses my full name as part of its domain address, so I can respond immediately via the Internet to his appeals.

Baker, of course, isn’t sending me anything himself. My name, address, Pennsylvania license information, and other details all sit in a database on a computer somewhere. Whenever the mayor has a new message to offer, the database gets tapped. It works with mail-merge software to ensure I receive the Joe Postcard, and Lew receives the Lew Postcard, and Liu doesn’t receive the Lou Postcard in lieu of Lou.

Such customized contact, according to a September 2007 report from the national Direct Marketing Association, earns consistently higher-than-average message response rates. In short, it says, people perk up when their name is called. REEA members know this already. The advice to “call learners by name” is among our organization’s Generally Accepted Principles of Education (GAPE).

It’s news, however, to many real estate recruits. Only a percentage of them recognize the name of Dale Carnegie. Even fewer have heard Carnegie’s admonition to “remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Emoticons, chat room handles and MySpace monikers all have muffled the relationship-building value of Carnegie’s sweetest sound.

How can real estate  instructors instill in newbies the power of a name? Three possible suggestions:

• 1) Tag ‘em. St. Louis-based motivational author and speaker Scott Ginsberg built a star-studded client list – including some in real estate – around the notion that the world would be friendlier place if people wore nametags all the time. He even has a nametag tattooed on his chest. Tattoos may be too radical in most classrooms, but using nametags makes it easier for instructors to comply with GAPE and easier for students to relate to each other. Besides, it also helps accustom them to a future of wearing their broker’s franchise nameplate.
  
• 2) Spot five. At the start of class, without telegraphing your intent, have students get up and personally introduce themselves to each other. It’s a grip-and-grin: smile, shake a hand, give your name, get their name. Once everyone’s re-seated, ask for three volunteers to spot and identify by first name only five people they just met. Bravery counts; reward each volunteer in some way – classroom applause, if nothing else – even if they don’t remember a single name. Use the experience, though, to stress both the importance of active listening and the need to remember names.
  
• 3) Promote mnemonics. To differentiate themselves from competing agents once they’re licensed, students must make their own names memorable for prospects. Encouraging them to create their own mnemonic, an association between something easy to remember and something harder to remember, can be the starting point of their personal brand. “Trust Your Home To Homer” sounds a tad trite, until you learn that Homer’s last name is Gindlesperger. Really.

Students whom you help in these ways will never forget your name, either.

This article was initially published Oct. 1, 2007, in the REEA Newsletter.