When I was in tenth grade, I consistently misspelled the word, “recommend”. I would spell it “reccommend”. [Two “c’s” in case you missed it.] Over and over and over again when she marked my papers, my English teacher, Mrs. Earhart, patiently would circle the word and insert the correct spelling.

And, then, and I’ll never forget this: It was a warm, humid, spring day. Our high school was not air conditioned, so the classroom air hung still and we were all a little dewy. She was grading papers, sitting behind her dark wood desk, dead center in the front of the room and I think she had just HAD it with me on spelling. She peered out at the class, tilted her head down to look over the top of her half glasses, and said, “Nick…” in a voice every person in the room could hear. I looked up. “Nick, there are NO words… in the English language… that begin with the letters… R_E_C_C.”

Mrs. Erhardt’s admonition. I have not since misspelled “recommend”. Ever.

Our personal marketing message must be as easily remembered.  Clients and referrers don’t choose or refer the best product, service, or person; they choose the one they can recall. In the words of Stanford B-School professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, “Being memorable is being picked.”

Nick Miller and Clarity train banks and bankers to attract and develop deeper relationships with small businesses. Many more Sales Thoughts like this and a host of other articles and resources at https://clarityadvantage.com/knowledge-center/ .