Whenever you talk to someone, you need to come away from that conversation with some personal information about them.

Ask yourself after each conversation, “What personal thing did I find out about this person?”

If your memory needs work, try using a digital recorder or start writing down what you remember. I tell this to guys all the time.

The fact is that the more you remember about people, the greater your chance is to bond with them in the future.

So after you talk to anyone, ask yourself, “What did I discover about this individual personally? What did I learn?” This also trains your brain to think in this way, and it helps improve your memory.

Next time you run into that person (which you will!), you can start the conversation with something personal you learned the last time you both met.

For instance, we were just talking to some women who were trying to raise money for the homeless shelter. In a few weeks I might run into one of them again and say, “Oh, I saw you a few weeks ago outside Whole Foods. Have you reached your fundraising goal yet?”

It’s really important for you to remember things like that. Without a personal takeaway, you have no way of following up with someone that you want to speak to again!