I do not
know about you, but, I am a huge fan of The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People. In fact, kind of like Kouzes and Posner's book,
I have written a number of posts about Stephen Covey's marvelous
book. Click here and here and here
Today,
let us remind ourselves of habit number seven.
Apparently,
Abraham Lincoln once said something to the effect of, “Give me six
hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening
the axe.” Stated differently, it is important to stay sharp.
This is the 7th
habit, according to Stephen Covey, “Sharpen the saw.”
As an
entrepreneur, I make a lot of cold calls. And, I am always amazed by
how quickly I become rusty. I mean, I would like to consider myself a
fairly intelligent person. But, it only takes a couple days-off to
practically forget how to make effective phone calls.
Recently,
I was somewhat reassured to hear something a Realtor friend of mine
said. My friend's name is James. He makes an obscene number of cold
calls. And, James said that after one day-off he has completely
forgotten how to do his job.
I
have found this to be true. I have also once heard cold calling guru Jarrod Glandt
say, “It takes one day to get rusty.” For this reason, I try to
make cold calls every single day. This is pretty much the only way I know of to stay sharp.
You
can also stay sharp by role-playing. But, it can be hard to find
consistent role-play partners. So, personally, I like to categorize my
prospects into three lists: primary, secondary, and practice.
Whenever I feel the rust, I simply call my practice list.
