How are you "Sharpening your Axe"?

By now we have probably all heard the story of the two lumberjacks who were sent to clear a forest. One day they decided to make it a competition of who could cut down the most trees. One lumberjack worked for eight hours straight, stopping only for an occasional drink of water. He swung the axe till his hands bled in an effort to win the contest. He knew he was outworking his opponent because every hour he could hear him take a 15 minute break. Surely his effort would produce more downed trees.

To his shock and dismay, when it came to count the cut trees, the exhausted lumberjack with the bloody hands learned he had lost badly. "How can that be? I heard you take a 15 minute break every hour, while I kept going", he said.

The second lumberjack simply stated … "I wasn't taking a break, I was sharpening my axe".

As sales and marketing professionals, we've got to sharpen our axes as much as possible, or we'll end up like Lumberjack #1, exhausted and defeated.

One great way that SME can help you sharpen your axe is our monthly SME-U's. These are great opportunities to hear local and national experts on topics like:

• The Ten Most Common Mistakes That Salespeople Make
• Validating Your Marketing Strategy
• Why Some Salespeople Connect with Senior Executive & others fail

SME-U workshops are held 7:45 - 9:00 a.m. the second week of every month, at 6200 Oak Tree Boulevard, Independence, Ohio 44131 and are only $10.00 for members. Can you afford not to check it out?

Mike Mulhall