Lourdes Health System

Sunday, September 30, 2007

The Makings of a Marketing Director


No one could ever complain that they don't know how I feel. Take this picture for example. I was probably around five years old, Down the shore in Wildwood. Grandmom had ticked me off for some reason. I feel good looking at this picture. Makes me feel like I was born this way.

Marketing directors use this look a lot. We often need to express our displeasure and having a look that will get one action is important. We are constantly evaluating, sizing things up. At the same time, we have people relentlessly coming at us--selling, complaining, wanting more, better, faster. No wonder we're all in a bad mood.

The challenge of being in my line of work at a place like Lourdes is that they expect associates (i.e., employees) to provide a level of courtesy that exceeds your average job. Some days it is really hard. This is actually the hardest part of my job. I used to have my own business and we would fire customers we didn't like. Can't do that here. And when you have vendors or salespeople who are eating up your time, its nearly impossible. People who work near me can attest to that.

So it is a bit of a tightrope--trying to be nice, or at least professional--when people are getting on your last nerve.

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