Keeping it real….
June 2nd, 2008 by the medical sales recruiter
What does your desk look like? What kind of image do you project in the things you carry around with you? Some people think that any personal objects or photos in your workspace is unprofessional. “Ask Annie,” the column from Fortune magazine, says that those kinds of displays will keep you from getting ahead at work, and that studies show that if more than 1 in 5 objects in your workspace are personal, you will be perceived as unprofessional (and incompetent, apparently).
I would agree that an excess of personal objects is a bad idea, and a decluttered space is good for productivity. However, some personalization is a very good idea, especially in medical sales, healthcare sales, laboratory sales, clinical diagnostics sales, pathology sales, imaging sales, biotech sales, cellular and molecular products sales, medical device sales, and pharmaceutical sales. You want to seem as personable as possible in sales (and especially in management). People hire and work for people, and people buy from people. Good customers are developed through relationships.
One time, I had a rep who was having difficulty getting into a client company. The gatekeeper (receptionist) wasn’t helping him at all. I advised him to put a picture of his kids in his planner and to open the planner while he was at her desk (to give her his business card). Guess what? In the door he went. Since that worked so well, he left the photo in his planner and found clients to be warmer and more receptive when he met with them….because he became a person to them.
