By way of introduction I’m Doug Robinson and am excited to be a new Valdosta CEO contributor. Albany and Leesburg have both been home for my family for the last 17 years, and we have grown children and grandchildren here. My rap sheet says I am originally from Louisville, Kentucky, although I left that nest after high school and three years at the University of Louisville. I was sick of school and ready for the real world, so I pulled the plug on school 30 hours short of earning a degree. 

40 years ago I migrated to north Alabama to accept my first B2B sales job in food distribution, and eventually moved to south Alabama when I was promoted to sales manager with that same company. 8 years later I traded in my employee status and became a successful self-employed entrepreneur and financial rep for 12 years. Relocating to Georgia I spent the second 20 years of my career with a nationwide service organization as operations manager, multi-state sales manager, corporate sales trainer, and finally as a sales training coach for over 500 sales employees in 11 states. I won't try to convince you that over all those years I was #1 in every sales-related position I held, but I was consistently in the top 20%, primarily due to maintaining a positive winning attitude and simply refusing to give up. 

I left corporate America in early 2011 and began working on my #1 bucket list task; writing a non-fiction book about my 40 years in the universe of selling and sales support. That’s also when I gave birth to Robinson Training Solutions, LLC to consult and coach salespeople, in order to help improve their performance and sharpen their sales skills. 

My purpose in writing the book was to share many of the selling tips and ideas I learned and employed over the years, to prove that sales is an honorable profession where one can make an above-average living without sacrificing their integrity. I also want my readers to understand that selling is something you do for and with someone, rather than something you do to someone. 

The finished product, Sell is Not a Four Letter Word was published this past August, and is subdivided into eight chapters, paralleling the sales process sequence. Each chapter contains multiple segments of 2-3 pages, beginning with a brief narrative yarn, story, or tale; each introducing specific sales training nuggets. This format allows busy salespeople to complete the book without having to devote time-consuming reading sessions. In subsequent editions of the CEO News I’ll be sharing snippets of the books’ content with you. Here is an overview of the eight chapters comprising this read: 

Enthusing – Attaining and maintaining the upbeat outlook and perspective required to survive the rough terrain of the selling profession.

Essentializing – Applying the basic principles you must be familiar with and apply, to ensure you stand out on the selling landscape.

Engaging – Sorting out prospects from suspects, to determine who to approach, and then developing an agenda to initiate a sales conversation.

Exploring – Uncovering, through probing and questioning, the pain, needs, and desires of prospects and buyers.

Elaborating – Providing information about your product or service as the antidote to the pain you discovered during the exploring process.

Encountering – Determining and resolving buyer concerns that naturally surface during every sales conversation.

Executing – Reaching agreement on logical next steps in order to close sales and gain customers.  

Expanding – Ongoing collateral activities to help grow your business and ensure long term success.

You can get an advance peek under the tent and learn more about the book, including a free look at the table of contents and two of the segments at www.robinsontrainingsolutions.com.