“WOOF is an accumulation of the sales and marketing lessons I’ve learned throughout my life, starting at an age earlier than most. I was raised by a salesman for a father, and that upbringing gave me a unique perspective on the world. It helped me understand that relationships and integrity are at the core of all business. It gave me an appreciation for the responsibility that a true sales professional carries – listening, understanding, empathizing and partnering. In my view, there are few professions as challenging or noble.
My first attempt at applying the skills which I saw my father demonstrate in his work and life came when I was just seven years old. I planned, promoted and executed an event – a dog show, in fact. The show was widely attended by children throughout the neighborhood, received rave reviews, and even earned a profit. It was, on the surface, a silly childhood game. But it began to shape who I was meant to be.
Sales degrees weren’t common in the late eighties when I entered college, so marketing was my path. I first attended the University of Arkansas and then moved on to the University of Nebraska to complete my degree. Shortly after college, I ventured into the corporate world, ultimately leading marketing, sales and communications teams for top national and international companies including Hampton Hotels, TCBY Enterprises and First Horizon National Corporation. While my education and much of my early training were in marketing, I’ve always looked at marketing through a sales lens.
My corporate roles afforded me the opportunity to partner with some of the most well-known advertising agencies in the world. Through those experiences, some outstanding and others less than ideal, I could visualize the type of agency I would someday build – one where sales and marketing strategies align; plans are grounded in comprehensive, meaningful research; teams begin with the end in mind, keenly focused on tangible metrics; and campaigns are launched to achieve bottom-line impact, not just to add to a library of colorful or clever creative.
This vision is the foundation of RedRover Sales & Marketing Strategy, a company I co-founded with Julie Lunn ten years ago in Memphis, Tennessee.
For more than five years, I’ve had the honor of writing a syndicated column, called “Guerrilla Sales & Marketing,” for daily and weekly papers across the Southeast. WOOF is a collection of the most transformative of those columns. My hope is for the book to help you achieve your organization’s transformation.”
Lori Turner-Wilson, Author