In this episode of SSP’s Early Career Development Podcast, hosts Meredith Adinolfi (Cell Press) and Sara Grimme (Digital Science) speak to Andy Douglas, Vice President of Commercial Partnerships and Strategic Business Development (Springer Nature), about the critical role of sales in scholarly publishing.

They discuss all things related to sales, and the sales process as well as why this is important for everyone in the publishing industry to understand. Andy covers the basics from products to stakeholders, how new business models have changed the role of sales, and the proudest achievements of his career, and he offers advice on the importance of mentorship for those who are curious about a career in sales. Listeners will note an overall emphasis on sales professionals as relationship managers and that the importance of listening to the customer finds equal ground to product knowledge in daily interactions.

We encourage our listeners to check out the below links referenced and provided by Andy for the episode:

• STM Mentorship/Mentee program
• Daniel Pink, To Sell is Human
• Andy’s LinkedIn

*Disclosure: Digital Science is owned by the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, the majority shareholder in Springer Nature.

Check out the episode below or listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.

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Transcript:

A transcript of this podcast is available here.

Background on this podcast series

SSP’s Career Development Committee launched this podcast series in 2019 to offer advice and discussion on how early career publishing professionals can add to their skill sets, develop networks, and take advantage of new opportunities. The series presents interviews and insights from experienced professionals on how to navigate one’s career in a diverse and ever-changing landscape of scholarly communications. If you have any feedback for the hosts, creators, or for future episodes, please email info@sspnet.org