Doug Davidoff, Founder & CEO

Doug is the creator of The INTELLIGENT GROWTH Process™, which enables companies to transform their business development process from merely communicating value to truly creating it. Doug has also developed The Integrated Wealth Advantage™, which helps high-net-worth individuals simplify their wealth management efforts.  His expertise is the result of integrating personal sales with 20 years of business development consulting experience.  Doug has started, owned and operated four companies and worked in sales for two of America's premier companies:  Merrill Lynch and the Hertz Corporation, where he was the youngest regional sales manager in their history.

Doug started developing The INTELLIGENT GROWTH Process in 1995 after a very successful career as an "old-school" salesperson.  Delayed three hours on a flight to Baltimore one day, Doug spent the time considering the changing nature of sales.  He realized traditional selling techniques were becoming less and less successful, and that soon they would probably not be working at all. 

"There were times when I successfully closed the sale, but I was relieved that the service group would deal with the client in the future,” he tells audiences. “Given the adversarial nature of selling, after closing I really didn't like the client anymore, and the client probably wasn't too fond of me either."

Once on the plane, he wrote an article "Thoughts Of An Old-School Salesperson In The Information Age."  He realized that lack of control of information was the fundamental reason that sales techniques—which had been effective for hundreds of years—would no longer work in an information-rich market place.  In the past, companies and salespeople always had an information advantage over their customers; they could implement sales processes that focused on maintaining that control.  The Internet and a “flattening world” changed that.  

In 1997, Doug sold the business consulting company he co-owned, VALU Travel Marketing, which worked with travel agencies and tour operators across the United States to increase their profits even while their suppliers were decreasing their commissions. 
Doug joined Merrill Lynch where he applied all of the concepts he developed and built a differentiated business in a highly commoditized industry.  Producing over $1.2 million and managing more than $100 million in assets, Doug led a team in which he was responsible for converting a senior Merrill Lynch advisor’s book of business from a transaction-based model to a fee-based one.  As a result, Merrill Lynch asked him to develop the core planning document they used to train their teams at the world’s largest financial services complex in Washington, DC.  He was also responsible for teaching best practices to financial advisors who were looking to transform their businesses to fee-based operations.

In 2004, Doug left Merrill Lynch and founded Imagine Financial Services and Imagine Consulting.  Doug is the author of Building The Bridge: A Story About How to Cut Your Sales Cycle in Half and True Financial Freedom.  Doug is a co-author of Parenting The Office, a management book that has been translated into several languages.  He is the publisher of The INTELIGENT GROWTH Ezine, a monthly publication featuring a variety of thought leaders insights on building a fast-growth, high margin business, and The Fast Growth Blog (www.thefastgrowthblog.com).  He has made guest appearances, written articles and has been quoted in several media, including FOX and NBC affiliates, The Washington Post, The Houston Chronicle, MyBusiness Magazine, SmartCEO Magazine, Life Insurance Selling and USA Today.  Doug has also been featured in newspaper stories and magazines, most recently featuring his successful transition from Merrill Lynch to his own wealth management firm in On Wall Street.

Doug’s unique ability is helping people gain more clarity in how they go about defining their game.  He has helped hundreds of business owners sort through complex information and situations, and create simplified plans to make everything work together. 

Doug lives in Severna Park, Maryland, with his wife and two children. By the time you read this his two kids and wife may have convinced him to add a dog to the household.