The Billion Dollar Salesman -Serving the World for 28 Years! I’ve truly lived a blessed life and I have also been fortunate to have many mentors that provided me with guidance and motivation. As a result of learning how to do things the right way the companies that I’ve owned have generated just under 1 Billion dollars in sales world wide.

The Billion Dollar Salesman – It’s my goal to teach and mentor people like you. Reputation Resolve was created to help business owners improve their bottom line. Reputation Resolve’s other goal is to help individuals own and operation their own work from home business, all the while generating life changing residual income.

To accomplish this the Reputation Resolve Team and I can only work with a limited number of people. You won’t just get email answers, often times you’ll be coached and mentored one on one via phone and Skype and in person.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: How does someone know if they have what it takes to own their own business? Tell us a bit about how you made the decision and why.

1. That’s a great question. First they have to have a burning desire to leave the J.O.B world. There is a false belief that getting a paycheck is the best form of security. Nothing could be further from the truth.
2. I made the decision to follow the entrepreneurial path from the influence of my Mother (My first Mentor). I grew up in a middle class family. Our neighbors were not as fortunate. While I was enjoying healthy meals my friend Ricky ate Kraft Dinners and Hot dogs several times a week. It’s was a box of soap that changed their world and mine. One day my Mom said “Dori I’ve started a business and I need you to help me”. Help meant packing soap from living room to living room of friends and family. Ricky’s Mom Sylvia was one of my Moms customer/distributors. While I personally disliked packing soap from house to house. I soon realized that it was not soap it was gold. Gold in the form of opportunity. Our family started to bring in more income and Ricky’s family started to bring in more income too. Soon I was wanting to go to Ricky’s house for dinner as Sylvia’s new found success gave them the income to enjoy a healthier meals. Better yet, because of Sylvia’s success, she was able to take their family of 6 on a real vacation. Seeing the life changing effect of owning your own business and empowering others set me on my path as a life long entrepreneur and business coach.

The Billion Dollar Salesman; What was the biggest challenge you faced in your first six months in business? How did you meet that challenge?

1. I was 18 and I didn’t know what I didn’t know so I had to quickly figure out what I needed to succeed.
2. I learned how to listen. I was an independent representative with a company called Provita based out of Texas. I found out who the number one producer was and I attended every event that I could. I listened to her words of wisdom, every chance that I got. In 1977 in my first 30 days in the business I earned $10,000. $10,000 in 1977 was a huge sum of money as compared to today. In other words, I was mentored to success.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: What do you think is the greatest challenge facing business owners today and why? Any suggestions for how to address those challenges?

1. That’s easy. It’s being able to dedicate their time to doing what they do best which is running the core elements of their business. A florist knows flowers, a mechanic knows cars and a dentist knows about dentistry. Online Reputation and Review Management is an area that MUST be managed and until Now was time consuming. We developed Reputation Resolve to automated the entire Review and Reputation Management process. Reputation Resolve does an amazing job at helping a business gain more 5 Star Reviews and at the same time freeing the business owner to do what they do best.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: What is the single strongest piece of advice you would have for someone just starting out in business for themselves?

1. Don’t try and reinvent the wheel, find a proven Mentor that will direct you to success.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: What would you say is the one thing that new business owners forget about or overlook when they’re just planning/starting out?

1. They choose a business that does not represent a strong residual income business opportunity. Ask yourself the following question. Will this business generate a steady flow of residual income that will allow me to go on vacation for a month and still maintain the previous months earning level? Most opportunities make you into a slave of the opportunity. Find and opportunity that will offer you residual income freedom. To achieve real success you need to have an opportunity that will allow you to live a balanced life. Time for family, friends is equally important and a necessity.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: What marketing strategies have you found to be most successful in growing your business?

1. We’re in a Modern World. The world of Texting, Facetime and Email. These are all great and work wonders but they’re not enough. Too many people rely on impersonal forms of communication. When you discover how to combine that with the telephone and God forbid personal contact, you’ll dominate your peers and be on your way to financial freedom.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: What is it about the business/industry you are in that made it so attractive to you?

1. Businesses are being destroyed by online reviews. Yelp, G+ and other review sites while having good intentions can destroy a business. The sad part is that most business owners don’t have a clue on what to do. Reputation Resolve takes care of online reviews and more importantly it provides the business owner with the ability to proactively deal with negative reviews before they get out of control. The net result more 5 Star reviews, more new customers and increased revenues.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: After the initial start-up phase in business, what obstacles do business owners face as they try to grow their business and remain successful? Any advice for how to overcome those obstacles?

1. Too often you’ll find that the business opportunity only focuses on one product. Therefore, your customer value is fixed. So to expand and increase your income you have to constantly find new customers.
2. Make sure that you have the flexibility to increase your existing customer value. Reputation Resolve’s core product generates $114.50 per month per customer, however Reputation Resolve joint venture members can go back to their existing customers and offer them a variety of products that complement the core product. As an example a joint venture member can build a new website for their customers, or offer SEO services or Brand development services. The net effect is the monthly value of your customer can go from $114.50 per month into the thousands. Face it a business owner will 9 times out of 10 go with you if you’ve already delivered a great result with the first product that they’ve invested in.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: What on-line, software or other resources have helped you the most in managing all aspects of your company? Why and how have they been helpful?

1. It’s a must to have a great CRM (Contact Management). At Reputation Resolve we use Sales Envy. Sales Envy allows us to create templates and other sales materials once and instantly have access to them when dealing with our joint venture members. We include Sales Envy for FREE for all our Joint Venture Members at no extra charge. The reason is simple; we know that if our Joint Venture Members are more organized they’ll enjoy greater success.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: What did you do before you decided to become your own boss, and how have those skills helped you in your current business?

1. I started at 8 years old, cutting grass and shoveling snow, then at 15, I managed a Gas Station and in my teens and in my early twenties I was in Heavy construction.
2. The lesson that I learned is when I feel that I’m having a tough day I look back at those days when I was working 40 below zero temperatures taking home a paycheck, knowing that I could be laid off at any moment. So I use that as motivation. Today my commute is 47 seconds. That’s the time it takes me to crawl out of bed and go to my office down the hall from my bedroom in my penthouse apartment.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: What process do you follow to successfully close on a lead and make the final sale? Any tips?

1. Understand that it’s a process. Generally, it takes 7 contacts to close a sale.
2. What I see time and time again is that people lie to themselves. They’ll say that the opportunity does not work. When the truth is they’re the thing that doesn’t work. They make the initial contact and expect magic. Magic will happen when you follow up consistently. Think of it this way. You meet a Girl/Boy on a first date. What are the odds that you’ll ask that person to Marry You the first time you meet them? Zero! You need to establish a relationship. The same applies to the sales process, you’re building a relationship it takes 7 contacts to establish that you’re real. That means that you’ve built up trust and rapport and that equals a sale.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: If you work from home, what are the greatest benefits to doing so? What are the drawbacks, and how do you manage them?

1. I do work from home and besides learning how to be self accountable the biggest challenge is dealing with family and friends. Family members in the beginning won’t respect your time. It’s not their fault. Often times they’ll assume you can just do this and do that without regards to your businesses needs. So beside being self-disciplined you need to set firm ground rules with your spouse and children and friends. Generally when it comes to friends stay away from the people that say you can’t and surround yourself with the people that say you can.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: If you own more than one business, how have you integrated your businesses to juggle it all successfully? Any suggestions?

1. I do and I’m a proponent of Multiple Streams of Income. The key is to have a main core business that you focus most of your time and other businesses that generate income without requiring a great deal of your time and focus.
2. The biggest challenge was identifying other complimentary opportunities. It took me years to find the right blend. I now have the magical trio. That’s a benefit that I share with our Joint Venture Members.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: If you bought into an already existing business opportunity, route, distributorship, licensee opportunity or maybe small franchise, how and why did you make that choice?

1. Simple it has to generate residual income and it has to be in demand with experienced owners backing it. Personally I’m sick and tired of what I call the Carnival Barkers of the work from home industry. These Carnival Barkers Yell Step right up and have Zero Experience and the only thing they’re good at is taking your money. Often times their opportunity disappears and they’re onto Barking the next opportunity.

The Billion Dollar Salesman: What is/are your favorite motto and/or quote when it comes to business? Any final words of encouragement and/or inspiration for the budding entrepreneur?

1. Coincidence is God’s way of Staying anonymous. One of my mentors shared this saying with me. To this day I pay close attention to coincidence.
2. My advice is if you want true freedom seek out an opportunity that offers residual income. Look for experienced management and when you do choose that opportunity focus and don’t allow distractions from family and friends destroy your focus. Last and most important find a mentor and prove that you’re worthy of having them offer their time and advice to you. Having a Mentor in your corner is a privilege not a right.