Sales As a Lifeline

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>> Hi, my name is inaudible. I'm with inaudible to be. Today we have the pleasure of meeting with Michael Pedone. He is the founder and CEO of SalesBuzz. Welcome.

>> Michael Pedone: Thank you.

>> Can you tell me is this your first company or your second company now?

>> Michael: Uh, no, this is not my first company. No, I've had another company before in a different field. Um, sales was a very big part of it. I built it into a great company and was fortunate enough to where somebody showed interest in it, and they purchased it from me. And now we're on to the second company.

>> What was the first company?

>> Michael: It was eTrafficJams.com.

>> What did you do?

>> Michael: We helped companies get top rankings on search engines for like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This way they can get more leads so their sales people will have more leads to sale.

>> Right.

>> Michael: So, it was a great start-up company for me. A quick story. I actually started it in the middle of the dot com bomber. Right at the tail end of that when that was happening. Um, started it with very little capital. Almost next to nothing, but with the vision and the desire that I had and with my sales background, I was able to go ahead and build it into a very good company. And obviously somebody saw it as a great value, and they purchased it from me. And now I'm on to bigger and better things.

>> Do you have a computer science degree?

>> Michael: No, no. My background is sales, for sure. But let me tell you. My background. I started off with--what's the best way to say this? The cards were stacked against me. Let's say that, in my growing up years. And I never had a chance to go to college or anything of that nature. So.

>> So you're a graduate of the university of adversity.

>> Michael: Absolutely. That's very true. Very true. Um, sales is what gave me a lifeline to the type of lifestyle that I'm in now. Okay. Um, like I said, I didn't have a chance to go to college.

>> Right.

>> Michael: Um, the company I had before I started off an internet company. And at the time when internet companies were failing all over the place.

>> Right.

>> Michael: Okay. Money was tight. My wife was pregnant with our second child. Almost could barely pay the bills at the time. Um, but I had a vision, and I knew I could sale this concept. And I knew I could build it into something great. And sure enough with a few hundred dollar investment, a few years later I sold it for over seven figures.

>> And how did you find a buyer for this?

>> Michael: I didn't. They found me.

>> How?

>> Michael: Um, well, how they found me? I guess my name got out there with the company name and we produced a good service. And it was, I guess our name got well known internationally because it was an international company at the time that was looking to break the market into the United States. And they came over--

>> From where?

>> Michael: From Sweden, a great group of guys from Sweden.

>> So they found you on the internet?

>> Michael: Yea, absolutely. Absolutely. So they came over and met with them. We saw the books. You know, we agreed. And it was a done deal fairly quickly. And all by the age of 36.

>> And you worked the company for five years?

>> Michael: Uh, four to five years.

>> Four to five years.

>> Michael: Four to five, yes. That's correct.

>> That's a nice payoff.

>> Michael: Yea. It was a lot of hard work. I'll admit.

>> Yea.

>> Michael: I mean, you know, there's a lot of three four a.m., you know, nights. And then when I first started it, I would get up and go to my full-time job. Then I would come home and work all night. Sometimes till three, four in the morning, get a couple hours sleep, and then start again.

>> So now you're in between time and you had the idea of SaleBuzz. How did they come up with that idea?

>> Michael: It wasn't really about the money. It was about what I was passionate about and where I felt I could be of best and of best value by sharing my knowledge for all the years of sales with other struggling sales people. Or even sales people that maybe aren't struggling but that are looking to get to that next level. I really wanted to help.

>> How did they come up with the name? Did you watch a beehive?

>> Michael: Laughter No, here's the story. Um, my oldest daughter and I, we were on a school field trip on the way to the Kennedy Space Center. We happened to live in the Florida area, and her school was going. And I was a chaperon, and we were going. And while we were outside the Kennedy Space Center, we were doing the whole tour. There was one section where the kids could go play in this area, and I decided to walk through the gift shop. And while I'm walking, like most people who own their own business whose brains are constantly going and thinking about work and things of that nature, I was actually having a little bit of self doubt of whether I could start another company. And I happened to look up, and I see this photo. And I knew it would be a disgrace to Buzz Aldrin if I thought that I couldn't start another company. He's standing on the moon. What I saw is anything's possible. If he can get to the moon way back then, I can certainly start another successful company and help a lot of people.

>> Thank you, Michael. Tune in tomorrow where Michael Pedone is going to share the story of SalesBuzz.

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==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====