Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
Speaker: I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
Speaker: What is a solopreneur you might ask?
Speaker: A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
Speaker: Hi, what's going on?
Speaker: We're here live at the Pure headquarters here in Waco, Texas.
Speaker: Excited to be here because we have someone that is one of the goats of solar, Mr. Blake Randall coming on the show with us today.
Speaker: Blake, thanks for coming on today.
Speaker: I appreciate it.
Speaker: Been a long time waiting.
Speaker: I know, right?
Speaker: He almost didn't agree to do the podcast because we're talking about the last Noxstar event.
Speaker: And then I get ghosted.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: But it's all good.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: But hey, man.
Speaker: Repentance is real, right?
Speaker: You didn't send me my $10,000 check yet.
Speaker: Still waiting.
Speaker: Just kidding.
Speaker: But no, thanks for still doing a podcast with us.
Speaker: I'm excited to be here.
Speaker: And even cooler that we're in this studio, it's probably going to be hopefully one of the best quality podcasts we've had.
Speaker: You guys got a great setup here.
Speaker: And it's funny, you're not even using it yet, right?
Speaker: We're testing it out right now.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So yeah, what a cool, I'll be the test dummy for this.
Speaker: You guys bought all the fancy equipment.
Speaker: But cool man, so yeah, I'm excited to get into your story, get into here, hear what you guys are doing over here at Pure.
Speaker: So Blake, he's the VP of sales, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, VP of sales here at Pure Energy, runs the wake office, the corporate closer trainer, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And I know you're closing deal doors.
Speaker: You won the Nox.
Speaker: Which Noxstar competition was that?
Speaker: It was the second round.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Second round.
Speaker: Of the Noxstar.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So if you go to any Noxstar events, yeah, I've always seen your name on the posters there.
Speaker: Poster child.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: How many deals did you close for that round, do you remember?
Speaker: I have no idea.
Speaker: I just noticed I won it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But, yeah.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Most important part.
Speaker: But, yeah, so we're going to get into your story, how you got into solar, and then, most importantly, how you can sell.
Speaker: Because we were just talking before we started the recording here.
Speaker: Actually just got off a blitz in Dallas, and we got our teeth kicked in pretty bad.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: I thought selling San Diego was hard, but these Texans are no joke.
Speaker: Yeah, for real.
Speaker: Had a ton of ghost appointments.
Speaker: Ended with three sales.
Speaker: A couple cancels, though, and so trying to see if we can pull some out.
Speaker: So definitely want to pick your brain about that.
Speaker: But yeah, man, let's get into, like, how'd you get into solar and what's your story for all those that haven't met you and everything?
Speaker: Yeah, no, so I got into solar.
Speaker: So before I even got into solar, I was doing alarms.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I had a roommate that introduced me into the door-to-door industry.
Speaker: I was actually going to go sell pest control.
Speaker: So I had two roommates, one that was selling pest control and the other was selling alarms.
Speaker: So the one that was selling pest control, he kind of more tried recruiting me, recruiting me.
Speaker: And so I was going to go sell pest control with him.
Speaker: But then this other roommate that was selling alarms, he didn't try recruiting me.
Speaker: He just took care of me every single time.
Speaker: Like would take me out to eat, didn't even talk about sales.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And so, like right before I was about to go sell, my roommate that didn't try recruiting me tried to recruit me that like the day or two before I was supposed to go out and sell.
Speaker: And he's a good friend and he's, I'm still in contact with him, but he literally said that he would take care of me.
Speaker: That's what got me.
Speaker: I'm like, I swear, if you screw me over, I know people in Mexico, you know?
Speaker: And so, ended up going, selling alarms, sold alarms for like three and a half years.
Speaker: Did good at alarms.
Speaker: And then my last summer doing alarms, it was in Houston.
Speaker: And I was selling with Tevita.
Speaker: We were in different offices, but like in the same office in Houston.
Speaker: And that year I was the number one rep in that office, in the Houston office.
Speaker: And I ended up staying for extension, which means you're selling longer than the summer season, just to hit my numbers.
Speaker: And Tevita gave me a call and I was like, hey, I think there's more money in solar.
Speaker: I like your work ethic.
Speaker: I know you can sell.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: If you want to come check this out with me you can just go finish hitting your numbers and then we can talk about it later much dope and to be a took care of me during the whole season even though I wasn't in his downline or anything and We ended up searching solar companies and we ended up here at pure Okay, nice.
Speaker: So to be that he wasn't even like your manager or anything in alarms He just like yeah, so there's two different managers.
Speaker: There's a guy named Bryce and a guy named to be to Vita.
Speaker: Yeah
Speaker: And then I was under Bryce.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And then Tevito just always took care of me.
Speaker: Bryce took care of me too, but Tevito didn't have any reason to take care of me and he still did.
Speaker: Yeah, nice.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: How many alarms you finished with that summer?
Speaker: I finished with over 200 funded, so.
Speaker: That's sweet.
Speaker: And so, yeah, what year was that?
Speaker: I'm bad with years.
Speaker: Three years ago, so 2019, I want to say.
Speaker: 2018 2019 somewhere around there nice okay so yeah I mean were you like when Tavita first told you about this really go totally on board or were you pretty hesitant because you know you going from something that you know that you're gonna make good money in and going into the unknown that's a big like
Speaker: leap of faith and big pit in the stomach even thinking about leaving you know a six-figure income which you know you'll hit every summer yeah so yeah gotcha that's cool and so uh you guys found pure um been with them for a little bit with was there a lot of other companies you're checking out was it a tough decision uh yeah pure yeah so tavita's like an old dog in the industry lots of connections and
Speaker: We had CEOs from other companies flying in and meeting with us, trying to recruit us.
Speaker: We ended up going with one company in Florida.
Speaker: And we tried it out.
Speaker: We didn't sell anything, but there's like, you know, 18 year olds making crazy amounts of money.
Speaker: And we're like, how the heck is this kid making way more money than me?
Speaker: And I can sell and work harder than him.
Speaker: And then we overheard someone talking about how they haven't gotten paid.
Speaker: And we're like, bro, we just left Vivint.
Speaker: We left Vivint for that reason.
Speaker: We went back and it's getting messed up.
Speaker: But yeah, and then we ended up searching more and more.
Speaker: And then we came across Pure.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, that's cool.
Speaker: Yeah, because, yeah, I get a lot of people asking me, you know, how to choose a company.
Speaker: I know that's been, unfortunately, there's a lot of companies in solar even where people aren't getting paid on time.
Speaker: Installs are taking way longer than they should be.
Speaker: There's stuff going on that's maybe not ideal.
Speaker: So in your experience, because you've been with Pure ever since then, right?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, I never looked back.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: Isaiah, you've been super loyal.
Speaker: But yeah, what's your advice on maybe reps that ask that?
Speaker: Like, hey, how do you choose a company?
Speaker: And like, how do you stick it out, be loyal, or maybe when you should leave?
Speaker: Do you have any advice for people that are, I don't know, trying to find a good company to work for?
Speaker: Besides, I guess, come work for Pure?
Speaker: Yeah, that's the secret.
Speaker: No, I don't know.
Speaker: Definitely appears not where it was when we came on the reason why we ended up coming to pure is just because we would be very close to the owner Justin and so That means less people are touching our money.
Speaker: So that would be as much of an issue But then also the fact that pure own their own fulfillment that's huge because
Speaker: they control the whole process so if I ever need any help or need anything or need to contact you know sales support to figure out where the deal is I'm not fishing around and same thing for the customer too yeah so that's a big selling point but now where peers at I think the biggest thing is who you surround yourself with okay and that's the biggest I would say selling point because you know
Speaker: being able to rub shoulders with rick and sue lee and jared and austin stoker who's over 200 accounts this year wow you know surrounded by all these people and when we do these blitzes or we get together or when we have meetings just the gold nuggets like even though i train all the closers i still learn from everybody else and i'm always adapting my presentation and pitch so that way we continue to get better and stay ahead of the curve of everybody else
Speaker: Yeah, okay, I like that.
Speaker: No, I think that's generally what I tell people too is because if you follow the, you know, heavy hitters, you've heard like you're the average of the five people you're with.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: And so I think more than the company, that's obviously you got to have a company that fulfills, that gets installs in, that has culture and all that.
Speaker: Um, yeah, I think that's great advice following people that's, um, are high level or selling a lot themselves.
Speaker: Cause if you're going to a company that's like the best pay, the best installs and all that, but the best rep is doing two a month or whatever, then it might not be the best idea.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, I think the Bible says by your fruits, you shouldn't, you shall know them or something.
Speaker: Even the Bible tells you how to pick a good solar company.
Speaker: But cool, man.
Speaker: And so, yeah.
Speaker: And you've been, are you the number one install?
Speaker: Have you had the most installs at Pure?
Speaker: I'm not sure.
Speaker: I know last year and the year before I was the number one sales rep.
Speaker: This year, Austin Stoker beat me.
Speaker: And a couple other reps because I've been out with an ACL tear and making sure other reps are getting fed.
Speaker: But no, I'm happy.
Speaker: I'm actually...
Speaker: Records are meant to be broken.
Speaker: And so it's actually a proud moment for me where having these reps beat my records and selling over 200 deals in a year, that's astonishing.
Speaker: That's great.
Speaker: I'm just happy about it.
Speaker: So you train Austin.
Speaker: Is he your protege or something?
Speaker: I train Austin, Sue Lee, Jared, McKay.
Speaker: Okay, so you're a proud parent just seeing these guys take off.
Speaker: Yeah, it's fun seeing.
Speaker: Yeah, it's incredible.
Speaker: So how much do you think is training?
Speaker: It was obviously really cool to people.
Speaker: Did you also recruit them or you just train like most of these guys?
Speaker: I recruited some, trained some, but I mean the EI train would be the biggest thing, training most of them.
Speaker: Okay, gotcha.
Speaker: Well, yeah, super high quality people.
Speaker: And I know like Suli's been on the podcast.
Speaker: She's just like work ethic and saying, Oh yeah, I'm real work ethic.
Speaker: And it's actually a funny story.
Speaker: So Suli was actually selling for another solar company when we did the whole Noxstar thing.
Speaker: And her and I were just head to head, like neck and neck.
Speaker: Like she would be winning one day, I'd be winning the next day, that competition between us too.
Speaker: And I told her, I texted her, I'm like, dude, whoever wins this thing at the end of the day, like you're a baller, I'm gonna take a selfie with you.
Speaker: And so she was in Corpus, I was in McAllen, so it's like a three hour drive.
Speaker: And I'm like, Suli, like,
Speaker: I'm gonna come knock with you, get that selfie.
Speaker: Well, I didn't tell her I was gonna knock with her, I just said, I'm gonna get that selfie that you owe me.
Speaker: So, went over there, I knocked with her for like 30 minutes.
Speaker: Crazy work ethic, that woman.
Speaker: Nothing but respect for her.
Speaker: And I remember, like I had my iPad and I'm taking notes on everything that she's like doing wrong.
Speaker: She did stuff wrong?
Speaker: Oh, dude.
Speaker: At the beginning, yes.
Speaker: At the beginning now, she's solid.
Speaker: And I was following her around taking notes, and I had a note, probably 20 things that she did wrong.
Speaker: And I told her, this is a testimony on how hard you work.
Speaker: The fact that you're like, I'm astonished you're getting deals with how bad this presentation is.
Speaker: So it was pretty bad, huh?
Speaker: Yeah, but I'll give you three gold nuggets to take away from this.
Speaker: And she's like, oh, give me the rest, give me the rest.
Speaker: And I'm like, no, I can't because I'm training pure reps.
Speaker: I'm not going to just give everything out.
Speaker: I'm like, here, I'll give you three gold nuggets, take it.
Speaker: But I was shocked with how hard her work ethic was and how many deals she was able to pull with just her work ethic.
Speaker: Yeah, I know.
Speaker: It's crazy.
Speaker: I've seen some reps that have almost zero training, but
Speaker: I remember a guy, my first company I worked with, he would get like, I don't know, he'd get one or two deals a week, pretty good.
Speaker: And then I went out with him one day and his pitch was just like, hey, we're selling solar, do you want to buy some?
Speaker: And that's what he said, every door.
Speaker: And especially in San Diego, like that doesn't really work.
Speaker: I'm like, dude, how are you getting deals, man?
Speaker: Like, no one buys all this.
Speaker: But yeah, he was just hitting so many doors that you're going to find some people.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: So, like, that's a secret that, that's probably maybe the biggest secret that
Speaker: For real, everyone's always looking for shortcuts, but at the end of the day, it comes down to like how hard you work.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker: But yeah, well, so what were these?
Speaker: Do you mind sharing what the three?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It is like two years.
Speaker: I don't even remember.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm sure you got a lot of trainings going on.
Speaker: Um, but yeah, so yeah, you've trained a ton of people.
Speaker: Um, I want to talk a little bit about just competitions cause yeah, you won the knock star competition.
Speaker: Um, I think you said before we started that you haven't lost the competition at period.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So you must be, you must be doing something right with competition.
Speaker: So yeah, for you, I mean, I know you're working super hard, but yeah, do you have what, like, what's the secret to winning all these competitions?
Speaker: I think something that clicked for me and it was earlier in my career is you treat sales like a sport.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So growing up playing baseball, if we had a game on Saturday, it's not like you're going out and hanging out with your friends super, super late Friday night.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because the next day you have a baseball game to go to.
Speaker: So I think treating everything like a sport.
Speaker: I mean, we're paid professional money and you got to act like a professional at the end of the day.
Speaker: So I think that has been a big secret to my success is just doing the small things, going to bed on time, not staying up late.
Speaker: And my mind is constantly thinking of the competition, competition, next deal, next deal, next deal.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What about, because not everyone has, like, that sports background, unfortunately.
Speaker: I know, yeah, I think the best reps, they have a sports background like yourself.
Speaker: But, like, what do you do if you have reps, maybe they're not in sports, they're not fully bought in?
Speaker: Do you have anything that's worked to, like, get people just a fire lit under them or get them, like, more competitive for those people, like, oh, I don't care as much?
Speaker: Like, what do you guys do or any tips on that?
Speaker: I don't.
Speaker: You fire them.
Speaker: You let them go.
Speaker: If they're lazy, you just let them go.
Speaker: Yeah, you're not.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Like the thing here in the wake of office is like if you as long as you have a good attitude and you're working hard, we'll keep you around and train you and try to get you to be the best salesperson you can.
Speaker: But once like laziness or non-competitiveness comes into play or they're just satisfied where they're at, that's a battle that I'm not like willing to fight.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, that's something I've noticed just in your culture in general.
Speaker: Up here, I was talking to our friend Rick Martinez here.
Speaker: No slithering, bro.
Speaker: Just about like, you know, if you guys are like trying to recruit like crazy, bringing a ton of reps.
Speaker: And I know you are recruiting, but something he's telling me, he's like, yeah, we don't beg people to come.
Speaker: It's just like, if they want to, we let them on.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And we're not like super strict on the schedule and all this stuff.
Speaker: I'm like, so it was really interesting because I think we see it all the time where companies just are pulling teeth, trying to get guys to stay on and trying to micromanage.
Speaker: And you guys are just like, whatever.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: If you don't want to work great, if you don't, then just leave.
Speaker: And I think it's kind of more of that like abundance mindset, abundance versus scarcity.
Speaker: Like if you want to be here, be here.
Speaker: But if not, then just go somewhere else.
Speaker: Would you agree with that?
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: And I think the nice thing about solar is there's just so much money to go around where you kind of get to pick your headaches.
Speaker: Where selling alarms, we were just trying to get anybody and everybody through the door kind of thing.
Speaker: And please stay, please stay.
Speaker: This will work out.
Speaker: Here it's like, hey, if you want to be here, great.
Speaker: If you don't, great.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We'd rather grow and build around people that want to be here and are here for the right reasons.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it's a lot less heading for us.
Speaker: Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker: Yeah, that's a nugget for, I think, any company.
Speaker: Now you're in more of a leadership role.
Speaker: Were you in leadership from the beginning, pure, or were you just kind of starting to solve it?
Speaker: No, so we just came on as normal reps.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And we ended up breaking like every record peer ever had before in the first three months we were here.
Speaker: And then that's when we started gaining leadership roles and everything like that.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: That's sweet.
Speaker: So they just saw, they're like, dang, these guys know how to sell them.
Speaker: Yeah, like we literally just figured it out.
Speaker: Because when we went to go sell for that company in Florida, we didn't have any sales at all.
Speaker: I'm like, well, this is going to be a great pitch to my wife.
Speaker: I'm like, here we are making six figures.
Speaker: Let's jump ship and go to an industry that I haven't made a penny in and I don't know how to sell.
Speaker: But, yeah.
Speaker: So she was pretty nervous about it.
Speaker: Oh, 100%, dude.
Speaker: So many, like, bless her heart.
Speaker: Like, she's been through a lot.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm not the easiest guy to be married to, definitely, but she's the best.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, yeah, especially during competitions and all that, I'm sure you're like, it's all like crazy.
Speaker: So you just thought beforehand, you're like, okay, I'm in a competition.
Speaker: Pretty much.
Speaker: Working 24-7 just so you know.
Speaker: Phone call, everything.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, no, definitely.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Any high level sales guy, it's like, yeah, you got to have a good wife to like, you know, be behind your back.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't pretty much are married to the game for a while until it's over.
Speaker: But I know it's like Tom Brady just had a divorce because he's so focused on the game.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's if you don't get the buy in from your wife, it's extremely tough.
Speaker: So it's an uphill battle for sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Filling on that.
Speaker: But yeah, so what's your take on like the leadership?
Speaker: So you were just so on like regular, you've been in leadership ever since.
Speaker: What's like your, I don't know, golden nuggets of leadership or how do you lead your guys just kind of like in general, would you say?
Speaker: I think it's a quote, you teach them correct principles and let them govern for themselves.
Speaker: I think just leading by example is big.
Speaker: So for example, this last blitz that we were on, I've been sick for two weeks.
Speaker: You can probably hear it in my voice.
Speaker: I'm still a little bit sick.
Speaker: But even though I'm sick, I still show up for the guys.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: every day in and day out it doesn't matter what's happening i always try to show up for the guys and i think that's the biggest thing with leadership and and that's one thing i didn't like of the leadership at my previous company uh was you know typically you know higher-ups like regionals they're not in the trenches with the guys right you know teaching them how to sell or going out and knocking i still go close deals yeah
Speaker: And I don't want my guys to ever think that I'm lazier.
Speaker: I'm just riding off of everybody's back, even though I have certain responsibilities where I have to go train, go to other offices and stuff like that.
Speaker: But I think always leading from the front and never leaving the trenches.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I agree.
Speaker: I mean, yeah, a lot of door knockers, that's the goal.
Speaker: It's like, oh, how can I get off the door or something?
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Not to go to deals.
Speaker: Let's just be a regional manager.
Speaker: And then I just go around and talk.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, all those companies that do it that way, yeah, I see that they're not like as successful because the guys don't take it as serious.
Speaker: They're not seeing them out there, like you said, in the trenches.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: So what does it look like for you?
Speaker: You're just going around, you're still selling a lot, but you're just traveling around all the offices and training or what's kind of like your training schedule and all that?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So in a month, three weeks out of the month, three weeks out of the four, I'm here in the Waco office most of the time.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: closing the guys' deals and then one week out of the month I'm in a different office training.
Speaker: Now sometimes there's like emergencies where we have a brand new office coming in where I end up being there for
Speaker: you know, the whole month almost just training their guys, holding their hand through their whole process because they're taking a risk also coming into a whole different company, a whole different industry.
Speaker: And that's a lot of trust to have.
Speaker: So I don't want to fall short in that aspect.
Speaker: So most of the time I'm here
Speaker: in Waco three weeks out of the month.
Speaker: But there's times where, for example, we're opening up another Houston office, I'll probably be there for a month.
Speaker: Yeah, okay.
Speaker: Well, something I was curious about is I was talking to some of your guys, and it sounds like each office kind of has, from what I heard, kind of has control a little bit over their own processes and schedule.
Speaker: Seems like maybe a little bit how they pay their center.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Stuff like that.
Speaker: And so where you're kind of giving each office kind of their own direction, autonomy or something, how do you, I guess, how do you keep the culture all together when every office is separate and kind of keep everyone together where they're separated like that?
Speaker: What do you guys do?
Speaker: I think that just everyone has the main goal of getting sales.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I think that's the biggest key.
Speaker: Yeah, each office runs a little bit differently.
Speaker: At the end of the day, they're just trying to produce as much as they can and they think that's the best way for their office to produce.
Speaker: Now, we have guidelines on what should be paid or how they should structure if they come to us and they're like, hey, I think about doing this.
Speaker: We poke holes at their idea.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Got it.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: But yeah, I think it comes back to, again, just like the abundant stuff.
Speaker: You don't have to micromanage them, just if it's working.
Speaker: And then if you see that they're not performing, then you kind of give them like, hey, you should be doing it probably this way.
Speaker: Yeah, and then let's say they end up finding out something super cool that, you know, oh, pay a rep this way or do this in your training or do these times because of this, that, and the other.
Speaker: I mean, there's...
Speaker: Thousand ways to skin a cat and not just because we're doing is the right way But there's other ways to do it and it might there might be better ways.
Speaker: So we're open to new ideas Okay, what about with blitzes because I know you guys do a lot of blitzes and I know Sui's team does like kind of like a hybrid type thing where they're coming in summer three weeks on a week off and
Speaker: i think is what she told me um so same thing with that you just like guys kind of plan their own blitzes or do you plan the blitzes or how do you guys so sully's office runs like a blitz model so she plans her blitzes around going and knocking in her area but the company does a blitz every single month on the off season okay and we end up determining what area to go to whether an office needs help or pipeline is low okay and so okay
Speaker: So it's not like everyone is required to come do this Blitz.
Speaker: You just say, hey, we're doing a Blitzer, whoever wants to come, and people show up.
Speaker: And it's nice because it adds camaraderie within the company.
Speaker: You get to see friends from different offices.
Speaker: You get to rub shoulders with high producers.
Speaker: So it's a good time.
Speaker: It's a lot of fun memories definitely are made on the Blitz.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, no, it's fun.
Speaker: This was actually, I think, yeah, probably the first solar blitz I've really done.
Speaker: I guess I kind of did the summer program, my first summer.
Speaker: But out here in Dallas, it was the first really like where I've traveled out and just been Airbnb with the guys and all that.
Speaker: And they kind of, even though we were working hard, it did kind of feel like a vacation too at the same time.
Speaker: Cause you're just all like chilling and it's almost like you're back at college or something.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's definitely a break.
Speaker: So yeah, it's, but I think if you're trying to push, um, cause I think there's always something in my head, uh, I don't know if I can like,
Speaker: Because in California, we're kind of just knocking afternoons and all that.
Speaker: And, yeah, I've gotten a little bit lazier than I should be in my old age and all that.
Speaker: And so I was just like, I don't know about this blitz stuff.
Speaker: I don't know if I can.
Speaker: I'm not as young as I used to be.
Speaker: I don't know if I can get on the doors all day long and be out there.
Speaker: But, yeah, once you're out there, like, when you're surrounded by everyone, you know everyone's doing it.
Speaker: You know everyone's out there for the same goal, same purpose.
Speaker: It's, like, it was hard work, but I'm, like, wow, this is actually a little bit easier than I thought just because you're all out there doing the same thing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I think it also helps you feel younger.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: At the end of the day, like, when going on blitzes or being around the guys, I feel, I'm 28, I feel old.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I know I'm not old.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: but being around the guys makes me feel a little younger.
Speaker: So it makes me happy.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Well, cool.
Speaker: So I want to kind of transition into the sales stuff, the training.
Speaker: I know you're a corporate trainer for closing.
Speaker: Do you still knock?
Speaker: Because I know you're primarily focused on closing and training and all that, but how much are you still doing a ton of knocking yourself?
Speaker: There's times where I'll actually go knock with guys.
Speaker: I'll text out, hey, I'm available.
Speaker: Who wants me to come knock with them?
Speaker: So I'll still go knock with reps.
Speaker: And I think a lot of leaders should do that because, one, you gain respect from your rep, going and knocking with him.
Speaker: But two, you get to know your rep a little bit better.
Speaker: And then you get training with that rep and know exactly what he's doing wrong.
Speaker: It's a win-win-win for everybody at that point when you're knocking with reps.
Speaker: Yeah, and then three, it gets you out there because if you just told someone you're going to be a place, you can't.
Speaker: Exactly, 100%.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that was me.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: And so what's kind of your training?
Speaker: So you bring people in.
Speaker: Do you guys have, is every office different as far as like transitioning from setter to closer too?
Speaker: No, everything is different in every office.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Here in our office, if you want to be a closer, you can be a closer.
Speaker: You just have to have at least a month, two months, three months under your belt.
Speaker: You're just going to come in here and start closing.
Speaker: That kind of thing.
Speaker: But that's it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So yeah, let's talk about like your training.
Speaker: So you train guys all the time in closing.
Speaker: What's like your framework or what's kind of like the way you lay it out for your guys as they're starting to learn to close?
Speaker: Super simple.
Speaker: I think being in all these competitions, being in different trainings and hearing other people's presentations, I think people end up over-complicating the process.
Speaker: So if you're able to sell a five-year-old on solar, you're doing great.
Speaker: Where I think people get into like,
Speaker: Way too in the nitty-gritty of like panel degradation.
Speaker: I'm like dude.
Speaker: I don't even bring that up.
Speaker: Yeah, you know
Speaker: What type of inverter are we using?
Speaker: There's a lot of stuff I know and I'll bring it up when I have to, but if I don't have to bring it up, I don't.
Speaker: Because a confused mind always says no.
Speaker: And so I'm not going to give them all this information where all of a sudden they have analysis paralysis where they can't make a decision at the end of the day.
Speaker: I think a lot of sales reps in the industry tend to overcomplicate the process.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Is that typically the biggest mistake you see?
Speaker: I think so.
Speaker: With just people starting out?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Overcomplicating the process is for sure probably the biggest mistake I see people making.
Speaker: What other mistakes do you think you see that like beginners make all the time?
Speaker: Overcomplicating the process, I think also the way that they close.
Speaker: Sometimes they ask for the close when you don't need to ask for the close, you just close them.
Speaker: And they're already closing themselves.
Speaker: There's a difference between selling and closing, right?
Speaker: Selling is when you're telling the customer, this is a good idea, this is a good price, this is smart to do.
Speaker: Closing your customer, and I think a lot of people get confused, is when you actually have the customer saying those things instead of you telling the customer that.
Speaker: And I think that's a big paradigm shift that I took when I was learning how to close, I guess you can say, when you get the customer to say those things instead of you having to say those things.
Speaker: Yeah, so how do you get the customer to say these things?
Speaker: Is it just questions you ask them or how do you get the customers?
Speaker: Questions you ask them, framework that you do, bringing up certain aspects or pain in the process of solar so that way they're forced to say it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But certain things like that, yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So what tech, can you give us an example, like some questions, what are like some good questions you ask for them to get, like, you know, start repeating, you know, to you and start selling themselves?
Speaker: I mean there's a question that I'll ask in my cell I'm like hey so what would you so for example over here in Texas we'll say TXU would be like hey what would you do if TXU ended up lowering your rate yeah they're like oh that'd be great I would love to have TXU lower my rate just things like that yeah okay
Speaker: Yeah, and I think there's a lot, and I think, yeah, good exercise is guys just go right out all the questions they can think of, because sometimes for me, I know questions, but I just haven't gotten it down like pen and paper, and you start experimenting with it and, you know, asking other people.
Speaker: But yeah, so we were selling out here, and like coming from California, I just obviously noticed right off the bat that people weren't saving as much money, and then you're dealing with all the deregulated stuff, and a different process and all that, so...
Speaker: I know I asked you a little bit, but yeah, man, what's your advice?
Speaker: If someone like me coming from a different market that's like, dang, this is way harder than I thought, what's your advice to kind of learn to get those skills to where it works in Texas too?
Speaker: Yeah, I would say the two biggest things, one, stick it out because it is learnable.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And then number two, surround yourself with people that are doing it.
Speaker: Get training from them because they will shorten your learning curve a lot.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And those would be the two biggest things because if you don't have someone holding your hand, dude, it's going to take a while for you to figure out the Texas market for sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I wish we would have done that more.
Speaker: Yeah, we did a week blitz.
Speaker: So I kind of think it wasn't, like, long enough maybe to get it figured out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But, yeah, we had Rick out there and everything.
Speaker: But if I could have done it all over again, maybe I would have kind of just come to your office or something and then.
Speaker: hang out with us in Waco.
Speaker: I know, like, for you guys, because I think that probably would have been better for us, just, like, learning all your process, because we just kind of came out here, and yeah, we had Rick, he helped us out, but it was still to a degree, just kind of trying to figure out on our own, and telling so many times, so, yeah, it got kind of rough, but yeah, and it was freezing, too, man.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: That's my kryptonite right there, it's like, knocking in the cold, it's like the worst for me.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Like, I just shut down, I'm like, dude, it sucked.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: The first day we came out, it was like, I don't know, 37 and raining all day long.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like, man, what did we get ourselves into?
Speaker: It was miserable.
Speaker: But that actually was one of our better days for appointments, though, when it was raining, clearly or not, because people were letting us inside and stuff like that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, well cool.
Speaker: And then, yeah, so Texas market and deregulated, like, so you're selling here with not as much savings.
Speaker: So for you guys, is it more just selling on the equity?
Speaker: I know some people save money, but we ran into a lot of people where they weren't saving.
Speaker: There's a lot more panels.
Speaker: I noticed the roofs out here generally, at least where we were at, had way more angles.
Speaker: Yeah, you definitely have to be more strategic with your knocking for sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, yeah, is that something you guys are considering as you're sending people out to areas or what type of strategic knocking are you guys doing to maybe avoid some of that stuff?
Speaker: Yeah, definitely scouting out areas before we send guys into them is huge.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: When you were asking the first question, you asked about, like, how are you selling your customers?
Speaker: A lot of it, like, Texas loves ownership, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And just being with a Texas company helps sell that ownership too.
Speaker: But it's mainly ownership that you're selling on and future savings.
Speaker: Because most of the time it's like a bill swap or pretty close to what they're paying right now.
Speaker: So it's framing up your presentation so that way they can see that, oh yeah, this is actually super smart.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: How do you build pain?
Speaker: Because in California we have all this stuff, like the rates went up like crazy.
Speaker: And I know they have here a little bit, but like California, there's so many ways we can build pain because there's all this stuff going on with like,
Speaker: Nuclear power plant's shutting down.
Speaker: California's obviously super liberal, so they're cutting out all the nuclear, all the gas, and getting power from different states.
Speaker: So there's a ton of reasons we have to build pain, and pretty much everyone knows it in California.
Speaker: But out here, it's probably just lack of knowledge for me.
Speaker: But how do you guys build more pain here?
Speaker: Because I don't think the rates are going up near as much compared to California.
Speaker: Yeah, it's definitely not California.
Speaker: This year actually has been like the biggest rate increase that we've seen.
Speaker: So when I first started solar, I think they were paying like 8 cents, 10 cents per kilowatt.
Speaker: So literally it's like a bill swap.
Speaker: Now, if you look at people's bills, they're 14, you know, 16, 18.
Speaker: Sometimes you hit 20.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so different pain points are like, for example, the two years ago, the freeze that happened.
Speaker: That's a big pain point.
Speaker: How the infrastructure of the grid is at risk.
Speaker: They're going to have to do a whole bunch of updates to it.
Speaker: That's another pinpoint.
Speaker: We pin like Texans don't like Californians.
Speaker: So we point that out too.
Speaker: It's like, dude, Texas is becoming more like California.
Speaker: Like the rates are increasing.
Speaker: A bunch of Californians are moving here.
Speaker: I like that.
Speaker: But yeah, those are the main pain points that you can use in your presentation while selling in Texas.
Speaker: OK.
Speaker: Yeah, that's something I wish I would have done too, is just figure out all these pain points.
Speaker: Because my first door I went to, I was going to try to build.
Speaker: I went to the door in California.
Speaker: You say, oh, you guys, I'm sure, have seen the rates go up.
Speaker: First door in Texas, like, oh, no, our rates have never gone up.
Speaker: I'm like, oh, it's never gone up?
Speaker: What are you talking about?
Speaker: I'm like, shoot.
Speaker: And so I wish I would have studied up some of that too and talk more to you guys and ask some of these questions.
Speaker: So we do something real quick.
Speaker: So we still use that.
Speaker: Like we'll say, hey, everybody's rates are increasing.
Speaker: So here's the thing.
Speaker: Here, I'll give it a gold nugget.
Speaker: So when you say, hey, everybody, all your neighbors have noticed the price of energy has been increasing.
Speaker: So we're the ones actually doing the solar.
Speaker: When was the last time you looked into that?
Speaker: So you don't pause.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Because if you say, hey, all the neighbors have seen their rate increase and you pause right there, most of the time, nine times out of 10, your customer will interject and say, no, I haven't seen my rate increase.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But if you say, hey, everybody out here knows how the price of energy has been increasing, so we're the ones actually doing the solar.
Speaker: When was the last time you looked into that?
Speaker: Their mind goes to when was the last time I looked into solar because of the rates increasing, not whether or not my rate has increased.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, that's fire.
Speaker: I wish, yeah, I was not doing that.
Speaker: So that's money.
Speaker: Yeah, because just people weren't giving me, yeah, they weren't like taking my bait that I was giving them.
Speaker: It was a lot tougher, I realized.
Speaker: Okay, but no, I was just going to say though, anyone that's starting out like a new market or doing a blitz like this, it's definitely something I would do different is just asking someone like you, what are the problems, what are the pain points?
Speaker: And we got like a, you know, the presentation, we got kind of the pitch you guys use on the doors, but just knowing stuff like that and how to like phrase it, the intonation, like the way you just said it, because we were saying the same words, but we weren't, yeah, we were doing a pause, you know, I was doing a pause, like you've seen the race go up.
Speaker: And so things like that, I wish we would have got, like, maybe some recordings and things like that from you guys saying it.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I'm training.
Speaker: But just some observations I had.
Speaker: You just come to Waco.
Speaker: All your problems will be solved, Taylor.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Probably will have to.
Speaker: But they hate Californians, though.
Speaker: That's true.
Speaker: we'll convert you to a texan real quick i know yeah i just got this deal i just got out of before this i told her i was kind of back and forth selling between here and california um but she's like oh you better not tell anyone that like people out here say she was telling me she has a shirt that says don't california my texas or something like that i'm like uh okay gotta be careful who i tell that yeah no you have to be careful yeah but
Speaker: well cool um so yeah just to start wrapping up here blake um was your closing um you tore your acl yeah it's not the way you're describing it sounds just like a pro athlete you sound like kevin duran or something out this evening it's just messing in a friend's backyard we decided to wrestle on eastern yeah acl gone
Speaker: What are you doing?
Speaker: So how do you get to doors?
Speaker: So you can still like walk and you have to go on crutches for a little bit.
Speaker: So a crazy thing.
Speaker: So I was actually in a competition when I tore my ACL.
Speaker: It was one of Sam Taggart's competitions and it was the grit competition.
Speaker: Sui and I were in it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And I, dude, I tore my ACL and I would literally go to houses with a brace and an ice pack just strapped onto my knee.
Speaker: And because we only had two weeks left, thankfully, like Suli threw down those two weeks.
Speaker: I pulled enough weight, but, um,
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You still got to go out there.
Speaker: You still got to show up for your guys.
Speaker: And I mean, even after my ACL surgery, I would still come to the office in crutches.
Speaker: Even though I'm not going to closes because I'm worried that some kid or some dog is going to jump on my knee.
Speaker: But just showing up, it helps build morale.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Were you getting sympathy closes, you think?
Speaker: People like, oh, I feel bad for this guy.
Speaker: I better sign up for someone.
Speaker: Hopefully.
Speaker: I mean, I have no idea.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: Well, yeah, most people wouldn't even show up, so that's their turn.
Speaker: And then for those, I think we get a lot of people like, man, how does Blake close so many deals?
Speaker: But walk us through what's like in these competitions, how much are you actually working to get to the level of success you've had?
Speaker: What's kind of like your typical week?
Speaker: I know you're working more in blitzes, things like that, but what would you say, like, what's the work it takes to get this level?
Speaker: Yeah, it's next, like...
Speaker: Yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker: It's a lot of work and it's day in and day out every single day.
Speaker: The only day I rest is Sunday.
Speaker: But other than that, you know, if I have an appointment at 10 a.m.
Speaker: or 8 a.m.
Speaker: and then I have one at 9 p.m., I'm working, you know, crazy hours.
Speaker: And yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So it's not like set every single day, but like some days you're going extremely, extremely early.
Speaker: Some days you're going eight to nine at night.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So you don't have like a set schedule really in your head.
Speaker: It's just different every day.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just grinding every day.
Speaker: Just work every day as much as you can.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Gotcha.
Speaker: Gotcha.
Speaker: All right, man.
Speaker: Well, just to wrap up here, Blake, I wanted to ask you, what's the, so you're in a close, what's your typical closing lines?
Speaker: You've built value.
Speaker: Well, I guess, first of all, you follow pretty much the same structure, like build rapport, intro, fact find.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Build a problem, give them solution, close.
Speaker: Is that kind of your process?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: And I think here's one thing that separates me from a lot of different sales reps is I tell the customer what they don't want to hear.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: because I think a lot of sales reps come off too salesy and they only tell them the good, good, good.
Speaker: But I also tell the customer the bad because if I tell the customer the bad, that builds a lot of rapport and trust with the customer.
Speaker: So for example,
Speaker: I have a close that I do, it's a five step process close.
Speaker: But in that close, I tell the customer that they'll get installed in eight weeks.
Speaker: Which eight, our average install time is way sooner than eight weeks.
Speaker: But the reason why I tell the customer eight weeks is because I know that we'll install them before the eight weeks.
Speaker: So like I said, it's telling the customer stuff that they don't want to hear.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because it's like, hey, worst case scenario, if it rains, you know, every single day for like two months, then we're installing you at the eight weeks.
Speaker: But it's also painting the picture with worst case scenario is a big key to my success and the structure of my clothes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, that's a nugget for sure because, yeah, I've experienced that the hard way and I've also done some good things with it.
Speaker: But, yeah, I had a customer, super big deal out in California.
Speaker: Yeah, I told him it was going to be a month.
Speaker: We come to two months.
Speaker: He's like, okay, you told me it was going to be a month.
Speaker: I'm canceling it.
Speaker: just because of that i'm like dude come on man like it's like a month in one day they're hitting you up i'm like dude i don't have time for that i'm gonna tell you two months i know so yeah i learned my lesson and now yeah we got to an area where i knew permits were taken longer where it was yeah kind of these town home type homes i knew the h-way could potentially be a nightmare
Speaker: So I told these guys, I'm like, hey, it could take up to six months, just so you know, should be faster.
Speaker: We could take up to six months.
Speaker: And we're at four months now and it's taken a long time.
Speaker: But like, just because I said that they're like, they're still, they're not like throwing a fit or anything.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I told us.
Speaker: So I love that.
Speaker: Okay, and then, so what's your closing like?
Speaker: So you go through your process.
Speaker: Sounds like you're pretty assumptive and everything.
Speaker: You're not asking for permission.
Speaker: So how do you transition to the close, and what do you do?
Speaker: Yeah, so literally, sometimes I default to, like, an option close.
Speaker: There's different closes that I use, but the two most common ones are an option close and an assumption close.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Those are the two main defaults.
Speaker: By then, they're already closing themselves, so there's no really need to...
Speaker: you know, I guess close them because they're already closed.
Speaker: So it's just going right into the paperwork.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And then also if they say, for example, if they want a battery or they want extra panels, I'll use that at the very end.
Speaker: Hey, do you want the system with 24 panels or do you want the system with 26 panels?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: 26 panels.
Speaker: And then once they answer that question, they're literally giving me permission to sign them up.
Speaker: And I think a lot of reps don't understand that.
Speaker: And they're like 26 pounds.
Speaker: Are you sure you want the 26 panels?
Speaker: Now it's like,
Speaker: okay, maybe I don't want the 26 pounds because you're telling me I have my shirt.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And for example, if you go order food and you want this, you know,
Speaker: Burger the waiter's not gonna be like are you sure you want that burger?
Speaker: Yeah, cuz then you're gonna second-guess your decision So once the customer says I want this you just close them.
Speaker: Yeah, okay.
Speaker: Love it And yeah, most people don't like you see it from new reps all the time like oh Blake got the lay down customer that was way easier than my customers but
Speaker: They don't see all the intricate parts of like planting the seed or bringing up all these objections beforehand.
Speaker: Like there's a lot that goes into it.
Speaker: And I think that's one of the key secrets to my success is any presentation that I give, I analyze.
Speaker: What could I have done better?
Speaker: Where did I lose the customer?
Speaker: What were his facial expressions when I said this, that, and the other?
Speaker: How can I get him to express
Speaker: these feelings or how can I get him to react in a certain way?
Speaker: So I'm very analytical and I think that's the key to my success is if I say, hey, so for example, the loans, right?
Speaker: There's like 10, 15, 20, 25 year loans.
Speaker: Typically we sell a 25 year loan, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But if you say 25 year loan, I'm gonna get a negative facial expression for you.
Speaker: So I set that out and I say, hey, this is a plan I recommend.
Speaker: This is a plan I have on my house.
Speaker: This is a 25 year plan.
Speaker: I don't say 25 year loan.
Speaker: And so it's certain things of getting certain reactions out of customers.
Speaker: by saying or framing it a certain way.
Speaker: And I think that's been the biggest key to my success is all this analyzing that goes on.
Speaker: When I say something, I look at the customer, see how they respond.
Speaker: It's a nugget.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And do you do a lot of recording your presentations and kind of going back and listening?
Speaker: I actually don't.
Speaker: I don't.
Speaker: I always just take mental notes of everything as I go throughout my presentation.
Speaker: Like, oh, the customer gave me this look when I said that.
Speaker: And I think that's a cool thing is because my presentation, and I continually train, my presentation keeps on evolving.
Speaker: So the first presentation I ever gave at Pure is way different than the presentation that I give now.
Speaker: Just because of certain aspects of the presentation getting certain results.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And then if you get someone, you probably don't get this near as often as a lot of people just because of all the stuff you do during the presentation.
Speaker: But say you're in a deal or you're getting the, I need to think about it, I don't want to sign the docs, all that.
Speaker: Do you kind of try to get them to go through with it and just do the soft close thing like, hey, let's just get it in.
Speaker: Your state gives you three days.
Speaker: Yeah, I get what you're saying.
Speaker: So no, the reason why is because if you do that close, you'll have a high cancellation rate.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So there's an underlying concern that the customer has that he doesn't trust you, the company or product enough in order to tell you what's actually going on.
Speaker: Because I need to think about it, it's just a smokescreen at the end of the day.
Speaker: So you just have to get to the bottom of it.
Speaker: And then I'll have reps like in training, so they're like, Blake, well, what do you do if you get, I need to think about it?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: there's 50 bajillion million reasons why that customer might say, I didn't think about it.
Speaker: Because it's like, okay, did you plant, like on my framework that I teach everyone, I'm like, okay, did you plant a same day decision seed?
Speaker: Or when the customer said this, this is the reason why they're probably saying I need to think about it because you didn't dive in and dig into what the true objection was at that certain point.
Speaker: So there's numerous reasons why that customer might say, I need to think about it.
Speaker: It might be something that you forgot in your presentation.
Speaker: It might be a worry or concern that they brought up that you didn't catch onto and you didn't listen and you didn't dig and assess the situation.
Speaker: So there's a million reasons why they say, I need to think about it, that then the day comes down to trust.
Speaker: Yeah, OK.
Speaker: And then any tips you'd have to, because I told you, yeah, we did have a few cancels when we were up here in Dallas.
Speaker: And yeah, actually Rick had come to a few of these deals.
Speaker: And yeah, they seemed pretty solid.
Speaker: We didn't like, you know, we told them they had their like right of rescission, but we weren't saying, hey, cancel anytime type thing.
Speaker: And they did still end up canceling.
Speaker: So I know probably some of just the learning curve, being out here in a new area, a new territory.
Speaker: But yeah, what else do you think there's anything else that you see has really helped your reps reduce cancellations and not struggle with that as much?
Speaker: Yeah, I think being more of a pull salesman than a push salesman.
Speaker: Because I think a lot of reps will push customers into the deal instead of pulling them into the deal.
Speaker: And typically when you see a rep pushing a customer into the deal, you'll see their cancellation rate go up.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So by pull, you mean like more takeaway?
Speaker: More takeaway.
Speaker: They're the ones saying, hey, this is a good idea.
Speaker: Hey, this is a good deal.
Speaker: Hey, I really think we should do this.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Gotcha.
Speaker: Awesome, man.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: I know we could be here all day, Blake, but we've gone through a lot, and, yeah, we just appreciate you sharing some of these closing tips, and it's been a learning experience out here.
Speaker: I wish we would have done this before I came to Texas because I think I probably would have done three more deals on top of this.
Speaker: No, you can't.
Speaker: You're always welcome back.
Speaker: Yeah, I'll have to.
Speaker: But yeah, man, so where can people, if they want to ask you more questions, connect with you more, what's the best way to do that?
Speaker: Yeah, just hit me up on Instagram, text Rick.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: If you got Rick's number.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: No soliciting, bro.
Speaker: Yeah, message no soliciting, bro.
Speaker: I'm always with that guy.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Sounds good.
Speaker: Well, before we wrap up, any final advice or anything else, any other secrets to your success that we didn't cover that you would mention to any rep listening to this right now?
Speaker: I would say just don't quit.
Speaker: That's the biggest thing.
Speaker: Stick with it.
Speaker: You can learn how to sell.
Speaker: That's the biggest thing.
Speaker: So when I first, I didn't get into this, but when I first got into sales, I ended up selling the first store I ever knocked on.
Speaker: I'm like, dude, this is going to be a six-figure summer.
Speaker: This is an easy cakewalk.
Speaker: Then I ended up bageling for three weeks after that.
Speaker: Oh, wow.
Speaker: And it's crazy looking back.
Speaker: It's like, what if I would have quit the first week of bageling or the second or the third week of bageling?
Speaker: I wouldn't be where I'm at right now.
Speaker: So I'd say sticking it out and knowing that sales can be learned was a big...
Speaker: aha moment for me because sales obviously has been a big blessing in my life and it's gonna bless generations to come.
Speaker: And if I would have quit, you know, two weeks in, three weeks in, I would have none of this.
Speaker: I would say that.
Speaker: And then also another one is,
Speaker: sometimes we get in our head and we think that oh i'm so lucky that i even got that cell yeah right what if i didn't knock on that door i'm so lucky hopefully i can find another lucky lay down yeah but a big paradigm shift in my head was uh luck is when preparation meets opportunity if i didn't knock on that door if i didn't put forth the effort if i didn't study the pitch that morning
Speaker: I wouldn't have gotten that deal.
Speaker: So I wouldn't give myself enough credit at the beginning of my sales career because I'd be like, oh, I just got sealed so lucky to sell that deal.
Speaker: But that paradigm shift of,
Speaker: Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
Speaker: Help me understand, hey, the more I prepare, the more and the harder I work, the more luck I'll have.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But those would be the two biggest things, I would say.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: Love that.
Speaker: Well, Blake, thanks again for coming on the show.
Speaker: Remember, for our solopreneurs, there is no failures.
Speaker: There's only people that quit.
Speaker: So do not quit.
Speaker: Don't quit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Push hard out there.
Speaker: And then just like Blake said, luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
Speaker: Great little mantra to repeat yourself out on the doors today.
Speaker: So thanks again, Blake, and hope to have you on someday for a follow-up.
Speaker: Yeah, appreciate it.
Speaker: Okay, thanks, man.
Speaker: Hey, solopreneurs.
Speaker: Are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels every month and not seeing your sales increase?
Speaker: Well so was I and the truth is I was never able to improve it until I figured out what was going wrong.
Speaker: So that's why I'm excited to announce for Eliminate Time we are doing a free sales diagnostic.
Speaker: We'll break down your sales process, figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve.
Speaker: So act now we have six bucks for this month so book a call now, don't miss out.
Speaker: What you're going to do is send an email to taylor at solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: That's taylor at solarpreneurs with an s dot com.
Speaker: I'll send you out a calendar link and we will figure out the time that works best.
Speaker: So shoot that email and let's increase your sales.
