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#1 Thing You Can Do to Train Your Reps
62 Plays4 years ago
Tune in now and don't forget to sign up for www.solciety.co!
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Solarpreneur podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong and 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 fail. online teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bringing the top solar dogs, the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals. What is a Solarpreneur you might ask a Solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one. Come on. Y'all let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Taylor Armstrong here back with another episode, decided to switch up the intro a little bit, um, for those that have done that workout program, insanity, maybe that sounded familiar. Um, I, I do that intro because, um, during 75 Hard, the workouts, I was doing twice a day, decided to do some insanity for old time's sake. So for all my Shaun T fans, my workout friends, hope you like that intro for those that don't know what I'm talking about. Let's jump into some solar knowledge. We're going to be bringing some heat today, talking about the number one way you can train your reps. So this can be specifically talking to managers, team leaders, anyone that's trained to help grow their office, but guess what, if you are a regular sales rep, if you are trained to improve your abilities and learn as quick as possible, then this episode is also for you.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So we're going to get into it. But before I jump into that to have a couple exciting announcements that wanted to share with my peeps, with my Solarpreneurs. And so, um, recently our team, we did a merger with, um, those of you that follow sells. Um, legends sells legends in the industry. Jason Newby may have heard of him. He was the top rep at Vivid for years, um, top alarm rep, and he started a solar company here in San Diego. So we did a merger actually with his team. Um, so I was working for a company called Switch to Solar. Now we are all combining we are future home. So if anyone is looking to make a switch and come join the revolution here, but future home and bring that up because Jason, his team, they are dropping a ton of value in things.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
They share things they post about. So definitely go shoot them a follow Jason Newby. And then, um, their Instagram is Future Home, go follow them. We're going to be posting and we're going to be changing the industry. Um, we're helping the team grow a lot. So that's the first exciting thing. And then the second is, um, just wanting to think or Solarpreneurs all our listeners for checking out the Taylor McCarthy episode on those two episodes today. And I really appreciate all the people that have shared it that have sent it to friends, sent it to people, trying to grow in the industry. Um, it has gotten away more downloads than a lot of other episodes. And matter of fact, he passed up. Um, yeah, he passed up a lot, a lot of past episodes that we had in such a short amount of time, just because of you great people that have been shared it that have been spreading the word, um, he's passed up, Danny Pessy actually, who is, um, you know, the other Knock Star guy, Taylor already passed them up.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So I don't know if Danny's going to be happy about that, but we're all about spreading the wisdom, spreading the knowledge and helping each other grow. So go check that out and guys, please continue to share, continue to leave ratings. Be
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Taylor's Success Story
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
00:00:08
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:00:10
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.
00:00:19
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.
What is a Solopreneur?
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solopreneur you might ask?
00:00:33
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.
00:00:42
Speaker
Come on y'all, let's go!
00:00:46
Speaker
Taylor Armstrong here, back with another episode.
00:00:49
Speaker
Decided to switch up the intro a little bit for those that have done the workout program Insanity, maybe that sounded familiar.
00:00:57
Speaker
I've
00:00:59
Speaker
I do that intro because during 75 hard, the workouts I was doing twice a day decided to do some insanity for old time's sake.
00:01:10
Speaker
So for all my Sean T fans, my workout friends, hope you like that intro.
Focus on Training Sales Reps
00:01:16
Speaker
For those that don't know what I'm talking about, let's jump into some solar knowledge.
00:01:20
Speaker
We're going to be bringing some heat today, talking about the number one way you can train your reps.
00:01:29
Speaker
So this is going to be specifically talking to managers, team leaders, anyone that's trying to help grow their office.
00:01:37
Speaker
But guess what?
00:01:38
Speaker
If you are a regular sales rep, if you are trying to improve your abilities and learn as quick as possible, then this episode is also for you.
00:01:48
Speaker
So we're going to get into it.
00:01:50
Speaker
But before I jump into that, I have a couple exciting announcements that I wanted to share with my peeps, with my solopreneurs.
Merger Announcement and Rebranding
00:01:58
Speaker
So recently, our team, we did a merger with those of you that follow sales legends in the industry.
00:02:11
Speaker
Jason Newby, you may have heard of him.
00:02:14
Speaker
He was the top rep at Vivint for years, top alarm rep.
00:02:18
Speaker
and he started a solar company here in San Diego.
00:02:22
Speaker
So we did a merger actually with his team.
00:02:25
Speaker
So I was working for a company called Switch to Solar.
00:02:29
Speaker
Now we are all combining.
00:02:31
Speaker
We are future home.
00:02:34
Speaker
So if anyone is looking to make a switch, you can come join the revolution here.
00:02:38
Speaker
But Future Home and bring that up because Jason and his team, they are dropping a ton of value in things they share, things they post about.
00:02:48
Speaker
So definitely go shoot them a follow.
00:02:50
Speaker
Jason Newby and then their Instagram is Future Home.
00:02:56
Speaker
Go follow them.
00:02:57
Speaker
We're going to be posting.
00:02:58
Speaker
We're going to be changing the industry.
00:03:01
Speaker
Helping the team grow a lot.
00:03:03
Speaker
So that's the first exciting
Celebrating Podcast Success
00:03:05
Speaker
thing.
00:03:05
Speaker
And then the second is, um, just wanted to thank all our solopreneurs, all our listeners for checking out the Taylor McCarthy episode.
00:03:13
Speaker
Um, that was two episodes today and I really appreciate all the people that have shared it, that have sent it to friends, sent it to people trying to grow in the industry.
00:03:23
Speaker
Um, it has gotten way more downloads than a lot of other episodes.
00:03:29
Speaker
And matter of fact, he passed up, um,
00:03:34
Speaker
Yeah, he passed up a lot of past episodes that we had in such a short amount of time just because of you great people that have been sharing it, that have been spreading the word.
00:03:45
Speaker
He's passed up Danny Pesce, actually, who is, you know, the other Noxstar guy.
00:03:51
Speaker
Taylor already passed him up, so I don't know if Danny's going to be happy about that.
00:03:54
Speaker
But we're all about spreading the wisdom, spreading the knowledge, and helping each other grow.
00:04:00
Speaker
So go check that out and guys, please continue to share, continue to leave ratings.
00:04:05
Speaker
Been loving it.
00:04:06
Speaker
So it keeps me going and really appreciate the comments that I get.
00:04:11
Speaker
So with that being said, let's hop right into the show today.
Podcast Format and Guest Preview
00:04:14
Speaker
And if you haven't caught the schedule of it, the way we're typically rolling out these episodes is I do two where I share...
00:04:24
Speaker
Things that are helping me and just kind of tell my experiences.
00:04:28
Speaker
Things that are going on in my soul's journey.
00:04:31
Speaker
And then we have a guest.
00:04:33
Speaker
So that's kind of the format is two with just me jamming on it and jamming the mic, rocking the mic.
00:04:39
Speaker
And then we bring in a guest to share their wisdom, their knowledge.
00:04:45
Speaker
And I try to do sort of a preview for what the guest talks about just to kind of get people stoked for what they're going to share.
00:04:52
Speaker
So next guest is a legend in the door-to-door industry.
00:04:58
Speaker
And you probably have heard of him if you've been in door-to-door for any amount of time.
Why Record Sales Pitches?
00:05:03
Speaker
His name is Lenny Gray.
00:05:04
Speaker
He's written two books now.
00:05:07
Speaker
The first one is called Door-to-Door Millionaire Secrets of Making the Cell.
00:05:11
Speaker
And the second one is called More Door-to-Door Millionaire Next Level Training.
00:05:17
Speaker
So if you follow me on Instagram, Facebook, you probably see me share just little snippets of his book, little things I underlined, things I liked about it.
00:05:28
Speaker
So I would highly recommend go check out his books if you haven't already.
00:05:32
Speaker
But one section, I just got done reading his more door-to-door millionaire book.
00:05:37
Speaker
There's one section in particular that just reminded me of something that managers consistently fail to do.
00:05:45
Speaker
I see a lot of times.
00:05:46
Speaker
And even I myself managing a team, I forgot to do this with my reps for a long amount of time as well.
00:05:55
Speaker
So what is this thing you might ask?
00:05:58
Speaker
What it is, it's recording your sales reps.
00:06:01
Speaker
It's having them send you recordings of their interactions on the door.
00:06:05
Speaker
But
Learning from Recordings
00:06:06
Speaker
why is this so important?
00:06:07
Speaker
It's because a lot of times we think we're saying something right.
00:06:11
Speaker
We think we're phrasing our words a certain way.
00:06:14
Speaker
We think we're just crushing it in everything we're doing.
00:06:17
Speaker
But the mic never lies.
00:06:20
Speaker
And I'll be honest, I've gone back and listened to some of my
00:06:24
Speaker
podcast recordings where I thought I was, you know, saying some super cool stuff.
00:06:30
Speaker
I thought I made perfect sense.
00:06:33
Speaker
And I thought what I was saying was on point.
00:06:34
Speaker
I've gone back to a few of my episodes and I'm like, man, what am I trying to say here?
00:06:39
Speaker
I sounded like an idiot.
00:06:40
Speaker
Guys, I apologize.
00:06:42
Speaker
There's been a few times where I probably sounded like an idiot, gone off on tangents, haven't made sense.
00:06:50
Speaker
But the point of that is when you go back and you re-listen to what you are saying, it helps you really learn what you need to improve, what you need to change.
00:07:00
Speaker
Same thing, I would go to Toastmasters.
00:07:03
Speaker
I've talked about that in past episodes, but I would go to Toastmasters, which is public speaking training, just to improve my speaking skills and to learn more about that.
00:07:14
Speaker
And I would go up, present in front of all these people.
00:07:17
Speaker
I would think I had this presentation just nailed down.
00:07:21
Speaker
And I would get comments that would just baffle me.
00:07:25
Speaker
I'm like, wow, I was actually doing that.
00:07:28
Speaker
And something I've tried to improve, but I still struggle with these things sometimes.
00:07:32
Speaker
It's just repeating words, repeating phrases.
00:07:35
Speaker
There's filler words that we all throw in as we speak that we don't even notice.
00:07:41
Speaker
For me, I'm trying to improve, but so, so, sometimes I say so this, so that, so this, so that.
00:07:48
Speaker
That's been a struggle.
00:07:49
Speaker
I've been trying to cut that from repeating way too many times.
00:07:53
Speaker
I say, um, sometimes way too many times.
00:07:56
Speaker
So I apologize if you've heard that way too much from me, but I am conscious.
00:08:01
Speaker
I am more conscious of it than I was before.
00:08:03
Speaker
I'm trying to improve those things.
00:08:05
Speaker
So this is something you need to have your, especially newer reps.
00:08:09
Speaker
They need to be sending you recordings consistently, and it's going to amaze you.
Using Recordings for Growth
00:08:14
Speaker
You're going to get recordings sent to you.
00:08:17
Speaker
that maybe they're presenting, they're doing role plays in team meetings, you're going to get recordings that sometimes are complete 180 from what they did in a role play in front of the team.
00:08:31
Speaker
Because that's just how it is.
00:08:33
Speaker
When we get under pressure, when we get to the stage, a lot of times we can't handle the heat.
00:08:39
Speaker
We can't handle the pressure.
00:08:40
Speaker
And we need outside eyes to see what's going on.
00:08:44
Speaker
Or I should say outside ears in this case.
00:08:48
Speaker
So I actually did this with my team once I read this section.
00:08:52
Speaker
So for those that have the book, it's actually on page 208.
00:08:56
Speaker
Lenny Gray, he talks about this.
00:08:58
Speaker
And just to summarize a little bit of what he says, he says, every cells rep has weaknesses and these weaknesses can be exposed and corrected more quickly when a rep has customized cells training.
00:09:10
Speaker
Then he goes on to say, his company, Rove Pest Control Sales Reps, are required to send me audio and or video clips of them interacting with potential customers so I can analyze their techniques and provide instant feedback to help them in areas they need to improve.
00:09:26
Speaker
Sometimes the timeliness of the feedback is just as important as the feedback itself because it prevents sales reps from developing bad habits.
00:09:36
Speaker
So I can attest to this for sure.
00:09:37
Speaker
I actually did this with my team.
00:09:40
Speaker
A couple weeks back now, we had a newer rep on her team.
00:09:44
Speaker
She went out and she was confident.
00:09:48
Speaker
She seemed like she should be having tons of success.
00:09:51
Speaker
And she'd booked a few appointments initially.
00:09:54
Speaker
I think had a couple deals closed, was doing all right.
00:09:58
Speaker
Then she started slowing down a little bit.
00:10:00
Speaker
So I said, okay, can you go, after I read this, I'm like, all right, go record today.
00:10:06
Speaker
Go out and send me a recording of your door approach.
00:10:09
Speaker
of your presentation.
00:10:10
Speaker
Let's see what's going on.
00:10:13
Speaker
So she sent me this recording.
00:10:15
Speaker
I pull it up and to my surprise, she was saying nothing from the actual door pitch that we'd given her.
00:10:26
Speaker
We'd given her the script.
00:10:27
Speaker
Not one word was from our script.
00:10:32
Speaker
And so everyone thought she had the script down.
00:10:35
Speaker
Everyone thought she was saying what she needed to.
00:10:38
Speaker
Not one word was from it.
00:10:40
Speaker
And no, no, this, she, she went on to say this, her first door.
00:10:43
Speaker
So, um, if she's listening to this right now, nothing against you, we're going to help you improve it.
00:10:49
Speaker
Okay.
00:10:50
Speaker
But it, it just goes to show that a lot of times we think our reps are saying what they need to.
00:10:55
Speaker
We think we're improving, but when we get that recording, when we see what's actually going on, it makes it so much easier to help these people.
00:11:03
Speaker
It makes it so much easier.
00:11:05
Speaker
to really break down their phrasing, break down, and even better if you can get, you know, a video, then you're getting, then you can see body language, then you can see posture, all those types of things, how they're actually positioning themselves in relation to the door.
00:11:20
Speaker
But at a minimum, just get some audio going, figure out what they're saying, and you can tell from the tonality of the voice, are they coming across confidence?
00:11:30
Speaker
they actually have the pitch down so this is a must we need to have our teams do this and again this is more for managers but if you are just say you just started maybe you're new to the industry send this in okay guarantee most managers probably aren't requiring this of their reps but especially if you are in a down period even if you're experienced even if you've been doing this for a while
00:11:55
Speaker
maybe your production's gone down a little bit, send in a recording of what's going on to people that are crushing it at your company, to guys that are more experienced.
00:12:06
Speaker
See what they can tell you.
00:12:07
Speaker
See what they notice about your presentation.
00:12:09
Speaker
And that's why it's important even for people that are experienced, continue to do role plays, continue to get recordings of yourself, continue to get that outside analysis.
00:12:18
Speaker
Because even myself, I've been doing this five plus years now.
00:12:23
Speaker
There's still times where I record myself where I'm like, man, I made no sense at all.
00:12:27
Speaker
There's still times where I get up in front of my team, I do role plays, and sometimes, even to this day, sometimes I make a fool of myself.
00:12:36
Speaker
It's important to practice and it's important to continually be improving your craft.
00:12:40
Speaker
I remember when I first started in door-to-door pest control,
00:12:44
Speaker
The number one thing that helped me improve is just drilling, practicing, and rehearsing.
00:12:49
Speaker
Every single night, I would go to one of the top guys on our team.
00:12:53
Speaker
I'd say, hey, man, can you help me?
00:12:54
Speaker
Luckily, I had a cool guy, Micah.
00:12:57
Speaker
My boy Micah, if you're listening, thanks again.
00:12:59
Speaker
He would drill with me every night for an hour.
00:13:01
Speaker
We'd just repeat after repeat and repeat and go over it.
00:13:05
Speaker
So this is the number one thing that we need to be doing with our teams today.
00:13:09
Speaker
get them to drill, get them to practice, get them to rehearse, and then most importantly, get them to record those door presentations.
00:13:18
Speaker
And if you're in a slump, record it, send it to your manager, even if they're not asking, you take the initiative, you get a recording of yourself and
Encouragement to Share and Record
00:13:27
Speaker
send it in.
00:13:27
Speaker
And even just if you listen to it yourself, like I said, it's gonna expose, you're gonna hear the truth of what you're saying, even without getting outside feedback.
00:13:37
Speaker
It's something that you can go back and listen to and make a huge improvement even without hearing from a manager or other people.
00:13:46
Speaker
So that's the tip, and we're going to hear more about that.
00:13:48
Speaker
when my friend Lenny Gray, he's going to be on the next episode.
00:13:52
Speaker
So don't miss it.
00:13:54
Speaker
Let's blow it up just like we do with Taylor McCarthy.
00:13:57
Speaker
Send it to people that need it.
00:14:00
Speaker
Share this and then anyone that's managing, if you're a rep, send this to your manager.
00:14:06
Speaker
Send this to anyone that you think could use it and you think that needs to be recording themselves because that is a huge key to success in this industry.
00:14:16
Speaker
That's what we got today, guys.
00:14:17
Speaker
I hope you liked it.
00:14:19
Speaker
Let me know what you think and we will see you next time for Lenny Gray.
00:14:23
Speaker
You're not going to want to miss out.
00:14:25
Speaker
It's a huge privilege having him on the show.
00:14:27
Speaker
And then let me know if you guys have any other guests you'd like to bring on the podcast.
00:14:31
Speaker
We'll talk to you soon.
00:14:32
Speaker
Peace.
Introducing Sol Society
00:14:33
Speaker
Hey SolarPrinters, quick question.
00:14:35
Speaker
What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day?
00:14:44
Speaker
For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite solar professionals.
00:14:50
Speaker
and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.
00:14:56
Speaker
That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new solar learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with the top performers in the industry.
00:15:07
Speaker
And it's called Sol Society.
00:15:09
Speaker
This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give Solar Pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it?
00:15:24
Speaker
Less than $3.45 a day.
00:15:28
Speaker
Currently Soul Society is closed to the public and membership is by invitation only.
00:15:32
Speaker
But solopreneurs can go to soulciety.co to learn more and have the option to join a waitlist when a membership becomes available in your area.
00:15:41
Speaker
Again, this is exclusively for Solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to www.solciety.co to join the waitlist and learn more now.
00:15:54
Speaker
Thanks again for listening.
00:15:55
Speaker
We'll catch you again in the next episode.