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How To Know When To Close
46 Plays6 years ago
When do you know the right time to ask for the sale?
In this episode of the Solarpreneur podcast you'll learn:
1. Why closing doesn't necessarily mean you make the sale and why that's a good thing
2. Why your job is to help homeowners help decide if solar is a good fit or not and close them on that decision
3. What 99.9% of the industry is doing wrong when it comes to closing and why my students are consistently closing 9/10 of their appointments
If you enjoyed this episode please rate and review on Itunes. We value your opinion and help to make this the #1 podcast for solar professionals.
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Transcript
When to Close Deals in Solar Sales
00:00:00
Speaker
On this episode, we're going to answer the age-old question of knowing when to actually close homeowners to go solar.
00:00:06
Speaker
Let's go.
00:00:07
Speaker
Look, in the solar business, there's really only two types of people.
00:00:11
Speaker
There's the ones that crush it, make six, seven, and eight figures, and then there's everyone else.
00:00:16
Speaker
The question is, which one will you be?
00:00:19
Speaker
Over
Insights from Top Solar Experts
00:00:20
Speaker
the last four years, we've studied the sharpest solar sales and marketing pros and how they build multi-million dollar incomes using only the best solar sales and marketing strategies.
00:00:31
Speaker
So how do these solarpreneurs do what they do and what makes them so successful?
00:00:37
Speaker
This podcast is your answer.
00:00:39
Speaker
Join us and thousands of sales pros, marketers, and entrepreneurs as we take the solar industry by storm and uncover what it takes to sell more solar with less effort.
00:00:51
Speaker
Welcome
Challenges in Closing Solar Deals
00:00:52
Speaker
to the Solarpreneur Podcast.
00:00:57
Speaker
What's up, solopreneurs?
00:00:58
Speaker
James Swiderski and Joseph Nguyen back for another fire-packed episode.
00:01:03
Speaker
Today, we are talking about closing, right?
00:01:06
Speaker
Everybody's favorite topic and something a lot of solar professionals struggle with, right?
00:01:12
Speaker
It's something that's been really surprising to me in the industry as well.
00:01:16
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Everybody talks about solar, how it's so easy to do, but we see countless reps struggling to get homeowners to make a decision.
00:01:23
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And it feels like homeowners are the ones who are controlling the entire sale.
00:01:28
Speaker
They're deciding when you could close.
00:01:29
Speaker
They're deciding for what price the solar is going to be.
00:01:33
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And the rep is really just there being dragged along with a chain around his neck and has no say in the matter.
00:01:39
Speaker
And it's time to stop the madness on this.
00:01:41
Speaker
This is too common
The Role of Education vs. Closing in Sales
00:01:42
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in the industry.
00:01:43
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I'm sick of seeing it.
00:01:44
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So I'm going to give you guys some of my best closing strategies in this episode so we can fix that up.
00:01:50
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Yes, 100%.
00:01:52
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And I didn't understand how much of a problem this was, especially when I was talking and consulting with a number of solar companies.
00:01:59
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And the first thing that they told me
00:02:02
Speaker
Like the problem with closing is that it actually, people don't know that they have to.
00:02:06
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Cause when I was talking to store companies, when I was talking with a lot of reps and the owner as well, they would always just tell me, dude, it's just a lay down sale.
00:02:14
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It's not even a sale.
00:02:15
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It's just educating the customer.
00:02:18
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And then if they want to move forward, awesome.
00:02:20
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And then because of that,
00:02:22
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Now we have the mindset of, oh, we just have to tell them about it.
00:02:25
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And then that's it.
00:02:26
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We don't that's all our job is.
00:02:27
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It's just telling them about it.
00:02:28
Speaker
And then ultimately the decision is up to them.
00:02:31
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And the problem with that is you probably see it already, which is inconsistent, unreliable, unpredictable results.
00:02:37
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And the fact of the matter is like our job isn't to educate them.
00:02:42
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our job is to actually close them.
00:02:44
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And that's the, that's something that most solar reps haven't ever been taught or even have been ever been told.
00:02:50
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And solar isn't a laid on sale.
00:02:52
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Solar isn't just about education.
00:02:54
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And if that were the case, everyone would be a solar millionaire right now.
00:02:57
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Right.
00:02:57
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But are we like how many people are actually solar millionaires?
00:03:02
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And so if just be very careful with what people tell you, right again, remember the previous episode we talked about, like consider the source, right?
00:03:11
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Who is telling you this?
00:03:13
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Right?
00:03:13
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Is it the owner that's
Importance of Confidence and Belief in Solar Sales
00:03:16
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Has barely ever sold solar before in his life?
00:03:19
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Is he making over a million dollars in commission every single year?
00:03:23
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Are they closing like crazy?
00:03:25
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Are they someone that you want to emulate after?
00:03:28
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If not, then just be very careful because it's not just about educating the customer.
00:03:33
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I really wish it was.
00:03:34
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And if it were the case, then everyone would just go on a website, look at it, get educated, and buy.
00:03:40
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But why don't they buy off of a website?
00:03:43
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Why don't people just look it up and just order a solar panel?
00:03:46
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It's because they need to be closed.
00:03:48
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And that's up to you.
00:03:49
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Guys, the reason that the education sale doesn't work, because I know what you're thinking, right?
00:03:54
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That's all you've known.
00:03:55
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That's all I knew as well for about six months.
00:03:58
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That's what everybody told me.
00:03:59
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How well did that work for you, James?
00:04:00
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Yeah.
00:04:01
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Yeah, everybody told me the same freaking thing, right?
00:04:04
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It's not a sale.
00:04:06
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The problem is this.
00:04:07
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When you think it's not a sale, right?
00:04:10
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And my opinion is the people who say it's not a sale, they have an issue with sales.
00:04:15
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There's some deep belief.
00:04:16
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There's some deep ingrinded roots there.
00:04:18
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And they've got a problem with salespeople, which is a whole different thing we're going to address here, right?
00:04:23
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They feel uncomfortable selling is the problem there.
00:04:26
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That's why they're saying it.
00:04:28
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But think about this too, with solar getting more and more popular, more aware in these markets, right?
00:04:35
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You're now coming across competitive bids on a pretty regular basis, right?
00:04:40
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And unless you're the only person this homeowner talks to and they've never heard of solar and you educate them,
00:04:46
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then sure, yeah, education sale might work some of the time.
00:04:50
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But when you've got five bids on the table and everybody just thinks, ah, it's an education sale, you're literally screwed because the homeowner is just going to now decide on price and you have no say in the matter when they've got all of these options.
00:05:04
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So what closing is, what it does for you is it takes away the competitive aspect.
00:05:11
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It doesn't matter how many quotes are on the table, right?
00:05:14
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And closing gives you control.
00:05:16
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That is the point.
00:05:17
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We know that we need to control the sale in order to make it happen.
00:05:21
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But just educating the homeowner on it, that's giving them all of the control.
00:05:27
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You have no say in the matter.
00:05:28
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And the most important piece, which is deciding if solar makes sense or not.
00:05:35
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100% guys.
00:05:35
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And just another thing to go back on is like, if you guys are uncomfortable with doing anything other than educating, James is so right.
00:05:44
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Like it's about the person, right?
00:05:46
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You're uncomfortable with selling.
00:05:48
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So like, I know
00:05:49
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James and I were talking about this before, but like when you're walking in the mall, right?
00:05:53
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Like past kiosks and you see those sales people, right?
00:05:56
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It's like, do you avoid those people at all costs?
00:05:59
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Like, do you use the tactic of like avoiding eye contact, looking bottom right away from them or even positioning the person that you're walking with next to you?
00:06:06
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That's in between you and the salesperson.
00:06:08
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Like, do you hate being confronted?
00:06:09
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Do you hate being sold to?
00:06:11
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And if that's the case, that's why you have to lean on or rely on the education side of the sale, which is,
00:06:18
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In most cases, that's why you're uncomfortable with selling.
00:06:21
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It's because you don't like being sold to.
00:06:23
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So it isn't until that you accept that fact and then change that and you start talking to salespeople or confronting people at kiosks, and it's okay to say no.
00:06:32
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Just don't avoid them.
00:06:33
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Don't hate salespeople because if that's the case, then you're never going to be able to close correctly.
00:06:37
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And you're always going to have this issue and a lot of friction.
00:06:40
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You probably feel torn apart.
00:06:42
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and almost feel like you're in two separate pieces when you are going into a customer's home.
00:06:46
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It's like, am I a salesperson?
00:06:47
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Am I not?
00:06:48
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Am I selling this?
00:06:48
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Am I selling that?
00:06:49
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Am I taking something away from them?
00:06:50
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And that's not the case if you understand what your job truly is.
00:06:55
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Yeah, guys, this is the bread and butter of closing right here, okay?
00:06:59
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If every solar rep understood this concept, they could literally write their own checks, whatever the heck they want to make in the industry.
00:07:06
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It's really that easy.
00:07:08
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You got to understand your job as a solar professional.
00:07:11
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I don't care...
00:07:13
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If your manager, if your mom, if your freaking CEO told you this, every solar professional's job is to help a homeowner make a decision on solar.
00:07:23
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That's fucking it.
00:07:24
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That's it.
00:07:25
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There's nothing else.
00:07:26
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It's not educating.
00:07:28
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It's not giving them quotes.
00:07:29
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You're not freaking passing out quotes.
00:07:32
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That's not your job as a solar professional.
00:07:34
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I know this is very contradictory to what most of the industry is doing.
00:07:39
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And it needs to stop.
00:07:40
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Again, your job is to close.
00:07:42
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And if you can't close, that's like a lawyer who can't freaking show up in the courtroom and practice law.
00:07:49
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That's like a doctor who doesn't even know what the hell he's doing trying to practice on a patient or a surgeon, right?
00:07:55
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It's absolutely ludicrous.
00:07:57
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You have to understand your job is to close.
00:08:01
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Plain and simple.
00:08:03
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So where does a lack of confidence come from?
00:08:07
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Because that's what it comes down to, right?
00:08:09
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You guys just aren't confident in your closing.
00:08:12
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That's it.
00:08:13
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Otherwise, you'd be closing every single homeowner that you come across, right?
00:08:18
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Oh, 100%.
00:08:19
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And if it's, look, if you guys are feeling awkward or feel bad,
00:08:23
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It's because you lack confidence, right?
00:08:26
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And if you are confident in your ability to close a sale and closing guys doesn't mean you get the deal.
00:08:33
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Closing means you help the homeowner make a decision, yes or no, with solar.
00:08:38
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So that removes the pressure from the homeowner thinking that, oh, I have to go solar today or the salesperson is forcing me to go solar.
00:08:47
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No, that's not it.
00:08:48
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And by you positioning yourself and saying that, hey, I am here as a consultant to help you make a decision, yes or no, to either move forward with solar if it's a good decision for you or not.
00:08:59
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And I'm perfectly fine with you telling me no.
00:09:02
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Right.
00:09:03
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And a lot of people are actually going to be this might not be a good decision for most people.
00:09:07
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So I want you to be comfortable by telling me no, if you feel like that's the case here.
00:09:12
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And when you do that, you relieve all the pressure.
00:09:14
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Now you don't have to force people.
00:09:15
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You don't have to continually try to bash that wall down.
00:09:18
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Right.
00:09:19
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All the barriers and walls are down now.
00:09:21
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Once you actually commit and say, like, hey, we're going to close today, meaning we're going to make a decision.
00:09:26
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And if you lack confidence, you're going to feel awkward.
00:09:30
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And a lot of times if you do feel awkward or hesitant or reluctant or bad for asking for the sale or asking for the clothes, right, for them to make a decision, that's because you lack confidence.
00:09:39
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And if you're confident, right, let's say you go into a home, right?
00:09:42
Speaker
If you're 100% confident, you're not going to feel awkward.
00:09:45
Speaker
When's the last time that you felt confident and awkward at the same time?
00:09:49
Speaker
It's not possible.
00:09:50
Speaker
How can you feel confident and insecure at the same time?
00:09:52
Speaker
It doesn't make any sense.
00:09:54
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And so if you do feel awkward, bad, or guilty, you lack confidence.
00:09:59
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And where does confidence come from?
00:10:01
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Confidence comes from competence.
00:10:03
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Competence meaning you can actually do your job.
00:10:06
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You're skilled at what you do, right?
00:10:08
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It becomes muscle memory.
00:10:10
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Competence comes from practicing so much that you just memorize the motions.
00:10:16
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And if you guys don't feel competent, like you can do it, you know where the issue lies now.
00:10:21
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It's just in practice.
00:10:23
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Right.
00:10:24
Speaker
And so how much are you actually practicing?
00:10:25
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Like, how much do you think a doctor practices or a lawyer practices?
00:10:30
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Right.
00:10:31
Speaker
And so how much do you think Kobe Bryant or LeBron James or Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, how much do they practice?
00:10:39
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Guys, if you want to be compared to them, right, like, well, how much are we actually putting in, you know, into the court, into the field?
00:10:47
Speaker
Guys, if your job is to close, why the hell are we not practicing our job?
00:10:51
Speaker
Nobody, I don't know like hardly any solar professionals when I was starting out that practice their freaking job, which is to close.
00:10:59
Speaker
If you're not role playing every day, you're going to sell, then it's, it's insane, right?
00:11:05
Speaker
Again, all of these professionals in any field, they spend time every day sharpening their craft.
00:11:10
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They're continually taking new tests, going back to school, learning new methodology and strategies, right?
00:11:16
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consistently upping the bar.
00:11:18
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Why are you not doing this as a closer?
00:11:20
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It makes absolutely no sense.
00:11:23
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And again, it comes down to that lack of confidence and it's very easy to fix.
00:11:27
Speaker
The way you fix it, you practice, you invest like we talked about in the last episode.
00:11:32
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You work on training programs and you role play with members of your team.
00:11:36
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That's the fix, guys.
00:11:38
Speaker
But one of the other deep-rooted problems here is understanding what closing actually is.
00:11:43
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I think a lot of solar professionals, and Joseph talked about it, right?
00:11:47
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I think that closing is kind of an act of greed, right?
00:11:51
Speaker
Like you're taking something from somebody.
00:11:54
Speaker
And I think it's a lot of what like Hollywood has done with various movies like Wolf of Wall Street and whatnot, where we think closing is like taking advantage of people, right?
00:12:03
Speaker
And maybe that appeals to you or whatnot, but that doesn't appeal to nine out of 10 people.
00:12:08
Speaker
So I want you to understand, closing is really this simple.
00:12:11
Speaker
It is a transaction of value.
00:12:14
Speaker
Meaning when a close happens, a value is exchanged for another piece of value.
00:12:21
Speaker
Okay?
00:12:22
Speaker
You go to the store, you buy something, the value you give is money.
00:12:26
Speaker
In return, you get the product which provides value to you.
00:12:30
Speaker
It's really that simple.
00:12:32
Speaker
But...
00:12:33
Speaker
if you don't have an obligation to, or feel an obligation to actually close, right?
00:12:40
Speaker
It comes down again to a rooted problem of you not believing in solar in the first place.
00:12:44
Speaker
Because if you actually believe solar was gonna save people tens of thousands of dollars, if you actually believe that saved the environment, if you believe that raised the value of their property,
00:12:54
Speaker
then you would feel an obligation to help them make a firm decision, yes or no.
00:12:59
Speaker
You wouldn't accept a, I need to think about it, or a fluffy answer.
00:13:03
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It would be a binary decision.
00:13:06
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So what I question is, and what you should ask yourself is, do you actually believe in solar?
00:13:13
Speaker
Do you actually think it's a product that people should buy?
00:13:16
Speaker
And be honest with yourself.
00:13:17
Speaker
Don't just
Introduction to Solar Spartan System
00:13:18
Speaker
go with,
00:13:19
Speaker
what your sales manager told you or you know how much money you can make so you put that decision in.
00:13:24
Speaker
Because at the end of the day, you can make $100,000 per sale for selling solar, but if you don't believe in the product,
00:13:32
Speaker
then you're literally not only just screwing people over essentially, but you're not going to be able to be successful because the guy who has a hundred percent belief in his product, he owns it.
00:13:43
Speaker
He has it on his own house.
00:13:45
Speaker
He tells everybody about it.
00:13:46
Speaker
He has no fear.
00:13:48
Speaker
He doesn't care what people think about him because he believes in his product, his solution, and it's going to create the most amount of value possible in everybody's life.
00:13:56
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And he will do whatever it takes to make that happen.
00:14:00
Speaker
Every time 100 hundred percent it's guys like if you don't believe in the product That's where all of the issue lies like imagine You really don't want to do that because then you would be a hypocrite, right?
00:14:13
Speaker
Or you're then you'd be a sleazy salesman You're selling something that you wouldn't use personally or wouldn't have personally How could you actually do that?
00:14:19
Speaker
And that's why you might feel that discrepancy or that guilt or that awkwardness and so it isn't until that you sell yourself first and
00:14:27
Speaker
On solar, that's when you can truly, truly close people and help more people go solar because then with that belief, it will be an unshakable foundation for you to build your career off of.
00:14:39
Speaker
And it's like, imagine if you're going to the YMCA, right?
00:14:43
Speaker
And imagine you've got a personal trainer and the personal trainer is fat.
00:14:47
Speaker
They didn't practice what they preached.
00:14:49
Speaker
How would you feel?
00:14:50
Speaker
It wouldn't make any sense.
00:14:52
Speaker
Why would you ever take advice or listen to a fat personal trainer?
00:14:55
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It doesn't make any sense.
00:14:56
Speaker
In that same way, guys, don't do that fat personal trainer.
00:15:00
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Don't go tell people about Sola but then wouldn't get it yourself.
00:15:02
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It doesn't make any sense.
00:15:04
Speaker
And so don't do that, guys.
00:15:06
Speaker
Like it's just as simple as that.
00:15:07
Speaker
And it took a concrete metaphor or an example in order to illustrate that.
00:15:12
Speaker
But I think that's one of the best things that I could put into words there and help explain that.
00:15:18
Speaker
The number one way I can tell, and I use this if I'm buying any sort of high ticket product, like a car or something like that.
00:15:24
Speaker
You know how I could tell if the product's any good?
00:15:28
Speaker
if that salesperson could close me because if that salesperson backs off and accepts any objection I would give, right, that shows they have a lack of confidence in their product because, again, what's their job?
00:15:38
Speaker
It's to close.
00:15:40
Speaker
Your job is to close.
00:15:41
Speaker
By not closing your customer, you show that you don't believe in solar enough for them to do it right now.
00:15:47
Speaker
Hmm.
00:15:49
Speaker
It really shows the cards guys.
00:15:51
Speaker
There's nothing more depressing than a salesperson who can't close you.
00:15:55
Speaker
Cause that's, that's their freaking job.
00:15:57
Speaker
It's like a personal driver who doesn't know how to drive a car.
00:16:02
Speaker
Have a driver's license.
00:16:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:04
Speaker
And it's funny because we tend to complicate things, really.
00:16:07
Speaker
And it just gets out of hand sometimes.
00:16:08
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Like, oh, I got to educate the customer.
00:16:10
Speaker
Oh, I got to give them quotes.
00:16:11
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Oh, I got to do all this stuff.
00:16:13
Speaker
And think about it.
00:16:14
Speaker
The more you educate, the more confusing it gets for the homeowner.
00:16:18
Speaker
Think about if they knew every single spec about every single cell within the solar panel.
00:16:23
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The branding, the manufacturing, exactly how the product's made, exactly how the electricity gets converted.
00:16:27
Speaker
Like, oh, now you have to show them the inverter and all that stuff.
00:16:30
Speaker
It's like, no.
00:16:30
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No.
00:16:31
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The less you educate, it's better.
00:16:34
Speaker
It's inventing things to do to avoid the important, right?
00:16:39
Speaker
You're literally putting all this fluff and the reason all these reps go and they obsess over softwares and quoting and all this is because they want to avoid the hard thing, which is to ask the difficult question, to put yourself in the face of rejection every single day and help people make a decision.
00:16:56
Speaker
That's your job.
00:16:57
Speaker
I think we've hit, I think we freaking hit the nail on the head with this one.
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah, we hammered that home, dude.
00:17:02
Speaker
Okay, guys, let's take a quick break and then we'll be right back.
00:17:08
Speaker
Hey, listeners, it's James Swiderski here.
00:17:09
Speaker
I promise we'll be right back to this fire content you're enjoying, but I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you about the number one training platform that I trust my own clients as well as my own solar team with, and it's called the Solar Spartan System.
00:17:23
Speaker
Now the Solar Spartan system is not your traditional course.
00:17:26
Speaker
It's a solar sales transformation experience that's combined over 11,000 hours of research on today's top sales and marketing professionals and condense their strategies into one streamlined system that practically forces you, yeah, that's right, forces you to have success in reaching your goals.
00:17:46
Speaker
And the best part is guys,
00:17:47
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It's designed specifically for solar and it's been tested on over 800 solar professionals to date.
00:17:54
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Now you might be saying, James, that's cool, but how does it force me to have success?
00:17:59
Speaker
And this is where it gets pretty ninja, my friend.
00:18:01
Speaker
So listen up.
00:18:02
Speaker
So here's what makes the Solar Spartan system so effective.
00:18:06
Speaker
It's the combination of applying the minimum amount of inputs, minimum effective dose of what it takes to get you to that next level.
00:18:16
Speaker
Combining that with the power of social accountability and then top-notch strategies used by today's solar professionals, solopreneurs, right?
00:18:25
Speaker
So what does this mean for you?
00:18:26
Speaker
No more watching 15-hour courses.
00:18:29
Speaker
No more banging your head trying to figure out how to apply Grant Cardone's strategies over here and Dan Lok's strategies over here to solar specifically.
00:18:38
Speaker
And no more guesswork.
00:18:40
Speaker
The Solar Spartan system is 100% action oriented, meaning you won't be given more content to study than what you need to actually reach your next four deals, 10 deals, 16, 20 deals, whatever your goal is, there's a milestone for it within the system.
00:18:57
Speaker
And to give you guys an idea of what you can expect out of this, I've taken some of my lowest producing reps and clients from closing one to maybe struggling to get that third or fourth deal a month, all the way to closing 18 to 20 deals a month in less than 90 days.
00:19:13
Speaker
It's that good.
00:19:14
Speaker
That's why I want to go ahead and offer you guys, Solopreneur listeners, a special discount on the Solar Spartan System.
00:19:21
Speaker
You guys head on over to Solarspartansystem.com.
00:19:24
Speaker
You could try it out for 30 days.
00:19:26
Speaker
Again, guys, don't put your success on hold.
00:19:28
Speaker
This is something I would not promote on the podcast if I didn't fully believe in it.
00:19:33
Speaker
It's something I trust my clients, but as well my own solar company, my own reps,
00:19:38
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They go through this exact same training.
00:19:41
Speaker
So again, head over to solarspartansystem.com to get started and my team and I will see you inside.
00:19:48
Speaker
Let's get back to the show.
Effective Techniques for Closing Sales
00:19:49
Speaker
All right, we're back and we're going to actually address the question that we opened up with.
00:19:55
Speaker
How do you know when to close?
00:19:57
Speaker
So Joseph, what are some of the problems people have with, you know, we talked about closing, but when do you actually close the sale?
00:20:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's like the timing, right?
00:20:06
Speaker
It's like, oh, do I wait after the 18th minute, the 24th minute?
00:20:10
Speaker
Or do I have to wait for like some sort of NLP thing?
00:20:13
Speaker
Like when their body moves a certain way, when they're looking up to the right, like, how do I know when to actually close a prospect?
00:20:21
Speaker
How do I know when a homeowner is ready?
00:20:22
Speaker
How do I know exactly like when that perfect timing is right?
00:20:26
Speaker
Because it seems like it's different for every single homeowner.
00:20:29
Speaker
But is that really the case?
00:20:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:31
Speaker
Well, you know what?
00:20:32
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It is different for every homeowner, right?
00:20:35
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And the answer is really this simple.
00:20:37
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You close when your prospect is ready to buy.
00:20:42
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That's it.
00:20:43
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When they're ready to buy, that's when you close.
00:20:45
Speaker
Now, how do you know when to buy?
00:20:47
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Right?
00:20:47
Speaker
That's a whole different episode of understanding buyer types.
00:20:50
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But understand that when somebody is ready to make a decision, okay, all it means is the stars have aligned, essentially, right?
00:21:00
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That emotional...
00:21:02
Speaker
That emotional side that you built up with them.
00:21:04
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We just ended the presentation series, right?
00:21:07
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Getting through that crock brain and that midbrain, getting them to feel emotion and then justifying it with just the one little piece of logic that they need to move forward.
00:21:17
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That's it.
00:21:17
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And here's the secret, guys.
00:21:19
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That can happen at any point in the sale.
00:21:22
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I've closed deals five, 10 minutes into the presentation.
00:21:25
Speaker
We didn't even do a presentation, okay?
00:21:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:28
Speaker
because they were just ready to buy immediately and if i were to go in there and all of a sudden start shoving all this unnecessary information down their throat because that's what i think my job is then i would over complicate the sale and they wouldn't go solar with me okay so it's really simple i learned this from grant actually a few years ago when i first got into sales
00:21:48
Speaker
And he just has his age old clothes, right?
00:21:51
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And I can't tell you how freaking well it works and how easy it is to understand.
00:21:56
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You just ask the prospect, have you heard enough to make a decision?
00:22:01
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That's freaking it.
00:22:02
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And you can ask them that at any point in the sale.
00:22:04
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I'll ask them five minutes in sometimes.
00:22:06
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We'll set the agenda and I'll just say, hey, what do you need to know to make a decision right now?
00:22:11
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Let's do it.
00:22:12
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And then they're just going to tell me.
00:22:13
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And even if I haven't presented and they don't know anything about solar, they're just going to tell me the exact things they need to know.
00:22:19
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And I don't need to do all the other fluffy stuff that I had planned out.
00:22:23
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I just say, all right, sweet.
00:22:24
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Let's just freaking handle these points and then close.
00:22:27
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That's it.
00:22:28
Speaker
It's that simple.
00:22:29
Speaker
That's so good.
00:22:30
Speaker
Yeah, because so a lot of times during your presentation, you might get interrupted with a bunch of questions, right?
00:22:36
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Or they might cut you off or things like that.
00:22:37
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And then they start objecting already.
00:22:40
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It's like,
00:22:41
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How do you prevent all of that?
00:22:43
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It's closing.
00:22:44
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Like if you ask them exactly what they want to know and give them just that information, they won't object to what you're saying.
00:22:51
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They won't interrupt you.
00:22:52
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They won't try to dissuade you or like try to take more control of the situation.
00:22:58
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Because if you give them exactly what they ask for, why would they interrupt you or do anything else?
00:23:02
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And so it's so important to actually close people and ask them beforehand, like what they need to know.
00:23:08
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And then you give them just that, the minimum viable dose in order for them to make a decision.
00:23:13
Speaker
And again, guys, it's a decision.
00:23:15
Speaker
It's not, hey, you guys want to buy solar?
00:23:18
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Yeah.
00:23:19
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Don't ever ask your prospect, hey, do you want to go solar now?
00:23:22
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It's like, no.
00:23:24
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That's how you know an amateur solar consultant from a pro.
00:23:28
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It's about the decision and you're okay with them saying no as well.
00:23:33
Speaker
Guys, it's like a judge, right?
00:23:35
Speaker
You're literally judging binary, guilty or not guilty, right?
00:23:40
Speaker
Should they go solar or not go solar?
00:23:42
Speaker
You know the qualifications and when someone should go solar, right?
00:23:46
Speaker
Don't put somebody in that category that shouldn't be there.
00:23:49
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Judges could get in a ton of trouble for convicting people of being guilty of a crime when they're not guilty of the crime, right?
00:23:57
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If somebody shouldn't be going solar, you have an obligation to tell them that and be firm and confident in that decision.
00:24:03
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I can't tell you how many referrals and amount of respects you will get from homeowners like this.
00:24:09
Speaker
If you tell them blatantly, look them in the eye, don't go solar.
00:24:13
Speaker
Who the hell is doing that out there?
00:24:15
Speaker
How many solar reps are they coming across where they're like, yeah, you shouldn't go solar, right?
00:24:20
Speaker
I actually just closed a deal on some coaching the other day with that.
00:24:23
Speaker
Like I literally told the guy, we don't do a ton of door knocking training.
00:24:27
Speaker
Don't buy my training for door knocking.
00:24:29
Speaker
You should buy this guy's instead.
00:24:30
Speaker
Boom.
00:24:31
Speaker
I closed the deal.
00:24:32
Speaker
Instantly.
00:24:33
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I got trust with that guy.
00:24:34
Speaker
Same thing applies to solar every time.
00:24:38
Speaker
Hmm.
00:24:39
Speaker
And then the last piece on this, guys, is, again, it's your job to close every presentation, whether it's a yes or a no, right?
00:24:47
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You got to close.
00:24:48
Speaker
You can't walk out of that presentation or that situation with a fluffy answer.
00:24:53
Speaker
There's no I need to think about it.
00:24:55
Speaker
There's no we need to sleep on it.
00:24:57
Speaker
You don't accept those, okay?
00:24:59
Speaker
Your job is yes or no.
00:25:01
Speaker
So tell the prospect, look guys, this is what I'm looking for.
00:25:05
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You and I, let's work together so we can place you in one of these two categories.
00:25:09
Speaker
I don't want to hear anything else.
00:25:11
Speaker
Sound good?
00:25:12
Speaker
Boom.
00:25:12
Speaker
Let's do it.
00:25:14
Speaker
Exactly.
00:25:15
Speaker
That's it.
00:25:15
Speaker
And if you got guys, if you don't close them, right, making a yes or no decision by the end of the presentation, what was the point of you going there in the first place?
00:25:23
Speaker
If they're in the exact
Mindset Shift: Education to Closing
00:25:24
Speaker
same spot as before you even got there and then after you got there, they're in the same exact position.
00:25:30
Speaker
Why would you let that happen?
00:25:32
Speaker
It's actually worse.
00:25:32
Speaker
You took value from them because you wasted their time.
00:25:36
Speaker
Maybe you even confused them and now they're going to have like sleepless nights pondering if solar is going to be a good sense for them.
00:25:42
Speaker
I always tell people that, right?
00:25:43
Speaker
Like they have three, four quotes.
00:25:45
Speaker
I'm like, how much longer do you want these quotes?
00:25:47
Speaker
Do you want to be thinking about this?
00:25:49
Speaker
Like for the next freaking six months, right?
00:25:52
Speaker
If solar is going to make sense, wasting countless hours of research, how long do you want to do this?
00:25:57
Speaker
No, we don't want to do that.
00:25:58
Speaker
Well, great.
00:25:58
Speaker
Help me because my job is to help you decide right now if this makes sense.
00:26:03
Speaker
If it's a no, I just saved you six months of research and headache.
00:26:06
Speaker
If it's a yes, I just saved you $20,000 plus.
00:26:09
Speaker
What's up?
00:26:10
Speaker
Let's go.
00:26:12
Speaker
Master closer.
00:26:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:15
Speaker
That's it, man.
00:26:16
Speaker
Like, it's pretty much as simple as that.
00:26:18
Speaker
It's a mindset shift more than anything else.
00:26:21
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It's like knowing what your job is, being able to execute on it, and building confidence from competence in order to say those ballsy things.
00:26:29
Speaker
Because it does take balls, right?
00:26:31
Speaker
To say those things.
00:26:32
Speaker
And it does take a true master in order to execute like that.
00:26:36
Speaker
But all of that just comes from practice and knowing exactly how to do it.
00:26:39
Speaker
So, guys, you already know now when exactly a prospect should close and how to do it as well.
00:26:46
Speaker
And the mindset ideology and the principles behind closing and why your job isn't to educate the customer.
00:26:54
Speaker
Your job is to close them and help them make a decision, yes or no, whether or not solar is the right decision for them.
00:27:00
Speaker
If you switch that mindset, you will close more deals guaranteed by this one tactic.
00:27:05
Speaker
It's impossible not to, guys.
00:27:07
Speaker
Literally, it's impossible.
00:27:08
Speaker
I have spent tens and tens of thousands of dollars studying closing and thousands of hours of my time researching this over the last three years.
00:27:16
Speaker
I can tell you this is the golden goose.
00:27:18
Speaker
This is the secret stuff in solar.
00:27:20
Speaker
It's gonna make all of the difference.
00:27:22
Speaker
If you can present, especially after listening to that last series, if you could present concisely, you can set the agenda.
00:27:29
Speaker
If you understand lead generation, this is the final piece of the puzzle and you could create any amount of income that you want.
00:27:35
Speaker
Become a master closer, practice, invest in yourself, end of story.
00:27:39
Speaker
Guys, if you enjoyed the episode, share it with a team member.
00:27:43
Speaker
If you have a team member that's struggling with closing, if you're struggling with closing, go share it with them.
00:27:48
Speaker
Listen to this over and over again.
00:27:49
Speaker
This is some serious stuff on closing.
00:27:52
Speaker
We're going to make sure we put out even more stuff in the future on this subject because I know a lot of you guys, maybe you have your lead gen dialed in.
00:27:59
Speaker
You know how to get in front of people.
00:28:00
Speaker
You're confident in your presentation, but you just can't quite wrap the deal up.
00:28:05
Speaker
Closing is the answer.
00:28:07
Speaker
So leave us a review, help us get the word out, help us get in front of more solopreneurs, and we'll see you guys tomorrow for the next episode.
00:28:13
Speaker
Wow, what another amazing episode of the Solopreneur podcast.
00:28:18
Speaker
Now, before we take off here, do us a favor and go leave an honest review on your platform of choice or wherever you're listening to this podcast.
00:28:26
Speaker
It helps us get the word out about the solopreneur movement and impact more entrepreneurs, sales professionals, and marketers just like you.
00:28:35
Speaker
And hey, don't forget to head over to Facebook and join the solopreneur group for more daily content that's going to impact you and help you take your sales game to the next level.
00:28:45
Speaker
See you guys in the next episode.