Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail.
Speaker: I teach you 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? 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. Hey, what's going on, Sorpeners? Today, we're going talking about how ah you can become a better roof salesman. That's right, roof salesman. And we're going be specifically talking about how you can incorporate different techniques how on how to bundle the roof with your solar projects. Because let's be real, there's a lot of solar projects that can't get installed just because they need a roof. And if we don't know how to sell a roof and build value in that,
Speaker: then we're going to lose a lot of deals, failed roofs. So we're going to get into that and a whole lot more. Welcome to the podcast. My name is Taylor Armstrong. We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar industry for today's episode. Also, help you sell more roofs, right? And this is something we've been making a big push in our company out here in san diego california because i've realized that it's like why not sell a roof if you're already doing something that deals with the roof and uh you know there solar can be challenging roofs you know it's always going to be a steady stream of roofs there's never going to be out a shortage of roofs to replace solar you know as areas get more and more solar maybe becomes little more saturated, but so roofs, it's like they've been around forever. People always need a roof over their head. Okay, so I'm going to tell you a few areas where I've found my roof sales go up.
Speaker: A few things that we've done out here in our cells to help sell more roofs with the solar. And hopefully this is something that you can use, whether you want to sell roofs or not, to help you get more solar slapped on the roof.
Speaker: Because if you're like me, I have lost a lot of deals over the years. just by selling ah the solar and then not knowing how to build value at all in the roof. And then people like are just like, ah you know what, forget about it. hey And so I'm going actually tell you about a story. This was just recent, probably ah two months ago, had an account where They were saving quite a bit on their bill with the solar. think it cut their bill by like 30%. And then um they ended up having a roof called out.
Speaker: We go back and then we you know calculate the numbers. We figure out that to add a partial re-roof in this account. They'll make a decent commission. We only needed to add about 15 bucks to their solar bill.
Speaker: And so I'm thinking in my head, oh, this going to be a no-brainer. It's like partial re-roof. We're going to do the side where the panels are going. For only $15, that's like, you know, less than your Chipotle mill.
Speaker: Should be a no-brainer. So I go back. I just instantly jump into numbers. Hey, home Mr. Homeowner, good news. We're go to take care of this side of the roof. It's only go have $15. I see this look on their face that's, you know, kind of like, a you know, that look when you can kind of tell they're not that excited about it.
Speaker: And they're having second thoughts. Well, this was the exact looked look they gave me. And I instantly knew oh, they don't want to do the roof. And that's the response I get.
Speaker: They say, yeah yeah, you know what? If it's going to be extra money, we weren't really planning on doing the roof right now. and we're having Their wife was pregnant. They're like, plus, we don't want people out there working.
Speaker: Well, let's just forget about this whole solar thing. We'll do the roof later. And that's when I realized, I'm like, what am I doing? I just went straight to numbers, didn't even tell them why the roof was bad, why it was getting called out.
Speaker: And sure enough, I get shot down. and then I think back over the years, so many projects I've lost just because I've gone back, thrown out some numbers. they don't want If they don't want to do the roof, then that's that.
Speaker: But have I actually built value? Have I actually created a problem with the roof? No, I haven't. And so something that we've made a big focus on as I mentioned earlier, is, you know, in order to sell the roofs, you've got to create a problem. i think a lot of times for myself being in solar, it's like I know how to create the problem with solar. I know how to get build urgency with that.
Speaker: But roofs, it's like, why haven't I been doing the same thing? Why haven't I created a problem for the reason they need a roof. And there's ways you can do it that going be a lot more effective. So I'm going to share some things that we've been learning as we made a small transition to ah focus on roofs.
Speaker: And then and some things that I've done since then that have actually help helped me get some roofs where otherwise I think people would have just canceled it. Right. And so learn from my mistake. It's the first one, make sure you get documentation documentation of the problem with the roof. Right. And so if you a lot of times people don't believe that they have a problem until they physically see leaking from their roof.
Speaker: Well, by the time your roof's s leaking, you probably have a big problem, right? and But what about the small hidden problems? Just because they can't see it doesn't mean there's not a problem. So good question that you can ask your homeowners, um especially if you see the roof is bad and you're trying to get them to start like thinking in that frame of mind, right? Is have you ever had a roofer inspect the underlayment or flashing or have you mostly judged the roof based on whether you've noticed a leak?
Speaker: Boom. And if you ask some questions like that, 90% of people are going to say ah they judged the problem based on if they had a leak. Right. Most people aren't getting inspections realistically unless they're planning on getting a roof replacement soon.
Speaker: And so if you need to build the pain, maybe you had a roof called out before your solar job, start asking questions like this, right? And, um you know, if you think the roof is good and you want to just get the roof passed, don't ask this question, right? But this is a question you ask when you know the roof's going to get called out.
Speaker: or when it already did get called out. This is the question you go back and you ask them. is It's making them think, oh, you know what? I haven't actually had it inspected. Maybe it's worse than I thought.
Speaker: So good question to get them to start thinking like that. And then if it does get called out, Your job is getting actual roof inspection done. Hopefully when a site survey happens, hopefully there's lots of detailed photos of um roof damage, of you know the site survey lifting up portions of the roof, and you should be able to see clear signs of wear and tear, things like that. so all these photos, that's how you actually build value, right? It's not just saying, hey, your roof's bad. It's not just saying, hey, it's going to cost this much.
Speaker: It's actually showing the physical evidence because most homeowners, they're not up there looking at their roof. And unless the roof is in terrible condition, most people aren't seeing that it's that bad.
Speaker: Right. And even if they know they need a new roof, they probably don't know the extent of it. So if you actually need to sell the roof, you need to create that problem. You need to create that emotion, just like any sales thing. And we shouldn't be exempt from creating the problems in roofs just because we haven't learned the process.
Speaker: Right. So important to treat it with the respect it deserves and actually build that problem. when you're talking about roofs. All right. So that's the first key. Number two, just like we do with solar, you need to make sure you're incorporating stories in with ah the reasons why they should do a roof. Right. And one of my favorite stories is when I'm getting kicked back from the homeowner. You know what? Yeah, i think I might just wait.
Speaker: So there's always homeowners who have decided to wait, and then the problem has become a lot worse. So i actually have a customer from about a year ago where, um as we're trying to sign them up for solar, it was obvious they needed a new roof.
Speaker: And we started asking her, when you plan on doing the roof, she didn't have money. But this homeowner, she we could actually see like parts of the roof falling off. um There were like holes in her ceiling inside and and you could see just like stuff falling down and is actually falling into her food as she was cooking. ah caused her family to get sick.
Speaker: And so this is one of my favorite stories to tell customers is, hey, You can always wait. you can wait for this thing to get worse. You can try ride out the life of your roof as long as possible.
Speaker: But Mr. Homeowner, did have a lady we helped who did this exact same thing. And it got to the point where sections of the roof were falling off. And she thought she was saving a ton of money because she was like, oh, I just maximized the life of my roof. And I'm okay with seeing sections it fall off because I want to get the maximum life out of it.
Speaker: Well, guess what? She actually found out that just by waiting... to try to maximize her roof life. There were far worse problems. She got like mold in the ceiling, ah rotted wood, lot of extra problems with it. that She had to spend about eight grand on top of what she would have just spent if she took care of the problem earlier.
Speaker: And um yeah, it ended up being a huge thing where she could have saved a lot of money just by tackling it sooner rather than waiting for them things to fall apart on her. So make sure you have like some stories like that in your arsenal. Help people see the value in getting this done now instead of waiting, instead of waiting to just write out and the problem as long as possible.
Speaker: Number three, talk about local circumstances. So at the time of this recording, we're here Southern California. We got El Nino. It's this, um you know, the storm, like tropical storm and all that coming through. And it's causing a lot of destruction along the coast of California.
Speaker: California bringing heavy rainstorms, heavy showers. And so this is something that we're doing even even just presenting to people that maybe don't even want solar. We're talking about, hey, have you gotten your roof inspected before El Nino that's coming?
Speaker: Going be a lot of crazy storms. have you gotten your roof looked at? So this is another good thing. Depending on where you live, you know, most areas you got some sort of storm coming up or maybe it's snow. So take advantage that. Use whatever local local circumstances you have coming up. Maybe it's the snow coming.
Speaker: Maybe you're in Florida. There's crazy hurricanes, whatever. Maybe you're in Kansas, i don't know, tornadoes, whatever local circumstances you have going on. Hey, Mr. Homeowner, have you gotten your roof looked at before this storm, before this, insert XYZ?
Speaker: Use whatever circumstances you have to your advantage and help people see that they should get the problems taken care of again sooner rather than later. Okay, and then the last point with this, just like everything, roof costs increase.
Speaker: Right. And so almost everyone will agree with this, Mr. Homeowner. You've seen how everything's gone up in price, right? mean, again, turn this into a story. So, yeah I get it. Maybe you guys weren't planning to do the roof right now.
Speaker: But I will say one thing, um if we were able to get it down, done right now, two things happen. Number one, you're going to avoid problems getting worse and having to spend a lot more money in the future.
Speaker: we can tell a story like the one I just told in the earlier point. And then number two, instead of waiting, you're going to save a lot because roof costs have gotten crazy. They just keep going up.
Speaker: Even five years ago, homeowners were waiting in quotes for 25% less than they are now. You've seen how everything with construction has gone up like crazy during COVID, cost of everything, cost of materials, right? Pretty much everyone should agree with this. Everyone knows that costs have gone up for construction, for material,
Speaker: food, whatever you talk about, costs have gone up, right? And so the point you want to drill in here is that by getting the project started with the roof, they're going to prevent those future problems. They're going to save on future and construction costs increasing, and then they're going to get things done right?
Speaker: Instead of later, a question you can ask with this, would you rather plan a roof replacement while you have options or deal with it when a problem forces you to? Right. And you could bring in any point in life. Right. Mr. Homeowner, would you agree that it's a lot easier to avoid health problems by preventing them?
Speaker: Rather than waiting until you're insanely sick or insanely overweight and then trying to tackle the problem. Usually the easier just to prevent the problem the first place, right? you agree? Yeah, so I get it. Maybe you weren't planning to do it right now, but this is what we're doing. Just like you would. It's a lot easier to prevent health problems or whatever problems we have in life. It's a lot easier to prevent and crazy things from happening with the roof if we just take care of them right now.
Speaker: Right. And so if we are able to do it right now, these are the incentives. These are what we can get you versus um it will cost ah most likely 25 percent more in the future. You don't want to lie. You don't want to exaggerate crazy numbers, but everyone should be in agreement that costs go up and it will be much less expensive to do it now.
Speaker: Right. So hopefully these things help. Hopefully, if anything, just think about how can you build the pain? How can you bring in a solution when it comes to the roof? Don't be like me. Don't just go and try to sell the roof without creating any problem or doing anything and thinking that just because you had a small amount to their solar payment, now they're automatically going to want to do the roof. Doesn't work like that.
Speaker: And you will lose deals. Right. And so depending on areas, you might have to sell a lot. Right now, we were selling in a little bit lower income area. where roofs are getting called out left and right.
Speaker: And so it's really helping to know some of these tips because instead instead of just losing all the deals, now we can get you know potentially a commission on the roof and sell the solar as well.
Speaker: But if anything, know how to build the pain to at least get the solar projects still taking place, even if it's just a partial roof. right And so just to recap one more time, make sure you're documenting photos, showing them proof, really creating that problem.
Speaker: Number two, make sure you're encourage incorporating stories of other homeowners, how if they waited, they spent way more on the projects. Number three, talk about local certain circumstances, things that they would want their roof in good condition to prepare for. Then number four, talk about rising costs.
Speaker: If you do these things, you will be much more likely to not lose deals, even if a roof gets called out. All right, and so we will be talking more about roofs. I think it's a... um Really cool thing to know how to build value in.
Speaker: And we're learning more and more about it. So excited to share more on roofs as i sell more of these things. And might have to switch the name to Roofpreneur on a few of these podcasts. okay But for now, we're still Solopreneur.
Speaker: I still believe in solar. Still believe it is the... game changing products that's still the modern gold rush. So I hope you're all in on solar, but always great to learn how to sell things that are related to it.
Speaker: Right. Thank you for tuning in today. Let me know if you enjoyed this topic. Let me know any future guests or topic suggestions you may have. Thank you for tuning in. I love you. and We'll see you on the next one. So some of you already know that I run my own door to door sales team here in San Diego. And as we were gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
Speaker: But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout. But it's not a door knocking app. It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market. It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
Speaker: It's been working for a lot of teams across the country, and now I'm on board too. I'm going to be one of the first to use Solar Scout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, I'm going to talk about Solar Scout on my show. you need to give my listeners a great deal, and they did.
Speaker: So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them, and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up. That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
Speaker: Okay, back to the show. What's up, solopreneurs? Hope you enjoyed the episode. Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
Speaker: One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start? What episodes should I listen to in the podcast? You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
Speaker: So what we've done, we created the top 10 most downloaded, most listened to, and i would say widely accepted, most useful podcasts that we've done here on Solopreneur.
Speaker: We put them together all in one sheet. So you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new, you do not want to not have this sheet. So go download it right now. It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com. Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com. Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
Speaker: We will have that in the show notes. Go download it right now. And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them. That's going to show you how. So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.
