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From rags to riches.. (Interview with Frankie Lane)
47 Plays7 years ago
Come check out our interview with entrepreneur Frankie Lane on the solarpreneur podcast! Frankie literally went from living in his car to now making a splash in the solar industry starting the fastest growing solar company in Florida. His unique lead generation methods and true grit will leave you inspired to leave behind all excuses and go out and dominate in the solar industry. On a side note please excuse my voice cracking at the beginning 🤣 things mentioned in this episode: advertisingsignsthatwork.com, setupmysolar.clickfunnels.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Solarpreneur Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Look, in the solar business, there's really only two types of people.
00:00:04
Speaker
There's the ones that crush it, make six, seven, and eight figures, and then there's everyone else.
00:00:08
Speaker
The question is, which one will you be?
00:00:12
Speaker
Over the last four years, we've studied the sharpest solar sales and marketing professionals and how they build multi-million dollar incomes using only the best sales and marketing strategies.
00:00:23
Speaker
So how do these solarpreneurs do what they do and what makes them so successful?
00:00:28
Speaker
This podcast is your answer.
00:00:31
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.
00:00:42
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast.
Interview with Frankie Lane
00:00:44
Speaker
Solarpreneur Podcast
00:00:53
Speaker
What's up, Solarpreneurs?
00:00:55
Speaker
Top of the morning to you.
00:00:57
Speaker
Still getting up here in California, 7 o'clock my time, but I am excited to get up because today I've got an awesome guest on and someone that's been catching my eye for a while, and he has some awesome things to tell us.
00:01:11
Speaker
But we got Frankie Lane on the show today.
00:01:14
Speaker
Thanks for coming on, Frankie.
00:01:16
Speaker
Well, thanks for having me, man.
00:01:17
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Appreciate you getting up.
00:01:19
Speaker
Early, early, man.
00:01:20
Speaker
California time so that we can have this talk.
00:01:23
Speaker
I'm excited about it.
Opportunities in Florida's Solar Market
00:01:25
Speaker
Well, I know I should be getting up five in the morning, like probably the most successful entrepreneurs are doing, but still trying to work up to that.
00:01:33
Speaker
Yeah, no problem, man.
00:01:35
Speaker
But yeah, we're excited to have Frankie and he's caught me.
00:01:37
Speaker
He's been catching my eye for a while.
00:01:40
Speaker
You got your company.
00:01:42
Speaker
He's the CEO of set up my solar and from what it looks like, it's fastest growing company in Florida.
00:01:50
Speaker
Is that right?
00:01:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:52
Speaker
Solar company.
00:01:53
Speaker
I think there's some people out there who want that title, but I think by default we get it.
00:01:59
Speaker
Just keep expanding.
00:02:01
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:02:03
Speaker
I don't know a ton about the solar industry in Florida, Frankie, but is it still pretty new there?
00:02:08
Speaker
What's Florida like in the solar?
00:02:10
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely still an untapped...
00:02:16
Speaker
Territories untapped market.
00:02:18
Speaker
I mean, from the last data that I read, it's still 10% or less.
00:02:23
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It's rapidly growing and changing probably by this time next year, it'll be, you know, 15, 20%.
00:02:29
Speaker
But definitely is still untapped.
00:02:31
Speaker
There's a lot of people that don't have solar.
00:02:35
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So it's a wide open market still.
00:02:38
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:39
Speaker
Why do you think, is that just because the rates are so much lower in Florida or how come it's so untapped in Florida, do you think?
00:02:47
Speaker
Well, the legislation started changing things in 2016.
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Speaker
So it's, you know, at the end of 2016.
00:02:54
Speaker
So you're talking only like, you know, as far as what you could do with PV and the grid tied solar systems really didn't open up things until late 2016 into 2017.
00:03:05
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So we really got
00:03:09
Speaker
you know, only about two years under our belt here.
00:03:11
Speaker
So that's why, I mean, you know, regulations and rules and laws really prevented it from being a wide open situation for most homeowners and business owners.
00:03:21
Speaker
So that's, that's the main thing.
00:03:23
Speaker
It's just, uh, in the infant stages still.
00:03:26
Speaker
And, and so now that it's, now that it's, uh, you know, got the green light, um, it's just exploded.
00:03:33
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:03:34
Speaker
Well, I was researching your company and all that a little bit, Frankie.
Dealing with Media Pranks
00:03:38
Speaker
I got pranked pretty good.
00:03:40
Speaker
And I don't know if you knew this, but I see an article on there that says, set up my solar is chosen to build solar for the Trump administration.
00:03:50
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:03:51
Speaker
It's not like that.
00:03:52
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But I see that.
00:03:53
Speaker
I'm like, no way.
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, that was like a fake meme going around.
00:03:59
Speaker
So I thought I would.
00:04:00
Speaker
grab hold of it just to get some attention.
00:04:02
Speaker
So it was, it was pretty fun.
00:04:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:07
Speaker
You must have been digging deep.
00:04:08
Speaker
That's an old one.
00:04:09
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That's way back.
00:04:12
Speaker
I think it comes on like six in the search results or something like that.
00:04:16
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But I was like, I was blown away for a second.
00:04:18
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And then I'm reading it.
00:04:19
Speaker
I'm like, wow, this, this doesn't look like a typical news article.
00:04:23
Speaker
And then I look at the bottom and it says like prank news or something like that.
00:04:27
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Right.
00:04:27
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I'm like, wow, got me good.
00:04:29
Speaker
At least it's still working, man.
00:04:30
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It's still got a good effect.
00:04:32
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Yeah.
00:04:32
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Hopefully people find that.
00:04:33
Speaker
You gotten any business from that?
00:04:35
Speaker
Any customers looking that up and calling you about it?
00:04:38
Speaker
Not that I know directly, but it's just, it was just an attention getter and just something to laugh about.
00:04:44
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So, yep.
00:04:46
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:04:48
Speaker
Well, cool.
Frankie's Background and Solar Industry Entry
00:04:49
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Yeah.
00:04:49
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We want to hear kind of your background, your story, Frankie.
00:04:51
Speaker
I know you've experienced a lot of failures.
00:04:54
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It looks like, and it seems like everything's going a lot better now.
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You've grown your company a ton.
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So yeah, give us kind of your background, how you got into solar and what you've been doing to build your company.
00:05:09
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Well, I got into solar because someone introduced me to a meeting to go to because at the time I was probably in some of the hardest places.
00:05:23
Speaker
financially and emotionally.
00:05:25
Speaker
And, um, I was at the time sleeping in my car at the rest areas on the interstate.
00:05:30
Speaker
I did that for six, seven months because of, you know, some of the bad decisions I made with my money and some of the bridges that I burned with the people that I was connected to.
00:05:40
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I was a joke, man.
00:05:41
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Um, and I don't, I don't pretend to be anything less than that.
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As far as that part of my life, I was, uh,
00:05:48
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I was a joke, man.
00:05:50
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I really was being careless with who I was and what I was trying to do.
00:05:53
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And by default, I definitely deserved where I was at.
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But, you know, I had to make a decision.
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And sleeping in your car is not so fun.
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You know, I was literally taking showers in the sinks of bathrooms.
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I was Wi-Fi hopping, you know, because I didn't have phone service.
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I just could use the free Wi-Fi.
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you know, it was a struggle.
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It was a real struggle, but it was a struggle that I kind of self-inflicted on myself, but I still had to make a decision, you know, to either change it or to get worse, and don't get me wrong, even though it was mainly my fault that I was in that situation, it was still tough.
00:06:38
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Even when I decided to change things around, it didn't happen overnight, so there was a lot of days and nights that
00:06:46
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was really tough.
00:06:46
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Depression is something that, you know, creeps up on you when you're in those situations.
00:06:52
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But I kept fighting through and I would get up and I would find the one shirt I had that was still wrinkled and throw a little jacket over it just to hide it.
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And I would still go network.
00:07:04
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I would still try to find, you know, I still had this attitude of,
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I'm about to shake someone's hand and maybe there's a million dollar deal on the line.
00:07:13
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And I met one person who introduced me to another person who introduced me to another person.
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And then they introduced me to this idea of showing up to this meeting to possibly sell solar.
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And I had no idea what solar was really capable of doing.
00:07:28
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I knew I knew the basic concepts of solar energy.
00:07:32
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And so I went to this meeting and the guys there that were going were already a part of the company.
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They were really energetic and they were really excited.
00:07:43
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And, you know, to get a, to get a room full of guys excited, you know, and pumped up, you're either making a lot of money or you're just lunatics, right?
00:07:52
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So those guys were making money and, you know,
00:07:56
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No offense to any of those guys, but I knew I could do it if they could do it, right?
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Yes.
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I decided that this was a great product, great opportunity, and it also paid well.
00:08:05
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So I decided I had to go all in because I didn't really have a lot of choices, much less did I have any opportunities.
00:08:12
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So I had to take this opportunity and go 100% in, and I did.
00:08:17
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I had to go to training for two weeks, and the training that I had to go to was like almost an hour and 20 minutes away.
00:08:24
Speaker
And I ran out of gas like so many different times.
00:08:26
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I mean, I didn't have a lot of money.
00:08:27
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I mean, five bucks was like a lot of money back then.
00:08:31
Speaker
Wow.
00:08:32
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So I ran out of gas like several times just trying to get to training, trying to pass training.
00:08:37
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But somehow, some way, either when I would run out of gas, someone would show up and help me out or somebody would be able to know that was me or whatnot.
00:08:46
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And here it was, somehow I would make it.
00:08:48
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And I got through training.
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And I finished training and then I started out in the field.
00:08:53
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And so I began to, you know, get customers and start talking to customers.
00:08:57
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And it took a while for me to figure out how to actually sell this deal, this thing called solar.
00:09:04
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But probably about seven or eight contacts later, I did my first deal.
00:09:08
Speaker
By the way, my first customer that signed up and signed all the paperwork actually canceled the next day.
00:09:14
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And that was devastating.
00:09:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:16
Speaker
But you know what?
00:09:17
Speaker
That's a part of the process, you know, is sometimes people get cold feet and I wanted to give up, but I'm glad I didn't because the next day I got a customer who signed up and actually stuck and got installed.
00:09:30
Speaker
And then probably eight weeks later, I was one of the top guys in that office because I was so hungry.
00:09:37
Speaker
Literally.
00:09:42
Speaker
And so I became one of the top guys in the office.
00:09:45
Speaker
And little by little, I realized that there was some limitations with that organization.
00:09:50
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And so I've teamed up with a contractor at the time.
00:09:54
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because I had a lot of customers who wanted solar, but for some reason that organization was very picky about who they would install solar on.
00:10:04
Speaker
And this contractor wasn't that picky.
00:10:06
Speaker
So I figured, hey, I need to team up with someone who actually can get it done.
00:10:11
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Because I didn't have no reservations of making money and helping customers.
00:10:16
Speaker
So I wanted to sign up everyone.
00:10:18
Speaker
And so that's what I did.
00:10:19
Speaker
And I created a page called Set Up My Solar.
00:10:25
Speaker
Then little by little, that contractor couldn't keep up.
00:10:29
Speaker
So I decided we got to become a contractor and install the solar ourself.
00:10:34
Speaker
That's the only way to really master this business because customer service is really a big part of this.
00:10:40
Speaker
And so we decided to figure out how to become a contractor.
00:10:44
Speaker
We became a contractor.
00:10:45
Speaker
And that was like two years ago.
00:10:49
Speaker
And then we just took off, right?
00:10:51
Speaker
And in our first year, we did about
Company Growth and Expansion
00:10:54
Speaker
$600,000.
00:10:54
Speaker
Our first full year, I should say, $600,000 in sales.
00:10:59
Speaker
And then last year we did two, uh, almost $18 million.
00:11:03
Speaker
We grew, uh, like, like 2,600%.
00:11:05
Speaker
Someone told me, wow.
00:11:08
Speaker
$18 million, uh, nearly $18 million of sales.
00:11:12
Speaker
And we have over a hundred people working for us.
00:11:15
Speaker
And we're in two states.
00:11:16
Speaker
We're covering all of Florida and a little bit of Georgia now.
00:11:20
Speaker
And now we sit here in 2019 trying to take it even to the next level and help even other solar companies try to be successful.
00:11:29
Speaker
So we've done that in this short bit of time in 2019.
00:11:33
Speaker
And I got to tell you, the main reason I believe we've done that is because we've really invested in the places, particularly people, to really help us grow.
00:11:43
Speaker
And I knew from the very beginning that it had to be that way or it wasn't really going to last.
00:11:52
Speaker
Making a dollar or getting a commission is one thing.
00:11:56
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But for it to last, it's got to be built on a different foundation than just a sale.
00:12:01
Speaker
And so that's what we decided to do from the very beginning.
00:12:04
Speaker
So hopefully that gives you guys a little bit of idea of how I got started there.
00:12:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's crazy, man.
00:12:11
Speaker
I love hearing stories like that, kind of the rags to riches type.
00:12:15
Speaker
And so how long ago was that that you first got in an industry?
00:12:19
Speaker
Well, that was almost three years ago.
00:12:21
Speaker
Three years ago.
00:12:22
Speaker
Okay.
00:12:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:23
Speaker
Well, I was going to say, I wish I knew you back then because I would have hit you up, let you come live in our company housing at least.
00:12:30
Speaker
Come work for our company.
00:12:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:32
Speaker
Because, yeah, man, I was a similar story.
00:12:34
Speaker
Luckily, our company had a housing at the time.
00:12:37
Speaker
So, luckily, I could just go live there or else I would have been doing the same thing.
00:12:41
Speaker
Live down in my car.
00:12:42
Speaker
Right.
00:12:43
Speaker
But, yeah, that's what I think is incredible about this industry.
00:12:46
Speaker
I mean, you get a couple of cells under your belt.
00:12:49
Speaker
make some money and great industry, great commissions.
00:12:53
Speaker
I was doing the same thing though.
00:12:55
Speaker
I was living in the company housing, had about 20 bucks in my bank accounts and literally I had to beg the other sales reps to give me some of their food, stuff like that, which I'm sure you've been saying through some other things.
00:13:09
Speaker
I was cooking all the eggs in the morning, cooking the food for everybody and then seeing if they'd let me just have some of the food since I cooked it for them.
00:13:16
Speaker
Kind of a personal shift.
00:13:18
Speaker
That's for sure.
00:13:19
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:13:20
Speaker
I know.
00:13:21
Speaker
But yeah, I feel you about the cancellations because exact same thing happened to me.
00:13:25
Speaker
Took me about three weeks in to get my first deal and they canceled.
00:13:29
Speaker
It was like a 10 kilowatt system.
00:13:31
Speaker
What I mean, I don't know, three grand in commissions or something.
00:13:34
Speaker
They canceled the next day.
00:13:36
Speaker
So I was devastated, man.
00:13:38
Speaker
So close to giving up.
00:13:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:40
Speaker
Glad we didn't.
00:13:42
Speaker
But that's awesome, man.
00:13:45
Speaker
For sure.
00:13:46
Speaker
So, yeah, what's – how big are you – you have two offices, you said, right now?
00:13:51
Speaker
Or you're in two different states?
00:13:52
Speaker
Or how many different offices do you
Lead Generation Strategies
00:13:55
Speaker
have?
00:13:56
Speaker
We have an office in Orlando, one in the greater area of Tampa and Ocala.
00:14:03
Speaker
And then we have a dealership in Jacksonville and then we have an office in Georgia.
00:14:07
Speaker
So I think that's four locations.
00:14:11
Speaker
But we cover a lot of Florida, even with the few offices that we have here.
00:14:16
Speaker
And yeah, we have quite a bit of a team now.
00:14:19
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:14:21
Speaker
Yeah, part of what we're doing for our solopreneurs is what we call our guys here on the podcast.
00:14:27
Speaker
But we're trying to teach sales reps to use kind of all forms of lead generation, not just limit themselves to one thing and be able to master just kind of being entrepreneurs of the solar game like you're doing.
00:14:40
Speaker
So as far as like lead generation, what kind of things are you guys using to get leads?
00:14:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:47
Speaker
Well, I mean, obviously Facebook is one of the best ways to create leads and appointments.
00:14:55
Speaker
You know, whether it's posting in Facebook groups or actually using your ad spin to create advertisements and leads that way.
00:15:05
Speaker
Is this podcast going to be on video or just audio?
00:15:08
Speaker
It'll be video.
00:15:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:09
Speaker
It'll be video?
00:15:10
Speaker
Okay, if that's the case.
00:15:11
Speaker
Hey, grab me one of those signs.
00:15:13
Speaker
You have signs on the front.
00:15:15
Speaker
All right, I wanna show you guys one thing that a lot of solar people don't do.
00:15:20
Speaker
That's a really affordable way of creating phone calls.
00:15:24
Speaker
And then if you got someone that's good on the phone,
00:15:29
Speaker
to actually create appointments.
00:15:32
Speaker
This could be really lucrative.
00:15:33
Speaker
We use this.
00:15:34
Speaker
I want to show you if this is going to be on video, you guys can see it for yourself.
00:15:37
Speaker
And it's been so lucrative for us that we recommend it for everyone.
00:15:43
Speaker
And I even bought the company that created all the signs for us.
00:15:46
Speaker
That's how lucrative it was.
00:15:47
Speaker
Awesome.
00:15:49
Speaker
because it works really good.
00:15:51
Speaker
Now, Facebook, I think, still wins the number one seat when it comes to lead generation for solar anyways.
00:15:58
Speaker
But this one becomes probably a close second.
00:16:01
Speaker
And the reason why it's a close second is because it's very affordable.
00:16:04
Speaker
So, you know, you can do other things like we got radio ads that do really well for us.
00:16:11
Speaker
But if you're talking to people who are kind of getting started, maybe they don't have the budget for that yet.
00:16:15
Speaker
Mm hmm.
00:16:17
Speaker
This is something that pretty much anyone and we encourage all of our own reps to do.
00:16:23
Speaker
This right here.
00:16:26
Speaker
Awesome.
00:16:27
Speaker
What kind of this?
00:16:28
Speaker
This is a this.
00:16:29
Speaker
Some people call these snipe signs.
00:16:31
Speaker
Some call them yard signs.
00:16:33
Speaker
But these signs right here.
00:16:35
Speaker
Literally.
00:16:36
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:16:37
Speaker
And it says go.
00:16:38
Speaker
So pocket in the phone number and then the website below.
00:16:41
Speaker
Right.
00:16:42
Speaker
Now, between you and me, it doesn't seem like this is much.
00:16:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:47
Speaker
There's a lot.
00:16:48
Speaker
There's a there's a lot behind this.
00:16:50
Speaker
First of all, the color and the simple ad.
00:16:53
Speaker
Right.
00:16:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:55
Speaker
Go solar.
00:16:56
Speaker
Well, if you're in a market like we're in, where a lot of people don't know what that means, but it's interesting enough to make the phone call.
00:17:03
Speaker
Guess what they're going to do.
00:17:04
Speaker
They're going to call to find out.
00:17:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:06
Speaker
Half the battle is when you're in, when you're getting a lead is getting them on the phone, right?
00:17:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:12
Speaker
So they're going to call, guess what?
00:17:14
Speaker
They're already on the phone.
00:17:15
Speaker
So now you just got to sell them for the reason of why you need to come out and give them an energy audit and give them a consultation.
00:17:23
Speaker
And I'm telling you, this thing works.
00:17:24
Speaker
So we do this guys.
00:17:26
Speaker
And you can tell all of your, your people that listen and watch.
00:17:31
Speaker
and I'll give you the link here.
00:17:34
Speaker
You can get a box.
00:17:35
Speaker
You can get 100 of these, double-sided, by the way.
00:17:39
Speaker
Nice.
00:17:40
Speaker
It comes with the stake, so you can just stick it in the ground.
00:17:43
Speaker
You can get 100 of these.
00:17:44
Speaker
These are 24 by 18, I believe, 24 by 18.
00:17:48
Speaker
So they're not small signs either.
00:17:49
Speaker
So you put them in the four corners of a high traffic intersection.
00:17:55
Speaker
You get 100 of those for $350, okay?
00:17:57
Speaker
Okay.
00:18:01
Speaker
If you're in solar like we are, one deal pays for this and still makes you money.
00:18:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:07
Speaker
Right?
00:18:08
Speaker
And at this point, we hire people to put them out for us, so we don't have to put them out anymore.
00:18:13
Speaker
So we give them a dollar per sign.
00:18:15
Speaker
So now it's $450 that we're spending.
00:18:18
Speaker
So the ROI is easy because all you need is one deal for this to make money.
00:18:23
Speaker
All one deal.
00:18:23
Speaker
Right?
00:18:24
Speaker
Right.
00:18:25
Speaker
And then if you're not in Florida and we ship these boxes to you, and maybe it costs another $20.
00:18:31
Speaker
So you might, if you pay for someone to put them out or you can put them out yourself, you're going to spend maybe $370.
00:18:37
Speaker
But again, one deal.
00:18:40
Speaker
And if you put these out in the right places, in the right areas, you'll get tons of phone calls.
00:18:47
Speaker
And now you're just going to, you should, out of 100 signs, you should probably create at least, in my opinion, 10 appointments.
00:18:53
Speaker
Both.
00:18:55
Speaker
10 appointments, do your close ratio.
00:18:57
Speaker
Hopefully your close ratio is between 40 and 50%.
00:18:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:00
Speaker
And then you close two or three of those guys.
00:19:04
Speaker
The ROI is clear, right?
00:19:07
Speaker
Yeah, that's huge.
00:19:08
Speaker
And this, so these are a hundred little mini billboards out there telling, telling people to call you.
00:19:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:14
Speaker
So, you know, that's, what's awesome.
00:19:17
Speaker
Wow.
00:19:18
Speaker
I'm going to give you the link.
00:19:19
Speaker
I think, let me, let me double check on this real quick while we're on here for you guys to check it out.
00:19:25
Speaker
Um, and I, we did so well with these signs.
00:19:28
Speaker
I bought the company.
00:19:29
Speaker
Okay.
00:19:30
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:19:32
Speaker
And, um, these signs really do work.
00:19:35
Speaker
Um,
00:19:37
Speaker
Let me make sure I got the link here so you guys can check those out.
00:19:42
Speaker
But advertising signs that work.com advertising signs that work.com.
00:19:49
Speaker
It's spelled just like it sounds advertising signs that work.
00:19:56
Speaker
And the honest truth is they do work.
00:19:58
Speaker
They definitely do work.
00:20:00
Speaker
I think we did almost 200 deals off of those signs last year.
00:20:03
Speaker
Wow.
00:20:04
Speaker
That's a game changer, man.
00:20:05
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:20:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:07
Speaker
We'll post that in the show notes, but that's, yeah, I haven't heard too much, too many people using, I guess, that specific strategy.
00:20:14
Speaker
So do you post them like everywhere?
00:20:16
Speaker
Is it in people's yards or is it like street intersections?
00:20:19
Speaker
No, you definitely don't want to put them in people's yards and you're going to get a lot of negative calls.
00:20:24
Speaker
But what you want to do is put them on intersections where people are stopping at the stop sign or the red lights.
00:20:29
Speaker
Okay.
00:20:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:32
Speaker
tilted towards the cars.
00:20:35
Speaker
And you might wanna put a couple of them per turning lane or per stop.
00:20:39
Speaker
So if you got a four corner intersection, you're gonna have, put out eight of them, two per right side.
00:20:47
Speaker
And then just go find the major intersections or find the entrances to the nice subdivisions or the subdivisions you want to target.
00:20:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:55
Speaker
At the end of the day, does it guarantee a sale?
00:20:58
Speaker
But when you get enough phone calls, you know, it's a numbers game.
00:21:01
Speaker
So all you need is you're going to probably get about 20, 30 calls.
00:21:05
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:06
Speaker
Now the signs are not going to stay out there because people are going to pick them up.
00:21:09
Speaker
The County or the city is going to throw them away.
00:21:11
Speaker
So you have to keep ordering them.
00:21:13
Speaker
But at the end of the day,
00:21:15
Speaker
If you're spending $350, maybe $400 and maybe $450 if you pay someone to put them out, all you need is one deal.
00:21:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:23
Speaker
All you need is one deal, right?
00:21:25
Speaker
So at the end of the day, you got 100 signs out there.
00:21:29
Speaker
You're going to get phone calls.
00:21:30
Speaker
And that's the name of the game, getting people to call you.
00:21:33
Speaker
So we get people to call them.
00:21:34
Speaker
They're already on the phone, guys.
00:21:37
Speaker
That's the key thing.
00:21:39
Speaker
They're already on the phone.
00:21:41
Speaker
Taylor, I'm sure you got a lead, but it was hard to get a hold of them, right?
00:21:44
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:21:45
Speaker
For sure.
00:21:46
Speaker
These guys are already on the phone because they're calling you.
00:21:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:49
Speaker
So when you're, when you got them on the phone, then you tell them a good reason.
00:21:52
Speaker
Now you gotta have, you know, you gotta have your, your, you know, your a game when it comes to being on the phone, give them a good reason why you gotta come out and measure the sun levels, do the energy audit, look at their electric bill, make sure wife and husband are there at the same time, same thing, but you got them on the phone this time and this makes a big difference.
00:22:09
Speaker
And so I would say this was the number two, uh, way we created leads and generated sales.
00:22:16
Speaker
Um,
00:22:16
Speaker
And number one was Facebook.
00:22:18
Speaker
Number two was yard signs.
00:22:20
Speaker
Number three would be referrals.
00:22:23
Speaker
And then we got some other things we've done like radio.
00:22:26
Speaker
And then we do, we do door knocking as well.
00:22:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:30
Speaker
But these are the ways that you can use your money.
00:22:33
Speaker
And I teach all of our guys, whether they've been here a week or they've been here a year, go invest in your own success, right?
00:22:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:41
Speaker
Invest in your own success by the signs and listen,
00:22:45
Speaker
If you guys buy a box of signs from my company, I'm making pennies.
00:22:48
Speaker
I'd rather you guys go sell a deal and make a ton of money.
00:22:52
Speaker
I bought the company just so I can save myself a few more bucks.
00:22:55
Speaker
That's it.
00:22:56
Speaker
That company is barely going to make $300,000 or $400,000, right?
00:23:01
Speaker
By the way, those signs are the cheapest in the whole country.
00:23:04
Speaker
Really?
00:23:05
Speaker
You cannot find.
00:23:06
Speaker
That's $3.50 a sign, double-sided color with a stake.
00:23:12
Speaker
Anybody can go out there and try to find a sign company that does them for cheaper.
00:23:15
Speaker
If they do, I'll match the price.
00:23:17
Speaker
I guarantee you there's not, there's not enough company out there.
00:23:19
Speaker
So that's one of the strategies out there.
00:23:21
Speaker
Um, and we'll ship them right to your doorstep if you, if you guys want to do that.
00:23:26
Speaker
And, uh, I don't really, and this is the first time I've ever told anybody outside of myself about that secret.
00:23:32
Speaker
Right.
00:23:33
Speaker
So Taylor, you're getting, you're getting like, you're getting some of the secrets we're going to share at the solar success summits.
00:23:38
Speaker
Holy, wow.
00:23:39
Speaker
Thanks, man.
00:23:41
Speaker
You just dropped some knowledge bombs on us there.
00:23:44
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:23:45
Speaker
Yeah, I haven't heard anyone
00:23:47
Speaker
That's the first time I've heard anyone doing it like that.
00:23:49
Speaker
Cause I've seen people doing like the referral signs of deals they've installed, putting up signs like that.
00:23:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:55
Speaker
You can use these for that as well.
00:23:57
Speaker
But the main thing is getting people interested in what, what does zero out of pocket mean?
00:24:02
Speaker
And that's all you're trying to do is get them the call because they want to know.
00:24:05
Speaker
And then when you get them on the phone, then you try to sell them on the appointment.
00:24:08
Speaker
And then when you're at the appointment, of course you do what you do best and try to close them on the deal.
00:24:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:14
Speaker
My question is, Frankie, I know solar is not, it's a little more untapped there than it is in the California market.
00:24:21
Speaker
Have you had, you know, people have done a similar strategy in like markets like California where a lot more people know about solar?
00:24:31
Speaker
I mean, listen, the signs, now listen, the company that I own, people order signs for all kinds of different things, right?
00:24:39
Speaker
Yards, cleaning yards, mowing yards, taxes, buying homes, repairing homes.
00:24:46
Speaker
These signs work anywhere.
00:24:48
Speaker
It's just a matter of if you're in a market like California where it's a lot of knowledge about solar already, maybe you have to try a little bit of a different wording like solar, something that catches their eye because you don't got a lot of space on there.
00:25:04
Speaker
It's a small sign.
00:25:06
Speaker
You know, I'm not sure.
00:25:07
Speaker
I don't have anyone that I know of that's using it, but I will tell you it's worth the try.
00:25:11
Speaker
You know, it's worth trying to put out something that gives people's attention.
00:25:15
Speaker
I mean, and then California, I think kind of this, this, this, this sign would work because you guys over there, you know, if they buy a new home from what I, what I understand, they got to have solar of some kind of renewable energy.
00:25:27
Speaker
Is that right?
00:25:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:28
Speaker
Starting next year.
00:25:29
Speaker
Right.
00:25:29
Speaker
So you could put,
00:25:33
Speaker
Something on here like, hey, get the solar you need, you know, for a very low cost call today to save you even more money or whatever.
00:25:41
Speaker
Something that gets people to call.
00:25:42
Speaker
That's all you're trying to do is trying to get them to call.
00:25:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:45
Speaker
Wow.
00:25:46
Speaker
Crazy strategy.
00:25:47
Speaker
Love it.
00:25:48
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:25:49
Speaker
What about, I know we have some listeners that aren't even in the country.
00:25:52
Speaker
Do you ship those to different countries or is it just U.S.?
00:25:56
Speaker
Well, I haven't shipped them out of the country, but we can figure that out.
00:25:59
Speaker
That's not a problem.
00:26:00
Speaker
Okay.
00:26:01
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:26:02
Speaker
Cool.
00:26:02
Speaker
We'll post a link to that.
00:26:03
Speaker
And yeah, I love that.
00:26:05
Speaker
We're always all about your new strategies, getting leads.
00:26:10
Speaker
I think I'm going to have to try that for sure.
00:26:11
Speaker
And then do you have like an inside sales team that's
00:26:15
Speaker
receiving these calls or you just put like your personal number on there and they're calling you directly?
00:26:19
Speaker
Yeah, we have, uh, we have so many calls that come in because we, we literally put out several hundred signs a week.
00:26:25
Speaker
Right.
00:26:26
Speaker
So, um, we have a little bit of a call center that takes the calls and tries to turn them into appointments.
00:26:33
Speaker
So, um,
00:26:35
Speaker
Because listen, you know, at first it's okay to put out a box of signs and you take the calls, but eventually you got to leverage this situation where you got enough phone calls coming in and you hire one person, train them how to take the calls and turn them into appointments.
00:26:49
Speaker
And then you're not even going to have time to put signs out anymore because if you're really going and selling deals, you're going to have to hire someone to put the signs out, hire someone to take the calls, turn them into appointments.
00:26:59
Speaker
That's how I built this company is the same process, creating leads,
00:27:05
Speaker
with a phone number, with a lead form they fill out, or the signs where they call directly, and then turning them into appointments.
00:27:12
Speaker
So all I'm doing is checking my calendar and finding out where the next appointment is.
00:27:16
Speaker
That's all I'm doing.
00:27:17
Speaker
Now, at first, I started off with my own phone number on there, but eventually it had to lead where someone else had to do it for me and even put the signs out for me.
00:27:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:26
Speaker
Awesome.
00:27:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:27
Speaker
And I mean, that's important.
00:27:28
Speaker
Obviously you can't be taking the calls forever.
00:27:30
Speaker
If you really want to grow, really want to take it to the next level.
00:27:33
Speaker
And then I think you got to be able to hire people.
00:27:36
Speaker
You got to focus on what you do best and that is closing deals.
00:27:39
Speaker
Exactly.
00:27:40
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:27:43
Speaker
The other thing, well, I know we have solar guys out there, Frankie, that like want to start their own thing.
00:27:49
Speaker
They're working the company like, like you were.
00:27:52
Speaker
And then,
00:27:53
Speaker
they want to like do something like you did like step away and build their own brand company.
00:27:59
Speaker
What would you say, how did you transition into working for your solar company and then actually going out?
00:28:04
Speaker
I'm sure it was like nerve wracking to go out and kind of start your own company and all that.
00:28:09
Speaker
How did you make that transition?
Starting a Solar Business
00:28:11
Speaker
Well, I mean, honestly, it took a, it took a lot of different steps to make that happen and figure it out.
00:28:18
Speaker
But, um,
00:28:19
Speaker
You know, I'm glad I did because I've been able to help a lot of people.
00:28:23
Speaker
I think the main thing is, is no matter what you're in, I mean, I'm sure there's some industries or some positions out there that doesn't require you to interact with people that much.
00:28:34
Speaker
I can't think of any of them off the top of my head.
00:28:37
Speaker
But this industry, the product is solar, but it doesn't move.
00:28:43
Speaker
It doesn't go anywhere.
00:28:44
Speaker
It's not as effective or impactful unless you realize it's really the business of people.
00:28:52
Speaker
And people is your best asset for pretty much any organization.
00:28:58
Speaker
And if you don't get good with people, and I don't mean just the customers, I mean your own team.
00:29:04
Speaker
If you're not willing to bleed with your people and they don't feel like you're willing to bleed with them, yeah, they might stay because they get paid pretty well.
00:29:14
Speaker
But at the end of the day, when you want to really build something that lasts, and that's the difference here, guys, it's easy to create a team of salespeople and get sales.
00:29:24
Speaker
But finding people who will dig deep with you when things are slow or things are struggling or even when they're struggling or when you're struggling,
00:29:32
Speaker
You got to find people that actually are, you know, working towards a common goal and their buy-in is deep, right?
00:29:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:41
Speaker
And this is how I believe you do that.
00:29:43
Speaker
You give them an opportunity and you empower them to chip away at their own dreams.
00:29:50
Speaker
That's what I call it.
00:29:52
Speaker
So for example, you bring someone on and you say, hey, listen, this can help you make a lot of money.
00:29:57
Speaker
But more importantly, this can help you do what you really are called to do.
00:30:01
Speaker
Maybe it's you're trying to be a book writer.
00:30:04
Speaker
Maybe you want to be a business owner.
00:30:06
Speaker
Maybe you want to be a speaker.
00:30:07
Speaker
Maybe you want to open up your own company eventually.
00:30:10
Speaker
When you make the type of money you can make in this industry, you're now giving yourself a chance to do that.
00:30:17
Speaker
But more importantly, you're going to learn how to deal with people, how to train people, how to lead people, how to deal with objections, how to go through the challenges.
00:30:26
Speaker
So what I do is I take someone that walks us off the street, that is looking for a job or a paycheck, and I use that to their advantage as well.
00:30:38
Speaker
I use their dream against them.
00:30:40
Speaker
And I try to get them to understand that we can chip away at their dream at the same time, chip away at the common goal that we have here.
00:30:47
Speaker
And that's building something that helps other people be financially a better fit as well as helping customers go solar.
00:30:55
Speaker
And when you do that and people know that you care about their success, not just because they're making money for you and they buy in and then they're indebted to you.
00:31:04
Speaker
Right.
00:31:06
Speaker
I mean, again, it's not hard finding people who want to make money.
00:31:10
Speaker
People want to make money and people want to make good money.
00:31:12
Speaker
So it's not hard to find people who want to come work for you that are there because they want to make money.
00:31:18
Speaker
It's hard to find people who will last and not give up and not jump ship because when, you know, I mean, those people are going to do that regardless.
00:31:28
Speaker
But when you find a few people that really are there because you have built a bond and a team, they're not going nowhere.
00:31:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:37
Speaker
They're not going nowhere.
00:31:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:39
Speaker
And you do that by empowering them and letting them know we're going to chip away at your dream together.
00:31:45
Speaker
And so I teach, I teach my people everything I can as if, as if they're starting their own company and people, a lot of people, especially in this industry, you might be able to even attest to this Taylor.
Investing in Employees and Company Culture
00:31:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:57
Speaker
They're like, well, wait, wait, wait, don't tell them everything because then they might go and leave.
00:32:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:04
Speaker
Right?
00:32:04
Speaker
True.
00:32:04
Speaker
Yeah, true.
00:32:06
Speaker
If you tell them everything, they're going to leave.
00:32:08
Speaker
But that's not true.
00:32:10
Speaker
Some people are going to leave regardless of whatever you tell them or not tell them.
00:32:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:14
Speaker
Some people are just, they love jumping ship and finding new grass that's greener on the other side.
00:32:19
Speaker
They're going to do that regardless.
00:32:21
Speaker
But then there's a group of people who will stay no matter what you train them, whatever you teach them.
00:32:26
Speaker
And there's a group of people who will even stay when they're making enough money to start their own thing.
00:32:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:32
Speaker
Because you invested in them more than just a paycheck.
00:32:36
Speaker
Because you spent time with them.
00:32:38
Speaker
You bled with them.
00:32:39
Speaker
You taught with them.
00:32:41
Speaker
You cried with them.
00:32:43
Speaker
You pushed them.
00:32:44
Speaker
You gave them tools and training and empowered them to be successful.
00:32:48
Speaker
And when you do that, they're indebted to you.
00:32:52
Speaker
And then what they do is they get in the trenches with you and they fight and they keep going and they keep building.
00:32:58
Speaker
And most of those people never leave.
00:33:01
Speaker
yeah right loyalty is royalty i love it that's true and i think easy to get in that scarcity mindset where it's like oh guys will leave guys will take all the secrets and i mean even on even on the podcast i'm sure i've had some guys hesitant to jump on because i was like oh i don't want to like share my secrets i don't want to share what's happening
00:33:23
Speaker
Some people are going to leave regardless.
00:33:25
Speaker
That's the business of people.
00:33:27
Speaker
That's why you got to get good at the business of people.
00:33:30
Speaker
People are messy.
00:33:31
Speaker
People make mistakes.
00:33:33
Speaker
People do stupid stuff.
00:33:35
Speaker
But if you understand that going in, there's some people going to leave anyways.
00:33:40
Speaker
Just focus on the people who are sticking around and invest in them in a way where they know that you care beyond just the paycheck that you give them.
00:33:47
Speaker
Give them the real you.
00:33:49
Speaker
Give them the heart of you.
00:33:50
Speaker
Be vulnerable with them.
00:33:51
Speaker
Tell them the mistakes and the hardships you even deal with.
00:33:55
Speaker
And I tell you what, man, that makes the big difference, man.
00:33:57
Speaker
I know this ain't the sexy thing about solar.
00:34:01
Speaker
You know, the sexy thing about solar is tell me how you get more leads.
00:34:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:05
Speaker
Get more recruits.
00:34:06
Speaker
Tell me how you coach your business.
00:34:08
Speaker
Well, really, this is how I did it.
00:34:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:11
Speaker
Right.
00:34:11
Speaker
Don't get me wrong.
00:34:12
Speaker
I got some creative ideas of how to get more leads as I just showed you.
00:34:16
Speaker
But more importantly, people who walk in my door who want a job, they come in for the paycheck, but they stay because their potential.
00:34:24
Speaker
We help them fulfill it.
00:34:25
Speaker
I love it.
00:34:26
Speaker
So one of my questions, Frankie is, and I've seen this in companies is when they grow, obviously you can't be in all your offices at once.
00:34:35
Speaker
So, I mean, you got to train your other guys to kind of keep that culture.
00:34:39
Speaker
But what do you suggest when you're growing like that in multiple states, multiple offices?
00:34:44
Speaker
How do you keep that culture strong and how do you envision your guys to have that same mindset and training with all the new hires that come on that you're not in contact with necessarily?
00:34:57
Speaker
Well, I mean, you constantly preaching the same message, but you're also practicing the same message.
00:35:02
Speaker
So for, for example, I mean, we were constantly always like making sure we're showcasing the example that we want to have the culture we want to have.
00:35:13
Speaker
I mean,
00:35:13
Speaker
We say all the time, if the currency we have the most around here is care.
00:35:20
Speaker
We care about what we do.
00:35:22
Speaker
We care about one another and we care about our customers.
00:35:25
Speaker
If you don't care and you'll be found out real quick, because if you just care about the paycheck and don't care about other people that work here, you're going to be found out.
00:35:34
Speaker
You're going to be exposed.
00:35:36
Speaker
And so if everybody has that standard of care,
00:35:41
Speaker
caring about their job, caring about the people they work with and caring about the customers.
00:35:45
Speaker
As soon as you get off track for that, you will stand out like a sore thumb because you have to, you have to, you know, fall in line with the culture.
00:35:52
Speaker
So we preach it and we practice it.
00:35:54
Speaker
And there's been some people that in some cases didn't deserve a second chance, but because we gave them a second chance, but we also gave them,
00:36:02
Speaker
you know, some instruction and some strict guidelines.
00:36:06
Speaker
And we said, we're doing this because we care.
00:36:08
Speaker
We not only appreciate it a lot, but we practice it a lot.
00:36:13
Speaker
And people have experienced that care from the head up, you know, from my office down.
00:36:19
Speaker
And then they know that this is not just something we talk about.
00:36:22
Speaker
It's something we actually do.
00:36:24
Speaker
So constantly communicating the care aspect, the care culture, and constantly practicing it.
00:36:30
Speaker
You know, we feed, we gave 500 turkeys away in our community.
00:36:36
Speaker
We help people at Christmas, some of the schools we did.
00:36:39
Speaker
We bought backpacks.
00:36:41
Speaker
Then we have also our internal, you know,
00:36:44
Speaker
you know, outreach that we help people that work for us that sometimes are struggling.
00:36:49
Speaker
We bought one of the girls that worked for us a car.
00:36:51
Speaker
We helped other people with some medical issues.
00:36:55
Speaker
I mean, we just constantly not only just say it, but we actually, you know, do it as much as we can.
00:37:00
Speaker
And then again, there's been some people that,
00:37:02
Speaker
typically would have been let go of or would have been treated a little differently in your typical world and company.
00:37:12
Speaker
But we gave them another chance and we did it.
00:37:14
Speaker
And now they made a turnaround.
00:37:15
Speaker
So, you know, when you really care about people, you do things different than what's in the typical playbook of a corporation or a company.
00:37:26
Speaker
You know, you care more about them, the person, than just the paycheck.
00:37:30
Speaker
then you'll do things.
00:37:31
Speaker
And sometimes you get burned.
00:37:34
Speaker
Taylor, why do people not want to help people out?
00:37:36
Speaker
Because they got burned before, right?
00:37:38
Speaker
Yeah, true.
00:37:39
Speaker
I mean, has anybody ever hurt you and burned you and did you wrong?
00:37:43
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:37:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:44
Speaker
A lot of times people don't do things for people because they got burned in the past.
00:37:48
Speaker
Well, guess what?
00:37:49
Speaker
I've been burned too.
00:37:50
Speaker
People have taken advantage of me.
00:37:51
Speaker
They've taken my money and ran.
00:37:53
Speaker
I've helped people and they did the wrong thing with it.
00:37:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:56
Speaker
That's what people do.
00:37:58
Speaker
But some people don't.
00:37:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:00
Speaker
So you have to make up your mind that you're going to be in the business of people.
00:38:04
Speaker
And some people are not going to do what they need to do.
00:38:06
Speaker
And some people are, but it doesn't mean you should stop doing what you're supposed to do.
00:38:10
Speaker
And that is care for people in a way where they, they, they really want to see their potential fulfilled.
00:38:14
Speaker
So.
00:38:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:15
Speaker
Well, it's like, it's like our man Zig Ziglar says, people don't care how much, you know, until they know how much you care.
00:38:22
Speaker
Right.
00:38:23
Speaker
That's right.
00:38:23
Speaker
It's true in any business.
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:25
Speaker
Any successful business owner I've talked to, they definitely have been Burns.
00:38:30
Speaker
I was at a conference in Nashville last weekend.
00:38:33
Speaker
Guy got 150 grand stolen from him or from one of his managers in the Philippines, actually here in kind of an overseas business.
00:38:41
Speaker
Got 150 grand taken, which is like probably a million dollars in the Philippines.
00:38:46
Speaker
And yeah, it's crazy.
00:38:48
Speaker
I mean, you got to realize that this stuff happens, but I mean, not let it stop you from giving.
00:38:53
Speaker
What I think is cool, Frank, is you came from like those humble beginnings.
00:38:57
Speaker
So I'm sure that's part of why you give so much because you're like, man, I came from the streets basically.
00:39:03
Speaker
So helping out people.
00:39:05
Speaker
Probably in similar situations.
00:39:06
Speaker
For sure.
00:39:07
Speaker
For sure.
00:39:08
Speaker
John Maxwell says you can love without leading, but you cannot lead without loving.
00:39:12
Speaker
So you got to care, man.
00:39:14
Speaker
I mean, people is the main ingredient to all this.
00:39:17
Speaker
I mean, I could not have grown the business by myself from the small beginnings to where we're at now.
00:39:24
Speaker
I had to have a team.
00:39:25
Speaker
But then some people only build a team because they think that's going to help them make more money and it will, but it won't last.
00:39:33
Speaker
So you got to do it for the right reasons.
00:39:34
Speaker
You can't just have a team of people.
00:39:36
Speaker
You got to do it for the right reasons.
00:39:37
Speaker
You got to care about them.
00:39:38
Speaker
You got to know, you got to know them more than just what their position is and their title.
00:39:42
Speaker
You got to know them beyond the surface.
00:39:44
Speaker
Who are they?
00:39:46
Speaker
What makes, what moves them?
00:39:47
Speaker
What motivates them?
00:39:48
Speaker
What's their challenges?
00:39:49
Speaker
What's their strengths?
00:39:50
Speaker
What their weaknesses?
00:39:52
Speaker
And it takes time to do that.
00:39:53
Speaker
You got to build a relationship with these people.
00:39:55
Speaker
And, you know, and then what they do is they take that same philosophy for the most part and they do it with the people they work with directly.
00:40:02
Speaker
And I keep doing that every day to try to help us grow.
00:40:05
Speaker
Love it.
00:40:06
Speaker
Awesome.
00:40:07
Speaker
Yeah, no doubt.
00:40:07
Speaker
That's been a huge contributor to your success.
00:40:10
Speaker
Another thing I saw, Frankie, you guys did is something like Super Saturdays.
Training and Events for Sales Success
00:40:17
Speaker
With training, tell me about that.
00:40:19
Speaker
I thought that was interesting where you do like, is that every Saturday or once a quarter or something like that?
00:40:25
Speaker
Once a quarter, super Saturdays.
00:40:28
Speaker
And the thing about it is, is you got to understand people learn different ways, right?
00:40:32
Speaker
They learn visually, they learn audibly, they learn...
00:40:36
Speaker
aesthetically, you know, different ways, right?
00:40:38
Speaker
So what we do is Super Saturdays, we simulate, we set up a little area in our training room of what it would be like to be at the kitchen table or at the living room of a house, right?
00:40:52
Speaker
Because, you know, we're selling solar in a house.
00:40:55
Speaker
And what people can now see is a real demo of what it's like to go through a presentation and close the deal, right?
00:41:06
Speaker
I want to take it to the next level.
00:41:07
Speaker
I'm going to give you guys another idea.
00:41:09
Speaker
We haven't done yet, but I know it will work.
00:41:12
Speaker
I actually want to bring one of our customers in who is shopping, who hasn't bought yet.
00:41:18
Speaker
Bring them to the Super Saturday.
00:41:20
Speaker
Nice.
00:41:21
Speaker
And say, hey, listen, you don't have to buy from us, but we want to, we got a bunch of guys who are learning how to sell.
00:41:27
Speaker
Would you mind letting them practice on you right here in our conference room?
00:41:31
Speaker
And you can just sit at the table and we'll buy you lunch.
00:41:33
Speaker
We'll take care of you, whatever.
00:41:35
Speaker
And then those guys, you know, maybe one of the people that do good in the Super Saturday, get the deal.
00:41:40
Speaker
Nice.
00:41:41
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:41:41
Speaker
What do you think about that?
00:41:42
Speaker
That's pretty good.
00:41:43
Speaker
That's a good idea.
00:41:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:46
Speaker
I mean, it'd take somebody willing to show up and do that.
00:41:48
Speaker
But I thought about doing that a while back.
00:41:51
Speaker
And so here's the key to this.
00:41:55
Speaker
Simulating what the situation is going to feel like, look like and be like.
00:42:02
Speaker
I think that's key.
00:42:03
Speaker
That's I mean, if you if you go, if you decide to become a pilot.
00:42:07
Speaker
right, and fly cargo or fly people, they're not just gonna let you jump in a plane and start flying around.
00:42:15
Speaker
They put you in a simulator, right?
00:42:18
Speaker
That's a part of the training.
00:42:19
Speaker
And if you won't get past the simulator, you ain't never gonna get in a plane.
00:42:23
Speaker
So, you know, a lot of people forget salespeople, especially, because we train a lot of newer salespeople who don't have a lot of sales experience.
00:42:32
Speaker
That's the key too, guys, by the way.
00:42:33
Speaker
A lot of people wanna only hire the people who have experience.
00:42:36
Speaker
Don't get me wrong.
00:42:37
Speaker
You should hire some people who have experience, but that's all they want to hire.
00:42:40
Speaker
You should hire people who don't have experience like myself.
00:42:44
Speaker
I didn't have a lot of in-home sales.
00:42:45
Speaker
Matter of fact, I hadn't sold anything in the house before I got into solar.
00:42:49
Speaker
But my point is, is that we hire a lot of new, newer sales background people.
00:42:55
Speaker
And, but the key to training them is they actually have to feel it and they have to experience it and see it.
00:43:01
Speaker
And that's why we go to the extent of setting up the demonstration as if it's in a living room and it's a simulation of what's going on and what's going to happen.
00:43:12
Speaker
And these guys are going to be able to learn.
00:43:14
Speaker
So just like a pilot, you have to go through the simulator.
00:43:17
Speaker
And once you go through the simulator, if you pass that, then when it comes to the real life thing, it becomes more, you can, you have some of the similar things and then you know how to deal with it and you know how to respond.
00:43:29
Speaker
You know how to navigate.
00:43:30
Speaker
I mean, I don't know if you've ever been with somebody that you're trying to shadow and some of these jokers can't even, they stumble over the living room, you know, coffee table.
00:43:39
Speaker
They don't know how to even talk about a picture that's on the wall.
00:43:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:43
Speaker
I mean, they don't know much about nothing because, you know, people don't even care about that stuff anymore.
00:43:47
Speaker
But if you simulate what it's going to be like in the house and then go through those steps, when the guys go out there and actually are in the house,
00:43:58
Speaker
their level of success is going to increase.
00:44:03
Speaker
The chances of them actually closing a deal is going to increase.
00:44:06
Speaker
So we don't just do a training where someone's in the front teaching things, which we do that, but we also do a demo, a real life demo simulating what's happening or what would happen.
00:44:17
Speaker
And man, we found that that works really, really good guys.
00:44:20
Speaker
So if you guys out there wondering how to train somebody,
00:44:22
Speaker
Why don't you just simulate the whole thing?
00:44:24
Speaker
Set up a living room setup.
00:44:26
Speaker
Go rent a house for a couple weeks or whatever.
00:44:28
Speaker
Or get a real customer who's looking for solar.
00:44:31
Speaker
Tell them to come in and let it be real life answers and objections.
00:44:36
Speaker
Who says you can't do that?
00:44:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:38
Speaker
Why not?
00:44:39
Speaker
Right?
00:44:40
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:44:41
Speaker
So how often do you, once a quarter, do you like switch off guys or how is it being like broadcasted to your whole company or how do you?
00:44:49
Speaker
Right.
00:44:49
Speaker
Anybody who's in sales comes to the Super Saturday.
00:44:54
Speaker
We end up doing it where we give them extra promotions and extra, you know,
00:44:59
Speaker
incentives if they show up, right?
00:45:02
Speaker
So for example, we'll give them an extra $500 per deal.
00:45:08
Speaker
If they come to super Saturday and get trained, stay the whole time and any deal they sign up from that point to the end of the month, they get an extra 500 bucks.
00:45:16
Speaker
So there's an extra incentive there for those that show up and get trained.
00:45:20
Speaker
And then it helps you increase your sales as well.
00:45:23
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:45:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:25
Speaker
I think that's awesome for the culture and
00:45:28
Speaker
Not only that, but the training.
00:45:29
Speaker
Yeah, anyone that's followed like Grant Cardone, those guys, they're all about role playing, putting yourself in simulation because that's what increases the deals 100%.
00:45:41
Speaker
Besides that, do you have your guys do those simulations just kind of like on their own?
00:45:47
Speaker
Or is it kind of like an office thing you do, simulations in the office anytime?
00:45:55
Speaker
Or is that just kind of on their own?
00:45:57
Speaker
Well, I mean, that's a whole company thing, the Super Saturday.
00:46:01
Speaker
Everybody gets together for that.
00:46:03
Speaker
But during the week, the once a week trainings, they have different things and different role playing per office.
00:46:09
Speaker
But the Super Saturday, everybody's coming together.
00:46:12
Speaker
Again, that's once a quarter.
00:46:14
Speaker
I don't think you don't have to have it every week.
00:46:17
Speaker
every week or every month, but once a quarter and make it a big deal.
00:46:20
Speaker
We buy lunch, we have music.
00:46:23
Speaker
It's fun.
00:46:23
Speaker
I mean, anytime you get together, if you're not making money, but helping them make money, it still needs to be fun.
00:46:30
Speaker
You can't be, you know, it can't be, you know, a snooze fest, man.
00:46:34
Speaker
I mean, you got to make it where people want to come and have time, a good time, but also are learning how to create more income for themselves.
00:46:42
Speaker
And it really works, man, if you do that that way and simulate the situation.
00:46:46
Speaker
People feel more.
00:46:47
Speaker
I mean, because here's the thing, right?
00:46:50
Speaker
You cannot dominate until there's clarity.
00:46:55
Speaker
You can't dominate anything until you have clarity.
00:46:58
Speaker
And so a lot of these guys don't have a clear picture of how to even navigate a conversation, how to navigate the actual physical home, right?
00:47:09
Speaker
I mean, we got pictures on the wall.
00:47:10
Speaker
We pretend to have pictures on the wall.
00:47:12
Speaker
We have, you know, flowers on the table.
00:47:13
Speaker
We have a couch.
00:47:14
Speaker
We have a kitchen table.
00:47:15
Speaker
I mean, the whole nine yards, you know, wife and husband.
00:47:19
Speaker
I mean, we have a little hat that they can draw out of the situation, the scenario, the objection.
00:47:27
Speaker
So it's all thrown out there.
00:47:29
Speaker
And then when they go through that, they understand these are the situations that might come up.
00:47:34
Speaker
And then they're better prepared.
00:47:40
Speaker
Got tongue tied there.
00:47:42
Speaker
And then they have clarity and then they can dominate.
00:47:45
Speaker
Okay, that's, yeah, that's a sweet idea.
00:47:48
Speaker
You got some good ideas, man.
00:47:49
Speaker
Thanks for dropping some secrets with us.
00:47:52
Speaker
Well, Frankie, I know we got to wrap up pretty soon here, but last thing, we definitely want to talk about what you're doing with the Solar Success Summit.
00:48:00
Speaker
So I want you to tell us a little bit about that, how you came up with the idea and get guys excited for it.
00:48:07
Speaker
So let's get some people.
00:48:08
Speaker
I think it's an awesome thing you're doing for it.
00:48:10
Speaker
So yeah, how'd you come, where did this come from?
00:48:13
Speaker
Well, we decided that this year we wanted to help other solar companies.
00:48:19
Speaker
Matter of fact, it came because people were calling us asking us how we're doing things.
00:48:24
Speaker
And the more and more phone calls showed up, they realized that my heart and mindset is to help others.
00:48:32
Speaker
I'm not just trying to make a dollar off someone.
00:48:35
Speaker
I'm trying to help people really be successful.
00:48:38
Speaker
I mean, that's what I'm all about.
00:48:39
Speaker
And, you know, a lot of people are, again, they're afraid to share the secrets because they don't want someone else to take advantage.
00:48:45
Speaker
Well, the honest truth is, my opinion is, true success is when you help others be successful.
00:48:52
Speaker
And that even means sometimes even helping your competition.
00:48:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:56
Speaker
Right.
00:48:58
Speaker
Because at the end of the day, you know, we all have something that we need to gain and we need we need help with.
00:49:03
Speaker
And so people have helped me.
00:49:05
Speaker
I'm going to help others.
00:49:06
Speaker
So we we decided with all the phone calls we were getting from people asking us how to do certain things, we would create this solar success summit.
00:49:14
Speaker
And it's going to be May 17th and 18th right here in the greater Tampa Bay area.
00:49:19
Speaker
You fly into Tampa.
00:49:21
Speaker
We're going to have the godfather of lead generation, Bill Murphy himself.
00:49:24
Speaker
He's coming to both days teaching about lead generation, teaching on his system.
00:49:29
Speaker
We're going to have myself and my team sharing about these different aspects, our process,
00:49:35
Speaker
We're going to give people a, it's actually here at our headquarters.
00:49:38
Speaker
So we're going to give people a behind the scenes tour of our different departments.
00:49:42
Speaker
You can see our call center.
00:49:43
Speaker
You can see our account management department.
00:49:45
Speaker
You can see our finance team.
00:49:47
Speaker
You can see our sales team, our operations, our warehouse.
00:49:52
Speaker
You'll be able to see it, but you know, you'll be able to see that we're a real solar company, not just some, you know, a guy in one office suite here.
00:50:00
Speaker
We're a real solar company.
00:50:02
Speaker
and you'll be able to see for yourself.
00:50:04
Speaker
And then the networking part of it's gonna be awesome too, because you're gonna be able to network with other solar companies and people and learn from each other.
00:50:12
Speaker
So the whole weekend, the Friday and Saturday, is gonna be about learning things and gaining knowledge and strategies that you can take back with you and grow your company.
00:50:23
Speaker
And even if you're just a sales rep or a sales associate, you'll be able to learn some strategies yourself
00:50:29
Speaker
Whether you're a CEO, CFO, marketing manager, direct manager, sales manager, or just a rep, there's something for everyone at this conference.
00:50:40
Speaker
It's going to be our first one.
00:50:41
Speaker
We've already been asked about our second one.
00:50:42
Speaker
I'm like, can we even finish the first one?
00:50:44
Speaker
May 17th and 18th.
00:50:49
Speaker
You have to go to solarsuccesssummit.com, solarsuccesssummit.com.
00:50:54
Speaker
Okay.
00:50:55
Speaker
And you can buy, give me the other passes as well.
00:50:58
Speaker
You can get a pass.
00:50:59
Speaker
When you buy a pass from us, you're going to get one of these shirts here.
00:51:03
Speaker
Nice.
00:51:04
Speaker
Right?
00:51:05
Speaker
Solar success.
00:51:06
Speaker
Okay.
00:51:07
Speaker
You'll get a shirt and then you have an option, three options.
00:51:10
Speaker
You can buy a general admission pass.
00:51:13
Speaker
Okay.
00:51:13
Speaker
Okay.
00:51:14
Speaker
Good looking guy right there.
00:51:16
Speaker
Okay.
00:51:18
Speaker
You have VIP pass.
00:51:19
Speaker
This VIP pass, it gets you into the VIP party Friday night.
00:51:24
Speaker
There's going to be dinner.
00:51:25
Speaker
You get to mingle with myself, my team, Bill Murphy, and his team.
00:51:29
Speaker
You'll build a network.
00:51:30
Speaker
It'll be good.
00:51:31
Speaker
Bill Murphy has rented out a little mansion over here.
00:51:33
Speaker
It has a pool and everything.
00:51:34
Speaker
So it's going to be awesome.
00:51:36
Speaker
Or you can become a sponsor.
00:51:37
Speaker
You can get a sponsorship table.
00:51:39
Speaker
You can speak both days if you buy a sponsorship.
00:51:42
Speaker
All three of those are on that website.
00:51:46
Speaker
And I'm going to say this not because I'm trying to sell tickets.
00:51:49
Speaker
I'm going to say this because our conference area only holds up to so many people.
00:51:53
Speaker
We only can hold up to like 120 people.
00:51:56
Speaker
And we got a lot of sales already.
00:51:58
Speaker
So, guys, grab your tickets.
00:52:00
Speaker
Come out to Tampa.
00:52:01
Speaker
May is going to be beautiful, right?
00:52:02
Speaker
And the reason why I know it's going to be beautiful is because May is my birthday, right?
00:52:06
Speaker
It's a beautiful month.
00:52:07
Speaker
Perfect.
00:52:09
Speaker
Right?
00:52:09
Speaker
It's pretty beautiful in May, right?
00:52:11
Speaker
It's not too hot yet.
00:52:12
Speaker
It gets hot, really, really hot in June and July and August, but it's not too hot yet.
00:52:17
Speaker
So May 17th and 18th, come out.
00:52:19
Speaker
Come meet us.
00:52:20
Speaker
I'd like to meet you guys.
00:52:23
Speaker
Taylor, are you going to come?
00:52:24
Speaker
I'm putting you on the spot here.
00:52:25
Speaker
Are you coming?
00:52:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:26
Speaker
I need to check it out, man.
00:52:30
Speaker
I'm going to try to send you a VIP pass.
00:52:32
Speaker
Listen, Taylor, I'll do you a favor.
00:52:35
Speaker
If you purchase a ticket, I'll give you a couple of these VIP passes, okay?
00:52:39
Speaker
Okay.
00:52:40
Speaker
I'll send them out to you, but make sure you go on the website, solarsuccesssummit.com.
00:52:46
Speaker
And by that, listen, this is not just to make money.
00:52:49
Speaker
It's just to help pay for the expenses.
00:52:51
Speaker
And I really want people.
00:52:53
Speaker
And this is what I told everybody, too.
00:52:55
Speaker
If you cannot if you cannot get one thing that you can take back with you and help you increase your business, I'll give you your money back.
00:53:03
Speaker
So by day two, you're sitting back there and you're like, man, this didn't help me at all.
00:53:09
Speaker
then we'll give your money back.
00:53:10
Speaker
So it's a guarantee that it's worth the dollars you're going to spend.
00:53:14
Speaker
But I got a feeling you're going to learn a lot.
00:53:16
Speaker
I mean, we already shared a few things today.
00:53:18
Speaker
I'm going to go really deep on some of those things at the conference.
00:53:21
Speaker
And I hope you guys would come out and join us so we can meet you and we can help you as well.
00:53:27
Speaker
Yeah, there you have it.
00:53:28
Speaker
That sounds like an awesome event.
00:53:29
Speaker
And I'm excited.
00:53:30
Speaker
I know we barely scratched the surface.
00:53:32
Speaker
So imagine two days with this guy.
00:53:35
Speaker
I mean, we got less than an hour here and he's already shared some game changing stuff.
00:53:40
Speaker
So imagine two days with Frankie, two days with Bill Murphy.
00:53:43
Speaker
I think it's awesome, man.
00:53:45
Speaker
Well, cool.
00:53:45
Speaker
We'll definitely post the link for that.
00:53:47
Speaker
And yeah, we're going to get our guys excited.
00:53:48
Speaker
I think it's an awesome events and yeah.
00:53:51
Speaker
Love what you're doing, Frankie.
00:53:53
Speaker
And, uh, appreciate you being on the podcast, but any, uh, final words of wisdom you want to share for our solar preneurs for the podcast before we say goodbye here?
00:54:03
Speaker
Yeah, man, the best thing I could tell anybody, my best tip, my best piece of advice for anybody really doing anything, especially solar, it sounds real simple.
00:54:14
Speaker
I mean, some of the greatest presidents, leaders, some of the greatest generals, some of the greatest kings, some of the greatest warriors and fighters and athletes, they all have dealt with the sense of wanting to quit.
00:54:29
Speaker
Everybody faces quitting.
00:54:33
Speaker
So my best advice is to do this very simple but powerful thing.
00:54:39
Speaker
Keep going.
00:54:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:41
Speaker
Sometimes the win is when you don't quit.
00:54:45
Speaker
Keep going.
00:54:46
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:47
Speaker
There you have it.
00:54:48
Speaker
Taylor, if you, if you would have gave up after the cancellation, if I would have gave up after the cancellation, we kept going.
00:54:55
Speaker
You guys keep going.
00:54:55
Speaker
This, it might be tough.
00:54:57
Speaker
It might be dry, but right now, uh, sometimes you got to just keep going and then you'll find your way and break through.
00:55:03
Speaker
So keep going guys.
00:55:04
Speaker
I look forward to meeting all of you.
00:55:05
Speaker
I appreciate you Taylor having me on here.
00:55:07
Speaker
And, uh,
00:55:08
Speaker
And if you guys need anything, let us know.
00:55:10
Speaker
You can always email me, Frankie at setupmysolar.com, and I'll be there to help you guys out.
00:55:15
Speaker
You can find me on Facebook or Instagram, Frankie Lane.
00:55:18
Speaker
I'd love to help anybody as I can.
00:55:20
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:55:22
Speaker
Well, Frankie, love that we got you on the show.
00:55:24
Speaker
Thanks for your knowledge.
00:55:27
Speaker
advice yeah you gave us some value bombs there so appreciate you and guys let us know what you think share the show give frankie some love um hit him up on facebook let him know you heard his advice heard his um his suggestions for legion and leadership and all that and yeah check out the solar success summit so uh thanks for listening on another episode of solarpreneurs and with that we'll let you go frankie thanks again
00:55:54
Speaker
Thanks, man.
00:56:00
Speaker
Hey, solarpreneurs.
00:56:01
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed the episode as much as I did.
00:56:03
Speaker
If you're living in your car like Frankie was, come talk to me by all means.
00:56:08
Speaker
I do not want people living out of their cars like Frankie was, but very inspiring his story.
00:56:14
Speaker
Next episode, we're going to hear from a master of recruiting.
00:56:18
Speaker
This man has helped me personally recruit professionals
00:56:21
Speaker
About 15 guys since I've implemented his processes.
00:56:26
Speaker
His name is Ryan Homan.
00:56:28
Speaker
We're going to hear from him next week right here on the Solarpreneur podcast.
00:56:33
Speaker
So don't forget to tune in next Friday to get some knowledge about the art of recruiting.
00:56:38
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in today.
00:56:41
Speaker
Wow, what another amazing episode of the Solarpreneur Podcast.
00:56:46
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.
00:56:54
Speaker
It helps us get the word out about the Solarpreneur Movement and impact more entrepreneurs, sales professionals, and marketers just like you.
00:57:03
Speaker
And hey, don't forget to head over to Facebook and join the Solarpreneur Group for more daily content
00:57:09
Speaker
It's going to impact you and help you take your sales game to the next level.
00:57:13
Speaker
See you guys in the next episode.