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Crushing it with a Setter-Closer Program
58 Plays6 years ago
Rob is a pro at training solarpreneurs on knocking doors and making homeowners click. He is one of the key why we get a lot of appointment at New Power because of his simple principles when knocking at homeowner’s doors.
Today, in this episode, we will learn why it is always important to learn and understand the basics. We can have our own different styles and strengths in closing a deal, but going back to the basics would empower us more. Rob will also teach you his “Gas Station Analogy” and how you can get your point across easily and clearly.
What’s your favorite analogy when you’re talking to homeowners about solar? Share with us your power analogy story that would make the homeowners open their doors for you.
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Transcript
Introduction to Guest and Topic
00:00:01
Speaker
Boom, what's going on, Solrepreneurs?
00:00:02
Speaker
I'm excited for today's episode because I have one of my friends and personal mentors on the show.
00:00:07
Speaker
His name is Rob Reimer, and he's going to share with us how we've been able to kill it, crush it with the set or close or model.
00:00:15
Speaker
Ever since we implemented this in our company, we've definitely seen people close more deals, have more success, and
00:00:22
Speaker
and grow as a company.
00:00:23
Speaker
So you're not going to want to miss this episode.
00:00:25
Speaker
Take notes, let us know what you think.
00:00:28
Speaker
And without further ado, we'll get into the episode.
00:00:34
Speaker
Look, in the solar business, there's really only two types of people.
00:00:37
Speaker
There's the ones that crush it, make six, seven, and eight figures, and then there's everyone else.
00:00:42
Speaker
The question is, which one will you be?
00:00:45
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.
00:00:56
Speaker
So how do these solarpreneurs do what they do and what makes them so successful?
00:01:02
Speaker
This podcast is your answer.
00:01:04
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.
00:01:15
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast.
Rob's Career Transition to Solar
00:01:26
Speaker
What's going on, solopreneurs?
00:01:28
Speaker
Hopefully my voice doesn't sound like it just woke up, because I've been up for a while now.
00:01:33
Speaker
But I'm here with the one and the only Rob Reimer.
00:01:37
Speaker
Rob, welcome to the show.
00:01:38
Speaker
Thanks for having me, Tay.
00:01:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:41
Speaker
So, I know it's not his favorite thing to come on shows like this.
00:01:45
Speaker
We're just talking before the shoot about, you know, like how Marshawn Lynch would come on press releases and
00:01:53
Speaker
always say he's just here because he gets paid and Rob's pretty much doing the same thing, but, um, I don't have to, well, we usually don't pay our guests, Rob.
00:02:04
Speaker
We'll see if I can get you some extra sales because Rob is actually our president of sales and our head honcho here at New Power.
00:02:13
Speaker
So, um, Rob, we're stoked to have you on because pretty much a legend.
00:02:17
Speaker
I know you and I are big on social media and all that, but, um,
00:02:21
Speaker
You are pretty much a legend, I would say, in the solar industry.
00:02:25
Speaker
So tell us, how did you get into the industry and why did you switch from alarms?
00:02:30
Speaker
Because that was your background.
00:02:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:33
Speaker
Well, thanks, Tay.
00:02:34
Speaker
Yeah, I did alarms for five summers.
00:02:39
Speaker
And it went great.
00:02:40
Speaker
I liked it a lot.
00:02:42
Speaker
We started having kids and with alarms you travel for the summer.
00:02:45
Speaker
So you go out for four or five months or whatever to some random city.
00:02:50
Speaker
And then you're gone knocking for, I don't know, 10 hours a day or something like that.
00:02:56
Speaker
And so as we had two boys, two little boys at the time, and it was just a matter of like a better lifestyle, I guess, more like sort of normal hours.
00:03:08
Speaker
And so, um, Chance Allred, I don't know if you know him or not, but he owned, he was one of the owners of Platinum.
00:03:15
Speaker
You interview him yet?
00:03:17
Speaker
Uh, no, I haven't.
00:03:18
Speaker
You made me hook myself.
00:03:20
Speaker
I'll text him and see if I can get him.
00:03:22
Speaker
I'll see if I can get him to do a podcast.
00:03:23
Speaker
That'd be cool.
00:03:24
Speaker
Um, he, uh, he was the owner of the alarm company, um, that we, me, Thomas and Matt, uh, worked for.
00:03:32
Speaker
And then he became the, uh,
00:03:34
Speaker
I don't know, like the head dude for solar or one of them have been.
00:03:40
Speaker
So he just convinced me to come over to solar and sent me down to San Diego.
00:03:45
Speaker
Um, and I was supposed to be down in San Diego for maybe like a month.
00:03:49
Speaker
It was kind of like a rush.
00:03:50
Speaker
He was like, hurry, you got to go.
00:03:52
Speaker
So we came down to San Diego.
00:03:53
Speaker
We were down there for like six months and just kind of kept going and then, uh, got out of it for a little bit and then came back.
Sales Success and Company Transitions
00:04:02
Speaker
Um,
00:04:03
Speaker
And I mean, it was good.
00:04:04
Speaker
It was a good transition coming over to solar.
00:04:06
Speaker
I've liked it a lot.
00:04:08
Speaker
I like being able to offer something that's saving people money instead of costing them money.
00:04:16
Speaker
And so it was a good transition.
00:04:17
Speaker
But that's kind of how, like the alarm company went out of business and then Platinum, the company that we work for, and then Chance started running solar.
00:04:25
Speaker
So it kind of just brought us over.
00:04:27
Speaker
Nice.
00:04:27
Speaker
Because you're making, what, 300 plus grand in the summer just doing alarms, right?
00:04:32
Speaker
I mean, I was doing well.
00:04:34
Speaker
I was doing well.
00:04:36
Speaker
I guess I just had like a knack for it.
00:04:38
Speaker
I don't know.
00:04:39
Speaker
So things were going good.
00:04:43
Speaker
Yeah, you've been a champion in solar.
00:04:47
Speaker
I know you've had some huge days as well.
00:04:50
Speaker
So when you came out, were you having success right off the get-go from the beginning, would you say, when you made the switch to solar?
00:04:57
Speaker
Yeah, I would say so.
00:04:59
Speaker
I think, like, because I had spent, I
Sales Techniques and Training Philosophy
00:05:02
Speaker
mean, I had knocked, I don't know, I don't even know how many doors, but signed up a lot of people and alarms that
00:05:09
Speaker
And all of them, you're building a bunch of value and creating value in an alarm system, which is great.
00:05:16
Speaker
And then bringing up a monthly fee, you know, but you wait to do that until you've built enough value in the alarm.
00:05:24
Speaker
But with solar, it was the opposite.
00:05:27
Speaker
They already basically had it.
00:05:29
Speaker
It was just electricity.
00:05:31
Speaker
And so I knew that everybody I talked to already had what I was offering.
00:05:35
Speaker
They already had electricity.
00:05:37
Speaker
And I was just going to save money.
00:05:39
Speaker
And so to me, it was like going house to house with everyone that had an alarm system already, but they were paying like $100 a month or something for their alarm.
00:05:48
Speaker
And then I was going to save them money.
00:05:50
Speaker
And that rarely happened in alarms.
00:05:52
Speaker
And so, yeah, I did...
00:05:54
Speaker
I did pretty good.
00:05:55
Speaker
I think I did like three my first day or something like that.
00:05:59
Speaker
And then just kind of went from there.
00:06:01
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:06:03
Speaker
So you started with Vivint.
00:06:06
Speaker
And then you, yeah, new power, you came on, what was that?
00:06:09
Speaker
About three, four years ago, something like that?
00:06:13
Speaker
Yeah, I don't, it's probably even longer than that.
00:06:15
Speaker
It's probably like, I mean...
00:06:18
Speaker
Maybe five years ago or four years ago.
00:06:20
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:21
Speaker
Yeah, something like that.
00:06:23
Speaker
Yeah, I came on as like the trainer.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:26
Speaker
So I had left him and I went to Colorado where my wife's from and was doing alarms there for like...
00:06:36
Speaker
I don't know, six months or something like that.
00:06:39
Speaker
And then I started doing solar out there and that was cool.
00:06:42
Speaker
Um, and then, uh, I had a buddy of it that kind of like brought me back down to San Diego.
00:06:50
Speaker
Um, and so, um, and then I was with, I was back and I had left because I just was, uh,
00:06:58
Speaker
I just was frustrated with some of the ops and stuff like that and the processes of getting jobs installed.
00:07:03
Speaker
But they had said that those problems were fixed.
00:07:06
Speaker
And so I came back.
00:07:10
Speaker
But then they weren't really fixed.
00:07:14
Speaker
So then I kind of started looking around and then talked to Thomas and made my way over to New Power.
00:07:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:22
Speaker
He's helped New Power grow a ton ever since.
00:07:24
Speaker
So it's been awesome.
00:07:26
Speaker
So we're definitely fortunate that whatever company that was was having issues with the installs.
00:07:36
Speaker
So Rob's pretty much, he's huge.
00:07:40
Speaker
I would say his strength is in knocking doors.
00:07:43
Speaker
I've been on the doors with him.
00:07:45
Speaker
He can talk to anyone.
00:07:46
Speaker
He can get anyone to set up an appointment.
00:07:49
Speaker
It's rare that he's not going to book an appointment on the doors.
00:07:51
Speaker
He's a master at turning someone from not interested in.
00:07:55
Speaker
And I think that's just because of the fact that he's super clear.
00:07:58
Speaker
That's what we learned a lot in our training is just be super clear on the doors, get across what we're trying to say, and then don't come across as like salesy and what other people are trying to say.
00:08:09
Speaker
Um, so walk us through, what's your idea behind like the door approach for all, like, what are you trying to get people?
00:08:15
Speaker
How have you been so successful with that?
00:08:16
Speaker
Cause I think that's definitely your strength.
00:08:19
Speaker
Thanks.
00:08:19
Speaker
Um, I think it's just a matter of, uh, giving people an understanding of exactly what you're doing, because I think a lot of guys will try to have like a smoke and mirrors kind of like, not like they're trying to trick them or lie or anything like that, but they'll have an approach where,
00:08:38
Speaker
the homeowner probably doesn't really know what they're doing and it takes them a while.
00:08:43
Speaker
And the idea is kind of, I don't know if the idea is to confuse them or, or whatever, but I mean, I don't really know, but what I've found is that when I'm just really clear, um,
Setter-Closer Model at New Power
00:08:55
Speaker
that things go well.
00:08:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:57
Speaker
I think that the homeowners are, you know,
00:09:00
Speaker
They're not stupid.
00:09:01
Speaker
And the thing with solar is they're already overpaying for electricity.
00:09:08
Speaker
And so just being able to reason with them and just be like, you're already paying for this.
00:09:14
Speaker
We can save you money.
00:09:16
Speaker
And it doesn't cost anything to switch.
00:09:18
Speaker
It's pretty simple.
00:09:20
Speaker
I mean, it's...
00:09:21
Speaker
I mean, Geico is, I mean, I don't know how big they are, but billions, trillions, I don't know.
00:09:26
Speaker
But it's just their whole thing is just funny commercials and they save you money.
00:09:30
Speaker
That's it.
00:09:32
Speaker
And like people sign up all the time.
00:09:34
Speaker
And so it's, I think if you're just clear and likable and you're just there to save them money, like immediately and long-term.
00:09:45
Speaker
And then there's all the other benefits of adding value to the house and all the other things like that.
00:09:49
Speaker
But
00:09:50
Speaker
I think if the homeowner understands,
00:09:54
Speaker
you know, just like direct TVs dish going on the roof for free because you're going to pay for the channels, the system would, would go up for free because, you know, you're going to pay for the power or because you're going to pay a monthly fee that goes towards owning it or whatever.
00:10:09
Speaker
And so I just think it's a good idea.
00:10:11
Speaker
And so if, but if a homeowner like understands how it works, then the whole too good to be true thing goes away.
00:10:20
Speaker
Um, and the,
00:10:21
Speaker
I think anytime there's like cloudiness or gray area, then it shuts them down.
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:25
Speaker
And like, if they were to be a hundred percent honest with you on the doors, they would say, I don't understand what you're saying and I don't want to talk to you anymore.
00:10:33
Speaker
But what they end up saying is, you know, I'm not interested or, you know, my spouse is gone or, you know, whatever.
00:10:39
Speaker
It's just some, something to say to kind of be nice and save face or whatever.
00:10:42
Speaker
But, but I think that if they, if they really understand, like if you can really get it into their mind that it will be cheaper and
00:10:51
Speaker
The monthly will not go up, at least at New Power.
00:10:55
Speaker
And then they'll eventually own it.
00:10:57
Speaker
They'll own a system that's not a rental or PPA or whatever.
00:11:02
Speaker
Then it's just a better idea.
00:11:03
Speaker
It really is kind of a no-brainer.
00:11:05
Speaker
Every time I hire someone...
00:11:08
Speaker
I keep on telling what we do until they say, why doesn't everybody do this?
00:11:14
Speaker
Or I want to get my parents to do this or whatever.
00:11:17
Speaker
And so I don't really describe the job or talk much about anything like that just because when you can get someone to the point where they actually know what you're saying, they actually understand it, then they're way more likely to act.
00:11:31
Speaker
Sure, sure.
00:11:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's definitely something I learned from you.
00:11:34
Speaker
It's just keeping it simple.
00:11:35
Speaker
And then when people are saying not interested, it's usually just saying they don't understand and really they want more information.
00:11:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:42
Speaker
So that's something I didn't think about.
00:11:44
Speaker
But Rob's definitely trained us up on that.
00:11:46
Speaker
And also, when I first came on, I remember when you started giving more and more trainings and stepping up more and more in New Power.
00:11:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:54
Speaker
At first, I'm like, gosh, Rob, seems like he's giving, like, the same training every time.
00:11:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:58
Speaker
He's saying the same stuff.
00:12:00
Speaker
He's, like, not changing his training.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:02
Speaker
I'm like, why is this guy doing it?
00:12:04
Speaker
But I've come to realize it's because he's keeping it so
00:12:10
Speaker
like nothing really changes right so what i've learned is that whether it's on the doors or like training reps stuff like that pretty much you're just teaching the same stuff just a different spin on it right just thinking a different way to teach it yeah because i mean that's what you've been successful with so i think that's what you're trying to drill under reps as just doing the same simple things right and uh just drilling in their heads right right yeah i mean
00:12:35
Speaker
Everybody always has like their spin.
00:12:36
Speaker
They're like, oh, I'm trying it this way or I'm trying it that way.
00:12:40
Speaker
And I think that there's obviously new things to learn all the time.
00:12:43
Speaker
And, you know, things, I think over time, things will change.
00:12:46
Speaker
There's always a better way to do something.
00:12:48
Speaker
But yeah, I think the basics are just keeping it really clear and simple.
00:12:53
Speaker
And then you'll probably get the best result.
00:12:56
Speaker
I think in terms of like, you know, high percentage shots like in basketball, if you just keep things really simple, it's more like a layup, you know, or a free throw or something like that.
00:13:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:07
Speaker
And although people make threes and they make half court shots and stuff like that, they're on a percentage basis.
00:13:15
Speaker
They miss more of those.
00:13:16
Speaker
And so keeping things really simple and helping the homeowner actually understand exactly what you're trying to say, you know, cutting out all the fat, taking out all the fluff, I think is a higher percentage shot.
00:13:30
Speaker
And so you'll make more of them.
00:13:31
Speaker
For sure.
00:13:32
Speaker
And something else I like that Rob does too is just a ton of comparisons.
00:13:36
Speaker
You've already heard him make several in this podcast, but I mean, he's making basketball comparisons and especially to homeowners out there.
00:13:46
Speaker
You've got all sorts of comparisons that help keep it simple for them.
00:13:49
Speaker
And I think that's key too, is like, maybe they're not understanding it.
00:13:52
Speaker
If you're just saying, Hey, it's going to save you money.
00:13:55
Speaker
But if you're comparing it to, I don't know, a cell phone tower in their yard.
00:13:58
Speaker
Right.
00:13:59
Speaker
Or a water well in their backyard.
00:14:01
Speaker
Right.
00:14:02
Speaker
Just like something that you can compare it to.
00:14:05
Speaker
I think that's what we've learned, too.
00:14:07
Speaker
Do you have any other comparisons that you like to use for homeowners around when you're out there?
00:14:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:12
Speaker
I mean, the first one that I started using a lot back when I was knocking was the gas station analogy.
00:14:20
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:14:22
Speaker
And although it's like kind of a different thing, I think it kind of drives home the point.
00:14:25
Speaker
I'd say something along the lines of like, you know, imagine if Chevron offered to put an actual gas pump next to your driveway, besides like safety and fire hazards or whatever, if that wasn't an issue.
00:14:37
Speaker
If they said, if we can do this and then we'll charge you a dollar a gallon for all the gas you pump out of it, it's unlimited gas.
00:14:45
Speaker
And then not only that, we won't raise the price per gallon.
00:14:49
Speaker
At all for 20 years, it'll be a dollar a gallon.
00:14:53
Speaker
And then after 20 years, you would own the pump and you wouldn't have, you could pump all the gas out of it that you could, and you wouldn't have to pay anybody anything that that would be way better than just driving down the street to shell and paying $3 a gallon and having the price go up over the years and paying for it forever.
00:15:12
Speaker
That analogy might die with electric cars, you know.
00:15:15
Speaker
It still works.
00:15:18
Speaker
It still works now.
00:15:19
Speaker
Or like cell phone, maybe a simpler one of the cell phone.
00:15:22
Speaker
Imagine a cell phone company that offered the exact same unlimited data, same cell phone towers, same signal, all that stuff, whatever, same service.
00:15:32
Speaker
But it was cheaper.
00:15:33
Speaker
And then they promised not to raise the rate for some amount of time, call it five years or whatever.
00:15:39
Speaker
And then after five years, the data was free.
00:15:42
Speaker
Like who would stick with the regular cell phone providers that were charging more and increasing the rate over time when you could pay less, have your rate not go up and then eventually not have to pay for it, you know?
00:15:54
Speaker
And so, um, it's, I don't know.
00:15:57
Speaker
It's just things like that.
00:15:58
Speaker
The whole idea is getting the point across to the homeowner.
00:16:01
Speaker
I think if like, um,
00:16:03
Speaker
I might use both of those and more with a homeowner.
00:16:06
Speaker
And then finally, there's something where it just clicks and they start to understand.
00:16:10
Speaker
And when you're out knocking or whatever and you're talking to a wife or a husband...
00:16:17
Speaker
If you can't get it to click, then you have to think about the conversation that that spouse is going to have with the other decision maker later.
00:16:26
Speaker
It's either going to be, honey, there's a solar guy who's coming later, you know, and he's going to go, I don't want to talk to the solar guy.
00:16:33
Speaker
I want to watch the game or I got to do this or I got to work on my car or whatever.
00:16:38
Speaker
Or it's going to be, honey, we can have solar put up for free.
00:16:44
Speaker
And then pay less per month than we pay now.
00:16:47
Speaker
And then she understands it well enough or he understands it well enough to be able to explain it to the spouse.
00:16:53
Speaker
And then you get your appointment.
Keys to Sales Success
00:16:54
Speaker
And so it's, it's, uh, if you can't give clarity to the person you're talking to, then you're just kind of doing that half court shot and like hoping, you know?
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:06
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:17:07
Speaker
So for our solopreneurs, think of stuff like Rob's saying, um,
00:17:11
Speaker
That's something that he's started getting me thinking.
00:17:13
Speaker
When I'm out on the doors, I pretty much just think, what comparison would Rob make?
00:17:17
Speaker
Because I think any question people ask, basically you answer your questions with a comparison of some sort.
00:17:25
Speaker
And it's super effective out there.
00:17:26
Speaker
Because you'll see people don't listen, but when we make a comparison, a lot of times stuff's on a click in their head.
00:17:32
Speaker
And they'll just get it.
00:17:34
Speaker
And that's how I think a lot of concerns can be resolved.
00:17:38
Speaker
So yeah, clarity is key out there, and that's definitely something we just drill in the heads of the reps out here.
00:17:44
Speaker
Rob's still doing the same, you know, name lists, clarity.
00:17:48
Speaker
I mean, that's pretty much your change, right?
00:17:50
Speaker
It's like name lists, clarity.
00:17:52
Speaker
You're exactly right.
00:17:54
Speaker
Different parts of the pitch, and then you're, I mean, you're totally right.
00:17:58
Speaker
It's not that complex.
00:18:01
Speaker
It's just doing it.
00:18:03
Speaker
I think that where the people who do really well
00:18:07
Speaker
The first thing that they have, besides like being smart or whatever, is just a good work ethic.
00:18:13
Speaker
I think that you can plug in anybody.
00:18:17
Speaker
It doesn't really matter.
00:18:18
Speaker
Like their physique or their look or their background.
00:18:23
Speaker
It doesn't really matter.
00:18:24
Speaker
I think that if someone knows how to work hard, it's just talking.
00:18:29
Speaker
And so if you can work hard and then be able to explain something simply, and if you work hard, you'll eventually learn how to do that.
00:18:37
Speaker
You just will.
00:18:38
Speaker
That's that, that would be the result of hard work, you know?
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:41
Speaker
And so I think that, uh, yeah, you're right.
00:18:44
Speaker
It is pretty simple stuff, but, um, and it is kind of the same old thing in the trainings, but, um, but if people work hard and they apply it, then they'll make a ton of money.
00:18:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:55
Speaker
They really will.
00:18:56
Speaker
That's true.
00:18:56
Speaker
Cause I mean, we've had people over the years.
00:18:59
Speaker
I remember my first summer we had a kid that was, um, either autistic or like partially autistic and,
00:19:05
Speaker
that like really little social skills, you know?
00:19:08
Speaker
And, uh, Jeremy, I think was his name.
00:19:10
Speaker
Remember that kid?
00:19:12
Speaker
Where is he?
00:19:13
Speaker
Uh, he was in, he was up in Corona with us.
00:19:15
Speaker
Kid from Idaho that came out with, um, almost like leading scripture guys.
00:19:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:22
Speaker
I, I didn't know that he was autistic.
00:19:27
Speaker
But I think I know who you're talking about.
00:19:30
Speaker
Hopefully you're right.
00:19:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:34
Speaker
Well, yeah, at least, yeah, I think that's what people said.
00:19:37
Speaker
And his social skills are definitely pretty low.
00:19:41
Speaker
But the reason I bring it up is because, like, we saw him come out, and he probably made, he only worked here for, like, two months.
00:19:48
Speaker
I think he made, like, 15 grand, something like that.
00:19:51
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know.
00:19:52
Speaker
Two months, and he was, like, he would just hustle out there.
00:19:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:56
Speaker
I mean, people would think he was weird and stuff, but he would just hustle out there, and he would just, like, say what other people were saying.
00:20:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:03
Speaker
And that's about it.
00:20:03
Speaker
That's about it.
00:20:04
Speaker
It's, it's, uh, that's, I think the job is really cool.
00:20:08
Speaker
I think that it's, uh, to be able to work, you know, 20, 30 hours a week, um, like actual work and then hustle.
00:20:17
Speaker
Um, and then be able to just, you know, use the pitch or be really clear.
00:20:23
Speaker
And it doesn't matter who you are.
00:20:24
Speaker
And if you do that, you can make really good money.
00:20:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:27
Speaker
So I'm sure.
00:20:28
Speaker
Definitely.
00:20:29
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:20:29
Speaker
And what we want to focus on,
00:20:31
Speaker
today more than anything, well, new powers kind of transitions in the past.
00:20:35
Speaker
We just had every rep basically setting and closing their own deals, at least attempting to close.
00:20:41
Speaker
What we've transitioned to is in, um, we call it a solar pro model, but setter, closer, whatever you want to call it.
00:20:50
Speaker
And we've had pretty huge success.
00:20:53
Speaker
I would say definitely, I think a lot more consistent results as we've made that switch.
00:20:58
Speaker
So, um, Rob,
00:21:00
Speaker
What would you say, what are some of the results we've had as we made that switch?
00:21:04
Speaker
And can you tell us a little bit about that program?
00:21:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:09
Speaker
So it's just a, um, it, uh, it's just paid off of appointments that are, that's kept.
00:21:16
Speaker
Um, it used to be paid hourly, but we found that guys made more when they were being paid off of appointments that they set that were kept.
00:21:26
Speaker
And so, um, it's just a position that we're sort of always hiring for, you know?
00:21:31
Speaker
Um, and, um,
00:21:33
Speaker
It's a great position that, you know, they, they go out for and they hustle for about four hours, maybe five Monday through Friday.
00:21:40
Speaker
And they just set appointments.
00:21:42
Speaker
Um, and they do a really good job.
00:21:43
Speaker
And so they, they, uh, they collect the usage information from the homeowner, like how much power they use.
00:21:51
Speaker
Um, and they submit it into an app that we have.
00:21:53
Speaker
And then we, it generates a proposal for, um, the, the presenters or the closers to go to the appointments, um,
00:22:03
Speaker
And then, yeah, it's a good program.
00:22:05
Speaker
It has generated a lot of sales and it's very consistent.
00:22:10
Speaker
And so I think it works well because it plays off of people's strengths.
00:22:16
Speaker
And so there's people who are pretty good at being able to explain things.
00:22:21
Speaker
big numbers, like talking finances and loans and things like that, but being able to explain it simply and then close deals and help homeowners understand.
00:22:32
Speaker
And that's a skill set that a lot of people have.
00:22:35
Speaker
And then it also sort of highlights the skill set of being able to go out and generate appointments, which is tougher than people might think, to take nothing
00:22:48
Speaker
a husband and a wife or whatever, you know, all the decision makers present.
00:22:53
Speaker
And so that's a, that's a difficult thing to do too.
00:22:56
Speaker
And so both of them are really difficult to do.
00:22:58
Speaker
Um, but I think that when you have people focusing on, um, individual things, then they'll do a lot better at those things than one person doing everything.
00:23:08
Speaker
It's like, like football or something, you know, you have different positions.
00:23:12
Speaker
And so, um, if, if you ever seen Tom Brady run, um,
00:23:16
Speaker
he can't run and so he couldn't play running back you know and so but he's probably i mean at this point the greatest quarterback ever you know and so but if he tries to run it's you know everybody kind of laughs a little bit you know what i mean and so i'm not trying to make fun of him or whatever i'm just saying people have different skills you might listen to this podcast and come after you man that's fine i'm pretty big so try to watch your back yeah that's fine
00:23:43
Speaker
If he sent one of his linemen, that would matter.
00:23:45
Speaker
If he came, I'm not that afraid.
00:23:48
Speaker
My point is that people have different skill sets.
00:23:54
Speaker
If you focus on just your position and you hustle, then you'll do better.
00:24:00
Speaker
Then the overall result will be better too.
00:24:04
Speaker
It's been pretty...
00:24:05
Speaker
Pretty cool to see the growth, and especially with the newer reps, I think it's cool to see that they can come in and have success with it.
00:24:13
Speaker
In the past, I think we had a lot more turnover as well just because newer guys would come, they'd try to close their own deals, they'd get discouraged, it seems I'm not closing, just kind of fizzle out because they weren't making money right off the bat because their deals weren't closing.
00:24:27
Speaker
Now with this model, they're just getting paid per appointment that's set up.
00:24:31
Speaker
Then they're getting a bonus on top of the deal if it closes.
00:24:35
Speaker
I mean, we've seen a ton of success.
00:24:37
Speaker
What would you say like the average rep coming in is like how many appointments are they setting a week and closing, do you think?
00:24:44
Speaker
I mean, there's guys that come in that will do.
00:24:49
Speaker
We just hired a rep in San Diego.
00:24:51
Speaker
I mean, I think she set like 13 appointments her first week.
00:24:56
Speaker
Yeah, it's crazy.
00:24:57
Speaker
But then there's guys that come in too that will have like, you know, one or two here or there.
00:25:03
Speaker
And so, I mean, those guys would have really struggled to close deals.
00:25:06
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:25:06
Speaker
You know, they probably wouldn't have closed deals.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:10
Speaker
And so, um, and so it's, it's, but on the other side of the coin, the people who do really well setting appointments, they found, they found something where they can go out and hustle for four to five hours, um, and make a ton of money focusing on one thing, you know?
00:25:26
Speaker
And so I think that when people try to focus on, on multiple things or too many things, they struggle.
00:25:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:33
Speaker
And so I think that's why it works.
00:25:34
Speaker
But yeah, I mean,
00:25:36
Speaker
like average guys would come in and once they kind of go through the learning curve and stuff that, you know, I don't know, set, you know, five or so, maybe something like that appointments in a week, like maybe four or five appointments in a week on average.
00:25:49
Speaker
And so, um, so the guys do pretty good for, you know, working like around 20 hours a week and setting those appointments and getting paid for those appointments and then getting a bonus if the, you know, closes and installs.
00:26:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:02
Speaker
So yeah, it's going really well.
00:26:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:05
Speaker
And yeah, in our company, we talk about like some key things that the Solar Pros need to do on the doors.
00:26:12
Speaker
And what is it?
00:26:14
Speaker
Was it five keys or something?
00:26:15
Speaker
Five steps that we're getting them to do?
00:26:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:18
Speaker
So I just, I was sort of brainstorming things that were sort of musts for when they're out talking to people.
00:26:25
Speaker
Because I felt like if these boxes were checked, then the appointments that they'd be setting would be really solid.
00:26:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:33
Speaker
And so, you want me to go through them?
00:26:35
Speaker
Yeah, let's hear them.
00:26:36
Speaker
So the first must was get inside the house.
00:26:40
Speaker
And these are sort of in order of when they would happen with the customer.
00:26:45
Speaker
So the first one is get inside the house.
00:26:48
Speaker
And then that's a must.
00:26:49
Speaker
I think that if you can't get inside the house, then...
00:26:52
Speaker
Then the homeowner may not let the presenter or the closer inside the house, you know.
00:26:58
Speaker
The second one is build the relationship.
00:27:01
Speaker
Like get to know them, like know something about them.
00:27:04
Speaker
Like they're from Ohio and love LeBron or whatever, you know.
00:27:08
Speaker
And being able to take that and pass it on to the club.
00:27:10
Speaker
Except they probably need LeBron now, right?
00:27:13
Speaker
Well, they shouldn't.
00:27:15
Speaker
That's true.
00:27:19
Speaker
But, you know, whatever.
00:27:21
Speaker
And then that way the closer knows something about him, you know, is able to relate a little bit.
00:27:28
Speaker
The third one is get real usage.
00:27:33
Speaker
And it's not because it makes it easier and the proposal is correct.
00:27:38
Speaker
That's like the B reason.
00:27:40
Speaker
The A reason is because then the homeowner has some skin in the game.
00:27:45
Speaker
Because that's sort of a pain to get real usage.
00:27:47
Speaker
You have to usually call the power company.
00:27:49
Speaker
I mean, you could go over their bills with them and write it all down and do the math or whatever.
00:27:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:55
Speaker
usually it's probably even quicker to just call the power company and do it.
00:28:00
Speaker
And it's just, you know, that's the way life is.
00:28:02
Speaker
If you put more work or effort into something, you're more interested in the result.
00:28:07
Speaker
And so if they're like, yeah, come by tomorrow at six, whatever, see you later, then they've done almost nothing.
00:28:12
Speaker
But if they sit with you for 20 minutes on hold with the power company while you're getting to know why they now hate LeBron, you know, or whatever, and you become their buddy and you're sitting there drinking water with them,
00:28:25
Speaker
then they feel like they've invested time.
00:28:27
Speaker
And so then when they tell their spouse, like, the solar person's coming and they don't want to mean, like, well, I spent an hour with this guy.
00:28:32
Speaker
So I want to hear what they have to say now.
00:28:35
Speaker
And so that'll help.
00:28:37
Speaker
And then the fourth thing is making sure they understand the program and the process.
00:28:43
Speaker
Those two.
00:28:44
Speaker
So the program is the what and the process is the when.
00:28:47
Speaker
So the program would be the system goes up for free and then it's like it's maintained for free.
00:28:52
Speaker
It's clean for free, all that stuff.
00:28:55
Speaker
And then they have a cheaper bill to have it than what their power bill is now.
00:29:01
Speaker
And then that cheaper bill doesn't go up over time.
00:29:04
Speaker
And then after 20 years or less, the bill is gone and they just own the system.
00:29:08
Speaker
That's it.
00:29:10
Speaker
That's the what.
00:29:10
Speaker
And the when is like, so you're not deciding now.
00:29:14
Speaker
You actually can't decide now.
00:29:16
Speaker
I just fill out a form with you and then submit this.
00:29:20
Speaker
And then the presenter is going to come and go over everything with you.
00:29:23
Speaker
And it's at that appointment that you're going to decide if you're going to opt in or not.
00:29:26
Speaker
You know, it's really kind of letting them know.
00:29:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:29
Speaker
Because I think that.
00:29:31
Speaker
people are afraid you're like trying to get them to pull too many triggers right then.
00:29:35
Speaker
And so if they understand the process, they're like, okay, you know, I feel comfortable.
00:29:39
Speaker
And the very last one is like really drilling down the appointment time.
00:29:44
Speaker
Not like Tuesday evening or Wednesday after 6 or something like that, but just really drilling down the exact time that it's going to be so there's no gray area there, but then also making sure all of the decision makers will be there.
00:29:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:01
Speaker
sort of you know we're meeting with a ton of people in the area it's really difficult for um these presenters to make multiple trips to the same house um and so um this is kind of a your one shot at being able to opt into the program yeah and so you got to make sure you're all here you know because if if they come and they're like yeah i got to talk to my wife then
00:30:22
Speaker
we probably won't even let you opt in, you know, because, I mean, if I were a closer, I would just, I'd be more rigid like that because I think that you will lose deals, but you'll probably gain a lot more because you'll sign people up who otherwise may have wanted to string you along for a month or whatever, you know?
00:30:41
Speaker
Sure.
00:30:42
Speaker
Sure.
00:30:42
Speaker
Yeah, and it's been huge in our success too is just getting way more solid deals because as I go into a lot of these deals that are just set up, I can always tell most of the time when people follow these things, especially like they got inside the home.
00:30:55
Speaker
First thing I know, if the person comes outside, like steps outside their door and doesn't open the door to let me in, I know that that person that set up the appointment didn't get in the home because they're like stepping outside and they're saying, okay, yeah, what do you have to tell me?
00:31:11
Speaker
So, yeah, it's making sure they know that we're going to be sitting at the table.
00:31:16
Speaker
Like you said, getting the real usage, drilling down the exact appointment time.
00:31:21
Speaker
And that's just setting up the layup.
00:31:23
Speaker
I mean, you're talking half-court shot and shot some layups.
00:31:26
Speaker
A lot of the deals I go to, yeah, they're just layups now just because they follow the process.
00:31:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:31
Speaker
And yeah, it's been really cool.
00:31:32
Speaker
It's just like basically like teaching the same process.
00:31:37
Speaker
Like we've got the McDonald's.
00:31:38
Speaker
We know how to flip the burger.
00:31:39
Speaker
We know how to fry the fries.
00:31:41
Speaker
We're just teaching all our reps how to do it now.
00:31:43
Speaker
Plug it in.
00:31:44
Speaker
Exactly.
00:31:44
Speaker
Yeah, they're having this ton of success with that as they just follow steps.
00:31:48
Speaker
Exactly.
00:31:49
Speaker
But yeah, you'd be shocked how many people forget to do these five steps.
00:31:53
Speaker
Right.
00:31:53
Speaker
And still.
00:31:53
Speaker
So I think that's why the training is the same over and over and over.
00:31:57
Speaker
You're right.
00:31:57
Speaker
It's I'll role play with people or I'll ask them, you know, which of the five rules they didn't follow.
00:32:04
Speaker
And, you know, and sometimes you're right.
00:32:06
Speaker
They didn't follow many.
00:32:08
Speaker
But the guys who are consistently having not only a lot of appointments booked, but a lot of appointments kept and then a lot of closed deals are doing these things.
00:32:19
Speaker
And so I think sometimes, too, guys are afraid to do these things because, you know, it's like they are just trying to do everything they can to get, you know,
00:32:32
Speaker
an appointment be set and just hoping that that, that will go through.
00:32:35
Speaker
And they're being way too delicate with it.
00:32:37
Speaker
And they're actually hurting themselves by trying to be delicate.
00:32:41
Speaker
And if they were to be more bold and to go through and follow these five rules and then work on being really clear, not hiding anything, but being straightforward, um,
00:32:50
Speaker
they would have the result that the people are having that are doing these things.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:54
Speaker
They make a whole lot of money.
00:32:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:55
Speaker
Sure.
00:32:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:57
Speaker
That's been, I think the big key, any other, I guess, um, keys is success you've seen in the, the center closer model we're doing around any other factors you've seen that have contributed a ton.
00:33:10
Speaker
Um, not really.
00:33:12
Speaker
It's, I mean, I guess I would just say mainly just people doing their job and, and, uh, focusing on the things that they've gotten to be good at.
00:33:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:21
Speaker
And then like, it's, it's people always, I mean, for the people who wonder like, you know, you know, should I hop around?
00:33:28
Speaker
Should I try to make more money somewhere else?
00:33:29
Speaker
Should I try to do this?
00:33:30
Speaker
Should I try to do that?
00:33:31
Speaker
And that happens at every single company out there.
00:33:33
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:33:35
Speaker
because there's always pros and cons to everywhere.
00:33:37
Speaker
The people who do the best are the people who just work on improving.
00:33:42
Speaker
And they know the program and they know the people and they have the relationships.
Future of the Solar Industry
00:33:46
Speaker
They understand the offer and the product and the program and the process and all that.
00:33:50
Speaker
And then they just work really hard.
00:33:52
Speaker
And so that's what I would say is that behind all of this, the real success, I think, is the ability to work hard.
00:34:00
Speaker
And when people do that, it doesn't really matter.
00:34:02
Speaker
I mean, there's people in every industry, probably every company.
00:34:06
Speaker
who do fantastic, you know, and then they wouldn't at a different company, even though someone might think they would, you know?
00:34:13
Speaker
And so the people who just work really hard and, you know, do their best, um, they're, they're going to make a ton of money.
00:34:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:20
Speaker
So sure.
00:34:22
Speaker
Yep.
00:34:22
Speaker
And it's like, you know, it's like grand card.
00:34:24
Speaker
I was like, that's, is no, he's greener.
00:34:26
Speaker
Just have success where you're at.
00:34:28
Speaker
Um, hustle out there, follow what's been taught.
00:34:31
Speaker
And yeah, I think that's the keys to having success.
00:34:34
Speaker
So, Rob, I know we're running short on time here.
00:34:36
Speaker
I know you're not huge on social media or anything, but is there any way people can connect with you besides, like, smoke signals or attachment to a bird or anything?
00:34:46
Speaker
The bird's my favorite.
00:34:48
Speaker
I get a couple falcons showing up at the house a week, you know, some note.
00:34:52
Speaker
Okay.
00:34:53
Speaker
No, I don't have a – I really don't have social media.
00:34:58
Speaker
So, I'm not against it or, you know, whatever.
00:35:00
Speaker
I just –
00:35:01
Speaker
I don't know.
00:35:01
Speaker
I'm like Marchand.
00:35:03
Speaker
I'm just here so I don't get fined.
00:35:06
Speaker
Okay.
00:35:06
Speaker
Well, if you want to hit Rob up, search him.
00:35:09
Speaker
I'm sure you can find his email somewhere if you want to, I don't know, hit him with a question or hit me up and then I'll put you in touch with him if you want to connect more with Rob too.
00:35:18
Speaker
But Rob, we appreciate you coming on the show today.
00:35:21
Speaker
I know you're a busy guy teaching all these solar pros out there.
00:35:24
Speaker
Any final words of wisdom you want to give to our solarpreneurs before we say goodbye here?
00:35:30
Speaker
I think it's pretty cool that you have, you know, you have all these people listening to this podcast and I'm certainly proud of you.
00:35:36
Speaker
Thanks.
00:35:37
Speaker
I think it's really neat.
00:35:39
Speaker
I think it's cool that people are trying to help each other out and.
00:35:42
Speaker
uh, grow the industry.
00:35:44
Speaker
I really do think that solar is the future regardless of the tax credit.
00:35:48
Speaker
I think that, uh, I mean, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to have million mile long extension cords connecting a power plant to every single structure everywhere.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:35:58
Speaker
You know, when you can just put rectangles on roofs and it makes way more sense.
00:36:04
Speaker
The only thing you're interrupting is like Santa's landing spot, you know?
00:36:09
Speaker
So, uh, so, I mean, I think it's cool.
00:36:11
Speaker
I think, uh,
00:36:13
Speaker
It's a cool group, you know, and I think that it's what is the future.
00:36:18
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:36:19
Speaker
Rob, thanks for helping us add some value here today, and thanks for sharing the secrets.
00:36:24
Speaker
And, yeah, again, if you want to connect with Rob, let me know and let us know of any questions.
00:36:30
Speaker
And, Rob, we'll talk to you soon.
00:36:32
Speaker
Thanks, buddy.
00:36:33
Speaker
Wow, what another amazing episode of the Solarpreneur Podcast.
00:36:38
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.
00:36:47
Speaker
It helps us get the word out about the Solarpreneur Movement and impact more entrepreneurs, sales professionals, and marketers just like you.
00:36:56
Speaker
And hey, don't forget to head over to Facebook and join the Solarpreneur Group for more daily content
00:37:01
Speaker
It's going to impact you and help you take your sales game to the next level.
00:37:05
Speaker
See you guys in the next episode.