Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
Speaker: I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals.
Speaker: What is a solopreneur you might ask?
Speaker: A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
Speaker: All right, what's going on, everybody?
Speaker: I am super stoked for this episode.
Speaker: We've got someone that has been doing sales training, consulting, selling himself, doing millions of dollars in his company, and just pretty much coached, consulted, or sold in, I think, just about anything you could sell out there, at least anything major.
Speaker: So we got the one, the only, Jordan Stupar coming on with us today.
Speaker: Thanks for joining us on the show, Jordan.
Speaker: Thanks for having me, Taylor.
Speaker: I'm excited to be here.
Speaker: Yeah, should be fun.
Speaker: And he's at his vacation property taking time away from the family.
Speaker: So appreciate that.
Speaker: He got a kick to the spare bedroom while his family's off building.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: That's when you need to be educated to train in and help.
Speaker: you guys out taking a break from the family so appreciate that um but yeah so do you want to give uh i think i would hope most people in cells have heard of you um by now jordan but uh in case they haven't you want to give us maybe the reader's digest version of uh like your background how you got into cells and um yeah yeah yeah so
Speaker: I started door-to-door sales like 22 years ago.
Speaker: It's crazy kind of doing the math.
Speaker: I'm like getting old, I feel like.
Speaker: I started door-to-door.
Speaker: That was before solar was ever really a thing that a lot of door-to-door people do now because of how much money you can make.
Speaker: But I was selling alarm systems.
Speaker: I did that for...
Speaker: Eight years, I did that in multiple cities around the country and then naturally kind of started getting a little tired of going door to door.
Speaker: And again, there wasn't really solar at the time.
Speaker: So I got into inside sales and I moved up to New York City and I was the top salesperson on the phones at a company called Copart.
Speaker: And then I ended up down in Miami selling some B2B software products where I worked for Grant Cardone for three and a half, four years.
Speaker: I was his top salesperson for almost the whole time.
Speaker: And then I realized that
Speaker: I was building a nice audience of salespeople who watched me make $500,000, $600,000 a year and they were asking for advice.
Speaker: So I figured why not monetize some of the information that I have developed for myself that put me in a position of success.
Speaker: And I've been in sales training and a couple of other businesses now over the last six, seven years and really enjoying doing that.
Speaker: So that's the Reader's Digest version.
Speaker: Nice, love it.
Speaker: Well, I'm always curious.
Speaker: What was it like?
Speaker: All of us know Grant Cardone.
Speaker: And I've heard from a few people that have worked with them that, you know, some positive, some negative.
Speaker: It's pretty crazy environment.
Speaker: And imagine you got some stories around that.
Speaker: But yeah, what was it like working with Grant and his team down there?
Speaker: I would say that it was a lot of fun as a result of all the hard work.
Speaker: It was ideally a perfect place for me.
Speaker: I'd been in sales for, I don't know, 12, 13 years before working there.
Speaker: So I had a good level of experience and some expertise in what I was doing.
Speaker: But
Speaker: Leading up to that, I never really developed good work ethic.
Speaker: I was always the type of salesperson, I'm sure you've seen it in solar, where a guy goes out and makes 8, 10, 15 grand in a week, and then they don't show up for a week or two because they're out
Speaker: partying or relaxing or chasing girls or whatever.
Speaker: And that was kind of the lifestyle I lived where I would make a bunch of money in a relatively short period of time knocking doors.
Speaker: And then again, I would just kind of take off because it was easier to lay by the pool than it was to go knock more doors.
Speaker: You know, long story short, the thing that I probably enjoyed the most
Speaker: was the work ethic that I was able to develop being there because you're either gonna work really hard, lights out every single day, or you're not gonna be part of the team.
Speaker: And it's pretty simple at that organization.
Speaker: So I'm very grateful for being able to pick up the level of discipline and work ethic that I did working at Grant's office for sure.
Speaker: So was it just something like if you didn't show up, like work insanely hard, they're just kicking off the team.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like showing up and being on time is like such a prerequisite.
Speaker: It's not even focused on like, obviously if you're, if you're late or, you know,
Speaker: you didn't no call, no show into work, you're fired real quick.
Speaker: Obviously, if you show up and you're supposed to make a couple hundred phone calls and crush it and you don't, they'll talk to you first, but you're pretty much gone.
Speaker: You need to show up every single day and crush it.
Speaker: The best example I have is when I was making 500 grand a year,
Speaker: and top sales guy just crushing it, I would get up to go to the bathroom and the sales manager would be like, hurry up!
Speaker: That would be a good example of the culture there.
Speaker: Yeah, no, that's good.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a pretty insane culture.
Speaker: And I'm sure you know by now, Jordan, but that's one of the things about solar is...
Speaker: Definitely, especially compared to a lot of other door to door industries, people will go make, you know, 10 grand on a cell and definitely a lot of guys are like, I'm going to go sit by the pool and then just wait till that money runs out.
Speaker: So I think that is the curse of solar is there's really high commissions.
Speaker: And guys can go make a killing for a month and then relax for a couple months, then come back.
Speaker: So maybe that's a good place to start.
Speaker: Like what what what are some things you think we could do to like, I don't know, maybe change the culture around solar?
Speaker: Like how would you change if you were starting a solar company?
Speaker: What would you saw guys doing that?
Speaker: How would you change the culture?
Speaker: Would you just like let those guys go right away?
Speaker: I mean, we are 1099.
Speaker: So I guess that's a challenge with it too.
Speaker: But I don't know.
Speaker: Do you have any ideas if you were starting a solar company, what you would do to just create maybe like a similar culture where guys are working every day?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, if I was starting a solar company, like...
Speaker: I think every leader in that position needs to understand that at least for the first two, three to five years, you have to show that level of work ethic that you want the rest of the team to have.
Speaker: You got to take a big swallow and really question, do I really want to start a solar company?
Speaker: If you're starting it thinking that you're just gonna be an owner and you're gonna make just all this money and you're gonna hang out and go golfing and go on vacations and travel the world and you expect a handful of guys or gals to just go knock doors and just continuously be motivated and make you as the owner a ton of money, that culture is not gonna work out very well because you're not setting an example of the work ethic required to actually have success.
Speaker: If I was going to start a solar company, I would keep everybody 1099, but I would make it have crystal clear expectations of the level of work ethic that's required to just stay on the team.
Speaker: No individual on the team is more valuable than the culture of a company.
Speaker: I've seen that go the right way and I've seen that go the wrong way a million times in the business consulting that I've done.
Speaker: Ultimately, the thing that I would do is I would set the example.
Speaker: That's bullet point number one is I'd
Speaker: be out knocking doors as often as I could when I wasn't working on admin or operations side of the business.
Speaker: And then from there, the other thing that I think anyone would do if they're leading a solar team is they have to sell the vision.
Speaker: Because like you said, somebody can go make 10 stacks on a Saturday and they're good for the next week or two or however long it takes them to blow 10 grand.
Speaker: Sales in general, especially in things like solar where you do have significantly high earning potential, it's an incredible vehicle to actually tangibly get rich.
Speaker: And that was the whole reason I got into sales.
Speaker: You know, when I started knocking doors, they were like, where do you want to be in five years?
Speaker: I was like, dude, on a yacht with Carrie Underwood.
Speaker: They're like, you're fucking hired, bro.
Speaker: Like, that's pretty ambitious.
Speaker: I didn't get into sales and nobody really gets into sales to make whatever money they... We all get into sales because we want big life, sports cars, big houses, all that stuff that we see without having to go to college and, you know, all this stuff.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: I would just say you have to sell that vision of if you work consistently, if you work hard and you have discipline and you develop work ethic, going and knocking doors in solar can literally make you rich.
Speaker: And if you can live below your means and you can be smart financially within three years, dude, like you could have investment properties that are cash flowing and you could have all sorts of opportunities with that money.
Speaker: Again, most people, they'd rather take that Saturday off because they got a sale on Friday and just know that they have a paycheck coming in, you know?
Speaker: Oh, going back to your Grant Cardone days, did was Grant, did you see him like in the office daily or was it something where he wasn't really there?
Speaker: But is he working as hard as it looks like on social media and everything?
Speaker: I mean, there was moments where like, I mean, to be clear, I don't think he ever beat me into the office.
Speaker: And I sure as hell know that he never stayed as late as I did.
Speaker: in the three and a half years that I spent working there.
Speaker: I did see him come into the office and I don't really know what he did.
Speaker: I was a bit disconnected from his day to day because he had an office and I was just on the sales floor.
Speaker: But I was buying into my goal of using that sales position to actually acquire some version of financial freedom.
Speaker: And so I had that intrinsic motivation to show up and I didn't necessarily need a leader
Speaker: you know, showing me the path.
Speaker: I realized that the path was consistent and frequent work ethic.
Speaker: And I just stuck, stuck to those guns.
Speaker: So what do you think the hardest thing you've sold?
Speaker: Would you say one has been harder than the other?
Speaker: Or like, what was it like going from door to door to like on the phones, cold calling?
Speaker: Was that like a hard transition?
Speaker: Was it harder or easier?
Speaker: Yeah, what's your thoughts on that?
Speaker: I would say the transition from the doors to the phones was definitely a challenge because at least in door-to-door, somebody truly has to be a certain level of heartless to just slam the door in your face.
Speaker: On the phone, it's so much easier to just get immediate rejection because...
Speaker: you're just some voice on the other line of a phone bugging somebody versus a semi-attractive person that took time to show up to the house and like, usually with door to door you can get a little bit more time in because people, again, are a little bit nicer on the doorstep.
Speaker: Number two, it's a little bit easier to read people's body language when they're obviously right in front of you.
Speaker: You can see if they're engaged.
Speaker: You can see if they're interested.
Speaker: So, I mean, there was definitely a challenge there.
Speaker: You gotta be really quick on the phones, gotta be really good with your tone and really dialed in.
Speaker: But I can make hundreds of phone calls in a day and I know that I can't necessarily knock hundreds of doors in a day.
Speaker: At some point there, you're gonna have more opportunities hitting the phones, but again, it comes along with the challenge of having those quality conversations.
Speaker: Also, obviously, I wasn't selling solar, which is a much higher ticket product than say, $35 a month alarm contracts.
Speaker: But I did struggle going from selling a $35 a month product to selling a $54,000 product in selling sales training.
Speaker: So I definitely had to make some adjustments there mentally.
Speaker: And then I would say the hardest thing that I've ever had to sell is what I sell today.
Speaker: I sell me, and I'm not saying that that's difficult per se, but I'm definitely not like world famous
Speaker: I'll call some of my own cash card customers, people that literally purchased something from me already, and they still don't want to talk to me because they just don't really know who I am.
Speaker: They just don't get it.
Speaker: It's difficult being obscure.
Speaker: A lot of people just don't know you or whatever.
Speaker: At least with solar, I feel like people have some type of preconceived notion of what they'd like to do if a solar rep came to their house.
Speaker: They're either going to be
Speaker: semi-interested or they're going to be absolutely not.
Speaker: So it makes it a little bit simpler, I feel, from the customer standpoint when a solar guy shows up to the house.
Speaker: But selling sales training is absolutely something that you got to be real good at if you're going to live a life of doing it.
Speaker: Well, I do some self self training myself and, you know, I have a few coaching clients.
Speaker: It's kind of my side business along with selling solar.
Speaker: You know, I was joking with our mutual friend, Mike Sesniak.
Speaker: He always talks about, oh, I've never sold solar.
Speaker: I'm not even a sales guy, but I just know how to coach people really good.
Speaker: And then I remember getting on the call, getting on calls to like try to, you know, sell people my coaching and all that.
Speaker: And the first like several calls were a train wreck.
Speaker: I'm like, man, this is way harder than selling solar.
Speaker: I can't get people to pay money and believe in me that I can like coach them and help them change their
Speaker: you know, financial futures and make help them make way more money.
Speaker: And I thought it was definitely harder than selling solar.
Speaker: So I definitely got.
Speaker: Yeah, I got respect for if you know how to sell this coaching, I think you could sell anything because, yeah, I definitely think it's harder than selling solar.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah.
Speaker: So like you mentioned, you were the top sales guy with Grant Cardone and sounds like you've been at the top of pretty much every company you've been with.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: What are some things, what do you think sets you apart in order to become like the top guy?
Speaker: Was it like work ethic?
Speaker: I'm sure it's a combination of a lot of stuff, but for guys that are like Jordan, how'd I be the top guy at my company?
Speaker: Like you were...
Speaker: um what are some things that sets you apart and maybe what do you like coach people in that are asking you that question when they're in their your programs and everything yeah so i would say my real real answer is
Speaker: Being the top person in your company and being the highest earner is more of a conversation about what you're not doing versus doing more stuff.
Speaker: For instance, like I said, I've had a lot of sales experience walking into a place like Cardone's office.
Speaker: I always had some techniques and approaches that worked.
Speaker: I've always been pretty curious, so I'm pretty natural at asking people questions and building rapport, which is a word I freaking hate.
Speaker: But I would have experienced the same level of success, if not possibly even more, had I worked virtually anywhere else in 2013 and 2014.
Speaker: Because I really, I kind of had a come to Jesus moment with myself, right?
Speaker: When I was like 25, 26, I'd been in sales for a long time.
Speaker: Like I said, I was just screwing off a lot.
Speaker: I was pretty talented or whatever, but I never really amounted to anything financially as a salesperson.
Speaker: And so I had this moment where I was like, dude, what the hell am I doing with my life?
Speaker: Like I'm making...
Speaker: 40, 60 grand a year, like just blowing every check and like not really showing up to work.
Speaker: I just, I doubled down.
Speaker: I was like, I'm actually going to use sales as the vehicle to get rich.
Speaker: And so it was more about what I didn't do.
Speaker: I ended up cutting a lot of friends out of my life.
Speaker: I cut out girls out of my life, no Tinder, no dating, no sex, no kisses, no coffee dates, like nothing for 18 months.
Speaker: And, you know, I unplugged, you know, Netflix and my Xbox and I stopped watching TV.
Speaker: And like, I just stopped doing all this stuff that like average people spend a lot of time on.
Speaker: And I just reallocated a lot of that time into just,
Speaker: literally consuming books, watching YouTube videos, recording my sales pitch and listening to it back at night and trying to figure out what's a better way of asking that question.
Speaker: Or if I hear the, I need to think about it objection, what's my best response?
Speaker: And so I just really, really fine-tuned everything over the course of
Speaker: 17, 18 months.
Speaker: And within that 18 months, I went from being $40,000 in debt to having no debt.
Speaker: And instead of having $800 in the bank account, like a lot of people, I had $109,000 of liquid post-tax cash sitting in my bank account 18 months later.
Speaker: And again, it has a little bit less to do with just sheer work ethic.
Speaker: And it has a lot more, I think, to do with
Speaker: just kind of cutting off lousy friends, cutting out stupid relationships that don't serve you so that you can reallocate a lot of that time into your own personal development.
Speaker: Because the one thing that we all have in common with the sales that we make are we are the people that make those sales.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It sounds like, uh, you know, become upset, be obsessed or be average.
Speaker: Like, uh, uncle G says, right.
Speaker: Just like, I think that's what the top guys do is they just obsess over it.
Speaker: And, um,
Speaker: Like you said, I don't know a whole lot of people that are listening to their recordings at night.
Speaker: So that's like next level stuff that I think a lot of us don't think about and probably really what it takes to be the best.
Speaker: So I love that.
Speaker: Were you at when you're with Grant?
Speaker: Is that the training you're listening to?
Speaker: Would you actually listen to like, you know, the Cardone University and all that stuff?
Speaker: Is that the training you were consuming at the time?
Speaker: I had to.
Speaker: We were all forced to do that.
Speaker: I'm obviously for good reason.
Speaker: You got to understand product knowledge, but you know, I, I literally, I've, I've always really enjoyed the psychological approach and like the brain and like what's going on in the sales process so that when you have all the simple words to say, and these other little approaches you can use them correctly.
Speaker: So the thing that,
Speaker: I spent most of my time on was the psychology behind selling.
Speaker: I dropped out of college and I'm a little, the only regret I have is that I never really got to finish what I thought was interesting in college, which was psychology.
Speaker: I've always been
Speaker: really, really interested in how the human brain functions, particularly from a negotiation, desire type of sales standpoint.
Speaker: And so a lot of that, I think, helped put me in position to have a little bit more of a unique approach.
Speaker: And I would say the thing that really helped me become the
Speaker: the salesperson I am now, and also the top rep at Grants, I've just always had a lot of fun.
Speaker: I love working with other people.
Speaker: And when I'm working with C-suite executives at Fortune 500 companies, and I'm working for your local car dealer, and I'm working with another solar guy, I really just want to have fun.
Speaker: Because if you reject me,
Speaker: and I'm miserable, well, that sucks.
Speaker: But if you reject me, at least I'm having a little bit of fun trying to creatively figure out ways to bring you value and entertain you and follow up with you.
Speaker: Well, at least then I'm having fun and I didn't get paid.
Speaker: But if I can get paid and have fun and have some unique ways of doing business, well, then, you know, at least if I don't get paid, I was at least having a little bit of fun.
Speaker: Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker: Yeah, and especially going door-to-door a lot more sustainable if you can figure out a way to have fun.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: That's where guys burn out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They're not having fun out there.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a pretty torturous job to do.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: I like that.
Speaker: Well, and I think the door-to-door guys need to think this way.
Speaker: I think this goes back to one of the first bullet points that we were talking about, kind of like work ethic on the doors, is...
Speaker: Going door to door for one week or a month and like going at it, crushing it every day and making some money and then kind of letting your foot off the gas and not being focused and continuing that momentum.
Speaker: It'd be the same thing as going to the gym every single day and then eating literally nothing but fried foods and sugar all day, every day.
Speaker: So it's like you're putting in all this work.
Speaker: but you're never really getting a result.
Speaker: If any of you guys are out there and you even have just a little bit of momentum, you better keep your foot on the gas because it's the same thing like if you were to go to the gym and you start getting built up and everything, these days I still don't want to go to the gym, but I still see myself in the mirror based on the last six months of going to the gym and eating right.
Speaker: And now I just look in the mirror and I'm like, shit.
Speaker: I get to go to the gym and I get to continue keeping this momentum.
Speaker: So, you know, you got to have momentum and it's an important thing I think to develop.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Yeah, and I think for most guys, once you, I don't know, at least for me, once you build up a little momentum and start making money in this, it is tough to, I feel like it's tougher to not do the thing.
Speaker: Like, just like you mentioned with going to the gym, you know, I've been going to some jujitsu classes and I always joke with people that,
Speaker: It takes time and sometimes I like want to quit, but then I think back, okay, I've been doing this for like two years now.
Speaker: And all the like momentum I gained, all the progress I made, it's kind of go down the drain if I just stop going.
Speaker: It's like one of the main reasons why I kept doing these jujitsu classes.
Speaker: I'm like, man, I don't want to lose like the progress I made.
Speaker: And I think it can be that way with sales and probably with anything if we just put in the time and, you know, get to a level where we feel like we do have that momentum.
Speaker: It's a, it's a tough thing to lose it for sure.
Speaker: I wanted to, yeah, I wanted to ask you about something you said, Jordan.
Speaker: You said you hate the word rapport.
Speaker: So tell me about that.
Speaker: Why do you, why do you hate rapport?
Speaker: I just, I mean, literally, I hate the word rapport.
Speaker: It's kind of like everyone's got a word or two or three that they just like, they hate.
Speaker: I just, I've always just hated the word rapport.
Speaker: I know what it means.
Speaker: And I feel like it's a semi important thing in sales.
Speaker: But from that side, I just don't like the word.
Speaker: But genuinely, I found for the most part,
Speaker: that the quintessential salesperson's goal to build rapport is really just a waste of fucking time.
Speaker: I know that you don't care, Taylor, about the weather here in Arizona at my Airbnb or how long I... Like, you just don't care.
Speaker: I also don't care to answer those types of questions if I'm your prospect.
Speaker: Like, oh, how long have you been living here?
Speaker: It's like...
Speaker: Cut the shit and like, let's just get into the sales process.
Speaker: So for me, you know, I think that there's obviously some opportunities to kind of get to know your prospect and, you know, poke a couple of questions.
Speaker: But I think way too many people like think that rapport is like the foundation of the sale.
Speaker: I can't tell you how many sales...
Speaker: I've made or how many millions of dollars worth of revenue I've created.
Speaker: Dude, I hardly even remember the name of the person that I sold because like they're not interested in communicating with me stupid things that don't have to solve problems in their life.
Speaker: And I'm sure as hell not interested.
Speaker: I'm looking to make money.
Speaker: So rapport for me,
Speaker: Yeah, it's just not really my thing.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So do you, well, so speaking of that, cause you, you own, you know, how it is sometimes, especially door to door, we get with like those old ladies who do want to like talk your ear off.
Speaker: Or you get, you know, different personality types who maybe they do want to tell their life story and all that.
Speaker: So how much does that h ave a factor in like your training?
Speaker: And I know it sounds like you like to get straight to the point and all that.
Speaker: And definitely there's prospects where I've made the mistake where they want to get to the point and I'm asking them about their truck outside and ask about their family and they don't want anything to do with that.
Speaker: So yeah, what's, I don't know, what's your thoughts on that?
Speaker: Like different personality types and when would you?
Speaker: maybe try to build some relationships versus not?
Speaker: Good question.
Speaker: Glad you asked.
Speaker: I have found that there's four different types of buyers.
Speaker: And there's essentially the sociable buyer, which is the buyer that pretty much requires you, the salesperson, to kind of shut up and listen to useless stories and such.
Speaker: For instance, I have a
Speaker: a couple of clients that are sociable buyers and they'll call me and I see their name pop up in my phone and immediately I wanna jump off of a bridge because I know that if I pick up that phone call,
Speaker: They're gonna spend 20 or 30 minutes literally talking.
Speaker: The conversation where you can put your phone into a different room, come back 20 minutes later and be like, oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker: And it's like they never knew that you were gone.
Speaker: Those are sociable buyers.
Speaker: And although I don't necessarily have any interest in the stories that they're telling or any of those things,
Speaker: they usually are like, oh yeah, but by the way, I saw this new thing on your website.
Speaker: Can you run my card?
Speaker: I want 20 of them for my sales team.
Speaker: It's like, sure.
Speaker: Because they need that type of communication with that sales rep in order to know that they value the relationship.
Speaker: So in that instance,
Speaker: That's where I am trained, as much as I hate it, to sit down and smile and nod.
Speaker: And then what?
Speaker: And what else?
Speaker: And I try to get them to just continuously, you know, divulge more and more information because they perceive my level of interest and my willingness to listen as a factor in the relationship from a sales perspective.
Speaker: However,
Speaker: Me, I'm not a sociable buyer.
Speaker: I'm what I call a controller buyer where it's like, dude, just get to the point.
Speaker: What's the best price?
Speaker: Can I get it today?
Speaker: And does it solve these three problems?
Speaker: If yes, cool.
Speaker: Run the Amex.
Speaker: Here's a check.
Speaker: Let's do this.
Speaker: Where like,
Speaker: If you come to my house and you're like, hey, you know, it's Taylor out here with Taylor Solar.
Speaker: Like, you know, how long have you been living in the house?
Speaker: I'm immediately like slam the door in your face because I don't care.
Speaker: And like, it's just...
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just like, hey, I'm going to put solar panels on your roof.
Speaker: We might not even be able to replace your entire utility bill, but there's a reasonable chance you might save a couple of bucks.
Speaker: And at the very least, you can say F you to the utility company who you can't control anyway.
Speaker: You down?
Speaker: And I'd be like, honestly, that sounds like a pretty good deal.
Speaker: Come on inside.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: I like that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, I've had a lot of people where I didn't even learn this.
Speaker: I mean, I've been doing solar for like eight years now, but I think maybe like a year and a half ago was the first time I like heard a training about these different personality types.
Speaker: And then all of a sudden I think back to all like the, you know, like bowl a type personalities to where I like tried to build all this rapport.
Speaker: Cause that's what we're taught to do.
Speaker: And then I was getting kicked out of houses.
Speaker: They wouldn't even let me get in my presentation.
Speaker: So I'm like, okay, I guess, uh, I guess there's a reason why there's different personal personality types.
Speaker: And I guess I don't have to like ask all these standard questions to every single person.
Speaker: So hopefully you can learn my mistakes.
Speaker: Yeah, no, that's facts.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: So yeah, I want to get into a few like, you know, tangible things for solar guys, Jordan, because I think a lot of us have the same problems.
Speaker: And then I'll hear maybe some specific stuff you do in your training and consulting for companies and teams and all that.
Speaker: So just like thinking back on some of my struggles, I know something we get hit with all the time is like appointments, no showing, rescheduling,
Speaker: and just like not being able to get in front of enough people.
Speaker: So I guess, first of all, how many do you, do you currently train a lot of solar guys in your company?
Speaker: Is that a pretty big audience for you right now?
Speaker: It's a, it's pretty decent.
Speaker: I wouldn't say that I have the biggest, most trustworthy or recognizable name in solar.
Speaker: You know, like a Danny Pesci, for instance, he's a good buddy of mine.
Speaker: And yeah,
Speaker: Yeah, so it's a smaller segment of my business, but we do extremely well with the solar people that we work with.
Speaker: So I'm very familiar with what you guys are up against, whether you are in charge of the wholesale process or you're just an opener or you're just a closer.
Speaker: You guys are definitely up against a lot of the similar challenges that a lot of us salespeople are up against too.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: So yeah, it sounds like you know some of our struggles.
Speaker: So something we encounter a lot is just, like I said, appointments, no showing and constant.
Speaker: I mean, I'm thinking of several people right now that I couldn't get in front of that seem pretty interested, haven't been able to reschedule.
Speaker: So do you have any tips on that?
Speaker: Maybe we have like appointment setters that are listening to this that are like, man, I cannot get these people to sit down.
Speaker: What advice do you have for that, for helping people sit down and then maybe like getting them to reschedule if you weren't able to get a time with them the first time?
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: When I have ever struggled setting appointments, and there's been times where that happens, I kind of look at that show ratio or whatever, and if I'm realizing that a lot of people are leaving me on read or not sitting per se, that's where I have to kind of go back to the basics.
Speaker: And the basics is...
Speaker: questioning why should somebody take time out of their life to sit down and hear me out, regardless of what I'm selling.
Speaker: Solar panels, HVAC systems, insurance, sales training, you name it.
Speaker: People are exchanging the most valuable thing that they have upfront with you.
Speaker: So money is, it's valuable, but their time is more valuable.
Speaker: So the question that I would give to any of you who are maybe struggling with appointments is,
Speaker: is why should somebody actually spend 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 minutes with you if they don't really necessarily know what they're going to get out of it?
Speaker: So every single time you schedule an appointment, and this is me going back to the basics, is I always let somebody know what's in it for them just for showing up to the appointment.
Speaker: So
Speaker: For instance, if I was selling solar and I got one of those little tentative appointments with Taylor and Taylor's like, yeah, man, you know, I'll be around with my wife at, you know, 4.30, you know, tomorrow.
Speaker: Great, man, happy to do that.
Speaker: Let me grab your email address so I can send you a calendar invite.
Speaker: I know that if anything's not on my calendar, I'm never going to show up to it.
Speaker: And I want to let you know, you and the spouse, when you guys sit down and we swing back around tomorrow at 4.30, whether you do anything with us, I just want to be clear and let you know that my job is a simple one.
Speaker: It's just to give you guys the information that you need so that you can make the best decision moving forward when it comes to solar.
Speaker: And during this little presentation, as we call it, we're going to be able to give you enough information to know for sure, right?
Speaker: whether or not going solar is going to be the right thing for you and your family.
Speaker: Number two, if it's even possible or even responsible for you to do.
Speaker: And then number three, you'll have enough information to know if you want to say no, that it'll be the right thing for you.
Speaker: We call it a win-win presentation.
Speaker: Have you ever had one of those before?
Speaker: And that's where they usually say, no, I've never had one.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: You're going to win by knowing that going solar is going to be the best thing for you and your family long term.
Speaker: Or you're going to win knowing that not going solar is going to be the best thing long term for you and your family.
Speaker: I like that.
Speaker: I'll see you at 430 tomorrow.
Speaker: So you're kind of using a colloquial approach right there to a win-win appointment.
Speaker: Who's ever been on one of those?
Speaker: And you're just dropping it in their lap like, dude, I don't care if you go solar or not.
Speaker: I've literally got all your neighbors already.
Speaker: I'm just showing up to give you the info that you need so you can either join what your neighbors are doing or give a finger to the rest of your neighbors and not go solar.
Speaker: But you're going to win both ways knowing that either you're going to do it and it's the right thing or you're going to win knowing that whatever you're currently doing right now is going to be the best thing.
Speaker: Is that fair?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What about for people?
Speaker: Because I'm thinking for myself, like multiple people who they were seem like they're pretty interested, but they texted me to reschedule or some rescheduled when I showed up for the appointment.
Speaker: And it was like, oh, we're super busy.
Speaker: We'll have to let you know when when works to meet up.
Speaker: We just got like...
Speaker: kids soccer games baseball practice just super crazy right now and then um you know make one attempt to reschedule but can't get back in front of them so for you do you think you would try like showing up to those people or like text them or do like you know some people have like the automations emails stuff like that i don't know what what do you typically do for people like that that are just tough to reschedule a time for
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Happens to me all the time working with business owners and people that are actually busy.
Speaker: For your average homeowner out there, sure, stuff pops up, kids' soccer practice, this, that, the other thing.
Speaker: So some of you already know that I run my own door-to-door sales team here in San Diego.
Speaker: And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
Speaker: But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage.
Speaker: Then we discovered an app called SolarScout.
Speaker: But it's not a door-knocking app.
Speaker: It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
Speaker: It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
Speaker: It's been working for a lot of teams across the country, and now I'm on board too.
Speaker: I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up.
Speaker: But I told them, hey, if I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show, you need to give my listeners a great deal.
Speaker: And they did.
Speaker: So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them, and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up.
Speaker: That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
Speaker: Okay, back to the show.
Speaker: Number one.
Speaker: is how you're confirming the appointment.
Speaker: Especially if Taylor is my setter and I happen to be the closer actually going on that appointment, the moment that it's communicated to me that Taylor set an appointment for me, the first thing that I'm gonna do is confirm that appointment with the homeowner in a different type of way.
Speaker: So if you're listening and you have a smartphone, this will increase your show rates by about 50% out the box.
Speaker: If I get an appointment,
Speaker: I'm going into my phone, I'm typing your cell phone number into my phone, I'm popping open a text message, but instead of using my thumbs like everyone else, I'm actually gonna open up my camera and set it over to video, and me, the closer, will send Mrs. Jones a selfie video.
Speaker: Hey Mrs. Jones, it's Jordan over here.
Speaker: I understand that you were working with my guy, Taylor.
Speaker: He's an absolute stud, and I'm really excited to meet with you at 4.30 tomorrow.
Speaker: I just wanted to put a face to the name, let you know I'm a real person over here,
Speaker: I've been in the solar space now for about a dozen years, and literally my job is simple, it's to get you the information that you need so that you can make the best decision moving forward.
Speaker: By the way, this is my personal sell, same one my wife harasses me on, so if you have any questions, need to reschedule, or need anything at all, you know it's always going to be attached to my hand.
Speaker: I look forward to working with you and earning your business.
Speaker: And so I'm going to send that out pre-appointment.
Speaker: That's immediately going to increase customer engagement, meaning they're likely to text you back.
Speaker: Number two, you're differentiating yourselves from literally all the other door knockers, all the other solar professionals, pest control, door siding windows, exteriors, driveway landscaping, all of those folks because you took one extra little step.
Speaker: Additionally,
Speaker: At the time of the appointment, that's where you can send another video if you want to.
Speaker: Hey, Mrs. Jones, I'm literally on the way.
Speaker: Don't shoot me when you see my Camaro pull up into your driveway like it's me.
Speaker: I'm your solar guy.
Speaker: I'm not here to rob you.
Speaker: That works really well.
Speaker: And then if you're attempting to reschedule with people, one is don't get frustrated.
Speaker: How many of you guys want to sit down with a solar rep in the comfort of your own home?
Speaker: None of you do.
Speaker: Zero people want another solar rep or salesperson in their home.
Speaker: So you can't take it personally, you can't get offended, and you can't let that take down your level of enthusiasm.
Speaker: The best thing to do is go to imgflip.com and start just showering their text message feed with a bunch of memes.
Speaker: You can do Pablo Escobar sitting out in the middle of a field, acting all depressed, and just, this is me waiting for you to reschedule.
Speaker: You can type in skeleton and you'll get a skeleton sitting on a park bench.
Speaker: You just say, this is me waiting for you to reschedule.
Speaker: Because memes, they can help communicate your actual frustration.
Speaker: Like, listen, I'm fucking dying over here waiting for you to reschedule.
Speaker: But you wouldn't necessarily communicate that with your customer.
Speaker: You'll let an image articulate the funniness of that actually happening.
Speaker: I closed a $600,000 deal with this owner of this company, and he had blown me off like two or three appointments deep.
Speaker: And so I just found him on Facebook Messenger, and I used the little black and white gif of like that little child at the soup line, like,
Speaker: He was just tapping his desk, waiting for more soup or something.
Speaker: And I literally just sent this over.
Speaker: I just said, this is me waiting on the Zoom call for you right now.
Speaker: And we started finally interacting again.
Speaker: Two weeks later, 600 grand.
Speaker: So the point is that you can have some fun.
Speaker: Use some memes, use some selfie videos, and just treat people like human beings, man.
Speaker: That's so good.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: I remember when I was in Cardone University for a little bit, Grant had all these, even sending gifts to people's doors.
Speaker: I remember one of them I watched, he sent a chocolate foot to someone's house and then it said, hey, just trying to get my phone back in the door.
Speaker: I think I tried that one time and it didn't work.
Speaker: So I didn't do it again after that.
Speaker: But do you ever do anything like that?
Speaker: Like sending gifts to these people or like anything crazy like that or mostly just memes and texts and all that?
Speaker: Oh, I mean...
Speaker: If it's a big enough deal where it matters to me, that's where my level of creativity can be unmatched.
Speaker: Well, probably to be fair, three quarters of the things that you saw there in Cardone U were literally straight out of my little playbook.
Speaker: He just went to the studio and shot it faster than I did.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: Honestly, if the deal means enough to you, then get the creativity that you need to to stay in front of that person.
Speaker: Some of the deals that I've gotten have taken years.
Speaker: And you just, you have to be creative.
Speaker: I've done...
Speaker: This probably doesn't work very well in solar, but everyone's favorite little story or follow-up technique that I keep way, way, way up my sleeve should I really need it.
Speaker: But I go to Amazon, you just type in like track phone,
Speaker: and you just mail somebody a prepaid phone, and before you mail it out, you put your number in speed dial one, and then you just send it with a little note that's like, hit speed dial number one.
Speaker: But also, you keep the phone number for that phone.
Speaker: Then you ship it out to your customer, and you pay a little bit extra for delivery notifications.
Speaker: So I've done this probably...
Speaker: probably about 12 times.
Speaker: And I would say 10 times, it immediately puts me in touch with the decision maker because either one, they'll call me speed dial number one.
Speaker: I'm like, what's up?
Speaker: It's your boy Jordan over here.
Speaker: You know, did you forget to pay your cell phone bill?
Speaker: Because you ain't been picking up.
Speaker: So I decided to buy you one.
Speaker: Or worst case is they don't call you, but you have the number and you got the delivery notification.
Speaker: You wait like five minutes and you just call them and they pick up the phone like all scared and they're like, hello?
Speaker: It's like, Taylor, it's your boy Stupar over here, dude.
Speaker: What happened to your phone?
Speaker: And I want to say that I've probably closed nine out of the 12 deals that I've done the bat phone for.
Speaker: It really works nicely.
Speaker: that's incredible no that's a good idea i feel like probably would work uh but no that's what's funny about solar is like we've got commissions that are similar to probably like real estates i mean i don't know too many other industries where a weekend you can go make 10 grand sometimes more off of one deal um i guess depending on the state but a lot of money off a single deal and then
Speaker: Most of these people, if they can't get it or if their appointment doesn't show up, it's just like on to the next one.
Speaker: So that's something I'm trying to personally improve is just like, hey, I'm not following up on a potential easy 10 grand I could make if I can just get in front of these people.
Speaker: And, um, um, yeah, I think it's a mistake that a lot of people make and just being disorganized too.
Speaker: But yeah, do you have any advice on that?
Speaker: I'm sure you're probably using CRMs and all that, but a lot of us in solar, like, you know, ADD, disorganized, typical sales guys, college dropouts, all that.
Speaker: I never, ever followed up when I was going door to door because it was just easier to knock another door than figure out what to say to Mrs. Jones who you haven't talked to in 15 minutes, you know?
Speaker: But as far as, as far as if I got into door to door solar or door to door anything, and maybe the company that I worked for or whatever wasn't providing, you know, a bad-ass CRM and all this, you know, tech, I would, I
Speaker: 100% absolutely get like a free HubSpot account or at the very least have some type of spreadsheet where I would put in names, phone numbers, email addresses, birthdays, notes, you know, anything that I can kind of think of.
Speaker: And literally,
Speaker: I would automate a good chunk of the follow-up if I could via technology.
Speaker: But dude, what happens when it rains?
Speaker: I don't want to knock doors in the rain.
Speaker: I'm not trying to prove that I'm David Goggins by being a little bit tougher, by being wet when I... Like, I'm going to go to my apartment, my house, whatever.
Speaker: I'm going to sit down and make some calls and send out some text messages, fire off some memes, some selfie videos, maybe send out a couple burner phones.
Speaker: Who knows?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I would allocate a specific chunk of each day or a day of the week or rainy days or whatever to do nothing else other than stay in touch with other people.
Speaker: Because here's the thing for your audience that's listening.
Speaker: All of you guys, if you've been in solar for longer than five minutes, you've probably had it happen where you knocked somebody's door, you made it halfway through your sales process, something didn't work out,
Speaker: Weeks go by, months go by, maybe a year goes by.
Speaker: You end up in that same neighborhood and you look at that house and it's solar panels on top of the roof.
Speaker: And you're like, shit, that should have been me.
Speaker: Well, guess what happened?
Speaker: All you did is you paid some other solar person there to swing by and sell glass on that roof because you didn't do that job and you weren't having proximity and you lost the momentum that you had in relationship building with that customer.
Speaker: So the whole idea here, folks,
Speaker: if you're listening, you're knocking doors and you want to literally triple your income like starting today, is keep a database of the people that you actually talk to and then figure out some type of follow-up plan on what that is going to look like over the next 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 months.
Speaker: Because trust me, if they spend even a little bit of time talking to you, it means that they have some level of interest going solar.
Speaker: And it might not be today or next week or next month, but sooner or later, that person is going to get the full experience and they're going to make a decision to go with somebody and it might as well be you.
Speaker: So that would be my suggestion in follow-up is to just become a savage when it comes to your follow-up.
Speaker: But also if there's one other nugget, it's like, well, what do I do for 18 months?
Speaker: You entertain them.
Speaker: Memes, YouTube links.
Speaker: If you really want to take it super deep, I would be dialing in my YouTube channels.
Speaker: I would create DIY videos for going solar.
Speaker: Hey, you don't want to buy from us?
Speaker: No problem.
Speaker: Here's where I would go to buy the glass and here's the ladder that you'll need to get up on top of the roof.
Speaker: You can probably handle it yourself.
Speaker: It's like...
Speaker: Why would I make that video?
Speaker: Well, because a guy like Jordan is going to log in and be like, shit, dude, I don't want to do all that.
Speaker: Plus, I don't want to design it.
Speaker: And plus, I don't know if this tree is going to block sunlight.
Speaker: And then like, I'll let a pro do it.
Speaker: And enough of that content is just going to spin up and it's going to create your own personal machine where if somebody's thinking about going solar, they're not thinking about anybody else other than Taylor.
Speaker: And that would be the point of that type of follow up.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker: And I've got, I've got buddies.
Speaker: I got people I know that have done that and, you know, very successful source of Legion.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Obviously it takes time.
Speaker: It takes time a lot, uh, probably longer than going out and knocking a door, but, um, for sure.
Speaker: I mean, since these can, can build up over time if you're consistent.
Speaker: Uh, what was that website for the memes?
Speaker: What did you say that website was again for that?
Speaker: Uh, I M G flip.com.
Speaker: I am G flip.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I haven't used now one for like a decade, bro.
Speaker: It's made me millions.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, let's check that out.
Speaker: I like that.
Speaker: And then what about, um, so I'm thinking of a specific situation.
Speaker: Uh, it's funny.
Speaker: I had a lot of times I just asked like the people I have on the podcast about stuff that I'm running into real time.
Speaker: So last week I had a customer that's they were sold.
Speaker: They want to sign.
Speaker: But we got the contract and she's like, Taylor, like, I want to do this.
Speaker: But I've just been burned on contracts before where I didn't read the whole thing.
Speaker: So I just can't do this until I read every word.
Speaker: So I want to do this.
Speaker: Come back in two days and I'll sign it.
Speaker: And then sure enough, I have her in my calendar to go back and she's like, Hey, it was a busy weekend.
Speaker: Um, wasn't able to get to reading the contracts.
Speaker: I still, still I'm interested, but, uh, but yeah, yeah, I didn't get to it.
Speaker: So we need to reschedule.
Speaker: So I email, okay, when works, um, yeah, let's figure out a time.
Speaker: And then now it's been two days.
Speaker: Haven't heard back.
Speaker: So if you were me, what would you do to follow up with a customer like that?
Speaker: How would you handle that situation?
Speaker: So I'll give you two gems.
Speaker: Number one is at the time of it being communicated to you that somebody wants to do some type of due diligence, read a contract, whatever, you have to get your buyer to come to their own conclusion and
Speaker: that it would not be irresponsible to not read the contract and just sign right then and there.
Speaker: So what I like to do is I like to give people that acknowledgement, hey, Ms.
Speaker: Jones, totally understand that you've been burnt before.
Speaker: Truth is me too.
Speaker: Nothing's worse.
Speaker: And of course, I want you to know every single detail about what's going on inside this agreement.
Speaker: I'm assuming that you're probably a pretty intelligent person.
Speaker: I also understand that you probably have a shortage of time.
Speaker: And I'm curious to find out when is the last time that you made a pretty even semi-significant decision and didn't read the terms of service and you just clicked okay?
Speaker: Maybe last year.
Speaker: And I'll give that to the buyer.
Speaker: Like, you know, Apple has an update on my phone and I just hit, you know, okay.
Speaker: Like 99% of the population is never going to read a contract, due diligence, do the terms of service, all that.
Speaker: Once that kind of unlocks for them that, oh yeah, I do this type of stuff every single day.
Speaker: Usually it helps grant them permission to continue making those decisions that they have been unaffected by.
Speaker: real briefly for you guys listening, all of the objections that you hear, not at the front, you know, we're not interested.
Speaker: I don't feel like going solar.
Speaker: You're the 85th guy to stop by.
Speaker: Those ones are super legit and very real that you got to be able to handle.
Speaker: But the ones at the dining room table where they're like, hey, it's a lot of money, you know, contract issue, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker: Understand that all of those are coming from your customer subconscious.
Speaker: This lady is
Speaker: She doesn't even know why she's telling you she needs to look at the contract.
Speaker: She's not a lawyer.
Speaker: She's never going to understand what the hell is in that contract, even if she sat down and read it.
Speaker: So what we need to do is we need to ask questions when we hear those types of objections to help our buyers conclude that despite being outside of their budget, they go out of budget all the time.
Speaker: Despite the fact that going solar isn't necessarily going to save me any money, I'm actually going to be paying $20 a month more than my current utilities.
Speaker: So what?
Speaker: We need to drag them away from the subconscious and move that conversation in the neocortex where responsible, logical decision-making is actually found.
Speaker: If you guys want more sauce on that, you guys can hit me up.
Speaker: But to answer your question from a follow-up perspective, how would I stay in front of this person
Speaker: That's where I would ask you, what do you remember that this lady, she likes hobbies, activities, posters, trophies, and anything that you learned about her that she's interested in?
Speaker: Yeah, she's like a foster mom, has like two adopted kids.
Speaker: Damn.
Speaker: I wonder if she got burnt by those tracks.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I think she kind of did because one of them, she adopted, like stole her identity and is like living on the streets now.
Speaker: So her credit was frozen, of course, because, you know, her daughter stole like her identity and she's gone through some stuff.
Speaker: So maybe that's why it got to my head because she was saying all this stuff.
Speaker: And I think I let her convince me that she should.
Speaker: Uh-huh.
Speaker: That's exactly what it is.
Speaker: She sold me.
Speaker: I'm like waiting.
Speaker: That's exactly what happened, bro.
Speaker: But I mean, that would be tough not to be sold on.
Speaker: If I was you in that house, I'd be like, damn, you have been burnt.
Speaker: Well, you know, if she's into that, she's into taking responsibility for other people.
Speaker: It's very likely that not only does she see solar as a mechanism by which
Speaker: she can maybe replace some of her monthly expenses from a utility standpoint.
Speaker: But also she seems like she might be the type of person concerned about planet Earth and being able to reduce a carbon footprint and again, taking some type of responsibility in respect to the planet and the environment.
Speaker: In which case,
Speaker: I would say and follow up with all sorts of examples of terms of service and agreements and contracts that she probably has in place that she's never been burnt by.
Speaker: And then also simultaneously providing her with the notion that even if everything that what you guys talked about was in the contract, that she could never truly be burnt by going solar because she's going to be doing something good for herself anyway and something good for other people.
Speaker: So a lot of the follow-up content that I would create would be memes in regards to something of that nature or selfie videos that kind of explain some of those types of things.
Speaker: But selfie videos, memes are extremely useful.
Speaker: And also be mindful that a lot of women are going to be, have a proclivity to become a sociable buyer.
Speaker: Somebody again, that cares a lot more about the relationship than say person like me, a controller buyer.
Speaker: And understand that one of the best ways of following up with them and engaging with them in the sales presentation is to ask them questions about how their decision is going to impact other people that are in their family or know them.
Speaker: So,
Speaker: sometimes a lot of you guys can walk away with a big kilowatt solar deal, but you don't because the buyer is, maybe they just don't like the way solar looks.
Speaker: I personally think that more often than not, it doesn't look that aesthetically pleasing having glass on the roof.
Speaker: And I'm also going to be a little bit mindful of what my neighbors think of me having solar and what I'm going to think about the house.
Speaker: And so understand that,
Speaker: You can walk away with a deal with somebody that doesn't necessarily like it, but you have to actually check that box and you have to have them come to their own conclusion that even though they might not like the look of it, whatever they're buying and the benefits that they're receiving in return for going solar outweighs the level of
Speaker: dislike that they have for the glass on top of the roof.
Speaker: So all of those types of strategic sales questions are designed to help the buyer conclude that I don't really like the way it looks, but I care about the planet more than I care about the way that the solar looks, or I care more about saving $40 a month on my utilities than I care about the way that solar looks on top of my roof.
Speaker: So an exercise I would give all of you guys is think about all of the unspoken reasons why somebody might not go solar, despite the fact that they might want to.
Speaker: Well, and so the last, I think the last question just to wrap up on some of like the cells, stuff that we can implement right away.
Speaker: Another issue that a lot of people have, and I go through ups and downs too, they call it the solar coaster, but sometimes we can sign all these deals, but it's like we have a month and a half to sometimes three, four or five longer periods where they can actually get installed and
Speaker: Like a lot of times customer in a lot of cases, customers can just cancel at any point, really.
Speaker: I mean, they have a contract, but like none of the installers, they typically don't enforce it.
Speaker: If people, someone decide, if someone decides to cancel, say a month into their contract.
Speaker: So what are some just last question here?
Speaker: What are some tips you have to reduce cancellations to, you know, get people from overthinking it?
Speaker: Obviously, most cancellations will come in like,
Speaker: the first three to five days after you sign the contracts you know they have they do have that right to cancel but yeah what are some things in your experience and all your sales careers all the things you've sold how do you reduce cancellations and get people to actually you know the finish line one i'll say for context nothing that i'm gonna say is gonna automatically 100 work all of the time obviously you're gonna have people that are just gonna cancel and it is what it is but
Speaker: But for the most part, there's two things that I see in virtually any business that help reduce cancellations.
Speaker: Number one is properly outlaying next steps, is what I like to call them.
Speaker: For context,
Speaker: I had a CRM company back in the day.
Speaker: I thought I was going to take down Salesforce.
Speaker: I was wrong.
Speaker: It was really difficult.
Speaker: But I had a really good idea from 20 years in sales.
Speaker: I kind of knew how to build it.
Speaker: Anyway, we built it.
Speaker: I started talking to business owners and they're like, holy F man, this system is sick.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: Our team would love this.
Speaker: And like,
Speaker: I'm at the end of my presentation, 100% of the time I'm getting amazing feedback and I'm like, so when do you want to get started?
Speaker: And 100% of the time, business owners are like, oh, well, probably next year or whatever, some nice little delay type thing.
Speaker: And I went home and I'm like, dude, why does nobody want my stuff but they think it's awesome?
Speaker: In which case, why are so many people signing up for solar and then just canceling five, six days later?
Speaker: And the main thing that usually ends up happening is customers just don't, they've never purchased solar before, they've never had it installed, they've never had the process,
Speaker: And so the salesperson oftentimes doesn't articulate what the customer can truly expect once they decide to become a customer and sign that contract.
Speaker: So the thing that I would tip number one, take time at the end of your sales presentation, maybe even before obtaining a signature on the contract to say, you know, hey, Taylor, when you and your family decide to become a customer of Stupar Solar,
Speaker: I want to let you know that I'm going to take this paperwork from my iPad and it's going to immediately get mailed over to our installation team and they're going to be able to give me some idea on when installation is going to be.
Speaker: From there, tomorrow, you're probably going to get an email from Becca.
Speaker: She's our onboarding specialist here at our company where we're just going to get to know you, your family, your goals with solar a little bit more so that we can hold ourselves accountable to delivering you with a great experience.
Speaker: About a week later is when you're gonna actually get a message from our installation team, our technicians, they're gonna be the ones asking you some questions about the layout, the design, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker: Whatever that process ultimately looks like, you're gonna wanna let that customer know that in a week, this is gonna happen.
Speaker: Next month, this is gonna happen.
Speaker: Here's the name of the person that's actually gonna be reaching out to you.
Speaker: A lot of this,
Speaker: is gonna help address some of the stall objections that you get.
Speaker: And then also, am I ever really gonna get solar?
Speaker: Like when is it gonna get installed?
Speaker: And what's the, it helps answer a lot of those questions that your customer can't even ask you because how are they supposed to know what solar installation looks like?
Speaker: They've never got it done before.
Speaker: Tip number one is to properly outlay next steps.
Speaker: I worked with a couple of folks in solar and I helped them create their next steps and literally they quadrupled their income same month just by showing this one little thing in their sales pitch at the dining room table.
Speaker: Second piece of advice I would have,
Speaker: is once you leave the house, trust me, your sales process just started.
Speaker: You just did the heavy lifting.
Speaker: Now you have to create a relationship with this person from phone calls, checking in, hey Todd, how did your daughter's equestrian meet in blah, blah, blah town go last weekend?
Speaker: Dope, man, love to hear that.
Speaker: By the way, dude, you around town, can I bring you some coffee real quick?
Speaker: Hey, I'm driving through your part of town.
Speaker: Can I stop by and ask you for some directions if I get lost?
Speaker: Whatever it is, you're establishing that relationship.
Speaker: How many of you guys are in some type of relationship?
Speaker: How many of you guys would cancel your barber right now?
Speaker: Even if you found somebody for less money that guaranteed could make you look fresher, you still wouldn't cancel on your barber that you have right now.
Speaker: Why?
Speaker: Because you got a relationship with them and you don't want to break up with them.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I love that too.
Speaker: No, go ahead.
Speaker: I was just going to say, even for competition too, I've noticed that if I don't have a great relationship for someone, then those people are way more likely to be like, oh,
Speaker: I went and shop some solar online or someone else came to the door, they can give me better pricing or whatever.
Speaker: But if I'm like actually friends with them and just followed a similar process to what you just said, then like they don't, they don't listen to the next guy that come to their door.
Speaker: They say, Oh, we're already set up or they don't like to go look online for better prices or whatever.
Speaker: So just, just add to that too.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: So those would be my two top tips for reducing that cancellation, maintaining that relationship, and then also making sure that that customer knows before you leave what to expect throughout the installation and onboarding process of working with a solar company.
Speaker: And if you do those things, I can guarantee that you will see a significant reduction in cancellations post-sale.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Love that.
Speaker: So good.
Speaker: Well, Jordan, it's been awesome having you on today.
Speaker: And before we say goodbye here, if guys want to like possibly get more of your training, I know you got your like cash card things, which, which, by the way, I wanted to ask, I know Danny Pesce has his little solar cards.
Speaker: Is he paying you like a royalty or something for, for making solar cards from your cash cards or what?
Speaker: No, I like Danny.
Speaker: He hit me up and was like, can I run with this?
Speaker: I said, yeah, because I do have the copyright and trademark on it, but I like Danny.
Speaker: Yeah, he's a good guy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Hey, he's done that with some of my stuff too.
Speaker: So don't worry.
Speaker: Fair enough, man.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But no, so if guys want to like, you know, possibly get some of these cards or like get more of your training, what's the best way to get connected with you, Jordan?
Speaker: Or maybe you have like a one specific for solar guys that people could get first if they wanted to.
Speaker: Yeah, fire away on that.
Speaker: I'm working on that right now.
Speaker: But if you want to discover any of the things that I do, you can always go to jordanstupar.com, S-T-U-P-A-R.
Speaker: Or if you're not that committed, don't want to hit a website, you can always find me on social media pretty much everywhere at Jordan Stupar, except for Twitter.
Speaker: Well, now it's called X, but it's like Jordan underscore Stupar.
Speaker: But I'm not that active on Twitter.
Speaker: anymore anyway, but you guys can find me on social, go to Jordan's do product.com.
Speaker: And again, I'm, I'm here to help you guys make more money.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Love it.
Speaker: And then, uh, last question before we wrap up, Jordan, if, um, I know you've run a sales team, you've ran a lot of guys and everything.
Speaker: So, um, for people that maybe are managers or trying to help a rep have like a breakthrough or a rep that hasn't had a lot of success yet, what are some things you could do to help like a struggling rep or someone turn it around if they're not having a lot of success?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I would make sure that that rep who's struggling stays the hell away from other reps that are struggling.
Speaker: Misery loves company, and my number one piece of advice to a new salesperson is never hang out with anybody in the middle of the sales production board.
Speaker: as although it's intimidating to hang out with the studs and the people making all the money and you're the new person or maybe you're struggling, you don't wanna hang out with all the studs, trust me, the studs wanna see you get help, they wanna see you do better.
Speaker: Nobody above you wants to see you do worse than you're currently doing and nobody's gonna try to give you bad advice unless of course you did something actually wrong to them and they wanna give you payback.
Speaker: But people that are crushing it always have better attitudes
Speaker: They always have time to help other people contribute to their own success.
Speaker: So tip number one in the shortest form is stay the hell away from people that aren't producing.
Speaker: Get around people that are because the people that are producing are busy looking for solutions and the people that are busy looking for problems are finding them.
Speaker: So good.
Speaker: Love that.
Speaker: So, yeah, guys, go check out Jordan.
Speaker: He's got some awesome stuff.
Speaker: And yeah, I love something I say all the time is and, you know, a lot of the personal development guys say is you're the average of the five people you hang out with.
Speaker: So definitely that applies to sales and pretty much everything you're doing in life.
Speaker: So make sure you're hanging out with the right people.
Speaker: And you've been hanging out with Jordan and myself today.
Speaker: So no doubt you're going to get better just from this podcast.
Speaker: But thanks so much for coming on, Jordan.
Speaker: And hopefully we can have you on for a future episode.
Speaker: You're welcome back anytime.
Speaker: Thanks again.
Speaker: Appreciate it, man.
Speaker: Hey Solarpreneurs, quick question.
Speaker: What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day.
Speaker: For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite level solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.
Speaker: That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals
Speaker: to learn, compete, and win with top performers in the industry.
Speaker: And it's called Solcitee.
Speaker: This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give Solar Pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it, less than $3.45 a day.
Speaker: Currently, SoulCity is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled.
Speaker: So go to SoulCity.co to learn more and join the learning experience now.
Speaker: This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to SoulCity.co and join.
Speaker: We'll see you on the inside.
