Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. 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 cell drips fail.
Speaker: I teach you to avoid the mistakes I made in and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads Bowling up like a pro. and closing more deals.
Speaker: What is a solarpreneur you might ask? A solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery And you are about to become one. Hey, what's going on, Solarpreneurs? We are back with part two of the art of saving the deal. We're going to be going through some live footage on a customer that we recently were able to save a big commission. and narrowly averted disaster because he was... trying at all costs to cancel the deal, right?
Speaker: as we were getting ready to set an installation date So I'm going to teach you how to avoid that. And hopefully you'll hear some things that you can use in your appointments this week. So welcome back to the show. My name is Taylor Armstrong. We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals and have a much better time in the solar industry. We are midsummer.
Speaker: in the heat of the summer hope you're surviving this heat But I'm loving it. Bills are high. ah People are sweating their tails off any home we're in where they're not paying a high power bill.
Speaker: It's because they're... Living uncomfortably. So that has been a huge selling point for us, not only saving money. but living more comfortably. And so hopefully you're avoiding cancellations. And if you have not already, go back and listen to the first. Episode we've done on this the part one that was published a couple days back.
Speaker: before this episode but this episode we're going to be going into some live footage And hopefully you can hear some things. that I applied. from the techniques we discussed on the previous episode.
Speaker: And not everything's perfect, always things we can do better, but that is why I'm a big fan of recording. the footage from every single appointment big shout out to Ciro which has been one of our longtime partners in the show. They make it so easy to go and record the footage.
Speaker: and ah get it AI analyzed. and package it into trainings for your team. Just learn for yourself. where you could have done better. So I think it's very important that you record. every customer interaction. So much can be learned about it. I think that's the best way to learn and improve. So let's get into some of this footage. Like I mentioned before, we had him well on the way to getting installed. He was, I think, about three weeks into his contract, just about set an installation date.
Speaker: Then I get an email, wake up, and it said, hey, Taylor, you know what? I've reconsidered. I don't want to move forward. with the projects. You know, just... Terrible email to wake up to. We all hate cancellations. But immediately I tried to apply some of the things that I mentioned in the last episode.
Speaker: I didn't react with... Panic or anything. I didn't try to like figure out why he canceled over email, over text. I just calmly said, okay, well. Let me come back and we'll figure out what we can do.
Speaker: to help you get that cancelled out. And then... We went back, got back inside the home. And that's the first step, the first thing that we did. to help us. have a chance at actually saving it.
Speaker: Alright, and so we'll we'll play a couple clips here. But the most important thing I would say once you get back inside the home. is you need to really isolate the objection, figure out why. He is trying to cancel. All right. And so, you know, we start off with some small talk. Probably could have figured out the actual reason a little bit sooner. I think there was.
Speaker: some mistakes made where I was just kind of trying to sell them on the original thing. that we had signed him up on. But it became pretty clear that he had an issue with the monthly payments. And the long -term commitment is an older gentleman, right? I did isolate these and figure it out.
Speaker: you know how this deal could still be sold So I'm going to play the. section where I tried to isolate those objections. And try to. You know move forward from there. So let's hear what this sounds like just that You feel like it's going to be like a long -term thing? It's a long -term thing. It's $300 a month. i don't want I just don't think it's a life's commitment at my age.
Speaker: No. I mean, it couldn't cost me quite a bit as it is. Yeah, doing what I'm doing. And I just don't think it's wise for me to take on more. Okay, well, if we could get it, like, less than 200.
Speaker: I don't want to drop the sandals to that. And then... Can they get in this safe? So it's not a new commitment, you know what I mean? Like, the XT game is always going to be there. So if we were all to get at like less than 200.
Speaker: Just drop a couple panels. And then either way, you're paying the bill. Would that work for you? You can give me a proposal, but I'm not guaranteed anything. No, I'm not going ahead. If you want to give me a proposal, that would be my incentive.
Speaker: Okay, would that change anything though? or they go list I really don't know. As you can hear, he's pretty closed off. When we first got in there, he's just like, yeah I'm sorry, guys, I'm canceling for sure.
Speaker: And some mistakes we made. um I had a setter in this appointment as well. But some mistakes we made was... you know, not clarifying enough what the process is like moving forward because He was under the impression that he could cancel at any time. Probably my fault for not being super clear on that, because I know he did ask me in our initial interaction. He asked me, hey, if I don't want to do this, can I cancel? I told him he could, and i explained them I explained to him, hey, up and tell.
Speaker: We start spending money on the project, pulling permits, if there's any reason. if you feel like this isn't a good fit, then yeah. You're welcome to cancel. But as of right now, you can't think of any reason that. that would be the case, right?
Speaker: He told me, no, he's not going to cancel. Sure enough, he brings it back up and the thoughts start to fester in his mind and it leads to second thoughts. And it leads to us.
Speaker: Having to have this conversation again. So should have clarified what that looked like. Because he was under the impression that he could have cancelled at any time. All right, but yeah, luckily we did ah break down his actual concerns, which were he's paying too much monthly.
Speaker: and he doesn't want a long -term commitment. when we initial initially assign this customer. He said that he was going to have a renter move in. He wanted a lot of additional power.
Speaker: And so we gave him a much larger system than he needed. There was always a small concern of $300. That's a lot to pay monthly. Deuces, Pan. I think 150 to 200 most months. Told us in the past when he had rented out rooms in his house, he'd seen the bill go way up to 400 or 500.
Speaker: So we we sold him with that thinking in mind, right? He's going to rent be renting out rooms again. So, hey, let's give him you some give you some extra power. But it became apparent that... That was just gonna be too much right? It's like He's the homeowner. It's his decision at the end of the day. And sometimes the lesson is we try to shove down people's throats what we think is best for them, try to push them towards one option.
Speaker: But the homeowner, they're the ones that have the final say, whatever they want to do. i mean that's on them right we can give the suggestions but i think sometimes as solar professionals We're too eager to push. too much on what we think is the best option.
Speaker: Even if we know it's best, maybe people want to own their system instead of do a power purchase agreement like we're doing. Maybe they want a shorter term. Maybe their big thing is they don't want a yearly escalator.
Speaker: So that's the power of optionality. And that's why I love having options is we can adjust that, you know, we shouldn't let that be a factor in losing the deal. Let's just give them what they want. Okay, so that's what we ended up doing. And so let's go into some.
Speaker: Other sections here. We talk about his... concern with the length of the agreement right so let's hear a little bit about this but it's kind of crazy most people don't even know this right Now they're sitting at...
Speaker: The base rate is 41 cents, but then they have the whole time and use thing where after 4 o 'clock, they bump it up to about 70 cents. So really the average rate is more like. 52, 53 pounds.
Speaker: So with the panels, all you're doing, you're just buying the power at like five, like 35 cents. So that's what I'm saying. Always be less than whatever your fate is. Because this is the crazy part.
Speaker: You go back. and This is 2026 we're in. But if you go back even 10 years ago, I mean, that's 2009. That's what they're charging them, $0 .18. goes back to what we were saying either way you're going to find power but just like once people see what really what the difference is and what cg needs done over time and this was before everything you know with electric vehicles with ai just you're just simply paying a much slower rate And then it's going at a much... It ah protects you from the increases.
Speaker: Yeah, they've always been. averaging at least a full percent increase. so yeah you can hear some we go back we can break down the rates again What were your eyes? that you can You can hear in the last little clip we we played, he says, ah send me the proposal.
Speaker: And I asked him, well, would that change anything if we were able to get it down? He doesn't say no. Right? he opens the door he says i don't know And um shout out to. It's a Rosenberg day.
Speaker: My my setter that. was in on this appointment that set this one up he um was he was there as we're trying to save this And he realized I was. This guy, he was shutting it down pretty hard, so I was just going to send him.
Speaker: a proposal and then set a time to come back like the next day. to kind of let things cool off. but he's like well hey why don't we see what we can do now Just let's run some numbers. And that ended up being the thing that was best is we stayed in the pocket. We ran the numbers. He didn't say no, right?
Speaker: It's like dumb and dumber. You're telling me there's a chance. He gave us a chance at actually saving the deal. because he Didn't say no, I'm not going to do it. He told us his concerns. And, you know, he could tell he he doesn't want to get sold. He doesn't want to commit to yes.
Speaker: Because if he says if we could do that. yeah that would make a difference and that's basically him saying yes so i think he realized that he's he can't just straight up say yes that would make a difference But he wanted to. Almost close the door, but leave like a little sliver of light remaining. And we saw that.
Speaker: And we stuck in the pocket rather than just leaving. We went back, we explained the problem again. I explained the rates. We pulled up. rates, what's powerful. we We're in SDG &E, so we can go on SDG &E's website here in San Diego. and it's really nice it shows their historical rates so it's really easy to build that pain because you can show them directly from the horse's mouth that the rates have increased at an astounding rate.
Speaker: all right so depending on the yield utility you might not have such clear -cut data that you can show them But that did this did help us a lot just to show the difference in the rates. And we did have a panel upgrade included in this. So we...
Speaker: We sold them a power purchase agreement, had a panel upgrade. And so he was getting a lot of value from this as well. but it was just about sticking in the pocket. And then... um seeing that there was a small sliver of hope.
Speaker: Then pressing forward again on that problem. and going back and explaining the solution. And so... um Last. clip or two we'll play here. and We get to the end of this and I see that you're starting to ask some more buying questions.
Speaker: So we slowly see him start to open up more. we see him start to ask oh well eight panels what is what's that going to produce He starts becoming more curious, leaning more. into the process.
Speaker: And so this is what we got to. we got the end of the presentation again. And then we get to like a... Sort of a manager close, right? and we're going over the prices exactly what he wants.
Speaker: And so he he tells me. basically the monthly price he's looking for. And then I don't want to jump on it, say, yes, we can do that. You always need them to commit to something. So here's what we ended up at.
Speaker: And we did a little trial close here. So. Check this out. If I could get him. 70. I don't know if I can get a video of this thing. I don't know, breathing room on that though? Thanks.
Speaker: Is that something where we can tell them that we're good to continue with that? it We won't see him. okay We'll do the best we can, though. Take care. Thank you. Can I tell them that you're okay? crazy Are you wanting to pay for this?
Speaker: panel aside though or do you want them to it's already baked into the costume with your other games. Okay. So I'm going to just tell him that you would. And with that, ciao. Take care.
Speaker: So let me just flip here. the chong 189 I mean if I come, we're not doing... The panel created. That I got on me. I don't know. So now to like. 169. Can I tell them that we're good, Dick? continue with it Give me the best fries you can.
Speaker: Yeah, so just pull numbers out of the air. Well, I'm going to have a few dollars. I'm going to do it. I'm going to ask them to their best place, but I want it to be a place that you're, like, excited about, too. You know what I mean? Because I get best prices subjective, you know?
Speaker: Do you have a number that you're thinking that you want me to ask for? Under 150. I'm the that did that. All right. So you hear a little back and forth. Not the smoothest at times.
Speaker: But I knew I needed to get him to commit because you can't just go and ask. You can't do the manager call. And then not get a commitment before, right? You need to go in with the leverage. Say, hey, if I can do this, would you? that If I can, close, right? and so we go back and forth he finally tells me hey if you can get it under 150 then I'd be excited about it.
Speaker: And he's still trying to be a little like... Cryptic. not really commits. But I finally get him to say, okay, under 150. I'd be excited about. Not that I'll do it, but I'd be excited about it. So I'm like, OK, we'll run with that. I don't want to like push press him that he has to say yes, because then he's just.
Speaker: He's getting a all heated here. So we go, we do the manager close. And then I come back, you know I step out of the house, do the call. i Come back And then I give him the good news.
Speaker: I say, hey, Don. Um, so yeah, I had to go back and forth with them there. They have a few of these exceptions. So I already use, we already use our last couple exceptions, but they told me as long as you're okay with giving a few referrals.
Speaker: that we can go ahead and get you that. And then um also you'll handle your. you're panel upgrade costs. on the side. So with all that. um Put out my hands, gave him the classic handshake close. He shook my hands and then it was done deal. off to the races.
Speaker: So um it's just really cool to have this this experience going and walking in where the guy came in. guns blazing. Absolutely not. Cancel it. I'm sorry, guys. We're done. And then just slowly wiggling our way back in the pocket, back in the deal.
Speaker: using a lot of these things that I mentioned in the previous podcast, but first getting inside the home. isolating the objection, seeing what what was actually important to him. Getting like a small opening. and then realizing that we needed to go back and build the pain and the problem.
Speaker: Show him that he actually is going to get a lot of value from this and show him that there is a big problem with the utility. Sometimes we think, oh, we already went over this in our last appointment. Reality is most homeowners, they're getting a very small percentage of what you're telling them. So sometimes you got to go back, rebuild the pain.
Speaker: Rebuild the problem. Present the solution again. And then that's gonna help them. build up that emotion, build up that pain, build up that energy to go for the close again and get them back on board.
Speaker: So that's what worked for us. Hope you got some value from some of those clips we played. And hopefully you can apply some of these, even if you just save one deal from this. It'll be well worth it. So go out there, save some customers this week. But remember, do everything possible to prevent cancellations so you don't have to go back because, you know, this costs us time and money. We're not making as much on the deal as we were before.
Speaker: But that's all right. anything to save the customer and help them. Be freed from the clutches of the utility. Thanks for tuning in the podcast today. We got some exciting guests coming up for you. please shoot us a DM, email.
Speaker: or a suggestion on future guests, future topics, would love to hear them. and We'll see you on the next one. So some of you already know that I run my own door -to -door sales team here in San Diego. And as we were gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results. But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout.
Speaker: But it's not a door knocking app. It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market. It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later cancelled the deal. who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood.
Speaker: It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too. I'm going to be one of the first to use Solar Scout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, if I'm going to talk about Solar Scout on my show, you need to give my listeners a great deal, and they did. So go to solarscout .app. forward slash tailor.
Speaker: and book a demo with them and you'll get 10 % off your first month when you sign up. That's solarscout .app forward slash Taylor. Okay, back to the show.
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