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Mastering Roofing So You Can Sell More Solar - James Schlosser
152 Plays2 years ago
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Goals
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
00:00:08
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:00:10
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.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you 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.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solopreneur, you might ask?
00:00:33
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.
00:00:43
Speaker
Okay, what's up everybody?
00:00:44
Speaker
Taylor Armstrong here, and we're back with another amazing podcast.
Guest Introduction: James Schlosser
00:00:48
Speaker
I'm stoked today because we've got someone that is not from our industry, but is doing crazy things.
00:00:54
Speaker
Got Mr. James Schlosser on the podcast with us today.
00:00:58
Speaker
James, thanks for coming on.
00:00:59
Speaker
Thanks for having me, Taylor.
00:01:00
Speaker
I'm stoked to be here to chat with you for a little bit.
00:01:03
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be fun.
00:01:05
Speaker
And James, just to give a tiny introduction, then we let you maybe introduce yourself more.
00:01:11
Speaker
But he's been on multiple podcasts now.
00:01:13
Speaker
If you're looking at the video version, he's got a golden door.
00:01:17
Speaker
right behind them for roofing and has done just sold insane amounts of roofs and i thought it would be valuable how to have them on because as we know in solar there's a lot of opportunities for us to sell roofs to upsell people a lot of projects
00:01:34
Speaker
We have to include roofs.
00:01:36
Speaker
And also he has just a lot of cool things he's doing with referrals.
00:01:40
Speaker
And he's a family man just like myself.
00:01:42
Speaker
So we're going to hear how he kind of balances just getting Golden Door Awards and also taking care of his family and all that.
00:01:48
Speaker
So it's going to be an awesome podcast.
00:01:51
Speaker
But yeah, James, anything you want to add to
Journey in the Roofing Industry
00:01:53
Speaker
that?
00:01:53
Speaker
Maybe how long you've been in roofing or you want to give us any other details besides those?
00:01:58
Speaker
Yes, I've been in roofing for five and a half going on six years now.
00:02:03
Speaker
And I started my first year working as a third party inspector for basically a bunch of different insurance companies doing hail and wind inspection.
00:02:14
Speaker
And then for the past now four and a half years, I've been actually in roofing selling roofs.
00:02:18
Speaker
So yeah, so I've been at it for a while, but it's, uh, it's good stuff, man.
00:02:22
Speaker
So, and then, yeah, last year got, got the, uh, the golden door award, which was, which is pretty awesome.
00:02:27
Speaker
Definitely has opened up, you know, opportunities to be on some podcasts like you were mentioning before.
00:02:32
Speaker
So it's a lot of fun.
Transitioning to Solar Sales
00:02:33
Speaker
Awesome.
00:02:33
Speaker
Well, the biggest question I had before we get into sell stuff, what's it going to take to recruit you to solar, man?
00:02:39
Speaker
We need to get you selling the best thing.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's so funny.
00:02:43
Speaker
So I actually, we actually have people out in our neighborhood knocking doors.
00:02:47
Speaker
I don't have solar, but I did look into it briefly.
00:02:51
Speaker
And apparently, I don't know, they use like, there's all sorts of stuff I don't know about solar, but they were just like, man, your back slope of your roof is like totally clean.
00:03:00
Speaker
You got like two pipe jacks, like we could throw so many panels up there and you would be saving so much money.
00:03:05
Speaker
So apparently my roof has solar, has a good outline, which would be perfect for solar.
00:03:11
Speaker
So.
00:03:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:14
Speaker
But, you know, I mean, at the end of the day, I think I just need to find a really good company to go with, you know, one that can earn my trust, you know?
00:03:21
Speaker
So maybe that's you, Taylor.
00:03:24
Speaker
Who knows?
00:03:25
Speaker
Who knows?
00:03:26
Speaker
The jury is out.
00:03:27
Speaker
I don't have solar yet.
00:03:28
Speaker
So at some point I should probably get it.
00:03:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:30
Speaker
OK, well, we'll talk after this.
00:03:32
Speaker
We brought you on the podcast so you could be a solar leads for me and a recruit.
00:03:38
Speaker
Sneaky.
00:03:39
Speaker
I like it.
00:03:41
Speaker
No, I'm joking.
00:03:41
Speaker
But no.
00:03:42
Speaker
Yeah, solar is great.
00:03:43
Speaker
I'll be honest.
00:03:44
Speaker
I don't know too much about solar in Virginia, but I'm sure it's still a good thing.
00:03:49
Speaker
And so I guess everyone listening, hopefully we don't have 50 people hitting you up to sell your solar after this.
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, right.
00:03:57
Speaker
So people listening, he's my lead first.
00:04:01
Speaker
Don't be stealing.
00:04:02
Speaker
Don't be still with me.
00:04:03
Speaker
Exactly.
00:04:05
Speaker
But cool.
High-Revenue Strategies
00:04:06
Speaker
Well, yeah.
00:04:06
Speaker
So as far as roofs go, I listen to your podcast on Golden Road to the Golden Door with Mikey Lucas, which we both were kind of recently on that podcast.
00:04:16
Speaker
But yeah, how many roofs did you do again when you got your Golden Door?
00:04:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:20
Speaker
So the way I guess that the golden door is measured for the roofing industry versus solar is it's actually revenue based.
00:04:27
Speaker
So for solar, I think it's actual like, you know, the amount of lead gens that you get or the amount of, you know, jobs that you set.
00:04:35
Speaker
But for roofing, it's not so much about the quantity of roofs, but it's about the revenue that you close.
00:04:41
Speaker
And so I closed about three point I closed just under three point one million in revenue.
00:04:47
Speaker
Uh, I think the entry to golden door is 2.5.
00:04:50
Speaker
So, um, yeah.
00:04:52
Speaker
So for me, it was really just about finding, finding really big houses that I could, you know, capitalize and just blow up as far as the revenue on those and also the profit.
00:05:02
Speaker
And so I just had to be very specific about the types of jobs that I was getting.
00:05:07
Speaker
It wasn't just like, go find your closest neighborhood and start knocking doors.
00:05:11
Speaker
Uh, for me, it was, I had to be very, very specific about the kind of house that I wanted to get, the kind of neighborhood that I wanted to be in.
00:05:17
Speaker
which is usually the more wealthier neighborhoods.
00:05:19
Speaker
And then from there, I was able to really scale up and have a really successful year.
00:05:24
Speaker
I love that.
00:05:25
Speaker
Well, yeah, let's talk about that a little bit because that's actually something that applies, I think, a lot to solar too.
Neighborhood Targeting Methods
00:05:32
Speaker
You probably know, but pretty much the same thing applies in solar.
00:05:36
Speaker
As we get these bigger houses that are using way more power, we can sell them bigger systems.
00:05:41
Speaker
And then commissions are usually a lot greater on those versus these tiny ones.
00:05:45
Speaker
And that's something that we struggle with a little bit in San Diego where I sell is because a lot of homes out here don't even have AC.
00:05:53
Speaker
So they're not using too much power.
00:05:54
Speaker
So it's like these little eight, 10 panel systems and they're not quite as profitable.
00:05:59
Speaker
So that's a strategy that I know a lot of guys that are making a killing in solar do too, is just finding bigger homes, kind of researching where they want to go, go into homes where they think they're going to use a lot more power.
00:06:11
Speaker
So yeah, do you have any advice on that?
00:06:13
Speaker
Like for you, what type of research goes into like areas in your knock-ins?
00:06:17
Speaker
Just pull up Google Maps or I don't know if you're like searching homes with your areas or do you need any research for knocking areas like that?
00:06:27
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, for us, at least we kind of have to follow the storm.
00:06:31
Speaker
So if there's been like a hail storm, then generally contractors kind of flood to that area.
00:06:35
Speaker
For me, you know, I mean, there's storms kind of all over the place, kind of wherever you go, the most likely you're going to have hail damage, you just have to find a good storm date for
Building Referral Networks
00:06:44
Speaker
that.
00:06:44
Speaker
So for me, I what I did last year big time was I just kind of took like this massive swath of an area.
00:06:52
Speaker
And then I just started to zoom out and zoom in on my iPad and look for like those those specific neighborhoods that had a really big roof.
00:06:58
Speaker
So a lot of time it's not going to be in an urban area.
00:07:00
Speaker
It's going to be kind of outside of like a town.
00:07:02
Speaker
or outside of the city.
00:07:04
Speaker
And then you just kind of want to focus in on that area.
00:07:07
Speaker
So I found probably two or three neighborhoods.
00:07:09
Speaker
And then I just, I was able to kind of get my foot in the door.
00:07:12
Speaker
And the really cool thing, the thing that I use big time, and this is sort of how I got referrals as well, was when you go to like a specific neighborhood, let's say it has 30 or 40 houses, like your goal is to get one job.
00:07:23
Speaker
Your goal is to get one job.
00:07:24
Speaker
And a lot of times you have to cultivate these neighborhoods over the course of like a year to a year and a
00:07:28
Speaker
half.
00:07:29
Speaker
So what I did, specifically with one neighborhood that I'm in now, I've done 75% of the roofs in the neighborhood is I just I knocked all the doors and I got one guy who was like, Okay, cool, let's go for it.
00:07:39
Speaker
And then we just try to give him the best experience that we could.
00:07:43
Speaker
And when we were installing his roof, that's when he said, Hey, my neighbor from across the street is interested.
00:07:48
Speaker
So now I have two, right?
00:07:50
Speaker
And then I get that guy approved and we do his roof.
00:07:53
Speaker
And then I start knocking the neighbors and I said, Hey, look, I got a John's roof approved.
00:07:58
Speaker
I got Ted's roof approved.
00:08:00
Speaker
Cause there's damage here.
00:08:01
Speaker
So there's a good chance you can get damage on, on your roofs.
00:08:03
Speaker
And I was watching this thing on Instagram yesterday by Danny Pesci.
00:08:09
Speaker
And he was saying like using the art of story.
00:08:11
Speaker
So when I go up to a door where I literally have done two roofs in the neighborhood now, I just say, Hey, sorry to bother you.
00:08:17
Speaker
I just was, you know,
00:08:19
Speaker
working with John over there.
00:08:20
Speaker
And I went up to his house about six months ago and said, hey, you might have damage.
00:08:26
Speaker
And I basically start pitching the person through telling them a story of what I did with their neighbor.
00:08:31
Speaker
Because I mean, it's the same thing, you know, with everybody.
00:08:33
Speaker
And then I sort of add in their reactions to I said, hey, you might be able to get a new roof of the cost, your deductible, right?
00:08:39
Speaker
Which is sort of the value of what I'm selling, right?
00:08:42
Speaker
For you is you get to lower the energy bill and you get the tax deductions, all that kind of stuff.
00:08:46
Speaker
What I do is I tell the homeowner, hey, here's what I did with your neighbor.
00:08:50
Speaker
And your neighbor was just like, oh, that's really cool.
00:08:53
Speaker
Sure.
00:08:53
Speaker
You know what?
00:08:53
Speaker
Let's give it a shot.
00:08:54
Speaker
I don't say that they were like, you know, just totally all about it and just like, you know, over the moon happy before I even provided them anything.
00:09:03
Speaker
They were just like, OK, cool.
00:09:05
Speaker
Yeah, let's go for it.
00:09:06
Speaker
And I said, OK, cool.
00:09:07
Speaker
So we went for it.
00:09:08
Speaker
Got them approved.
00:09:09
Speaker
Turns out now they have a, you know, whatever the number is, 20, 30, 40, $50,000 roof and they paid their deductible.
00:09:15
Speaker
So I thought since I was able to do that for him, maybe I can do it for you too.
00:09:19
Speaker
And now you've, you've sort of engaged them in the story of what you did for their, for their neighbor.
00:09:24
Speaker
And now it's like everything, you know, any type of, um, uh, you know, like just defense systems that they sort of have up against you because you're a stranger knocking on their door, probably interrupting something going on.
00:09:38
Speaker
All those things are down now because now they're engaged in the story.
00:09:41
Speaker
Hmm.
00:09:42
Speaker
Now they're like, oh, cool.
00:09:43
Speaker
I kind of want to be a part of maybe chapter two of this story.
00:09:46
Speaker
And let's see what we can do in the neighborhood.
00:09:48
Speaker
And then what happens is now that's three roofs in the neighborhood.
00:09:52
Speaker
And you just rinse, wash, repeat the whole neighborhood.
00:09:55
Speaker
And it's like this domino effect where it's like eventually I had people calling me and say, hey, apparently you're the roofing guy in the neighborhood.
00:10:01
Speaker
Can you come check it out?
00:10:02
Speaker
And it's like this massive job.
00:10:05
Speaker
The profit's insane.
00:10:06
Speaker
And they're calling me being like, hey, you're the roofing guy.
00:10:10
Speaker
you know, cause you get all these other reefs approved and then it's just from there, it's
Overcoming Skepticism
00:10:14
Speaker
like, you can just set sail and let that, you know, the wind of those referrals just kind of carry you, uh, through, through a really, a really solid month or week or whatever it is.
00:10:23
Speaker
So, yeah, that's awesome.
00:10:25
Speaker
Super powerful.
00:10:26
Speaker
And yeah, it's funny because so many of these things, the top guys in solar, they're doing the exact same stuff.
00:10:32
Speaker
It's like, I don't know, we call it becoming the mayor of your neighborhood, right?
00:10:36
Speaker
Where it's like everyone knows you, dropping tons of names.
00:10:40
Speaker
And for me, when I got my Golden Door Award, those are things that 100% I did too, is just sticking in a neighborhood, just dropping it.
00:10:47
Speaker
Like the line I always use is, hey, I'm friends with John across the street.
00:10:52
Speaker
Did he mention anything that I was coming by?
00:10:54
Speaker
just kind of grabbing their attention.
00:10:56
Speaker
And then, like you said, throwing in a story of what we helped them out with.
00:10:59
Speaker
And these things help so much.
00:11:01
Speaker
And even if you don't get these people, I'm sure there's guys that you went to the first time, but then as they see you in the area more and more and for like, I don't know, six months at a time or whatever, they're like, okay, this guy, he wasn't just some fly by the night guy that came one time to our neighborhood.
00:11:15
Speaker
He's like literally helping 20 people here in our neighborhood.
00:11:18
Speaker
And maybe it's worth at least checking this out and seeing what's going on.
00:11:22
Speaker
So yeah.
00:11:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:23
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:11:24
Speaker
So one other thing that I want to kind of add is just about those defense mechanisms with the homeowner.
00:11:29
Speaker
So I work for a really good roofing company.
00:11:32
Speaker
When I was doing insurance work, I had four different roofers try to recruit me to sell for them and eventually went with the last one.
00:11:39
Speaker
And what's great, I mean, is they're just a very transparent company.
00:11:43
Speaker
They have a lot of integrity.
00:11:45
Speaker
Honesty is best policy is kind of their M.O.,
00:11:48
Speaker
And one of the things that I do is, is I let them know that I let them know, like I work for one of the best roofing companies in the area.
00:11:56
Speaker
Because look, at the end of the day, if you have some roofer come knock on your door, if I put myself in their shoes, I'm going to be skeptical, like automatically.
00:12:04
Speaker
So a lot of times I'll get people that will say, hey, maybe not right now.
00:12:08
Speaker
Like, like, they'll give you that line, right?
00:12:10
Speaker
Like the door knockers, like this is just sort of a line that deflates so many people.
00:12:15
Speaker
Let me think about it.
00:12:16
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:12:16
Speaker
Let me talk to my wife about it, right?
00:12:18
Speaker
And you're just like, ah, come on, let's do this now.
00:12:20
Speaker
This is supposed to be great.
00:12:21
Speaker
And they're like, give me some time.
00:12:22
Speaker
What I found is rather than sort of pulling out your sword and trying to like hit them with new lines or whatever, which sometimes works, but sometimes it's almost better to just sort of
00:12:34
Speaker
um, kind of go along their current.
00:12:36
Speaker
And a lot of times what I'll do is I will say, um,
Dealing with Competition
00:12:41
Speaker
you know, Hey, you know, would love to give you an inspection now.
00:12:43
Speaker
And I'll say, you know what, let me talk with my wife about it.
00:12:46
Speaker
And, um, and we'll get back to you.
00:12:47
Speaker
I'm like, Hey, cool.
00:12:48
Speaker
You know what?
00:12:49
Speaker
I, I totally get that.
00:12:50
Speaker
You know, roofer comes not and knocks on your door and you're kind of unsure.
00:12:54
Speaker
And like, to be honest with you, like I have to deal with this a lot of times, a lot of bad roofers out there, a lot of people who are trying to rip you off.
00:12:59
Speaker
So I get it.
00:13:00
Speaker
So, uh, if you want to talk to your wife, I totally understand that.
00:13:03
Speaker
I'm
00:13:03
Speaker
honestly be in the same position as you.
00:13:05
Speaker
So I respect you for that.
00:13:06
Speaker
Here's what I'm going to ask you to do.
00:13:08
Speaker
Here's my card.
00:13:09
Speaker
Check out our reviews online.
00:13:11
Speaker
Do some homework.
00:13:11
Speaker
Research me to make sure that you can trust me.
00:13:15
Speaker
Do that.
00:13:15
Speaker
And then how about I follow up with you in like, you know, two or three days and then we can have a conversation then.
00:13:21
Speaker
So I get, literally like if they want to go that route of let me talk to my wife, I'm going to give them homework.
00:13:26
Speaker
I'm going to say, check me out.
00:13:27
Speaker
I'm going to let them know I'm super transparent.
00:13:30
Speaker
Look at my reviews.
00:13:31
Speaker
You know, do some digging into me.
00:13:33
Speaker
And then I'll follow up with you in a couple of days because I guarantee you I'm one of the best roofers in this area.
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:38
Speaker
I guarantee you that I can help you out.
00:13:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:41
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:13:42
Speaker
And your satisfaction is my priority.
00:13:44
Speaker
And I do this consistently.
00:13:46
Speaker
And I want you to know that.
00:13:47
Speaker
And then I'll check your roof out.
00:13:49
Speaker
And you want to talk about getting a five-star client is you just sort of break down all of those barriers and
00:13:55
Speaker
Just like, what do I got to do to get up on the roof?
00:13:57
Speaker
And I get that.
00:13:58
Speaker
And I use that too.
00:13:59
Speaker
And sometimes that works.
00:14:00
Speaker
But if there is this sort of like uncertainty on their end, just deflate the situation and get in their lane and walk alongside them rather than trying to walk in the opposite direction of where they're going.
00:14:12
Speaker
Yeah, I love that.
00:14:13
Speaker
And just like being real with them like that.
00:14:15
Speaker
Like most people, when they get those objections, they don't have that conviction like you just did.
00:14:19
Speaker
Like, hey, I guarantee you this is going to help you out.
00:14:21
Speaker
And as people see that, people feel it.
00:14:24
Speaker
And then, I don't know, another cool line is like, hey, level with me.
00:14:27
Speaker
How much of what I said do you actually believe?
00:14:29
Speaker
Just getting kind of like on a personal level with them and be like, look, I get it.
00:14:33
Speaker
There's a lot of scams going around.
00:14:34
Speaker
There's stuff that's not legit, but we've taken care of John.
00:14:37
Speaker
We've taken care of
00:14:40
Speaker
Frank, you know, just dropping all the people.
00:14:42
Speaker
And I think that makes it way more believable.
00:14:44
Speaker
And combine that with positive reviews, that's powerful.
00:14:47
Speaker
So that's something to consider for people who are selling with maybe companies that aren't great.
00:14:51
Speaker
It definitely makes your life a lot easier when you have...
00:14:54
Speaker
companies that are well-reviewed, that you can trust people who are going up on there.
00:14:59
Speaker
So unfortunately, my story is I've been with several, well, a few installers now that have gone out of business.
00:15:07
Speaker
I've had a few installers who have done
00:15:09
Speaker
you know, bad, pretty bad work up there.
00:15:12
Speaker
And that's been killing me too, just on referrals.
00:15:14
Speaker
Cause for example, my first company I sold with for like my first four years in solar, they're out of business now.
00:15:22
Speaker
And all the people that call me up for like to go service their system, I just have to tell them, oh yeah, they don't, they're not in business.
00:15:30
Speaker
Sorry, we can't really do anything.
00:15:31
Speaker
I'll still try and help them.
00:15:32
Speaker
They still have warranties, but it's definitely a lot harder to get referrals and all that.
00:15:36
Speaker
when you know the company's out of business because it's kind of a little bit of lost trust there um but that's cool here you do it so how much i wanted to ask james how much is like um follow-up then with these people is do you get a lot where it's like a bunch of follow-up you have to do to actually get people to commit to this or is it pretty often where you just get people do an inspection and get them like kind of one touch close right on the door there yeah
00:16:00
Speaker
Yeah.
Setting and Achieving Sales Goals
00:16:01
Speaker
So, um, I do some one touch.
00:16:03
Speaker
I mean, it's kind of all over the map so that I can do some, uh, one touch closes.
00:16:07
Speaker
Sometimes it's three or four touches where, you know, it's going to take a couple of times coming back.
00:16:12
Speaker
Um, encouraging is to go talk to the client, my clients in the neighborhood, which I do as well.
00:16:17
Speaker
I don't just say, I don't just hide my client list.
00:16:19
Speaker
I'm just like, yeah, Hey, Jackie's roof over there.
00:16:21
Speaker
I did her roof.
00:16:22
Speaker
Hey, you should go talk to her.
00:16:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:23
Speaker
and ask her about her experience.
00:16:25
Speaker
Like literally, it's just I like I will just I will just put myself out there and just say, you know what, don't take my word for it, go take others.
00:16:31
Speaker
Because I know I have to earn everybody's trust.
00:16:34
Speaker
I have to do a really good job for everybody.
00:16:36
Speaker
And that's a super tough thing.
00:16:37
Speaker
I don't say I'm like perfect with it.
00:16:38
Speaker
But but but I mean, that's a I feel like when you do that, that's just something that in the contracting world, or even in the solar world, most people never experienced something like that.
00:16:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:49
Speaker
Cause they're always experienced with somebody trying to rip them off, you know?
00:16:54
Speaker
And so when you give them that sort of, um, approach and dialogue, it just kind of throws them off and they're like, okay, wait a minute.
00:17:02
Speaker
Like this guy is something different and you want to be something different.
00:17:05
Speaker
You want to stick out.
00:17:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:06
Speaker
So, and do you, so with these roofs, typically you're saying like they get the roof covered, they just have to pay the deductible just depending on the roof damage or whatever.
00:17:15
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:17:16
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, basically the way that it works is if they have hail damage, then we can get their roof approved.
00:17:22
Speaker
If we get it approved, they only pay their deductibles.
00:17:24
Speaker
So a lot of times the deductible is like a thousand bucks or something like that.
00:17:27
Speaker
And we'll get 20, 30, $40,000 worth of work done.
00:17:30
Speaker
They just pay their deductible and we get the rest from insurance.
00:17:32
Speaker
So it's a pretty sweet deal.
00:17:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:35
Speaker
That's, yeah.
00:17:36
Speaker
It's like a no brainer.
00:17:37
Speaker
It's almost like solar panels in California.
00:17:40
Speaker
Exactly.
00:17:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:42
Speaker
That's cool.
00:17:43
Speaker
And when you go to these neighborhoods, do you have to look for the ones that just have like damage up there then?
00:17:48
Speaker
Because it's typically like the insurance will only cover that if there's quite a bit of damage or how like choosy do you have to be in these neighborhoods?
00:17:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, generally speaking, when a hailstorm comes through, it's going to hit a whole area.
00:18:00
Speaker
And so there's different software that you can use to kind of track the storm and how big was the hail and where did it hit and all that sort of thing.
00:18:06
Speaker
So you basically go to the neighborhood and you just any roof that doesn't look like it's five years old, you just hit those hit those doors and start knocking and and pitching to them and doing the inspections.
00:18:17
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, it's more based off of area than anything.
00:18:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:21
Speaker
OK.
00:18:22
Speaker
Something that I've heard from other roofing guys is just...
00:18:25
Speaker
I don't know how it is out there in Virginia, but I have some friends that have done this in Texas where the hell storms hit.
00:18:32
Speaker
And then I've heard there'll literally be 10 different companies knocking that neighborhood at the same time trying to get this business.
00:18:40
Speaker
So I know we already talked about a couple of things that you're using to differentiate yourself.
00:18:46
Speaker
You got the good reviews.
00:18:47
Speaker
You're helping out multiple people.
00:18:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:50
Speaker
What other advice?
00:18:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:51
Speaker
I don't know if that's a thing where it's like there's tons of competition after these hell storms, but if there is, what do you use to kind of set yourself apart and, you know, get the cell?
00:19:01
Speaker
I'm giving away all my secrets here, man.
00:19:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:06
Speaker
So, I mean, I think for me, when a storm hits, there's going to be a ton of people out there.
00:19:13
Speaker
So unless you're out there like an hour or two after the storm, you're going to be running into a bunch of contractors.
00:19:19
Speaker
So that can be super difficult.
00:19:21
Speaker
Generally speaking, there's a two-year statute of limitations.
00:19:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:25
Speaker
So that means that after a storm hits, you have two years to claim it to your insurance.
00:19:28
Speaker
So that's a kind of a long time.
00:19:30
Speaker
So when a storm hits, you know, day one, two, three, four, all the way into like, you know, two or three months, you have, you know, 20, 30 different contractors kind of duking it out.
00:19:39
Speaker
I usually go find another area.
00:19:41
Speaker
where it's like a hailstorm hit last year and all the contractors were there because there's leftover stuff everywhere because most of the time people don't want pressure from 20 contractors in one day.
00:19:48
Speaker
So I just let it sit for like six to nine months and then hit the storm later.
00:19:53
Speaker
And dude, I will cash out on that because now there's no pressure.
00:19:58
Speaker
Now that you're not talking to a billion different people, now you can go in there and flex really hard.
00:20:04
Speaker
in an area and you start picking stuff up, man.
00:20:07
Speaker
So that's, that's sort of one of my things that I do because yeah, it's like, what's different between me and you know, 20 other contractors.
00:20:15
Speaker
It's like, well, we all just kind of want to get paid.
00:20:17
Speaker
They're probably selling the same warranties and same shingles and same this and same that.
00:20:21
Speaker
And there's a few things that are different than me, but to the homeowner, it's like, again, when you put yourself in their shoes, they're just being bombarded by 20 different contractors.
00:20:29
Speaker
And it's just overwhelming.
00:20:30
Speaker
So they're just like, no, I don't want to do anything.
00:20:33
Speaker
I don't know who to trust.
00:20:35
Speaker
Everybody's coming at my door.
00:20:36
Speaker
I don't know who to trust.
00:20:37
Speaker
And again, I get that.
00:20:38
Speaker
If 20 contractors knocked on your door, what would you do?
00:20:42
Speaker
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense.
00:20:44
Speaker
And don't worry, I don't think we have too many...
00:20:47
Speaker
I don't know, at least than I have.
00:20:48
Speaker
I don't think we have too many roofers, especially in Virginia, listening to the Solarpreneur podcast.
00:20:53
Speaker
Sure.
00:20:54
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:20:55
Speaker
Exactly.
00:20:57
Speaker
Abundance mindset, right?
00:20:59
Speaker
That's right.
00:20:59
Speaker
That's right.
00:21:00
Speaker
I mean, look, at the end of the day, there's plenty out there for everybody.
00:21:03
Speaker
And the roofing industry out here is growing.
00:21:05
Speaker
I mean, there's so many different companies.
00:21:07
Speaker
It's like everybody's uncle starting a roofing company every summer, you know, so these new companies that pop up.
00:21:12
Speaker
So, but that's one of the things about working for, um, what I consider to be a really elite roofing company that's been around for a while is our brand has been building now for, you know, eight, nine years.
00:21:21
Speaker
So it's awesome.
00:21:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's fire.
00:21:24
Speaker
But yeah, I think like in solar, obviously we're not necessarily knocking after hailstorms or whatever.
00:21:30
Speaker
At least we don't get those out in California.
00:21:32
Speaker
But I think a way we can apply that in solar too for our listeners is something I've talked about on our podcast is just going to like new move-ins, people to just move
Maintaining Motivation and Purpose
00:21:42
Speaker
in.
00:21:42
Speaker
But it's funny because we sometimes deal with the same thing with people that just move in.
00:21:47
Speaker
There's like a mad rush.
00:21:48
Speaker
There's 10 companies that are going to these lists of new homeowners.
00:21:51
Speaker
In exact same scenario, they don't know who to trust.
00:21:54
Speaker
They get overwhelmed.
00:21:56
Speaker
So that's actually a cool strategy we've used in solar is just instead of going right when they move in, go like a year after because they're still considering a new move in.
00:22:04
Speaker
But same principle applies.
00:22:05
Speaker
It's like they're not getting hit up quite as much now and things have calmed down a little bit.
00:22:11
Speaker
they've seen what their utility bills are going to be like.
00:22:14
Speaker
So yeah, I think that's, you know, we can also play, you know, something else that kind of crosses my mind for anybody kind of listening to this doing door to door sales is approaching the door.
00:22:25
Speaker
This is something that a buddy of mine said, who actually works at my company as well, but he's like, approach the door.
00:22:30
Speaker
Like you, you don't need their business.
00:22:33
Speaker
You want the business, but you don't need their business.
00:22:35
Speaker
And it kind of just makes me I think there's this this correlation just makes me think of this correlation between knocking doors and and, you know, dating or pursuing women.
00:22:44
Speaker
It's like if you're going after somebody like you need it, like you like they're going to be turned off by that, you know, but if you go in confident, be like, hey, you know, I'd love to take you out on a date.
00:22:55
Speaker
Don't need to got plenty of other stuff I can do, but I'd like to do that.
00:22:58
Speaker
Like your likelihood of taking them out on a date or them saying yes is so much higher than if you go be like, man, I really need this date.
00:23:04
Speaker
Like, you know, like I really need something to do on Friday night.
00:23:08
Speaker
You know, like, can you please go on a date with me?
00:23:10
Speaker
It's like that like no girl's going to like that.
00:23:12
Speaker
So if you're able to go in there and especially for new guys, that's so hard because like, you know, like you're scrapping, you're hungry, you, you know, you need jobs, you need to build that pipeline.
00:23:22
Speaker
So it can be really hard.
00:23:23
Speaker
But if you can get to a point where you can go in just confidently be like, I'd love, I would love to work with you.
00:23:28
Speaker
Don't need to, but I would love to do this for you.
00:23:33
Speaker
Your close ratio is going to be so much higher.
00:23:35
Speaker
Yeah, that's fire right there.
00:23:37
Speaker
And it's funny because people can sense that too.
00:23:41
Speaker
Even if you think you're not acting that way, if you have it back in the back of your head, oh, I really need this seller.
00:23:46
Speaker
Oh, I need this money so bad.
00:23:48
Speaker
It's like, you got to get that out of your head because people smell that stuff in my way.
00:23:52
Speaker
They sure do, man.
00:23:53
Speaker
And yeah, it's just like so much more powerful when you come in a place where it's like, Hey, I have like 10 other people that are lined up to do this.
00:24:01
Speaker
That's not that big of a deal.
00:24:02
Speaker
You guys can do it or not do it.
00:24:04
Speaker
But yeah, if you want to do it, let's see if the home qualifies.
00:24:06
Speaker
And that's yeah.
00:24:08
Speaker
That line right there is made me way more money than trying to be like, Hey,
00:24:12
Speaker
come on like really need you to do this to do it for me and some of those yeah cardone closes and stuff like that right so right yeah it's powerful yeah um i mean if you make it about them if you make the sale about them then you're just going to be better off and i mean like at the end of the day there's the old proverb you know it's better to give than to receive instead of going there trying to take something for yourself go and offer something for them like go make it about them i want to do this for you
00:24:38
Speaker
And you end up just benefiting so much more than you're just out there being like, you know, give me this roof.
00:24:43
Speaker
Like, give me your roof.
00:24:45
Speaker
Let me do all this for me.
00:24:47
Speaker
You know, it's just your likelihood of getting screwed over by that guy so much higher because he's just thinking about himself.
00:24:53
Speaker
So you really need to come at it from, I think, a servant's heart.
00:24:57
Speaker
And if you can do that, you're just going to be more successful.
Balancing Work and Family
00:25:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:00
Speaker
And people don't care really much about like, I don't know, some people act like they care by the end of the day.
00:25:06
Speaker
Um, like always goes back to, I think Brian, uh, I think it was Brian Tracy.
00:25:10
Speaker
It's like WW, I think it's WIFM.
00:25:13
Speaker
What's in it for me.
00:25:14
Speaker
And that's what people care about more than anything.
00:25:16
Speaker
Right.
00:25:17
Speaker
It's like, what are we going to get out of it?
00:25:18
Speaker
So yeah, exactly.
00:25:20
Speaker
Something to think about.
00:25:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:21
Speaker
Well, James, something I wanted to ask you, you got your Golden Door Award right behind you.
00:25:25
Speaker
And so for those people that are wanting to get their first Golden Door Award, was this something, was it like a big goal of yours to get that award and something you're making a huge push towards or was it just kind of, oh, I sold this many roofs, I actually hit it.
00:25:40
Speaker
What was that like for you?
00:25:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:42
Speaker
So for me, you know, there's a pretty big incentive that kind of came came through our company and I kind of wanted to hit it.
00:25:48
Speaker
And so I just come off of a really, really difficult year.
00:25:51
Speaker
There's a lot going on personally for me and my family.
00:25:55
Speaker
And I just kind of came in, you know, really, really struggling a lot, struggling a lot financially and just had to go out there and just really make it happen.
00:26:02
Speaker
And so for me, it came down to some math.
00:26:06
Speaker
like just and then just I mean consistency that the amount of times that I hear the word consistency on these different podcasts which is great because like we need to hammer it into everybody's head like if you want results you have to be consistent with what you're doing so for me it really just came down to and I'm doing it again this year you know literally to the point where I'm just blocking out like different shifts I'm gonna go out and knock and how many doors I need to hit so um
00:26:31
Speaker
Taylor, you use a canvassing app, right?
00:26:33
Speaker
Just to sort of keep track of your territories.
00:26:35
Speaker
Okay, great.
00:26:35
Speaker
So in your canvassing app, you should be able to look at how many doors you knock versus how many doors you close.
00:26:40
Speaker
So if you're out there and you're crushing and you're grinding, right?
00:26:43
Speaker
And then you can figure out your conversion rate.
00:26:45
Speaker
So for roofing, the standard, at least where I'm in here in Virginia, is 40 doors to assign as your average.
00:26:51
Speaker
So you got to go knock 40 doors, you'll get a job.
00:26:53
Speaker
Generally speaking, that's what it is.
00:26:55
Speaker
So from there, all you have to do is the math, right?
00:26:58
Speaker
So if you want to get...
00:26:59
Speaker
you know, 100 solar leads a year or something like that.
00:27:03
Speaker
I mean, you know, whatever it is for you guy, you just start doing the math.
00:27:06
Speaker
So if we go, so you just figure out how many you have to do in a year, right?
00:27:12
Speaker
Let's say you have to knock 40,000 doors in a year.
00:27:15
Speaker
Great.
00:27:15
Speaker
Let's divide that by 12.
00:27:16
Speaker
And actually, I'm going to pull out my calendar or my calculator, I'm going to go 40,000 divided by 12.
00:27:21
Speaker
Every month, you got to hit 3,333 doors.
00:27:24
Speaker
Okay, let's divide that by four.
00:27:26
Speaker
So every week I got to hit 833 doors.
00:27:28
Speaker
Yeah, these numbers are crazy.
00:27:29
Speaker
This is way too high.
00:27:31
Speaker
But then it's like, great, we knock four days a week.
00:27:33
Speaker
So we divide that by four, you're coming down to 200 doors a day.
00:27:37
Speaker
And then we take 200 doors a day.
00:27:38
Speaker
And so you knock for four hours.
00:27:40
Speaker
So divide 200 by 450 doors an hour, right?
00:27:43
Speaker
So that's the mentality that that I use.
00:27:46
Speaker
So for me, it's 40 doors to assign if I want to get 10 jobs a month,
00:27:50
Speaker
you know, which generally speaking, and I mean, it's it's a pretty long, you know, pipeline.
00:27:54
Speaker
So there's a lot to manage there.
00:27:55
Speaker
But if I want to get 10 jobs a month, I got to hit 400 doors every single month, divide 400 by four weeks, that's 100 doors a week, divide that into two or three shifts or whatever you do.
00:28:05
Speaker
For me right now, it's going to be two, I got to hit 50 doors
00:28:08
Speaker
Every shift I go on, if I go out for a four hour shift, that's 12.5 doors every hour that I got to hit.
00:28:13
Speaker
So I'm getting I'm going to get a scooter, I'm going to make sure I knock at least 12.5 doors.
00:28:17
Speaker
And then I you know, I run into somebody doing inspection, all that time counts, but then you just be consistent with that block it
00:28:23
Speaker
out in your calendar.
00:28:24
Speaker
You know, I'm going to hit, I'm going to hit 50 doors on this day at this time.
00:28:28
Speaker
And I'm going to do it for eight days this month.
00:28:30
Speaker
And at the end of the month, I'll have 400 doors and I should have 10 signs.
00:28:34
Speaker
And if I have more than, and again, if you have more than stay on schedule and just do better, you know, stay on schedule and do better.
00:28:42
Speaker
And by the end of the year, it's, you know, I mean, you created something huge for yourself.
00:28:47
Speaker
You know, it was like Rome wasn't built in a day.
00:28:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:49
Speaker
It was one, one shovel, one scoop at a time.
00:28:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:53
Speaker
Right.
00:28:53
Speaker
That's yeah.
00:28:55
Speaker
So but you do that consistently.
00:28:56
Speaker
And you just you I mean, you just keep pounding the pavement consistently like that, then you'll have a golden door.
00:29:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:03
Speaker
But but do the math.
00:29:04
Speaker
So so whatever that is, whatever, like, whatever your conversion rate is, and whatever your goal is for the year, just start splitting it up.
00:29:11
Speaker
Here's one hit in the year.
00:29:12
Speaker
Here's I got to hit every single month by divided by 12.
00:29:14
Speaker
I have to hit this every month.
00:29:15
Speaker
What do I have to hit in a week?
00:29:17
Speaker
If I have to hit this in a week, what do I have to do every single day?
00:29:20
Speaker
And then block it out in your calendar, you know, and then the rest of your time is the rest of your time, you know, but have that set and then be accountable to your calendar.
00:29:27
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:29:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's so cool.
00:29:29
Speaker
And most guys, I think they overcomplicate it because I think a lot of people know this, but it's like how many people have actually broken it down to this level day by day, hour by hour, where you know how many doors you need it.
00:29:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:40
Speaker
And I don't think it's too many, right?
00:29:42
Speaker
It's like, no, it's not.
00:29:43
Speaker
And I mean, even if you're a new guy, I mean, when I started, it wasn't this mentality at all.
00:29:47
Speaker
It was just like, just go as hard and fast as you can.
00:29:50
Speaker
And, you know, I did that for six months.
00:29:52
Speaker
And then we actually we took a vacation to San Diego.
00:29:55
Speaker
And I remember as the first time in six months, I allowed myself to rest.
00:29:58
Speaker
And I was in bed for three days with a fever because I was burned out.
00:30:02
Speaker
And I worked really, really hard.
00:30:04
Speaker
I just pushed myself because there's, you know, 100% commission and
00:30:07
Speaker
you know, I needed to provide for my family.
00:30:09
Speaker
And so I didn't really have much of it.
00:30:11
Speaker
So I didn't give myself much of a choice.
00:30:13
Speaker
But being able to come in and, you know, talking with like some of your senior sales reps and be like, Hey, like, you know, what's a standard conversion rate?
00:30:21
Speaker
You know, like, what can I start doing?
00:30:22
Speaker
And then just literally just start doing the math, you know, and then be consistent with that.
00:30:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:26
Speaker
And the funny thing is, like, as tough as it sounds to some people to get a Golden Door Award, some people it's like, oh, that sounds impossible.
00:30:34
Speaker
But if you break it down to that level, that far, if you just said, hey, to get a Golden Door Award, all you need to do is go knock 12 doors in an hour.
00:30:42
Speaker
Yep.
00:30:42
Speaker
Like most guys, that sounds much more doable than like go down.
00:30:45
Speaker
It is.
00:30:46
Speaker
Millions of the roofs.
00:30:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:48
Speaker
And what's crazy is that belief supersedes whatever rejection you get to.
00:30:53
Speaker
So literally, like you can take that rejection that you get.
00:30:56
Speaker
Oh, I went out not for four hours and I got rejected, you know, at every door.
00:31:00
Speaker
And it was just like, man, so many guys, you and I have both been there.
00:31:02
Speaker
We're just like, man, you go home at the end of the day, like you got knocked around the ring, man, like you're beat up and it's hard.
00:31:08
Speaker
But if you can have the perspective of like, no, 400 doors a month, then every rejection you get, you can use as a benefit and say, sweet, I got to know that is one, like one door closer to a yes.
00:31:20
Speaker
That's one door closer to a sign.
00:31:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:22
Speaker
You know, and you like that rejection can be your best friend, you know, because you have to trust the system.
00:31:26
Speaker
You got to trust the process.
00:31:28
Speaker
You know, and if there are guys that have gone out there before you and have gotten their golden doors and been successful and they followed that method, figure out what that method is and then do exactly that.
00:31:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:36
Speaker
And you'll get it.
00:31:37
Speaker
It's not it's not rocket science.
00:31:39
Speaker
Yeah, I love that.
00:31:40
Speaker
And yeah, I think it's super powerful to break it down.
00:31:43
Speaker
Same ways one knows that much closer to yes.
00:31:46
Speaker
It's like you can literally break down how much you're making per hour doing this to you.
00:31:50
Speaker
It's like, oh, I know every no, every no I get.
00:31:53
Speaker
I think Michael O'Donnell talks about this in solar, but it's like every no he gets, if you break it down, if you figure out how much you're making, that no could be worth 50, 100 bucks.
00:32:02
Speaker
Just every single no you get, maybe not that much, but it's like there's big commissions in roofing and solar.
00:32:07
Speaker
So making a lot of money as you take these no's, figure that out.
00:32:10
Speaker
So yeah, anyone that's listening to this, if you have not figured out your ratios like that, I think that's what it takes to really dial down and make your life a lot easier too.
00:32:19
Speaker
Because I know before I started doing this, maybe same for you, James.
00:32:23
Speaker
Well, yeah, you talked about how you got burned out.
00:32:25
Speaker
Same thing for me.
00:32:26
Speaker
It's like sometimes you feel like you're spinning your wheels.
00:32:28
Speaker
You're not going anywhere where it's just like I'm much more motivated to be out there if I'm like, oh, all I need to do is go.
00:32:35
Speaker
get you know talk to 10 have 10 conversations so we're here today i know i've had 10 conversations have a good chance of setting up two solar appointments and you have to figure out the ratios from there yeah and then that power of consistency is going to lead to like when you start picking up speed and momentum you know that that ratio drops and now instead of for me 40 doors to assign it's like 30 and then 20 you know and then referrals on top of that and it just gets better and better and better yeah so awesome
00:33:02
Speaker
And then you talked a little bit about accountability, too.
00:33:06
Speaker
For you, when you're doing this, did you have someone or I don't know if it's people like in your office or anything?
00:33:11
Speaker
Did you have any accountability partners or what was your way to kind of keep yourself accountable to these numbers and make sure you weren't slipping on things?
00:33:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think for me, it was more like, what's my goal?
00:33:21
Speaker
Like, why do I want this?
00:33:23
Speaker
You know, because I'm providing for my family, but like, what else do I want?
00:33:26
Speaker
And that's sort of where, you know, I sort of had to approach business and life from a value system.
00:33:33
Speaker
You know, like, why do I want to make all this money?
00:33:35
Speaker
And what do I want to do with it?
00:33:36
Speaker
And what does that mean?
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:38
Speaker
And so for me, yeah, I mean, I didn't really have accountability.
00:33:42
Speaker
My company does have accountability.
00:33:43
Speaker
I came on, you know, I mean, we have a lot of reps now.
00:33:47
Speaker
When I came on, we just had a handful.
00:33:49
Speaker
And so they I sort of have a nickname at my company where they call me the lone wolf.
00:33:54
Speaker
Like I kind of just out there.
00:33:56
Speaker
I'm pretty quiet.
00:33:57
Speaker
I do my thing.
00:33:58
Speaker
I go about my job and all of a sudden they look at the board and it's just like what?
00:34:01
Speaker
Like James is getting like these these crazy numbers.
00:34:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:06
Speaker
But it's more so it's less that I do think accountability is super important, especially if you're starting out, like get on with the team, go knock with some guys, make some friends like, like, you know, learn from each other.
00:34:16
Speaker
I think that's huge.
00:34:18
Speaker
So I don't know if my my experience would would echo what other people should do in that regard.
00:34:25
Speaker
But as far as like what keeps me motivated, most people are making, you know, say $50,000, $60,000 a year, right?
00:34:33
Speaker
Living off of that.
00:34:33
Speaker
Well, if you're in our industry, like you hit that really easily.
00:34:37
Speaker
And a lot of times you're 2xing that, 5xing that, 10xing that, right?
00:34:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:43
Speaker
So you really have to ask yourself, like, what do I really want to do?
Advice for Sellers on Life Balance
00:34:47
Speaker
And I spent a long time just being like, because I never I never came from money, you know, similar to you, I think, but you know, by the time I was 29, like, I mean, I was making, you know, 30k a year, and then you jump into the roofing industry, and you're making
00:35:00
Speaker
you know, six figures.
00:35:01
Speaker
And it's like, well, like, I mean, I talk about a life change.
00:35:04
Speaker
It's just like, holy cow.
00:35:05
Speaker
And you really start asking those questions of just like, what do I want to do with this?
00:35:09
Speaker
And who do I want to be?
00:35:10
Speaker
And so for me, you know, I'm really about living the balanced life.
00:35:16
Speaker
It's one of the things that I talk about a lot.
00:35:19
Speaker
teach on it, all that kind of stuff.
00:35:20
Speaker
But at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, like, why am I out here making this money?
00:35:25
Speaker
Because there's a lot of dudes making a lot of money and they're toxic people.
00:35:30
Speaker
I hate to say it, but you know, it's not good for them to be making all that money because they're not doing good things with it.
00:35:37
Speaker
You know, money is a tool.
00:35:39
Speaker
It's, it's, it's not a thing in and of itself.
00:35:41
Speaker
And I think there's a lot of people that approach money from the standpoint of like,
00:35:44
Speaker
Oh, now I get to live like this lifestyle, which is really just kind of code for now.
00:35:48
Speaker
I just get a blow money on stupid stuff and, you know, try to make myself feel happy, which only works for for a moment.
00:35:56
Speaker
But you really have to ask yourself, like, what do I who am I and what do I really want?
00:36:01
Speaker
And so for me, it's like,
00:36:02
Speaker
Yeah, I work and I work really hard, but it's not my main thing that I do.
00:36:08
Speaker
It's not who I am.
00:36:10
Speaker
Do you know what I mean?
00:36:11
Speaker
Like so many people would be like, who are you?
00:36:13
Speaker
I'm a roofer.
00:36:14
Speaker
I'm a solar guy.
00:36:15
Speaker
And at the end of the day, it's like, it's not me.
00:36:17
Speaker
Like that's my job.
00:36:19
Speaker
I do roofing, you know, I do solar, do whatever.
00:36:22
Speaker
But for me, it's like my primary thing.
00:36:24
Speaker
It's like, I am a husband.
00:36:25
Speaker
I am a father.
00:36:26
Speaker
That actually is my identity.
00:36:28
Speaker
That's not who I am, right?
00:36:30
Speaker
That's never going to change.
00:36:32
Speaker
I'll always be a husband, always be a father, you know, always be a son of God.
00:36:36
Speaker
And that understanding that and approaching life from that standpoint, I think helps me maintain that consistency, you know.
00:36:45
Speaker
So for me, work does not come first.
00:36:47
Speaker
Like I just had to realize like, yeah, I got the golden door up there.
00:36:50
Speaker
It's not work does not come first.
00:36:51
Speaker
It does not.
00:36:52
Speaker
My three values in order, you know, God, then family broken down to my marriage and my children.
00:36:58
Speaker
And then after that comes work.
00:37:00
Speaker
So literally to the point where when I wake up every day and have my routines, as I wake up and it's like I go to prayer, you know, and then I make sure that, you know, my wife's good and set up for her day.
00:37:10
Speaker
You know, I want to make sure that she has a successful day doing, you know, what she's doing or sometimes what we're doing together.
00:37:16
Speaker
And then after that, I kind of go,
00:37:19
Speaker
go into work and go focus.
00:37:21
Speaker
And what I found is that when you create those boundaries, you know, you don't have your phone on you all the time answering clients at, you know, odd hours of the night.
00:37:29
Speaker
And I'm not perfect in that either.
00:37:31
Speaker
I've done that, you know, plenty.
00:37:33
Speaker
But for me, I found that I can be so focused on those doors if I learn to put things in the correct category.
00:37:40
Speaker
Right.
00:37:40
Speaker
So it's like when I'm, you know, I have this rule that I'm really trying to live by and I'm not perfect.
00:37:45
Speaker
Right.
00:37:46
Speaker
But I really try to live by it where it's like if I'm home, if I get home at 530 at night, you know, and the kids go to bed a couple hours later than that, I just don't want to have my phone on me.
00:37:55
Speaker
You know, there's nothing so important that my phone needs to distract me from my primary responsibility, which is to be a good husband and father.
00:38:02
Speaker
And, you know, if you want to talk about like changing the world and making society better and all these big conversations that millennials are having, well, the primary thing you need to do is just raise good humans, you know, because they're going to be here when you're gone.
00:38:14
Speaker
So if you want to create a good world, create good humans and then invest in them and do a good job with that.
00:38:19
Speaker
It's like the primary freaking thing we have to do, dude, is just raise good kids.
00:38:24
Speaker
And it's hard and it's a struggle and we fail and we're not perfect.
00:38:28
Speaker
But that has to be our primary thing.
00:38:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:30
Speaker
You know?
00:38:31
Speaker
So true.
00:38:32
Speaker
And I love that because, well, yeah, I'm kind of, you've got two kids, right, James?
00:38:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:36
Speaker
Okay.
00:38:37
Speaker
Yeah, me, you, we're in the same stage right now.
00:38:40
Speaker
I got two kids, three and one.
00:38:42
Speaker
How old are your kids?
00:38:43
Speaker
Four and one.
00:38:44
Speaker
Okay.
00:38:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:46
Speaker
So yeah, exactly.
00:38:49
Speaker
Exactly.
00:38:50
Speaker
So yeah, sleep at night sometimes.
00:38:53
Speaker
I agree a hundred percent with all that.
00:38:55
Speaker
And yeah, it's so true.
00:38:57
Speaker
And I don't know about you, but when I had my kids, it definitely gives you something greater to focus on.
00:39:02
Speaker
You have that more powerful why.
00:39:04
Speaker
And just like, I think it's way easier working now that you have those things identified for me.
00:39:10
Speaker
I can go out there and, um,
00:39:13
Speaker
Like I remember when I was single, it was way more some days where I wasn't feeling it, sit in my car and do that.
00:39:18
Speaker
But if you want more, yeah, if you want the ultimate motivation, go have kids.
00:39:22
Speaker
Because now all of a sudden you're like, you're a lot less sitting in the car and you're like, well, I'm going to be.
00:39:28
Speaker
this cell is my family's depending on me to go get these cells it's like i have to be out there yeah i've been hearing all these celebrities saying like you know answering this question of just like i want to do something great with my life and like i'm hearing so many like unbelievably successful people be like you want to do something like you're important with your life get married and have just a ton of kids just have a bunch of them yeah you know it's so it's good it's good for you it pulls you out of yourself you know
00:39:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:54
Speaker
Jordan Peterson talks a lot about how each of us have like this thread of narcissism in us.
00:39:59
Speaker
Right.
00:39:59
Speaker
And we all have it.
00:40:01
Speaker
But the best way to beat that down is just, you know, get married and have kids and strive to have a really good marriage and strive to be a really good parent, you know, and it'll beat the narcissism out of you real quick if you're doing it right.
00:40:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:13
Speaker
Love that.
00:40:14
Speaker
So.
00:40:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's cool.
00:40:15
Speaker
And it's motivating, hopefully for other people to see that, you know, like guys like James, you can be a good father, you can spend a lot of time with your family, you can have work is not even the number one priority, but like, you know, number three on the list and still get a golden door award.
00:40:31
Speaker
So it's like for all those that are like, Oh, I don't have time to get a golden door award.
00:40:34
Speaker
Oh, I don't have time.
00:40:35
Speaker
I'm not motivated enough.
00:40:36
Speaker
It's like, I think that's super motivating to see that you can put God first, you can put family first and still have time for them and still go out and get that golden door award.
00:40:45
Speaker
Um, but yeah, like what, what, what year did you get your golden door by the way?
00:40:48
Speaker
Yeah, it was last year.
00:40:49
Speaker
So 2022.
00:40:50
Speaker
Okay.
00:40:50
Speaker
So yeah, you had your kids and all that.
00:40:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:53
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:40:53
Speaker
Okay.
00:40:54
Speaker
Because for me, I actually, when I got mine, I didn't have kids yet.
00:40:57
Speaker
So that's why I respect you even more because actually, I haven't gotten it since I had kids.
00:41:03
Speaker
And yeah, that's part of like the story I tell myself sometimes, I think I'm like, Oh, well, I don't know if I have time anymore, because now I got kids to focus on got to make time for them.
00:41:13
Speaker
But just seeing you get it, that's inspiring to me to see like, Oh, well, look, he has kids.
00:41:17
Speaker
And he was able to figure out a way to like,
00:41:20
Speaker
balance it and I know it's not going to be a balance all the time like you talked about how I'm sure you're not perfect sometimes you're still gonna have to respond to customers and you know be out late and stuff like that but yeah what does that look like for you James I know there's not like a balance but how do you yeah what would you say to those people are like oh how do you how do you do this get a golden door award with kids how do you like you know still put them first and yeah go get the golden door word yeah
00:41:46
Speaker
Absolutely.
Time Management for Success
00:41:48
Speaker
I can tell what worked for me.
00:41:49
Speaker
And it really just comes down to like when you're spending time with your kids, spend time with your kids.
00:41:54
Speaker
Don't spend time on your phone with your kids.
00:41:56
Speaker
Don't spend time on social media with your kids.
00:41:58
Speaker
Don't watch YouTube with the kids around.
00:41:59
Speaker
Like just spend time with your kids.
00:42:01
Speaker
Get on their level, get into the little games that they're playing, the little things that they're doing, the fun stuff and do that.
00:42:07
Speaker
And then when you're on the doors, like again, like schedule it out, right?
00:42:11
Speaker
Like you're going to go knock out for four hours, knock for four hours and be an absolute savage for four hours.
00:42:17
Speaker
But then after four hours, stop and then go do something else.
00:42:20
Speaker
You know, Tony Robbins, he talks about like taking his ice bath or whatever.
00:42:25
Speaker
And his big thing is just like, I don't negotiate with myself.
00:42:28
Speaker
You know, mind says body does.
00:42:30
Speaker
And I think if we have that mentality of just like, I'm going to do, I mean, I'm saying I'm going to do something.
00:42:35
Speaker
I'm just going to go do it.
00:42:36
Speaker
Knock for four hours.
00:42:36
Speaker
I knock for four hours.
00:42:38
Speaker
I put my phone down.
00:42:38
Speaker
I put my phone down, you know, going to spend time with the kids, go spend time with the kids, you know?
00:42:43
Speaker
Um, so I, I would say for me, because at the end of the day, it's like, you know, if you're a husband and a father, you, you want to pursue that well, because the confidence that you can get in knowing like I am a good husband.
00:42:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:56
Speaker
that or I am a good father, I am, you know, making sure I'm putting in the time there and making that primary gives you a certain amount of level of confidence just as an individual.
00:43:06
Speaker
And that confidence spreads to every other area of your life.
00:43:09
Speaker
So that when you're on the doors, when you're talking to your customers, it's just like going back to like, hey, I'd love to work with you.
00:43:14
Speaker
Don't need it.
00:43:14
Speaker
I'd love to.
00:43:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:15
Speaker
You know, things I've just found that things kind of work.
00:43:20
Speaker
But yeah, that's that's that's sort of how I did it.
00:43:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:23
Speaker
I love that.
00:43:24
Speaker
And anyone that's like a family guy like yourself and producing at a high level, I think I've heard a similar answer from everyone.
00:43:31
Speaker
You know, we had Ashton Buswell, good friend of mine, but he has like five kids, I think.
00:43:36
Speaker
I think he has multiple golden doors in solar and he says the exact same thing.
00:43:40
Speaker
It's like when he's on the doors, he's 100% in.
00:43:42
Speaker
When he's with his family, he's 100% in.
00:43:45
Speaker
And even as little as something that I changed recently is like, I'll be at the gym.
00:43:50
Speaker
And I remember in the past, customers texted me, things came up at the gym.
00:43:54
Speaker
I would like pause my workout, handle all this stuff.
00:43:57
Speaker
And I started to realize, man, I'm like literally in the gym for two and a half, three hours because like, I'm not working out the whole time.
00:44:05
Speaker
I'm responding to customers, got texts from other people.
00:44:07
Speaker
So even something as little as that, just like, I think the principle of just focusing in on what you do
00:44:13
Speaker
are doing at the time.
00:44:14
Speaker
Number one, it like makes cuts down on the time you have to spend and then you're way more focused doing it.
00:44:20
Speaker
Right.
00:44:20
Speaker
So it's like you're way more focused with your kids, way more focused on the doors when that's 100%.
00:44:25
Speaker
And then, yeah, for me, it's like I stopped.
00:44:28
Speaker
I stopped taking customer calls in the gym, even if it's customer that I think calling in to cancel or whatever, like
00:44:34
Speaker
something semi important.
00:44:35
Speaker
I'm like, they can probably wait until after I finish my workout.
00:44:38
Speaker
And that alone, it's like, made me way quicker in the gym now.
00:44:41
Speaker
And I'm getting better workouts just by cutting out some of that stuff.
00:44:45
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's a great principle and really powerful.
00:44:47
Speaker
So anyone listening to this, if you are, yeah, like, you know, checking social media on the doors, even if I don't know, you're with friends, family, whatever, you're not fully present with them.
00:44:58
Speaker
That's a principle that is going to help you out by, I think, just leaps and bounds, especially when you do have a family, when you do have kids.
00:45:05
Speaker
So even if you're single, listen to this, not married or whatever, I think it's a good thing to start practicing now because if I would have been doing this before,
00:45:14
Speaker
Yeah, I think I've definitely had relationships suffer and I haven't been as present for my kids just because these phones are addicting and all that time we're single and all the time when we're distracted by these things.
00:45:25
Speaker
It's a tough, it's almost like an addiction that you have to break when you're married.
00:45:29
Speaker
So yeah.
00:45:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:30
Speaker
Actually, can I say something to the single people
Living with Purpose
00:45:33
Speaker
out there?
00:45:33
Speaker
Because, you know, you and I are both dads and we're husbands and we're talking about this.
00:45:36
Speaker
But for any single people out there looking, I just want to encourage you.
00:45:41
Speaker
Like you are still meant to go out and be a blessing to other people.
00:45:46
Speaker
So start asking yourself, who can I bless?
00:45:49
Speaker
Like, you know, you're in the solar industry.
00:45:51
Speaker
You're probably making more money than most.
00:45:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:53
Speaker
And you probably have freedom of time as well.
00:45:58
Speaker
So you're meant to bless.
00:45:59
Speaker
You're meant to give to others.
00:46:01
Speaker
And if you're looking for that fulfillment, I think you're going to find it in the ability to give it to others.
00:46:07
Speaker
You know, there's this a mentor of mine, you know, who works on purpose discovery.
00:46:14
Speaker
He helps people discover their purpose.
00:46:15
Speaker
He defines purpose literally is the best of what you have to help others.
00:46:19
Speaker
That's purpose.
00:46:21
Speaker
the best of what you have to help others.
00:46:23
Speaker
And the end of the day, I think it's good for everybody just to take audit of their life and their gifts and their talents.
00:46:27
Speaker
And where can you use that to bless other people?
00:46:30
Speaker
Yeah, nice.
00:46:31
Speaker
That's huge.
00:46:31
Speaker
So a no to the single people as well as to us, because it's a good reminder for everybody.
00:46:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:37
Speaker
Principal prize there applies to everybody.
00:46:39
Speaker
You don't have to be married to start practicing all of these things.
00:46:42
Speaker
So love that.
00:46:43
Speaker
Um, well, James, we're coming up on the hour here.
00:46:46
Speaker
And, um, before we start wrapping up here, if people want to, uh, you know, connect with you more, um, and then we'll get into our last question or two here.
00:46:54
Speaker
But if people, before I forget, if people want to reach out, connect with you, what's the best way to do that and find you and everything?
00:47:01
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm just on Instagram, that.james.guy.
00:47:05
Speaker
And I'm pretty responsive to DMs and all that kind of stuff.
00:47:08
Speaker
So if you want to chat or anything like that, you can hit me up there.
00:47:12
Speaker
Nice, nice.
00:47:14
Speaker
Awesome.
00:47:14
Speaker
We'll put that in the show notes.
00:47:15
Speaker
So everyone go reach out to James.
00:47:18
Speaker
Thank him after you're done listening to this show today.
00:47:22
Speaker
And then last question or two, James.
Referral Strategies
00:47:24
Speaker
We didn't touch much on referrals.
00:47:26
Speaker
I know you talked about like the neighborhoods.
00:47:29
Speaker
as you're helping people.
00:47:30
Speaker
You start getting more and more referrals.
00:47:32
Speaker
But do you have anything else specifically you do to help you get referrals?
00:47:36
Speaker
I don't know if it's like follow-up.
00:47:38
Speaker
I don't know if you send gifts to customers.
00:47:40
Speaker
Anything else that you do different to kind of set you apart and just get that referral game going?
00:47:45
Speaker
Yeah, I think for me, the first thing is just making sure they have an exceptional experience, like making sure that they are that they're happy.
00:47:55
Speaker
And then I also I mean, there's an incentive that I have, you know, if I end up doing a job, I give them a gift card for a certain amount.
00:48:03
Speaker
And then, um, you know, some people take it and some people don't, but you know, for me, a lot of it just comes down to, uh, making sure they have a good experience.
00:48:11
Speaker
And then even if they don't give you a referral, you can still knock around that area and, um, tell people like, you know, go talk to that guy or, you know, check out the online reviews, making sure you are collecting good five-star reviews as well from customers that are happy, you know, like really helps.
00:48:28
Speaker
And, um,
00:48:30
Speaker
And it's just, I think, an organic way to kind of build up your referral system.
00:48:33
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:48:35
Speaker
Nice.
00:48:35
Speaker
And then for you, the referrals you do get, most of them come at kind of the point of sell, like as you're getting them signed up for the roof or do they come down the road after they've already had the new roof put on.
00:48:47
Speaker
They usually came after the roof was put on.
00:48:49
Speaker
So, you know, the person that will refer after the job's like said and done and everything's closed out, you know, because they're not just looking at like your ability to sell.
00:48:57
Speaker
They're looking at your entire company and the entire process from start to finish.
00:49:01
Speaker
So usually those things will come at, you know, after the fact.
00:49:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:49:05
Speaker
Yeah, what I've found in solar is I can get more referrals, you know, like when I'm in the house at the point of sale.
00:49:11
Speaker
But the referrals that are the most solid that they've actually talked to and everything and, you know, usually end up converting way better are the ones that come after the solar has been installed and just kind of with more follow up and things like that.
00:49:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:26
Speaker
So I don't know.
00:49:27
Speaker
I think it's good to kind of have a combination of both saying as you're signing up, hey, who do you know that can benefit from this?
00:49:33
Speaker
Like I know you guys are going to go through the experience.
00:49:35
Speaker
I know you'll talk to more and more people, but just to kind of like get the, uh, the gear spinning, who do you know right now that could potentially benefit and then, you know, get some names then.
00:49:44
Speaker
And then as you follow up more and more, it's like, hopefully you talk to those people and, um, you know, you get more solid referrals after they've gone through the experience, the process.
00:49:54
Speaker
So a hundred percent good stuff.
00:49:57
Speaker
Cool, James.
00:49:57
Speaker
Well, it's been awesome having you on the show today.
00:49:59
Speaker
And even though you're not in solar, like I think there's so many things we can apply to solar and it's cool to hear what you're doing with the roofs.
00:50:08
Speaker
So just to end here, is there any final advice you'd give to maybe a rep that's struggling or, or I know we talked about a lot about getting your first golden door award, but any final words of wisdom that you would give to our solarpreneur listeners
Building Resilience in Sales
00:50:22
Speaker
here?
00:50:22
Speaker
Yeah, I would just say be yourself and be authentic and stick to the process.
00:50:30
Speaker
Knocking doors is really, really hard.
00:50:32
Speaker
It's not an easy profession, but there's a process to it.
00:50:35
Speaker
And I think if you stick to it, you can win big.
00:50:37
Speaker
And I think that's part of why we win big is because we're in a really...
00:50:40
Speaker
We're in a really difficult job.
00:50:42
Speaker
Door to door is not easy.
00:50:44
Speaker
So I would definitely suggest that to people is just stay the process, even when it's hard.
00:50:49
Speaker
You know, you may not see it now, but when you're out there getting all that rejection, you're building up an incredibly thick skin.
00:50:57
Speaker
And you're going to be able to take what you learn in door to door and apply it to different areas of your life and experience, you know, some pretty awesome success because of your ability to kind of get through and just punch through that big wall of rejection that you get, especially when you start out.
00:51:12
Speaker
in the industry.
00:51:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:14
Speaker
Love that.
00:51:14
Speaker
So powerful.
00:51:15
Speaker
Well, thanks so much for coming on, James.
00:51:17
Speaker
Guys, go out, be authentic, be real, serve your customers, serve the families you help out and be consistent.
00:51:24
Speaker
Everything else will fall into place.
00:51:26
Speaker
So thanks again for coming on, James.
00:51:28
Speaker
And yeah, can't wait to see what you do next.
00:51:31
Speaker
Thanks, brother.
00:51:31
Speaker
Okay.
00:51:31
Speaker
All right.
00:51:32
Speaker
Talk soon.
00:51:34
Speaker
What's up, solopreneurs?
00:51:35
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed the episode.
00:51:36
Speaker
Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
00:51:47
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
00:51:54
Speaker
What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
00:51:56
Speaker
And
00:51:57
Speaker
You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
00:52:02
Speaker
So what we've done, we created the top 10 most downloaded, most listened to, and I would say widely accepted, most useful podcasts that we've done here on Solopreneur.com.
00:52:15
Speaker
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00:52:17
Speaker
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00:52:24
Speaker
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00:52:25
Speaker
It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
00:52:29
Speaker
Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com.
00:52:35
Speaker
Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.com.
00:52:37
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes.
00:52:39
Speaker
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00:52:41
Speaker
And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them.
00:52:46
Speaker
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00:52:47
Speaker
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