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The Secrets of Running a Successful Setter Closer Program - Tanner Williams
0 Playsin 7 minutes
This episode is a rerun of a guest podcast with Tanner Williams as he talks about the setter-closer program he's made for his team. Setting and closing are synonymous with sales, and it's important that everyone knows and realizes the effort that it takes on both sides of a deal.
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Transcript
Introduction to Taylor Armstrong's Journey
00:00:03
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 the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you 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? 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.
Discovery and Benefits of SolarScout
00:00:42
Speaker
So some of you already know that I run my own door-to-door sales team here in San Diego. And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
00:00:54
Speaker
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 SolarScout. 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.
00:01:07
Speaker
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. It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too.
00:01:21
Speaker
I'm going to be one of the first few SolarScout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, if I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show, you need give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:01:32
Speaker
So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up. That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:01:45
Speaker
Okay, back to the show.
Tanner Williams Joins the Podcast
00:01:46
Speaker
Okay, what's going on everybody? We are here live at DoorDork on 2023. Got my man Tanner Williams in the house. Tanner, thanks for coming on the podcast with us today. Absolutely, man.
00:01:56
Speaker
Stuck to be here. Been watching the, well, I guess listening to the podcast for years now. So it's kind of surreal to be on it. Yeah, appreciate that. And yeah, one of my ah proudest moments came last year when were on a knockstart call together, the group that we're in.
00:02:09
Speaker
oh yeah. Tanner was like, I think, leading one of the calls, asking you questions. And he actually they gave the podcast a shout out in one your calls. Yeah, holy cow, this guy is actually showing something that I said on the podcast. Like, wow, that's freaking awesome. So I've got to thank you for giving me the shout out. Oh, absolutely. It's definitely one of my proud moments.
00:02:29
Speaker
yeah Yeah, you guys have been awesome. I remember I was out in Denver. We had just launched Aptive Solar and I had like hardly any idea of what I was doing. I was trying to teach guys as well. And I would listen to your podcast over and over. And every episode would come out and listen to it and listen to it.
00:02:44
Speaker
that's been awesome. Yeah. I owe you guys a lot. I appreciate that. But yeah, man, I've learned a lot from you too and just being a knockstar with you and yeah seeing you take off. It's been pretty incredible
Tanner's Journey and Aptiv Solar's Formation
00:02:54
Speaker
what you've done. So nice for those that don't know, you do want to give a little bit of your background and Apt of Solar and kind of how that got rolling and everything you're doing over there.
00:03:03
Speaker
Yeah, so I got into Door to Door 2017. I did a little four-week summer with Hawk, switched over to Aptiv, and did four years of PES with them. I wasn't a terrible rep. I wasn't a god by any means. I was just a little bit above average, I think, and then wanted to get into solar.
00:03:19
Speaker
Had buddies that were making just stupid money, watching them work. way less than I was. And I was like a little jealous. So started looking into some solar companies, looked around at a ton, went on a blitz. And I was like, yeah, solar is definitely what I want to do.
00:03:33
Speaker
And um at the time, Connor Ruggio, who was the president of sales at Aptiv, he had been thinking about how do we get involved in solar? Because he was seeing the economic trend as well and how just how dominant a space it was.
00:03:46
Speaker
And so he came to me as kind of, I was right, right time, right place. was me and a couple of the guys that were either involved in solar already or were thinking about getting involved in solar but had also worked at Aptiv
Integrating Solar with Pest Control at Aptiv
00:03:57
Speaker
and we started Aptiv Solar then and that was about two years ago and now we're still just growing, chucking along so it's been super fun.
00:04:04
Speaker
yeah That's cool. Did it get complicated? Because like I know they probably didn't want to be like oh you guys all do? They obviously want to keep guys doing pest control and all that Right, yeah. So how do they do that where it's like not bringing guys from PES instead doing that?
00:04:17
Speaker
Well, because they want to avoid, you know, there was a lot of drama, I think, with the whole Vivint thing when that switched over, right? But um I think they wanted to definitely avoid that. There were some guys that were just definitely going to do solo regardless. And so the mindset was, might as well do it here. But now we've kind of gone into a So, you know, in the early days, some people just kind of switched completely over into it.
00:04:37
Speaker
Now they kind of do it to where they do a pest hybrid and they allow pest reps to be involved in both solar and pest control, which is really cool for the reps. I just focus on purely solar. That's my thing, but but to each their own. So they get a participate in all of it, which is cool.
00:04:51
Speaker
Nice. That's cool. Is it like they do pest in the summer and then solar after the summer? It's kind of more they like they go out and they sell pest control and then they can set a solar lead um as well and then closers can go by and close it. Or now we're actually working with a lot of the team leaders of those pest control teams to be trained to close as well.
00:05:09
Speaker
So um just just a lead generation essentially through the pest program as well. Maximizes their earning potential. They can sell some solar and still sell what they know and what they've done for a long time.
00:05:20
Speaker
Yes. That's fire. That's cool. And yeah, you guys have grown out like crazy. And yeah, just seeing Noxstar, how many ah did you just, I can't remember you won the Noxstar competition that
Competitive Sales and Motivational Strategies
00:05:32
Speaker
one time, right? Yeah, the, um my gosh.
00:05:35
Speaker
Was it the draft? No. can't remember it's called. Yeah, one of them. back in the Back in the... It was like right in the beginning of the summer. It ended in June. and um Won that one. That was super cool. Super high competition with like Austin, Melissa, all those guys. They were freaking thrown down. So super motivating when you have those guys to compete with. Yeah, those guys are dogs.
00:05:55
Speaker
Yeah, crazy to see the volume of deals you did. and So right now with Optiv, did they do... like I know it's the summer program for Pest and all that. But like, how do you guys do this structure now for solar? Is it like yeah Blitz or like guys doing year round or how do you get structured now?
00:06:13
Speaker
We've gone ah away a little bit from the Blitz program just because Blitzes are, they're good, but they're hard, right? They're high margin and or I guess low margin, high cost, right?
00:06:25
Speaker
So we have a summer program that, yeah, like you mentioned, Aptiv has crushed the solar program for years. So we do a good job at that. But we've actually started opening up offices as well year round. So we have nine round teams now too.
00:06:37
Speaker
Okay, so cool. And so you've been out in Colorado the whole time doing it, right? Yeah, I actually live in Utah right now, though, helping build and grow the the org. um I'm technically VP of sales now at Aptive Solar, so that's been fun, really cool.
00:06:52
Speaker
And then i just help build the summer programs, and then I have teams in Colorado, Arizona, um North Carolina as well, and then we'll have a couple other teams go out for the summer. so Yeah. yeah So yeah, for our listeners, tell them like, what were some of your struggles starting a team? and And I guess like, tell us kind of what you grew it into and how they put you VPSLs. Like, how did that all go down? What do where you think were some of your struggles in the beginning?
00:07:18
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing was, ah you know, Aptiv had a ton of experience in door-to-door, but none in solar. And really, the only people that switched, or I guess that helped start Aptiv Solar had only been doing solar for ah couple of months.
00:07:32
Speaker
So none of us had hardly any experience, which is why I joined Dockstar, actually. I was like, I got to get some experience, some training from the top dogs. So really, the learning curve was just the hardest part, for sure. believed in the project, or in the product. Yeah.
00:07:44
Speaker
Solar is obviously ah great product. I love selling it. And it was my type of sale as well, rather than just like bulldozing through objections. I was never really good at that kind of sale, but relationship-based selling and just educating customers, that that was my cup of tea. And so I picked it up semi-quickly, but getting people to pick it up quickly as well was really difficult in the beginning. So that's why I listened to your guys' podcast. I listened to the door-knocking podcast.
00:08:09
Speaker
D2DU podcast. Like I listened to everything, right? And then I just joined Noxstar United finally when I was like, yeah, it's just worth it to get Ingle from the culture. So getting that learning curve was the hardest part.
Aptiv Solar's Growth and Tanner's Achievements
00:08:19
Speaker
Once we could start replicating the success that I was seeing, people started closing more deals. We learned how to get the setter-closer model a little bit more nailed down.
00:08:28
Speaker
Last year, the volume was crazy compared to year one. I mean, the first year, we had one little team in Denver, and I think we got like 120 installs from that little team. And then last year, like just my Denver team alone in Denver South, we installed like 450 accounts. So just that one team alone like almost tripled our year one volume. So so yeah, it was cool.
00:08:47
Speaker
It really fun. yeah And so, yeah, we're at the, and we're at door to door gun right now. And so you're getting your ah golden door up there tomorrow. Yeah. Okay. So how how many deals you do? 132. So right at the line. Okay.
00:09:01
Speaker
Made it by the Skinner. Yes, sir. But that's when I got it, it was only a hundred. So there you go. And and I need to get back up there. um But yeah, so you did a ton and I know most that was just like in the summer. You're cranking like crazy, right?
00:09:14
Speaker
Yeah, I think I have like 16 or so installs from Blitz's before and after the summer, but everything else was summer. so Incredible. I think June was like 47 or 48 sales in June.
00:09:26
Speaker
And then it was like 35 plus every other month. So it was it was nuts. It was a grind, but it was super fun. Super fun. Yeah, because, more I mean, well, yeah, those of you listening know how hard it is. Most guys don't do this in a year. You cranked out the majority of that in the summer. Yeah.
00:09:40
Speaker
Incredible. So for you, do you like, are you the type person that likes going super hard to for, ah you know, like summer? What's your thoughts on, like, doing this whole, like, summer game versus doing it year-round?
00:09:52
Speaker
It's a lot. I've actually transitioned a little bit more to more year-round. So living in Utah and selling in Utah is a little different. you got to get batteries involved, all that stuff. But it's actually been semi-successful. So I'll do more of a year-round now. But I do love the summer grind. I feel like it's a little nostalgic for me.
00:10:07
Speaker
It's probably just better that I give my wife a break, you know, after you know going on year eight of summer, moving out to a different market, all that stuff. Everybody on or listening that has a spouse, you know what i'm talking about. Yeah.
00:10:18
Speaker
um She's been awesome and really supportive. And so it's like, ah, we can maybe do the year round model and not be so crazy, but I'll have to travel a ton this summer as well. So that'd be fun. But I do love the grind. I get obsessed. um I'm a very obsessive person. So for me, it's like, i can put the blinders on and just go really hard for four
Recruitment and Team Motivation Strategies
00:10:35
Speaker
months and I enjoy it.
00:10:37
Speaker
yeah Well, think that's a key trait of everyone I've seen at Noxter, like, produce at a super high level. And something that i try to do myself and I'm learning from you guys is just, yeah, you got to be obsessed. Like, you know, Grant Cardone says beer be obsessed or be average. and Yeah.
00:10:51
Speaker
Like, for you, you're talking about all the stuff you did, like listening this podcast. Yeah. listening to all the other ones and yeah I listen to all those podcasts too and think some people think I just do this podcast and I only listen to my own podcast like I listen to all these guys podcasts oh yeah try to get in all these programs and it's like you take bits and pieces from all of it and think that's part of being obsessed and then combining that with just like your work ethic it's yeah insane to see what you can accomplish So yeah, pretty incredible. And then as you're setting all this up, so what's what was like your recruiting? How did you recruit all these reps for the summer? and
00:11:28
Speaker
Yeah. these guys coming on? Well, I kind of knew that, you know, once people kind of saw what was available in solar earnings wise or lifestyle wise, whatever, that they would be pretty intrigued. And so for me, it was, I really wanted to go out and like create the story of, Hey, I went out and figured it out. I went out and helped other people figure it out. Come work with me.
00:11:46
Speaker
So that was a big motivating factor for me this last year. That was a big why of mine, right? That works really well. If you go out and sell at a high level, I mean, watched Drew Hansen, right? He's crushing it in sales. um It's kind of unfathomable. It's hard to imagine the volume that he actually does. he his organization did 20 million last year, which in pest control is ridiculous, right? So it just kind of goes to show if you can go out and prove yourself, couple that with some good recruiting effort, you'll you'll definitely grow your organization because people want to be around others that can help them
00:12:17
Speaker
elevate. So that was a big part of it. I think that helped a lot. I have awesome people that I work with who we create a cool culture, and that makes it easier to recruit as well. But really just talking to everybody that you know about it. I feel like solar, for me at least, is an easier product to really be bought into. And I almost feel like an obligation to talk to people. Like I would hate to be the guy that is selling solar, making all this money, having awesome experience with life. And then one of my buddies from high school is like,
00:12:40
Speaker
dude, I really wish you would have told me about solar, you know, at our 20 or 40 year reunion. For me, it's like, yeah, I heard Melissa on a podcast. i think it was like on Mikey Lewis's podcast. And she was talking about that same thing. She's like, i just want to take as many people with me.
00:12:53
Speaker
And that was inspiring for me. and I want to do the same thing. So, yeah. Yeah, and that's true. I think guys forget about that. Like, I think that's probably the number one thing, though, is producing an eye level yourself, especially like if you're trying to bring people just watching and all that. For sure. Like, yeah, I mean, I just think of like Ricardo. i don't know if you met Ricardo, but he's getting his golden door tomorrow. oh yeah, yeah. Ricardo Richie. Yeah, he was on our team out in California.
00:13:16
Speaker
He would get all the, he'd produce at a super high level while he's, it's something ridiculous, like over 400 installs. stuff So crazy. But um it's like, oh, he has all these setters. Cause yeah, he did have a massive team of setters, but like the reason he does is because all these guys see all the money he's making. Yeah. And then he brings in setters, they make awesome money, and then it's just like a snowball effect, and they all come in, and then he's getting, you know, appointments set for them all day. So I'm thinking like, man, he just did that. He gets all these, like, leads fed to him and said, but, like, we can all do the same thing. Oh, absolutely. We kind of produce anything. There's always like a little bit of a negative, i i don't know if stigma's
Training and Transitioning from Setter to Closer
00:13:52
Speaker
the right word, but there's a negative connotation sometimes with like, oh, that guy doesn't really go out and self-gen as much. He sets and he gets all these leads. And if you look at it, what I've found is the guys who get the most appointments, it's because, number one, they've either recruited the most setters or...
00:14:06
Speaker
They're the best closers. And so everybody wants them to close their deals, right? And you either got a short two-year experience in solar. You either got to, yeah, go out really hard and recruit a bunch of really good setters and then deliver for them. Or you got be a lights-out closer um because I've even seen people who recruited setters, but if they weren't closing their deals very well,
00:14:24
Speaker
And they're like, well, I don't know if I want that guy closing my deals, right? So it's funny because same thing. I've found myself this summer. I had a kid on my team that just crushing it And there was a few times I was like, dang, I'm kind of jealous. He's getting a little more leads than I am. But he was lights out closer and he had recruited a few more of them. And so, yeah, it just goes to show. It's fun. I know.
00:14:41
Speaker
What do i do I got to go recruit more or I got to sell better. got three or so Yeah. Well, speaking of like recruiting all these people, when you get a bunch of new setters coming in, do you have any tips on like training all these guys? I know like that's the other thing. People bringing all all these setters and they're all complaining like, oh, my setters aren't like producing. I'm not getting any leads and stuff.
00:15:00
Speaker
So how did you like, i don't know, get all your guys trained and how do you balance that with like going out and self-chatting and stuff? Yeah. Any advice, some tips on them? um Two things. First, I think one of the biggest mistakes that people make when they're getting their setters trained is they jump right into like, hey, here's the script, memorize the script, and just like become, you know, in a way they teach them to become a little bit of a robot. And obviously they need to memorize a a presentation, they have to have a foundation. But the first thing that I found that helps setters do well is I sell them on solar ah really hard.
00:15:31
Speaker
And I make them believe in what they're doing. And I think that if you do a good job at selling your people on the product that they're going to be selling, the conviction's there, and then everything else that they have to learn afterwards, it comes a little bit easier, right? They understand the product.
00:15:44
Speaker
And I think that a of times we get lost in the fact that we've been in industry for semi-new, but some people have been in solar for five, six, seven, eight years. They know it like the back of their hand, but these new guys, they really don't understand it at all. They're like a homeowner, right?
00:15:58
Speaker
And so once they understand it, learning the presentation, learning how to overcome objections, it becomes really intuitive for them. That's the first thing that I think a lot of people overlook. And I really believe in killing two birds with one stone. So like if I'm going to go out, I need to get my self-gen in.
00:16:11
Speaker
I want to close deals that are self-gens, not only because it proves a point that I still got it in me, right? But also they're more lucrative. um Taking my reps out and knocking with them instead of just going out and self-genning, I think is a great way as a manager to kill those two birds, right? I can go get my self-gen deals.
00:16:26
Speaker
My reps are watching me. They're watching how it's done, teaching them a proper appointment. Things like, hey, we we want you to get utility bills. Well, I'll show you how to get a utility bill, right? Things like that. Yeah, and I love that too because especially for guys that have been in, you know, I've been doing this six years and easy for guys like myself to like get lazy and not want to go out there. But the the way to not get lazy is like go train a rep because you don't want to be here.
00:16:48
Speaker
Like you're goingnna show up yourself. Definitely. So whenever I'm filmed, like not getting out there, that's one of the best ways I force myself to get out there. Yeah. I'm like, Hey, come shout on me. And then, um, yeah. And then if have reps, their experience, I know I need to recruit more new people in and get them on the door. So so yeah, that's, i think that's fire.
00:17:08
Speaker
And then what about like closing? do you guys have a structure like people sets? And then and know some companies, they try to get people to stay setters forever. So what's your guys, what's been like your strategy with that? Like balancing it yeah helping guys feel like they can progress. How do you, how you guys change this and like setter closer and how you?
00:17:26
Speaker
For us, it's it's less about, i mean, I think there are definitely some ah benchmarks that they should hit before they should just go into closing. Like I think every good closer is first a really good setter, yeah especially if, you know, in the beginning of their closing career, they're going to be doing a lot of self-gens. Like they're not going to do that unless they're a good setter, right? I had to have this conversation with a kid yesterday. is like, oh, I don't want to set.
00:17:48
Speaker
I'm just going to close. I'm like, just you understand, like the best closers are the best setters. So we got to teach you how to set first, right? Yeah. um But i do think that having a little bit more of an open mind as far as like, what's the best situation for that rep rather than just like, hey, you need to close 25 deals before you can start closing, right?
00:18:06
Speaker
If it takes one kid a month to get 25 closes and another person a year to get 25 closes, well, maybe that person that took a year shouldn't be closing yet. And that person who got 25 in a month, maybe they should start closing sooner, right? So especially with us when we were newer, i think we had to sometimes make the transition a little bit too early and I found that that hurt people more than it helped them.
00:18:27
Speaker
ah So as a manager, I try to be a little bit more like, hey, what's the best situation for this rep? um Danny Pessy talked about it one time and it couldn't be any more spot on, but don't underestimate like the job of a setter.
00:18:40
Speaker
If you look at the time between those two jobs, like a setter should only take 15 to 20 minutes versus a closer three to, i don't know, 12 weeks sometimes, depending on how much time have to spend babysitting that account.
00:18:51
Speaker
and so But they can still make you know a lot of cases either 50-50 splits or 60-40 worst case scenario. We had a girl on our team last year who absolutely crushed it. She was top repping the company. and so Shout out to all the female knockers out there. You guys, such a huge advantage on these boys. You just just got to go crush them. But she one time had myself, my brother, and our other top closer all in an appointment at the same time, closing three deals for her.
00:19:16
Speaker
And between that same period of 8, 9 p.m., she set three more appointments, two of which also got closed. So in one hour, she's closing five deals, essentially. If she's out self-genning, there's no way that happens. Yeah.
00:19:27
Speaker
So for her, she's so good at setting. And you see people like, you know, Matt Cruz out there with pure setting ridiculous. And he's been in solar for like three years now. and He's not like, you know, the egotist. I have to be closing.
00:19:38
Speaker
Like setting can be a phenomenal job. People sometimes have this like, I have to close. But if they just nailed setting and mastered setting, those guys that are setting at the highest level are making a lot more than most closers in the industry, which is crazy. Yeah, so I think we got, I think that's a stigma we got to get out of the industry is like setting is like the, don't know, working at McDonald's. solar Yeah, there's setters making a lot of times more than closers. And I think it's kind of like identifying what you're good at too, because like, yeah, we have a similar guy on my team where he just knows that he's like better at setting and
00:20:12
Speaker
Yeah. He's making more money doing that. Exactly. And then like you can always test it So I think, you know, he's try it, but you go try closing. A lot of times people like force it and then they're making less.
00:20:23
Speaker
Right. I've seen so many reps like fell in this industry is because they try to force closing. It's not going as well. And they're not making any money. So there's like, oh, well, slower must not be for me anymore. Yeah. Or it's like maybe if they would have stayed setting or at least setting longer and made a slower transition. Exactly.
00:20:39
Speaker
But yeah, is that something that you guys do is kind of like identify if someone's there? don't know if you deal with that where guys are like, oh I want to close, I want to close. you have anything? Say no. Look, you're making all this money setting, but not make them feel like you're just chained it.
00:20:52
Speaker
Right. Become demoted or anything. anything think it's actually, it's crazy, but um today I learned a great lesson from Jimmy Rex where he talks about if people feel like they, like you as a leader, care more about them than the dollar amount associated with them, like you can do anything as a leader essentially and like they trust you and you have to actually feel that way, right?
00:21:10
Speaker
And so I think if you actually do, come across like I'm really trying to help you make the most money possible rather than um just want to keep you in setting. I think people can really feel the difference, right? Like if someone is crushing it in setting, but you just don't want them to start closing because you want to keep staying off the doors, like that obviously is, like they're going to see through that. But if it's someone that's like, hey, i just really want to close, and you can kind of show them, well, you're crushing it in setting.
00:21:36
Speaker
i think there's some things that we need to work on before I feel super confident in you going out closing. You know, it's it's more based on you looking out for them as a leader rather than just trying to keep doing your job for you, right? Yeah.
00:21:47
Speaker
But it doesn't, like you said, it doesn't it doesn't serve anybody to go from setting and making some money to then going and self-jetting and making zero dollars and you'll probably end up losing that rep, which is a super sad situation because the opportunity was just tainted by judgment on the leader's part, you know? Yeah.
00:22:02
Speaker
Well, yeah, something I wanted to do transition to before we kind of start wrapping up here, Tanner.
Encouraging Competitiveness and Sales Competitions
00:22:07
Speaker
Like I was talking about earlier, or something I've seen in you and these high producers, you guys can just turn it on and do like, you know, 40 plus deals in a month and push super hard. And so how do you, and now you came from like, a didn't you do college wrestling and stuff like that? a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. So you got that res, I got my ah black eye here from us. I know was going to say that that black eye looks nice on you, dude.
00:22:28
Speaker
For the listeners, it's like it's a good shiner. I keep telling people it was ah on the doors. Yeah, there you go. I guess I need to get better at jiu-jitsu. I keep getting beat up in there. have to challenge you to a match. Absolutely. You got to teach me a few things.
00:22:41
Speaker
Yeah, we'll throw it down here for this podcast. love it. There you go. But yeah, and so like for you you got a sports background, and that's something I've seen in a lot of hype producers too, is you got like super competitive sports background a lot of times.
00:22:53
Speaker
So are you a pretty competitive person, would you say? Super competitive. yeah I hate losing. um Alex Ramozzi talked about it. i've heard about I've heard it before as well, but he talks about there's two people in competition. There's the people who just love winning more than anything, and so they pursue winning with all they have.
00:23:10
Speaker
And there's the people that... hate losing more than anything. And so they just, know, winning isn't even that satisfying for them. It's more of like a relief. They just hate losing. And that's definitely me. like I just hate losing. Like getting this golden door, for example, i set out that I was going to do it.
00:23:22
Speaker
And like, it's, I'm excited, obviously, I'm proud of myself. But like, it's more of like a, it's a relief that I didn't like lose. um And I refuse to lose and like what I try to do. But obviously, I still take my L's every once in a while. But wrestling definitely helped me with that.
00:23:36
Speaker
And I think turning it on as well, just like being able to like tap into that competitive side. Every time I had a big month, we were in some type of competition. You know what I mean? so those things work for me. Well, that's competition, it's something I think about all the time. Like, how do you make...
00:23:50
Speaker
how do you get people be more competitive? All that. So it's like, I don't know. Do you guys have anything you do overactive? Like, or maybe tips in running competitions or stuff to help guys be more competitive and get that. Cause you notice some guys are just like, Oh, I'm not that competitive person. And I was like, yeah, maybe they shouldn't be in sales then, but I don't if you have advice, like how to make people more competitive or,
00:24:11
Speaker
They run better competitions, stuff like that. Take it back a step. I think that the first thing that I do is in my recruiting meetings or like my interviews with people, one of the questions I ask them every single time is the best sales reps and the people that we're looking for to fill spots on this team um have three qualities. they They're competitive, first foremost, there're they're optimistic, and they're hardworking, right? And so like I go over those three things and I really actually do listen to that I follow up the question with, what in your life has made you,
00:24:41
Speaker
you know, competitive, optimistic, and hardworking. And I like the hardworking and I like the optimistic side, but those two things, I can't really tell if they're 100% true until I actually know the person, right? But through experiences that they share with me about what has made them competitive in life, I usually can tell if they actually are competitive or not.
00:24:57
Speaker
And frankly, if there's someone that's like, I'm just not a very competitive person, I honestly don't have a huge desire to work with them. Just because that's not how I work. I don't have anything against them. But if I'm going to work with them, it's hard.
00:25:08
Speaker
It's like, I don't understand that person very well. um And so um that's one of the biggest things that I actually look for in filling this team. But you know you always have people that either the competition just don't motivate them that much anymore. And I think that starting before the summer starts or you know as you're building your team and like kind of establishing your values on your team, like, hey, we want to go win the competitions that we have this summer, for example. These are them. Let's lay them out.
00:25:34
Speaker
We have goals as a team to go win these, like getting you guys bought in early so that's not like a week before the competition. You're like, hey, let's try to spark something and you kind of like keep it in the back of their head you put up the poster in in the office of like hey this competition is coming up in july so last year our team actually lost in the semi-finals and we were like dominating everybody the whole summer but we lost in the semis and we were like devastated and that was actually my favorite thing about the competition is how devastated they were because it it showed me that they cared yeah So, you know, but, and it drove it a lot of competition. So anyway, sorry to go on a tangent, but recruiting and like building a team off competitions and then just like reminding them and getting the team bought it on it.
00:26:15
Speaker
You create a culture where it's like, it's not cool to not be competitive. Does that make sense? Yeah. that's good. Yeah. And I think, yeah, I think that's key. Just like planning it. Cause I see all the time guys try to throw a competition like the day before. Yeah.
00:26:27
Speaker
But yeah, the most successful ones I see them like, you know, promote not in social media. They got the posters. I like talking about it. Oh yeah. getting guys ready. I think that helps a ton. And Taylor released his competition schedule for like all of 2023, you know, he's like, boom, here it is.
00:26:42
Speaker
Look forward to it. You know, I think that helped a lot. So yeah. Well, then, yeah, when your whole team's bought into, it's like, they're almost going to force the people who maybe aren't as competitive to be that way. Cause like, I mean, like, to be honest, I was getting a little like, not as competitive with the knock star stuff going on.
00:26:57
Speaker
Yeah. And, then like I was on the winning team. Melissa's team. Yeah. That we won. And I was like, yeah, I mean, I should have cared more about it, but I'm just like, ah whatever.
00:27:09
Speaker
But then um i saw that, like, they actually needed me to produce. They're like texting me like, hey, what do you got on the schedule? Like, what's going on? I'm like, oh, shoot, they actually like need me to go. Yeah. thoses I wasn't even really thinking about this before. And it worked. And so I'm like, oh, well. And then, yeah, my ah maybe we still would have won, but I put in a deal like I was on, you know, West Coast, like the last possible hour and all of it.
00:27:32
Speaker
And that ended up being like the difference maker, even though there's people that did way more deals than me, but like my one deal. So that's another thing. Yeah, if you have your whole team bought it, then they're going to almost like drag the other people yeah by the feet probably and be like, no, let's go out there and win this thing.
00:27:46
Speaker
And there always will be that one or like you know one or two people that like just either don't really care that much or they're kind of burnt out or whatever else. But yeah, that team aspect of lifting up for everybody, it helps and yeah And yeah, then I'll send, have Taylor. remember when you threw that deal in, was like super late, and they sent a screenshot of the chat, they were just blowing it up, and so, yeah, they did awesome. that Those two teams that week, they proved, I mean, it was like December, it was like the week before Christmas, and you guys threw in like 57 accounts or something like that, it was nuts. So it just, it proved to me, i was like, and a lot of those people were knocking in Colorado where snowing, and that was motivating for me to see that competition will really pull some crazy stuff out of people, yeah all for a trip with Tom Hopkins, you i'm gonna be on the team that's sick yeah but yeah man well no it's been awesome having you on the podcast today i'm excited to see you uh speak tomorrow so i'm gonna hear you more probably talk about that but yeah as um just to kind of like wrap up here um for guys that want to start like running set or closer model and like getting that cranking
00:28:49
Speaker
Like, how do you, I guess some advice on like managing the team? how do How do you like get people to step into leadership? And yeah do you have any like tips on like, you know, getting leadership cranking and not letting stuff kind of fall off, because especially if you're doing like,
00:29:04
Speaker
Because it sounds like you have some that are more summer and then summer. Yeah. You're around offices.
Efficient Sales Team Management
00:29:09
Speaker
Okay. One of the biggest things that I would give out as advice is don't underestimate the importance of an assistant. We hired an assistant just to help manage um like lead delegation, for example.
00:29:21
Speaker
Saved us so much time and headache that we could just focus on everything. what we were really good at, which was recruiting new setters if we needed to, but mainly training and selling, right? And so didn't have to worry about, um my gosh, I got to go you know delegate these appointments out to my closers and whatever else. like That was all done.
00:29:39
Speaker
And so I could focus and my leaders on my team could focus on the task that was more important for us, right? um I think that assistant costs like $1,500 per month or maybe like $3,000 per month or something like that. and Easiest investment I'll ever make again, right?
00:29:54
Speaker
So huge, huge, huge having that assistant helped. And then I think just having clear roles as far as like who people can go to ah for extra training, who people can go to for shouting on the doors.
00:30:07
Speaker
Making sure that the setters are just so taken care of and they know how to succeed brings up the whole morale the entire team. like We always would say that the setters were the lifeblood of the organization.
00:30:19
Speaker
You got to treat them like that, like wine and dine them. set up sweet incentives. Like our incentive budget this year on my team, like 95% it was setters and like made 5% closers. Because, you know, closers were just stoked to be able to have deals that they could go close. And these setters, we just focused all of our effort on on on them as far as that goes. But then also, obviously, you have to have a healthy balance.
00:30:41
Speaker
Because if your setters are world-class setters, but they have terrible closers coming behind them, and nothing happens. Yeah. So we we worked really hard on making sure that there was a high level, well, I guess a high standard for who could go close deals as well.
00:30:54
Speaker
Once you have a good synchronization between really good setters and really good closers, yeah, like in four months, like I mentioned, that Colorado out team popped off like 450 installs. so It's a phenomenal watch. which was really cool.
00:31:05
Speaker
But to get started, you know, you have to build a team that has a specific team. ah focus and goal. And that goal is to produce a ton of volume. And sometimes people have to be role players.
00:31:17
Speaker
I think one of the things that was maybe a little bit difficult last summer was some of the guys on the team weren't, weren't closing that well during certain times and so seasons, like during competition, for example, we're like, Hey, this week, we're probably not going to have you closing deals. Like we're have you self-shutting.
00:31:32
Speaker
And they were like not offended by that. They were understanding because they had already been set beforehand like, hey, these are the standards, right? And as that happened, they weren't frustrated with the fact that they were no longer closing.
00:31:45
Speaker
um They were team players. So you're forming a ah different type of team, but it's it's really rewarding, and you can get a ton of volume if you do it right. So yeah we're talking about it more tomorrow. if I'll give it more secrets there. Yeah, yeah. Sure. On the door-to-door con, yeah. Yeah.
00:31:59
Speaker
yeah But yeah, and I love but about the organization stuff because I've been on teams where the setters are like, there's confusion around who's going
Building Trust and Communication in Sales Teams
00:32:06
Speaker
to their deals. yeah There's confusion on like, there's like distrust that they even showed up to the appointment and they're like, go.
00:32:12
Speaker
that That lead was super solid. That was like in the bag. Yeah. And then the closer saying they went to it, but it wasn't there whatever. Yeah. then just like fights back and forth. Yeah. So like it creates, yeah, just a nightmare situation when the setters don't trust the closer and then right not organize.
00:32:29
Speaker
So I like that a lot. I think that's a huge key in all this. is Trust is huge too. Yeah. and One thing actually really fast just to touch on that, I think one thing that helped a lot, people shy away from this, and I think this is super important.
00:32:40
Speaker
A lot of people will shy away from like sending a confirmation text that day to confirm the appointment with the homeowner because they're like, oh, I'm just not going to text them because then they might cancel. And it's like, I looked at cancellations as a good thing because it opened up the opportunity for a same day or time where I could go knock with a rep.
00:32:58
Speaker
And I'd rather find out beforehand that that customer is either not gonna be home or is not interested enough to do it. And obviously, you know try to save the appointment, don't just roll over and die, right? But it actually opens up the opportunity for higher quality and that actually helped maximize our volume. There were so many days when we had a full schedule And because we would text out all the appointment mark all the customers to try to verify, maybe half of them fell off. I'm like, shoot, that's crazy.
00:33:24
Speaker
But then we'd go get five or six same days. And that is so much more valuable. So sometimes people are like, oh, I don't want to text people because I don't want to lose the deal. It opens up another door for sure. So be strict with that, right? Make sure that that happens. And I think that helps, especially when you get into high volume situations where your schedule is packed.
00:33:42
Speaker
You got to trim some of the fat to open up opportunities. doubt well So is it always text or do you sometimes call them or you guys are so always texting them? Sometimes we call them, but I think we just set the expectation with the homeowner at the time of setting the appointment that, Hey, we're to text you that day just to make sure that you're still good.
Appointment Management and Networking Opportunities
00:33:58
Speaker
um Because obviously, you know, we're working with a lot of homeowners out here and we want to make sure everybody gets, you know, gets visited. um And then you do need to coach your reps on how to text because there's a right way and a wrong way. It's like,
00:34:10
Speaker
hey, do you happen to you know potentially, hopefully still you know want us to come over today? It's like, no, definitely don't text that, right? Be strategic, um assume assume the appointment still, but it's more of like a you send me a thumbs up that that time still works for you, right? And and um if you do ah the correct text script, you'll actually get people that maybe we're going to forget about their appointment. They're like oh thanks for reminding me. Yeah, I'll i'll be there.
00:34:33
Speaker
And so all the reps, all the setters will text the customers. correct Yeah. So I've heard some people doing it where they have like their office person like sending yeah all the texts to them they send the same ones.
00:34:44
Speaker
And then if they don't confirm, so you guys would still go to those appointments, but just kind of like prioritize the ones that confirmed. Yeah, from day we definitely prioritize ones that confirmed. And sometimes like if they never confirmed um and we were double booked or triple booked, we'd just be like, hey, go back by the house today at some point and try to reset it.
00:35:00
Speaker
Right. And that that worked actually a lot. They'd go by the house and reset the appointment and for the next day or whatever. yeah And people are usually pretty understanding because the rep was like, well, I told you I was going to text you and then we didn't get a confirmation so we couldn't come by today, but we can come by tomorrow, right?
00:35:15
Speaker
People are usually pretty chill. It's all about expectations, you know? Well, good stuff, man. Well, yeah, I can't wait to hear you speak tomorrow. And then ah for people that want to connect more with you from this podcast, Tanner, what's the best way to reach out and yeah connect with you more?
00:35:28
Speaker
I'm super open. i love ah I love the abundance that the industry has taken on. People aren't afraid to go talk anymore. And you know, share their secrets and stuff. I love that we're all learning from each other. You know, I remember listening to you be like, I went from, you know, having 50 bucks in my bank account to closing over 150 solar deals. And i was like, oh, I want to do that.
00:35:45
Speaker
And yeah, things like that helped me do it. So I'm super open to whoever. i mean, you can DM me on Instagram and get my phone number. I'm Tanner L. Williams on Instagram. um I'm on Facebook, whatever. So. Okay, we'll hit them up. And then ah for our solopreneur listening, shoot Tanner DM and let them know you got some value from today's podcast.
00:36:04
Speaker
Shoot them a thank you. And then before we wrap up, any, ah I don't know, final advice or final words of wisdom you'd give to our ah listeners
Pursuing Personal Challenges for Success
00:36:10
Speaker
here? Yeah, last thing I would say, the thing that I've seen um make a huge difference in a lot of people's production or just leveling up in life in general right now is you see these big things about like everybody going doing cold plunges.
00:36:22
Speaker
yeah I don't think you need to do cold plunges necessarily, but go do something that challenges you. Like find something that's scary and do it. I think over the last couple of years, I've, I started doing like triathlons and that. Yeah, you're doing it. Ironmans. Yeah. So I've, I've done a few of those now and things like that just build your mental toughness. And, you know, looking at golden door last year, that's a pretty daunting task. Cause if you're looking at like a big mountain, right? 130 installs.
00:36:46
Speaker
Um, but going and doing those things, you know, all of a sudden work becomes easy. And, uh, That's the biggest thing that I think a lot of people in the industry do well that are high performers. And that's like one key step that I think took my my sales game to the next level is challenging myself outside of just work.
00:37:03
Speaker
And it's super gratifying. So go do something hard today. Yeah, that's awesome. And I think even more important in solar because, well, yeah, you've probably seen so many like, I think out of all the door-to-door things.
00:37:13
Speaker
industries i think solar there's more lazy people oh yeah like let's be honest we can go knock for a couple hours and probably still make six figures in a year pretty easy so complacency man it'll be the it'll destroy a lot of people's careers if they don't look out for it but on the flip side if they just act with a little bit of urgency they'll become millionaires so it's crazy it's a thin line too much money in solar i guess seriously i'm paying so much awesome Well, Tanner, thanks again for coming on. Thank you, Taylor. And hoping follow a followup podcast someday again. And ah yeah, appreciate you. And we'll be ah be in touch with everything. Absolutely. Thank you, man.
00:37:46
Speaker
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00:37:58
Speaker
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