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This Secret Give and Take Technique Gets Me Deals Galore
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In the sales process, negotiation and deal-making is a two-way street that involves our interests and the customer's. This episode helps you harness the balance of give and take, closing the same quality deals without exhausting too much compromise.
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Transcript
Introduction to Solarpreneur Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next
Taylor's Journey and Sales Mistakes
00:00:08
Speaker
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 fail.
What is a Solopreneur?
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.
Sales Team Strategies
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. So some of you already know that I run my own door-to- door door sales team here in San Diego.
Solar Scout App Introduction
00:00:46
Speaker
And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results. But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage.
00:00:57
Speaker
Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout, but it's not a door knocking app. It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market. It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using a given neighborhood.
00:01:15
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too. I'm going to be one of the first few SolarScout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up. But i told them, hey, I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show. you need give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:01:30
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.
00:01:43
Speaker
so Okay,
Sales Urgency and Holiday Leverage
00:01:44
Speaker
back to the show. Hey, SolarPrinters. Today we're going to be talking about the give and take method and how you can use it to sell lights out throughout the end of the year.
00:01:54
Speaker
so if you don't know what that is, you're about to learn and about to take it to another level. So welcome to the show. My name is Taylor Armstrong. We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals. and have a much better time in the solar industry. We are kicking off the holiday season. We've got Halloween right around the corner. Best day for door knockers.
00:02:12
Speaker
So take advantage. There's never been a better time to sell. And at the time of this recording, we know we've got some expiring incentives at the end of the end of the year, um even if you're not selling...
00:02:23
Speaker
loan products or ownership still take advantage of the urgency we've got in solar because um don't be like me there's times where we had a lot of urgency where we had expiring incentives that i just didn't treat it with the personal urgency that i should have so learn from me and go out with a fire Andrea and close some deals this week. Okay.
Pre-Thanksgiving Sales Blitz
00:02:46
Speaker
And so before we get into the topic of this episode, have a very special announcement.
00:02:52
Speaker
um We are going to be doing a blitz and it's going to be the week before Thanksgiving. We haven't made the official announcement yet, so this is just kind of the pre-announcement for it.
00:03:05
Speaker
It will be the... Make sure I'm getting my dates right here. The 17th through the 22nd tentatively, maybe a weekend before as well. So we're going to have this... It's going to be capped at 20 spots, so you're the first to hear it today in the podcast.
00:03:22
Speaker
ah We will include the link below. if you're interested in applying and so check it out. We'd love to hop on a call with you. We've got we're going to be rolling out some pretty exciting news with it, but um we've got some special guests coming. We've got people that have a thousand career installs in solar and and we've got some of the top guys in the industry that are going to be joining on this blitz that you're going be able to learn and train with.
00:03:48
Speaker
And of course, hang out with yours truly out there. So we'd love to have you Go apply before spots fill up and we'll see you the week before Thanksgiving. And what ah one of my favorite times to do it because it's before the bulk of the holidays.
00:04:02
Speaker
People are in a buying mood out here in California. They just got their highest bill of the year. People usually get their highest bill in September, October here in California. So it's a great time to be out grinding.
00:04:14
Speaker
So let me know if you would like to potentially join us. So that being said, let's jump into the
Give and Take Sales Technique
00:04:20
Speaker
episode. And this is one of my favorite techniques in sales because it just allows you to get so much out of your selling, out of your closing.
00:04:29
Speaker
Hey, and um probably the first, I've been doing this probably since I got in sales. You know, it's kind of, some would say a basic technique. technique lot of people don't do it though. And so one of my favorite explanations of it is in Sam Taggart's book, if you've not picked this up,
00:04:45
Speaker
This is one of my favorite books, you know, applies to door to door selling ABCs of closing. OK, and if you've read this book, there is the section it's called the discount or deal close and go look at D and, you know.
00:05:00
Speaker
Get it? ABC is a closing. He goes through a to Z, different closes. A lot of good information in the book. And so i'm going to read from you a little explanation from our guy, Sam Taggart.
00:05:11
Speaker
Think of how you can use this and apply it in solar. And after we get through, so make sure you stay till the end because I'm going to give you a way that you probably haven't thought about to use this little give and take technique.
00:05:22
Speaker
So stay and then, yeah, you're not going to want to miss that. So here's what he says. He says, naturally, people don't like to be sold. Deals such as buy one, and get one free or Memorial Day specials are used to relieve buying pressure and help people make buying decisions. Everyone gets skeptical when being sold and they want to know what they're getting and the biggest bang
Risks of Over-Giving in Sales
00:05:40
Speaker
for their buck. We constantly validate purchases by checking prices online or by calling a trusted friend expert. There are even times when we won't buy something simply because we think that the products may be better priced in the future.
00:05:52
Speaker
If you get in the habit of give, give, give, you won't be an effective closer. Top reps always practice the give and take method. If a customer is asking for a lower price, a free month, waived activations, or so on, and you are willing to do it, you need to ask for something in return.
00:06:06
Speaker
This can be as simple as a banana for the road or a glass of water. My go-to ask is always for referrals. The best way to do this before is before you say yes to lowering the price or whatever you do. Make sure to set some ground rules as to what you need in return in order for what in order for you to offer the deal. Later, I'll demonstrate what I mean by this and how it can lead to a close simply by doing this the right way. So before we go on, think of that.
00:06:31
Speaker
Are in your closing, are you someone that's giving away better deals? Are you someone that's giving away the best pricing, that's just dropping your commission, giving customers the farm?
00:06:41
Speaker
If you are then you need to like start thinking, how can you give and take? Because it not only makes you way less money, but it makes you a weaker closer. Okay, something interesting I noticed, actually just kind of recently, um our company, they were doing a six-month promotion,
00:06:57
Speaker
where we just gave them six months for free without having to do anything. Six months of free you know power, that is, we're selling a PPA, power purchase agreement. And I started noticing, and I didn't i didn't do a long-term study on this, it's just kind of anecdotal evidence. But in my closes, I started realizing that the people that I just like brought this up in the close, ah my closing ratio actually went down. and over the month that we were doing it.
00:07:26
Speaker
And it was like, that's so weird. do You think people would be jumping up and down excited that I'm literally giving them six months of free power to do this. But I noticed that people weren't really more excited. it wasn't changing the dynamic of the close.
00:07:40
Speaker
wasn't making them more excited. it wasn't giving me a higher closing ratio. Closing ratio. So I'm like, you know what? I'm not even going to bring this up unless I need to to use it for like give and take.
00:07:53
Speaker
But I'm not even going to bring this up in time, i'm like literally walking out the door. And I started realizing that my closing ratio went up and it was something kind of like a cherry on top that got them excited as I was leaving the house.
00:08:06
Speaker
Because solar is, in my opinion, right? And what I felt like was happening is solar is already something, especially here in Southern California, that's saving people a lot of money, that's great for them.
00:08:16
Speaker
And sometimes people have a hard time believing that it's as good as we're saying it is. And then to throw in six months of power on top of that, where they don't have to pay a bill. To me, it was almost like offering them too much, giving them too much that they felt like, ah you know what, um I'm going to think about this more.
00:08:32
Speaker
or this is like way too good. Right. And again, this is just stuff that realized in like a month. Okay. So I don't know, maybe it was just, maybe we did a long-term study on this.
00:08:43
Speaker
Who knows? I think that's a true principle though. And it's like the book says, if you are in the habit of giving too much away for nothing, it's going to make you a week closer. You're going to make less money.
00:08:54
Speaker
And I think people are going to walk all over you, right? And my favorite, one of my other favorite books, Pitch Anything, shouldve read that should have read that by now, Warren Klaff, classic sales book. But he talks about that too, just framing the deal, right? flin Framing is you're the one in control.
00:09:10
Speaker
And you think if you're the one in control, Are you going to be giving away everything? No, probably not. Right. So think of that next time you're in a close and start to use this give and take method.
Value of Referrals vs. Commission
00:09:21
Speaker
So I'm goingnna read one more section here and then I'm going to tell you an unexpected way that I use this recently.
00:09:27
Speaker
There's actually outside of a close that got me extra customers. So one last little section here. says, be extremely careful of getting into the habit of giving away the farm. This is the lazy way of closing. Forming this habit actually makes you weaker as weak as a closer.
00:09:42
Speaker
And in the long term, you will sell less. It is better to utilize utilize the offering that you were going to give in the first place in order to leverage on deal giving versus giving them a killer deal and then entering into negotiation.
00:09:55
Speaker
By not doing this this way, you will really eat into your commissions. Stay true to your values on what you believe is fair. I've walked away from some customers that have flagged me down one week later saying they thought about it and want to buy it because I had originally told them that if they get this now, I would waive their initial payment. And if they wanted to buy later, I wouldn't do that. I had to stay true to that statement.
00:10:16
Speaker
Remember, though, a deal is better than no deal, even if you only make a little on it. And the main reason being that it will help you get another name in the area. And if done right, get referrals on it. Sometimes people care too much about the commission versus the number.
00:10:28
Speaker
you are willing, if you are in the business of winning and selling lights out, don't be afraid to care more about the number versus how much you make on each deal. You will end up selling more deals anyway with that mindset.
00:10:40
Speaker
So that's a great point. And before we get into the little secret way that I was able to use this, I just think about that too. Don't be afraid. um Like we all know we need to make what we deserve, but is a better to make less on one customer and they get maybe four other customers or to just like be so caught up making as much you can on one customer?
00:11:02
Speaker
And then maybe having them unhappy and not getting referrals from it. So think about that. um i actually have a podcast coming up with a guest that sells lights out. Not going to want to miss that. We'll announce on the next episode.
00:11:14
Speaker
So, so, so many, one of the top reps in solar, if not the top rep, he, one of the things he talks about is he's not afraid to sell for lower to get more customers. Okay. And he's not giving things away.
00:11:27
Speaker
Right. But he's asking for referrals. He's tying it to what he can get him. And he's keeping his customers happy and he's selling quantity. Right. So I think it's better to sell a lot, get referrals from it than be so caught up on making a bag on one customer.
Turning Cancellations into Leads
00:11:43
Speaker
yeah So hopefully that gives you some some things that you want. Hey, but here's the unexpected way I use this. And I don't know if a lot of people have done this, but um so I'm going to end with this story and maybe you can try this. So this was a customer that I'd signed up.
00:11:59
Speaker
It had been about a month and then he calls me and he's like, hey, you know what, Taylor, my wife, she doesn't want to go through with this anymore. We're gonna have to cancel. and I'm sorry. We had everything ready to go. we had permit. We had we were ready for an install date. The only thing we didn't get yet was the HOA approval. That's what we we're waiting on. So of course, I'm like, ah man, you got to be kidding me.
00:12:21
Speaker
And naturally, when they're that far in the process, my thinking is, you know what? They've got to we've done work. So if they really want to cancel, then they should pay a cancellation fee, right? And this is more so it's like we don't actually want to pay a cancellation fee, but more so we want to use it as leverage to get them to not cancel, right? Because if we can get back in front of them explain to them, then that's been an effective way to save a lot of deals. And I've done podcasts that on that in the past.
00:12:48
Speaker
But, you know, short answer is get in front of people as much as you can if they are trying to cancel. hey And so I tell this customer, hey, um you know what? All right, we need to, I'm gonna have meet up and go through the cancellation form with you.
00:13:01
Speaker
When's a good day to come by? We set an appointment to do that. So I go back last weekend and I'm telling, explaining to them, um okay, here's the form we need you to sign. But look, Mr. Customer, um unfortunately, the the company, they have done a lot of work on this.
00:13:17
Speaker
They pulled a permit. They They engineered plans, designs. And so typically this point, point just to be blunt with you, there is an invoice they would send you. And it's the last thing we want you guys to do is have to pay an invoice. But I mean, we are a business. We have done a lot of work on it.
00:13:33
Speaker
And, you know, of course, he gets a little frustrated. I've had customers literally like freak out and slam the door when I've said that. But this customer, he's like upset, but not like pissed off or anything at this point.
00:13:45
Speaker
And I'm like, so yeah, um I mean, is there any way we can make this work? um And send I'll offer them an additional like discount. I'm like, they they told me to come to you. And if we can make it work, then we'd be happy to...
00:13:59
Speaker
rather than you guys losing in out rather than us losing. Let's just give you like three, four months of no bill. You guys win. You still save money. And then everyone's happy. But this guy, he was dead set. I guess it was more his wife. She was just like, absolutely no to the solar and just totally changed your mind. So he's like, no, we can't do it. So I'm like, OK, well, um so here's I mean, the amount would usually be this month much that you guys would have to pay. But look, I want to help you guys out.
00:14:29
Speaker
So the last thing that we can offer you guys is, even though it didn't work out for you, is if you could get us three introductions of people that would be open to hearing us out, then um the company willing to go ahead and waive that fee, ah you know, in hopes that we can...
00:14:47
Speaker
get a get some more business from it. But we really don't want you guys up to pay that. So that's, that's the offer that we will make you. How does that sound, Mr. Customer? And right when I said that, um you know, it's a whole give and take right there. You know, he was ah less mad, he still wasn't happy. But he's like, Okay, well, makes sense.
00:15:06
Speaker
Yeah, you really don't want them to pay that. um You know what? Yeah, I'll i'll find you I'll find the three people next week. And he agreed to get me three potential customers. So we turn to cancel into maybe possibly three more customers. And I've done this in the past. This isn't the first time. So it does work.
00:15:25
Speaker
I have gotten um leads, deals from it. But it's a way that probably a lot of people don't think about. right and Maybe some of you have gotten in front of your customers, but it's like, hey, if you're not going to do this, we have a invested time. So look, I don't want you to pay. It's the last thing I want you guys to do is have to pay an invoice. But just so we can be square on it and hopefully make some of what we lost on your project back.
00:15:47
Speaker
this is what they're needing. So we can give you a week. Do you think you could get us three introductions this week of people that would do it? And a lot of people will say yes to that. So this is a way you can use good give and take, kind of a unique way. So remember this this ah technique, it's not just to be used in deals. We didn't really talk about it as much in your closing process. But if you have people that cancel, you can use this and go save deals today.
Creative Applications of Give and Take
00:16:13
Speaker
Maybe not save them, but you can use it to get deals from your cancels.
00:16:17
Speaker
And maybe your deal that canceled, maybe you got three deals from that. So now it doesn't hurt so much anymore, right? Hey, so hopefully this helps you think of some creative ways you can use the give and take method. This is extremely powerful.
00:16:30
Speaker
And I will probably do a future episode on how you can best use it in your appointments as well. But let me know if you enjoyed this type of content today. And ah please keep the guest suggestions coming. We've got some powerful guests in the lineup. I'm going to make some announcements of them.
00:16:45
Speaker
um probably in the next episode. So stay tuned and then please go apply to come on our next Blitz. Would love to hang in with you. So I'll see you on the next one. Be great. Go close some deals this week.
Introduction to Solcitee Community
00:16:57
Speaker
Hey, solopreneurs, quick question. What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day?
00:17:09
Speaker
For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite level solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level. That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with top performers in the industry. And it's called Solcitee. This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give Solar Pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it, less than $3.45 Currently, SoulCity is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled. So go to SoulCity.co to learn more and join the learning experience now. This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to SoulCity.co and join. We'll see you on the inside.