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Secrets to Creating a Winning Culture from a Solar Consultant - Sam Taggart
69 Plays5 years ago
Tune in now and don't forget to sign up for www.solciety.co!
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Solarpreneur podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong and 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 fail. I teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bringing the top solar dogs, the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals. What is a Solarpreneur you might ask a Solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery. And you are about to become what's up.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
We're back with another episode, we got familiar face on the show. If you've been a time listener, you have probably heard the episode with the man, the myth, the legend to Sam Taggart. And we're fortunate enough today to have him back on the show. So Sam, thanks for coming back. Once again, he must be doing something right for you to agree to come on the show again. No, I'm, I'm excited to hear, to spread the love, you know? Yeah. Well, you're doing awesome things, man. And, um, I'm just happy that you pull off a door to, to work on steel during COVID. I thought it was going to be canceled, but you were like the only events that I saw even still happens. I'm like, dang, she pulled this off. I better get to it. Yeah, it was, it was, we had to move venues two weeks before like really I was literally pulled out from under us and they're like, Hey, we're not gonna, we're not gonna be able to load your event.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I'm like, Oh, what do you want me to do? Call like 600 people and just tell them, Hey, we're moving. Like not doing it. Like, like, what do you want me to do? So I'm like me and me door knock. And Sam, I just go start knocking on venues. I'm like, how about deer? How about here? How about here? And I just started calling. There's not a ton of options in Utah with like to fit that many people and vendors. And it was hard, but, uh, yeah. So, but yeah, kudos. You've pulled it off. I'm just, I was, I was sad that David Goggins didn't want to come anymore, get seatbelt. He got scared of COVID dude. Like he literally was like, Oh, I'm just nervous to travel with Kona. And I was like, you can't hurt me. What dad is doc. They're like, no iron cowboy. And he's doing his hundred Ironman right now in a hundred days. And there's anybody that James Lawrence was like, yeah, David Goggins a. And I was like, anybody can say that you got some balls to shake. I'll shut my mouth. They'll beat my, I thought it was funny that John Maxwell comes and he's like, what? 70, 80 years old? I literally tell John Maxwell. I was like, Hey, I was so shocked that you came David Goggins Belden. And John Maxor goes, Oh, COVID, it's a joke. It's not real.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I was like, Oh, it's not even real. That's awesome. I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
But he was so cool. I have so much more respect for Maxwell. Like just how he showed up and like just who he is. I mean, I'm excited. I'm excited for this next year. We're we're vetting some speakers right now. I'm not going to say, but, um, we're open to suggestions too. So if anybody's listening to this, like I'm friends with Mark Cuban, I'd be like, yes. So I am throwing that out to the universe. Um, so connect me if you guys know of any good keynotes, so,
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Okay, good, good. Oh, cool. Um, so hopefully you should all know who Sam is, but I guess if you don't, I mean, he's the door to door master. He's started door to door expe
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Transcript
Introduction and Taylor's Journey
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 how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a Solarpreneur you might ask?
00:00:33
Speaker
A Solarpreneur is a new breed of Solar Pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
Sam Taggart's Resilience During COVID
00:00:43
Speaker
All right, what's up, solopreneurs?
00:00:44
Speaker
We're back with another episode.
00:00:46
Speaker
We got a familiar face on the show.
00:00:48
Speaker
If you've been a longtime listener, you have probably heard the episode with the man, the myth, the legend, Sam Taggart.
00:00:55
Speaker
And we're fortunate enough today to have him back on the show.
00:00:58
Speaker
So Sam, thanks for coming back once again.
00:01:01
Speaker
We must be doing something right for you to agree to come on the show again.
00:01:04
Speaker
No, I'm excited here to spread the love, you know?
00:01:10
Speaker
Yeah, we're doing awesome things, man.
00:01:11
Speaker
And I'm just happy that you pulled off a door-to-door con still during COVID.
00:01:17
Speaker
I thought it was going to be canceled, but you were like the only events that I saw even still happening.
00:01:21
Speaker
So I'm like, dang, if you pulled this off, I better get to it.
00:01:24
Speaker
Yeah, it was, it was, we had to move venues two weeks before.
00:01:27
Speaker
Like I was literally pulled out from under us and they're like, Hey, we're not going to, we're not going to be able to hold your event.
00:01:33
Speaker
I'm like, Oh, what do you want me to call like 600 people and just tell them, Hey, we're like not doing it.
00:01:39
Speaker
Like, like what do you want me to do?
00:01:40
Speaker
So I'm like me, me door knocking, Sam, I just started knocking on venues.
00:01:44
Speaker
I'm like, how about here?
00:01:45
Speaker
How about here?
00:01:46
Speaker
How about here?
00:01:46
Speaker
And I just start calling.
00:01:47
Speaker
There's not a ton of options in Utah with like to fit that many people and vendors and
00:01:52
Speaker
It was hard, but it happened.
00:01:55
Speaker
Well, yeah, kudos to you for pulling it off.
00:01:57
Speaker
I was sad that David Goggins didn't want to come anymore.
Event Challenges and Notable Guests
00:02:01
Speaker
Guess he built, huh?
00:02:02
Speaker
He got scared of COVID, dude.
00:02:03
Speaker
He literally was like, oh, I'm just nervous to travel with COVID.
00:02:06
Speaker
And I was like, can't hurt me what?
00:02:09
Speaker
You're the baddest dude out there.
00:02:15
Speaker
I know.
00:02:15
Speaker
Iron Cowboy, and he's doing his 100 Ironmen right now in 100 days.
00:02:20
Speaker
James Lawrence was like,
00:02:22
Speaker
Yeah, David Goggins a pussy.
00:02:23
Speaker
And I was like, anybody can say that?
00:02:27
Speaker
You got some balls.
00:02:33
Speaker
Touche.
00:02:33
Speaker
Touche.
00:02:34
Speaker
I won't say anything.
00:02:35
Speaker
I'll shut my mouth.
00:02:36
Speaker
I'll beat my head.
00:02:38
Speaker
I thought it was funny that John Maxwell comes and he's like, what, 70, 80 years old.
00:02:42
Speaker
I literally tell John Maxwell, I was like, hey, I was so shocked that you came.
00:02:45
Speaker
David Goggins bailed and John Maxwell goes, COVID's a joke.
00:02:49
Speaker
It's not real.
Sam Taggart's Industry Accomplishments
00:02:53
Speaker
wow that's awesome i was like what's up joe maxwell dude she's like oh it's not even real that's awesome i didn't know my hero he was so cool i have so much more respect for maxwell like just how he showed up and like just who he is i'm excited i'm
00:03:12
Speaker
I'm excited for this next year.
00:03:13
Speaker
We're vetting some speakers right now.
00:03:15
Speaker
I'm not going to say, but we're open to suggestions too.
00:03:19
Speaker
So if anybody's listening to this is like, I'm friends with Mark Cuban, I'd be like, yes.
00:03:26
Speaker
So I am throwing that out of the universe.
00:03:29
Speaker
Um,
00:03:30
Speaker
So connect me if you guys don't have any good keynotes.
00:03:33
Speaker
Okay, good, good.
00:03:35
Speaker
Oh, cool.
00:03:36
Speaker
So hopefully you should all know who Sam is, but I guess if you don't, I mean, he's the door-to-door master.
00:03:42
Speaker
He's, you know, started door-to-door experts.
00:03:44
Speaker
He has the door-to-door podcasts.
00:03:46
Speaker
So unless it's like your first day or something, you probably should have heard of Sam by now, I would hope.
00:03:52
Speaker
um but yeah that's what he's about so if you haven't go subscribe to his podcast he's doing a good ton of awesome stuff and we'll talk about his event he has coming up soon um but sam what i kind of wanted to jam on today is just the first ep uh podcast we did with you we focused more on like the solar specific stuff like i think we did kind of like a live role play thing and
00:04:14
Speaker
you know, broke down objections, things
Vision and Identity for Business Success
00:04:16
Speaker
like that.
00:04:16
Speaker
So this time I kind of wanted to focus on what you've really just learned.
00:04:20
Speaker
If you've consulted all these companies and you've been doing this for years, you've probably seen what works, what doesn't work and have a ton of ideas on that.
00:04:28
Speaker
So I kind of wanted to see just kind of the broader perspective, I guess now.
00:04:33
Speaker
So in all your consulting, what do you see that is making a big difference for the solar companies you work with?
00:04:39
Speaker
I guess what's, what's been helping the companies you work with?
00:04:43
Speaker
Um,
00:04:44
Speaker
It's everybody asks me like, what are the behaviors that I should be doing?
00:04:48
Speaker
Right?
00:04:49
Speaker
Like teach me the right pay skills, teach me the right, you know, knocking techniques, teach me the right training.
00:04:55
Speaker
What they're not asking is they like, I go to most companies and they'd never really understand why they're a company.
00:05:02
Speaker
Like what's their identity.
00:05:05
Speaker
And I'm finding the companies that really get clarity around their vision, their core values, their identity, right?
00:05:11
Speaker
and anchoring in some foundational elements of like what our mission is, then it's so much easier to couple on the, the, the behaviors and the structures and all the other things that follow.
00:05:27
Speaker
So a big piece of what we do a lot of times is just help realign them because even businesses have been around for 10 years.
00:05:34
Speaker
I mean, we've consulted some, you know, billion dollar companies and it's like,
00:05:40
Speaker
we're just sitting here kind of like, you've lost your mojo.
00:05:43
Speaker
You've lost like why you even exist.
00:05:45
Speaker
You're just stuck in this mud of like, we're just like rowing, but with no direction.
00:05:50
Speaker
I'm like, so where are we going?
00:05:53
Speaker
I don't know, you know, another 10 million.
00:05:54
Speaker
And it's like, okay, where are we going?
00:05:59
Speaker
And I'm like, your people are losing a little bit of their
00:06:04
Speaker
love because they don't see the vision.
00:06:06
Speaker
They're not getting communicated with on the path.
00:06:10
Speaker
They're not getting enrolled every week, every month, every year, why they should relist, reenlist in your company.
00:06:18
Speaker
Does that make sense?
00:06:19
Speaker
So like a lot of big problem in this industry is turnover.
00:06:22
Speaker
A lot of big problem in this industry is how do I avoid getting my reps to go start their own company or go to my, get poached or, or ask for more money or whatever that is.
00:06:31
Speaker
And I'm like, yeah,
00:06:33
Speaker
They got to understand like where you're going.
00:06:36
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:06:37
Speaker
Driving themselves.
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:39
Speaker
Yeah, no.
00:06:40
Speaker
And I know that was, that was a big problem we had.
00:06:42
Speaker
It's one of the previous companies I worked for is we would hire, it was a setter closer model.
00:06:47
Speaker
So we'd hire all these setters on, but then, you know, fast forward a few months, these setters start hearing how much like the closers can make and, you know, even reps from other companies and things like that.
00:06:58
Speaker
And then they start asking how they can progress.
00:07:01
Speaker
And the culture is basically you can't progress.
00:07:05
Speaker
We want you to just keep, you know, keep setting deals.
00:07:09
Speaker
So it just caused a ton of turnover.
00:07:10
Speaker
Yeah, we had some solid guys, but they wanted like, what's that next step?
00:07:14
Speaker
How can we progress into like closing the managing or whatever the next thing is?
00:07:19
Speaker
So yeah, I think that is super important is creating that vision and just helping guys see what the next step is, where they can go.
00:07:26
Speaker
So when you're consulting these companies, how do you get them to like, what are the steps you take them through to help them out with this and create like, I don't know, that vision and keep their reps motivated and all that.
Clarifying Business Goals and Strategies
00:07:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:38
Speaker
And every, every, like, I mean, the first thing is every company is unique.
00:07:41
Speaker
And so it's really understanding, like getting down to the root of what, what, what do you want?
00:07:47
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:07:47
Speaker
It's like,
00:07:49
Speaker
some companies like we have a pest control company that we kept asking like well are you building this to sell off your accounts are you building this to just keep building a reoccurring residual are you building this to go and you know build more in an empire all over do you want to stay the local guy and lean and mean and take big distributions do you want to keep reinvesting like i don't know you tell me and i'm like well
00:08:15
Speaker
I'm not going to tell you what you want.
00:08:16
Speaker
Like that defeats the purpose.
00:08:18
Speaker
If I just projected what I want on you in a week, you're going to be like, well, that's maybe not what I want.
00:08:24
Speaker
And I'm like, but the fact that you can't answer what do you want, that's the impediment to your real growth and success.
00:08:32
Speaker
But the clarity when you can understand what you want and define it in clarity and then go into why you want it.
00:08:40
Speaker
then it makes it easier to go in and construct.
00:08:43
Speaker
So a lot of the things I start with is like, what do you want?
00:08:46
Speaker
Like, what do you want?
00:08:47
Speaker
Let's fast forward a year.
00:08:48
Speaker
What do you want to have happen?
00:08:49
Speaker
Let's fast forward five years.
00:08:51
Speaker
What do you want to have happen?
00:08:52
Speaker
Oh, I want to be selling off into the sunset in the Bahamas and sell my company.
00:08:56
Speaker
I'm like, okay, what assets do you have?
00:08:58
Speaker
What's the, what's the enterprise value?
00:09:00
Speaker
You're a fricking sales org.
00:09:01
Speaker
You don't even install.
00:09:02
Speaker
Do you have any IP?
00:09:03
Speaker
Do you have any actual value?
00:09:07
Speaker
Okay, then let's start putting some tracks down right now to put some enterprise value to where somebody actually transact.
00:09:13
Speaker
Like, who are you going to sell to?
00:09:14
Speaker
They're like, well, I don't know.
00:09:16
Speaker
Like, well, how do you sell when you don't even know what type of buyers are looking to buy you?
00:09:22
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:22
Speaker
And I'm like, okay, you're going after private equity and banks?
00:09:24
Speaker
Are you going after a bigger solar company to acquire you?
00:09:26
Speaker
And why would a bigger solar company buy you if they're already there?
00:09:30
Speaker
Like, what value?
00:09:31
Speaker
And so I just start quizzing them.
00:09:33
Speaker
And they're just like, I don't know.
00:09:35
Speaker
And I'm like, okay, at least the wheel's turning.
00:09:38
Speaker
And so being a coach or consultant, it's like, it's fun because I get to ask the questions they're afraid to ask themselves, but they know deep down inside they should be asking themselves and they're just avoiding it.
00:09:53
Speaker
Yeah.
Understanding Personal Motivations
00:09:55
Speaker
No, that's key.
00:09:55
Speaker
And I think that's something that even just sells people can do too is I think you talked about this just on your most recent episode is just that like why exercise, figuring out why you're trying to do the things you do.
00:10:07
Speaker
And like, you know, Dean Graciosi talks about like the seven whys and just digging super deep on the why.
00:10:13
Speaker
And most people I know when I did that exercise, I didn't know why I had a tough time answering the questions of why I wanted to do anything.
00:10:23
Speaker
So when you dig seven levels deep, it's like, you know.
00:10:26
Speaker
It's hard.
00:10:27
Speaker
And another exercise that I didn't mention that podcast, it's a good one.
00:10:30
Speaker
It's like, okay, so where are you, you know, you're going to go build this solar company.
00:10:37
Speaker
And then what?
00:10:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:39
Speaker
And then, you know, do it with me.
00:10:41
Speaker
So, Taylor, you're running a solar company.
00:10:44
Speaker
So, you build this solar company and then what?
00:10:52
Speaker
I sell it and or.
00:10:56
Speaker
So, you sell the solar company.
00:10:58
Speaker
Yeah, I sell it, sell it.
00:11:00
Speaker
um make tons of money retire and yeah just vacation the rest of the time just go on there you make tons of money your vacation and then and then what um yeah just spend time with my kids helping with soccer practice and uh go skiing you go skiing and then what um
00:11:25
Speaker
Then I start doing some real estate, buy some houses.
00:11:29
Speaker
And... So you buy some real estate, you buy some houses.
00:11:39
Speaker
And then I start buying some commercial real estate, some apartment units.
00:11:44
Speaker
You got commercial real estate.
00:11:46
Speaker
God, I didn't know what.
00:11:49
Speaker
And then I...
00:11:55
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know.
00:11:55
Speaker
I buy an island.
00:11:56
Speaker
So you bought an island?
00:11:59
Speaker
Go live on the island.
Living in the Present vs. Chasing Future Goals
00:12:06
Speaker
I don't know.
00:12:06
Speaker
Just relax on the island.
00:12:08
Speaker
Just hang out the rest of my life.
00:12:10
Speaker
You've got these commercial properties.
00:12:12
Speaker
You're relaxing on an island in Enwa.
00:12:18
Speaker
So this is the point.
00:12:19
Speaker
You can't think.
00:12:20
Speaker
So you're just now trying to answer, right?
00:12:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:24
Speaker
you're trying to give me an answer just to give me an answer i get it the point is and then you die yeah okay eventually you're gonna die right but most people never even think that they like i challenge them like this and then what and then what and i'm like so where are you going and then they're like oh then i do this and then i do this and i'm like okay and then what and then you die and what happens is so many people are so preoccupied about like this life after death or there's
00:12:51
Speaker
where do we come from and what's the purpose?
00:12:53
Speaker
And I'm like, we need to preoccupy more about is there life before death?
00:12:58
Speaker
Is there life now?
00:12:59
Speaker
Is there happiness?
00:13:00
Speaker
Like we chased this whole, like, I'm going to be a $10 million company one day.
00:13:05
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:06
Speaker
And then what?
00:13:06
Speaker
It's like, where are you going?
00:13:08
Speaker
And I think I watched these businesses.
00:13:09
Speaker
They just like, I literally just had this tech company in here.
00:13:13
Speaker
They're like, we're going to do this thing.
00:13:14
Speaker
We're going to do this.
00:13:14
Speaker
And then we're going to sell in three years.
00:13:15
Speaker
And then, and then, and then,
00:13:20
Speaker
And I'm like, you know, is it like, is this going to kill us and make us terribly unsatisfied trying to do it?
00:13:26
Speaker
Are we going to be happy doing this?
00:13:27
Speaker
Is it fun?
00:13:28
Speaker
Are we aligned?
00:13:28
Speaker
Is it as what's now?
00:13:30
Speaker
Like, I love looking in the future and I love living and taking risks.
00:13:34
Speaker
But I think so often businesses, they they're so focused sometimes on an exit.
00:13:41
Speaker
They're so focused on the life after death.
00:13:44
Speaker
Once I'm done knocking doors, life will be good.
00:13:48
Speaker
I'm done running the solar company in the mud and the chaos.
00:13:52
Speaker
I'll then be in the sunset.
00:13:53
Speaker
And I'm like, really?
00:13:55
Speaker
That's what I'm looking for?
00:13:57
Speaker
Does that make sense?
00:14:00
Speaker
Hold on.
00:14:01
Speaker
Let's reevaluate who you are and how you're living.
00:14:07
Speaker
And nine times out of 10, it switches to more of a personal development leadership conversation because I go, you're chasing something that's just not even...
00:14:17
Speaker
really something you need to cling to.
00:14:19
Speaker
And you're disappointed because you're not selling or making enough or you're super satisfied because you're making more than you ever thought.
00:14:26
Speaker
But you're clinging to this expectation, this ideal that you've created somehow in your mind.
00:14:32
Speaker
And we need to deconstruct that sometimes and say, let's get to the roots.
00:14:36
Speaker
Yeah, sure.
00:14:39
Speaker
And I think it's, yeah, to that point, all the people that are knocking, especially in solar, we hear that all the time is like, oh, I'm just going to get online leads now because I don't have to knock anymore.
00:14:51
Speaker
Or once I start managing, then I don't have to like knock anymore.
00:14:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:56
Speaker
And then when I start managing, like I can only babysit and have all these crazy hours for X amount of years.
00:15:01
Speaker
And then they're like, oh, and then what?
00:15:02
Speaker
And I just, I'm like, how about you just love what you do now?
00:15:07
Speaker
Yeah, that's huge.
00:15:10
Speaker
So yeah, something that comes to mind.
00:15:12
Speaker
I know you helped Mo follow on those boys, Simple Solar.
00:15:16
Speaker
I was talking to him.
00:15:17
Speaker
He was telling me that you guys helped their company out a lot, probably on some of these same things.
00:15:24
Speaker
But I don't know.
00:15:24
Speaker
Do you have any stories around that or any companies that you've helped them kind of identify those big things, turn them around?
00:15:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:31
Speaker
Like take Mo perfect case study doing 30 a month comes, brings a bunch of his sales guys to our sales summit last year.
00:15:37
Speaker
So we just had ourselves some last week in Nashville.
00:15:39
Speaker
Last year we did it in Vegas.
00:15:40
Speaker
You know, just a new company, young entrepreneurs, 24, 25 years old is saying, okay, I'm going to do this.
00:15:47
Speaker
And he's hungry.
00:15:47
Speaker
He's ambitious.
00:15:48
Speaker
He's got swagger.
00:15:49
Speaker
He's, he's the right profile.
00:15:51
Speaker
If I could go recruit a guy like that, you're like, damn, like he's, he's the stuff.
00:15:55
Speaker
It's not just Mo it's Josh is his VP.
00:15:58
Speaker
It's John.
00:15:59
Speaker
It's,
00:15:59
Speaker
it says Anthony, it's, it's, they have a lot of good reps that are young, hungry, and ambitious.
00:16:05
Speaker
And it was really easy for a guy like him to get caught up in the, I'm happy selling my 50 deals, 30 deals a month, making a fat override and let's just be okay.
00:16:14
Speaker
And he took a big plunge.
00:16:17
Speaker
He joined my mastermind, even though he was the youngest dude in my mastermind group.
00:16:20
Speaker
Most of these guys are big CEOs and
00:16:23
Speaker
He then hires us to consult him and which is a six figure dollar amount.
00:16:27
Speaker
I mean, and when we consult the company, it's like deep, deep, we recruit for you.
00:16:31
Speaker
We recruited probably 30, 40% of his people and helped him add a bunch of bodies.
00:16:35
Speaker
We helped him put a bunch of his sales systems together as training platforms.
00:16:40
Speaker
strategy his areas his schedule how he runs his meetings how he runs his competitions how he does like all that like we just said let's lay this out there we call it the unfair advantage and um i mean that's what we really do we have a bunch of experts and um brandon was their expert he's a stud and um what what he came to somebody he says all right i'm in let's do this
00:17:02
Speaker
And we had to compete against another one of our clients is also another fat success story of Voltaic right in the same backyard.
00:17:09
Speaker
We said, let's compete them against each other because too often companies don't have an antagonist to fight.
00:17:14
Speaker
So we just launched this national knocking league amongst all of our consulting clients to facilitate something similar.
00:17:21
Speaker
But what it is is we said, okay, let's put this in place.
00:17:25
Speaker
And last month in March, he just did 300 solar deals.
00:17:29
Speaker
So it's like he went, he 10 X his whole company.
00:17:33
Speaker
over the last 12 months and that we've been working with them.
00:17:37
Speaker
It's been really fun to watch him develop as a leader because speed of the leader, speed of the team.
00:17:41
Speaker
He was pouring into himself to say, and he was that squeaky wheel.
00:17:46
Speaker
We have a lot of clients.
00:17:47
Speaker
Some of them never talk to us.
00:17:49
Speaker
They only raise their hand when we ask them to raise their hand, but Mo was the type that milked
00:17:55
Speaker
probably out of what he paid us three times out of what he paid
Success Story of Mo's Solar Business
00:17:59
Speaker
us.
00:17:59
Speaker
Does that make sense?
00:18:00
Speaker
Like we agreed to doing this for him and we ended up doing this because he was always calling us always.
00:18:06
Speaker
I mean, he came on our company trip.
00:18:07
Speaker
Like he was like, how do I hang out with you guys way more?
00:18:09
Speaker
Like how do I be more and more and more and more and more and more involved so that I can get more and more and more and more out of,
00:18:16
Speaker
understanding what the collective of solar, what the collective of door to door sales reps, what the collective of the network and what you guys bring to the table.
00:18:24
Speaker
And he did it right.
00:18:25
Speaker
Like I applaud him.
00:18:26
Speaker
I literally was like, you don't need me anymore.
00:18:28
Speaker
Like I literally was like, you fly little birdie.
00:18:31
Speaker
I got like a bunch of little companies that are trying to freaking figure what you just did out and I need to go help them.
00:18:37
Speaker
You know, so for me, it's, it's, it's really fun.
00:18:41
Speaker
I could give you 20 use cases like that over the last 12 months that we have.
00:18:45
Speaker
He's just really loud about it.
00:18:47
Speaker
But he's a stud, dude.
00:18:49
Speaker
What a stud.
00:18:50
Speaker
Incredible.
00:18:52
Speaker
I know.
00:18:52
Speaker
I couldn't believe it.
00:18:53
Speaker
I got on the stage.
00:18:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:55
Speaker
I mean, at door-to-door con, he hopped on the stage.
00:18:58
Speaker
And, like, I thought it was other guys winning awards.
00:19:01
Speaker
But the entire team up there on the stage, what award did he win up there?
00:19:05
Speaker
Is it like?
00:19:07
Speaker
Just biggest growth or something like that.
00:19:08
Speaker
Biggest growth, yeah.
00:19:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:10
Speaker
So anyway, we have the DD industry awards we launched this year because I felt like, you know, he didn't win a golden door award because he didn't sell that much, but it's impressive what he did as far as growth.
00:19:22
Speaker
And I think,
00:19:24
Speaker
having those industry awards is kind of cool this year.
00:19:27
Speaker
Just having top management, top recruiter, top, you know, company growth.
00:19:31
Speaker
And I'm excited to see how that progress progresses.
00:19:35
Speaker
And the hall of fame was a cool one this year and new people being inducted into the hall of fame will be exciting.
00:19:41
Speaker
And yeah, every year the event just gets cooler and cooler in my opinion.
00:19:45
Speaker
Yeah, no, no doubt.
00:19:46
Speaker
So yeah, super cool success story.
00:19:48
Speaker
And yeah, we've interviewed Mo on the podcast.
00:19:51
Speaker
So if you didn't hear that, you can go check it out for all our listeners.
00:19:56
Speaker
Yeah, I'll send it to you.
00:19:57
Speaker
But yeah, the last thing I kind of wanted to touch on, Sam, is just, I know you probably had a lot of experience in your consulting other companies too, is just helping them get that good culture.
Building a Strong Company Culture
00:20:06
Speaker
It's something that, yeah, I've, you know, companies I'm with, we struggle with it all the time.
00:20:11
Speaker
Just building like that working culture, especially in solar, like we were talking about, just a lot of lazy guys and not wanting to put them like the minimum amount of time to get their results.
00:20:21
Speaker
So what do you do?
00:20:21
Speaker
How did you help Mo and these other companies you working with?
00:20:24
Speaker
What do you do to help them get that good culture and just get these guys to stick?
00:20:29
Speaker
Well, it's cool.
00:20:29
Speaker
I went to lunch yesterday with a guy named Steven, a buddy of mine.
00:20:33
Speaker
he was in charge of the culture department of Vivint Inc.
00:20:36
Speaker
Vivint Alarm.
00:20:38
Speaker
There's a guy named Kevin Swiss.
00:20:39
Speaker
He worked right under him.
00:20:41
Speaker
He has now left.
00:20:42
Speaker
He works for a restaurant company.
00:20:45
Speaker
This other guy, Damon, just left and went to work for some other store company.
00:20:49
Speaker
So there's probably like four or five key players.
00:20:50
Speaker
This guy, Shane, was video.
00:20:52
Speaker
Damon was design.
00:20:53
Speaker
And we call it sales marketing department.
00:20:57
Speaker
And these guys were all in charge of their events.
00:21:00
Speaker
their design, their videos, but not for the customer, where most people spend so much money and time developing that for the customer, where they're too cheap because they don't see the ROI spending money and time putting a sales marketing department that's all for internal.
00:21:16
Speaker
And the companies that are winning are investing more money to market to their salespeople than they do to their customer base.
00:21:24
Speaker
Because they see an immediate ROI, they say, oh, I get one lead, I close one lead, that equals X dollars.
00:21:29
Speaker
What they don't compute is the value of a good events team, a good marketing team, internal design, video, cloud, scoreboards, because of the culture.
00:21:40
Speaker
So like Vivint Solar, Alex, she's my COO.
00:21:44
Speaker
She also worked on the sales marketing team of Vivint Solar.
00:21:47
Speaker
She had about a $5 million budget a year just in swag.
00:21:53
Speaker
And
00:21:54
Speaker
you say, okay, why did they make money on these competitions with the prizes and this and that?
00:21:59
Speaker
No, they actually broke even.
00:22:01
Speaker
But what they wanted to do is elevate the waterline by showing their reps a new level of personal performance through competition.
00:22:10
Speaker
So a good culture isn't just designed by competition.
00:22:15
Speaker
It's by vision.
00:22:16
Speaker
It's by relationships.
00:22:18
Speaker
You know, a lot of people, they don't take the meaningful time to build a relationship with their people.
00:22:23
Speaker
So they just hire bodies and say, good luck, here's your pay scale, go make it happen.
00:22:28
Speaker
It's by innovation and showing uniqueness and competitive advantage.
00:22:33
Speaker
If I'm just one company amongst the mix of all the other same companies using the same stuff, doing the same thing, what makes me interested?
00:22:42
Speaker
So culture is created by design, not by default.
00:22:46
Speaker
And what most people end up doing is they just have a default culture that they fall into
00:22:51
Speaker
based on their competency to orchestrate culture.
00:22:55
Speaker
You look at, and I'm not trying to toot my horn, but we've created, we said D2D is going to become a culture.
00:23:01
Speaker
Like you have that plaque behind you with pride.
00:23:03
Speaker
You're like, look, I was a golden door winner and it means something.
00:23:06
Speaker
And we made it mean something and we highlight it and we say, this is a big deal.
00:23:10
Speaker
We talk about it.
00:23:11
Speaker
Everybody listening, are you going to do 130?
00:23:13
Speaker
We upped the ante.
00:23:14
Speaker
It's 130 installs for 2021.
00:23:17
Speaker
And that means I'm one of the elite of the elite in solar.
00:23:22
Speaker
And, you know, is there anything meaningful in your company that looks like that?
00:23:27
Speaker
You know, we do community type stuff where it's like we have a nonprofit.
00:23:32
Speaker
We're doing ways that people can participate.
00:23:34
Speaker
We're highlighting certain people.
00:23:36
Speaker
We're collectively saying, let's create value and
00:23:42
Speaker
We're associating with cool influences like John Maxwell's and Jordan Belfords and people like that.
00:23:48
Speaker
So what are we doing as a company to make us interesting and cool?
00:23:54
Speaker
What are the relationships that we're building?
00:23:56
Speaker
I mean, me and you, we've created a relationship over the few years, even though it's not like we hang out and go to dinner every night.
00:24:00
Speaker
It's just like we still talk on Instagram.
00:24:04
Speaker
There's still like an association of like cool, cool, cool.
00:24:08
Speaker
And are you doing that with your salespeople or is it kind of like, yeah, I don't want to talk to them.
00:24:13
Speaker
They don't matter to me.
00:24:14
Speaker
Like all those things create culture.
00:24:17
Speaker
And my question is, what is the systems that you're intentional around implementing your core values to create a culture so that everybody uniformly, uniformly.
00:24:27
Speaker
Oh my gosh.
00:24:28
Speaker
My first manager is calling me.
00:24:30
Speaker
The dude that managed me in Orange my very first year.
00:24:32
Speaker
I haven't talked to him in 10 years.
00:24:36
Speaker
I'll come back.
00:24:37
Speaker
Put him on air.
00:24:39
Speaker
What are we doing to create that culture?
00:24:42
Speaker
And I think people are just trying to think that by having, I don't know, by being a company, that means they have a culture.
00:24:49
Speaker
Yeah, that's no, that's yeah, I love those points.
00:24:53
Speaker
And it's funny, you said all these things you're saying, I, it's some of the exact same things that Mo was talking about, like, I know, he's doing those same things.
00:25:01
Speaker
He has like a marketing department, basically marketing to his reps right now.
00:25:04
Speaker
He's paying a social media guy like 1000s and 1000s to create like, you know, social media content for his reps and like the leaderboards and all those things.
00:25:14
Speaker
We said you have to do that in order to be playing the big leagues now like you want to play in the big leagues.
00:25:20
Speaker
That's what makes this company a retainable leader influence in the space.
00:25:28
Speaker
And he is just milking it and killing it.
00:25:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's incredible.
00:25:34
Speaker
But no, yeah, that's huge.
00:25:35
Speaker
And yeah, some good things to think about for sure for me is we're trying to build the culture.
00:25:41
Speaker
I love doing the podcast because I can ask about a lot of the things that like, like I am struggling myself with on the teams.
00:25:47
Speaker
So I go out and find the best guy with that.
00:25:49
Speaker
I'm just gonna ask him my questions.
00:25:52
Speaker
My guests, I'm like, I get to get, I get to ask the questions.
00:25:55
Speaker
I have pain points.
00:25:56
Speaker
People realize I literally had like a culture reset meeting this morning with my recruiting department.
00:26:02
Speaker
And I was like, guys, let's like revamp this thing.
00:26:05
Speaker
Let's have a heart to heart.
00:26:06
Speaker
And I mean, I'm literally like finding opportunities to, to implement the same stuff I preach just like anybody else, guys.
00:26:14
Speaker
Like it's people think on the outside, like, Oh, they must have it all together.
00:26:17
Speaker
I'm like, no, dude, it's not easy.
00:26:19
Speaker
I mean, like, no, we don't, but we're trying and getting the right people.
00:26:25
Speaker
empowered in the right positions is so important to getting the culture bought in.
00:26:29
Speaker
But you need like, all I did today was like, guys, this is where we're going as a company.
00:26:34
Speaker
Guys, this is what's happening.
00:26:35
Speaker
Guys, this is like, where what's next?
00:26:38
Speaker
And they were all like, Oh, I needed that.
00:26:39
Speaker
You haven't told us that in the last week.
00:26:44
Speaker
It's just crazy how often you have to remind people to be like, this is what we're about.
00:26:49
Speaker
Yeah, no doubt.
00:26:51
Speaker
No doubt.
00:26:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:52
Speaker
Well, Sam, thanks for sharing these things with us.
00:26:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:54
Speaker
Super important for our listeners, create that culture, create the vision, create the relationships.
00:27:00
Speaker
And then also you mentioned just being part of something bigger.
00:27:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:04
Speaker
mo talk i don't know if mo is doing this anymore but he was um when i had him on the show he was talking about doing a sales competition where it was a thousand dollar buy-in and then all the money that people bought in with the winner got to donate it to a charity of their choice so things like that i'm like wow that's super cool man like you're not just winning something you donates your thousand dollar buy-in whoever wins the competition to something bigger you know something that you can stand behind
00:27:30
Speaker
So I think that's another thing that companies miss is, you know, create that vision behind the scenes and make it more than just money.
00:27:38
Speaker
As you talked about competitions and other meaningful things you can do.
00:27:42
Speaker
So Sam, I know we got to wrap up pretty quick.
00:27:44
Speaker
Let you get to your call with your, your first manager there.
00:27:47
Speaker
I know, that's exciting.
00:27:49
Speaker
It's so fun.
00:27:50
Speaker
I'm like, really?
00:27:53
Speaker
I know, that's awesome.
00:27:55
Speaker
But yeah, before we wrap up here, can you tell people about the event you have coming up?
00:27:59
Speaker
You're doing some event on the road and then just maybe where people can find you and reach out to you.
00:28:05
Speaker
So the D2D tour is coming up.
00:28:06
Speaker
We're going May 17th to LA, then like the 19th to Phoenix.
00:28:11
Speaker
Then we go to Dallas.
00:28:12
Speaker
Then we go to Atlanta.
00:28:14
Speaker
Then we go to Orlando, Charlotte, Newark, New Jersey, Chicago, Denver, and Salt Lake City.
00:28:20
Speaker
So we're hosting 10 events in 10 states.
00:28:23
Speaker
and driving around the country where you can for 40 bucks, bring your whole sales team per ticket and come and do a half day sales training.
00:28:30
Speaker
It's like people are sick of hearing Taylor in this correlation meeting, teaching the same crap.
00:28:35
Speaker
Let's be honest.
00:28:38
Speaker
I'm like, just run a better, cooler sales meeting where I train and we've got a tax and a finance and a real estate and, you know, kind of some other cool speakers that are going to be doing some panels and in each of these markets and, and really just training on,
00:28:52
Speaker
really cool sales techniques and getting your people some new relevant stuff and fired up to give them some juice to go into the next couple weeks.
Upcoming D2D Tour and Sol Society Introduction
00:29:02
Speaker
Sweet.
00:29:03
Speaker
So guys, that blew my mind.
00:29:04
Speaker
40 bucks.
00:29:05
Speaker
If you're not there, I mean, you're not going to find an event cheaper than that.
00:29:08
Speaker
You're never, I literally, like my whole team.
00:29:12
Speaker
So like we have a sales bootcamp next week.
00:29:14
Speaker
So anybody that's interested, I mean, you're probably going to hear this by the time it's out, but like we host a sales bootcamp, it's a thousand bucks.
00:29:18
Speaker
It's a two day event.
00:29:19
Speaker
We host a business bootcamp, 2,500 bucks.
00:29:23
Speaker
And then everybody's like, and 2,000 bucks was last year for DoorDorkon.
00:29:26
Speaker
And now it's like 40 bucks.
00:29:27
Speaker
And people are like,
00:29:29
Speaker
I literally was like, I'm not even doing it to make money.
00:29:31
Speaker
Like, I just want to pay for the venue guys.
00:29:33
Speaker
I'm doing it because I want to get out in the streets.
00:29:36
Speaker
So I'm going to go knock in each of these markets.
00:29:39
Speaker
And I was like, this is my way of getting me out of my comfort zone and giving back.
00:29:45
Speaker
And really we're actually just promoting the DDD association.
00:29:48
Speaker
The certification is coming out next week.
00:29:51
Speaker
So level one, not nonprofits.
00:29:54
Speaker
It's a, it's a, it's a certification that the door to door association is launched.
00:29:59
Speaker
that will educate on sales practices, licensing, terms, things like that for door-to-door people to be validated by a third party and gain credibility in the streets.
00:30:11
Speaker
So it's a really good action project that I've been pushing.
00:30:16
Speaker
Really, that's the big push.
00:30:18
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:30:19
Speaker
You're doing incredible things.
00:30:21
Speaker
We salute you, Sam.
00:30:22
Speaker
We appreciate you for the value you're adding to the industry, changing the lives of the solar professionals, our solarpreneurs.
00:30:31
Speaker
Thanks again for coming on the show.
00:30:32
Speaker
Guys, we hope to see you at the next event Sam's doing.
00:30:35
Speaker
It's going to be awesome.
00:30:36
Speaker
$40.
00:30:36
Speaker
You can't beat it, so be there.
00:30:39
Speaker
Sam, thanks for coming on the show today.
00:30:41
Speaker
Thank you.
00:30:42
Speaker
I appreciate it.
00:30:43
Speaker
We'll talk soon.
00:30:44
Speaker
We'll see you.
00:30:46
Speaker
Hey Solar printers, quick question.
00:30:48
Speaker
What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day?
00:30:57
Speaker
For the last three years I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite solar professionals
00:31:03
Speaker
and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.
00:31:09
Speaker
That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new solar learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with the top performers in the industry.
00:31:20
Speaker
And it's called Sol Society.
00:31:22
Speaker
This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give solar pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it?
00:31:37
Speaker
Less than $3.45 a day.
00:31:40
Speaker
Currently Soul Society is closed to the public and membership is by invitation only.
00:31:45
Speaker
But solopreneurs can go to soulciety.co to learn more and have the option to join a waitlist when a membership becomes available in your area.
00:31:54
Speaker
Again, this is exclusively for Solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to www.solciety.co to join the waitlist and learn more now.
00:32:07
Speaker
Thanks again for listening.
00:32:08
Speaker
We'll catch you again in the next episode.