Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
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.
Speaker: I teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals.
Speaker: What is a solopreneur, you might ask?
Speaker: A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery, and you are about to become one.
Speaker: Okay, what's going on, everybody?
Speaker: We are here live at DoorToDorkon 2023.
Speaker: Got my man Tanner Williams in the house.
Speaker: Tanner, thanks for coming on the podcast with us today.
Speaker: Absolutely, man.
Speaker: Stoked to be here.
Speaker: Been watching the, well, I guess listening to the podcast for years now, so it's kind of surreal to be on it.
Speaker: Yeah, appreciate that.
Speaker: And yeah, one of my proudest moments came last year when we were on a knockstart call together, the group that we're in.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Tanner was like, I think, leading one of the calls, asking you questions.
Speaker: And he actually like gave the podcast a shout out in one of your calls.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Holy cow, this guy is actually shouting out something that I said on the podcast.
Speaker: I'm like, wow, that's freaking awesome.
Speaker: So I've got to thank you for giving me the shout out.
Speaker: Oh, absolutely.
Speaker: It's definitely one of my proud moments.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, you guys have been awesome.
Speaker: I remember I was out in Denver.
Speaker: We had just launched Aptive Solar and I had hardly any idea of what I was doing.
Speaker: I was trying to teach you 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 and that's been awesome.
Speaker: So I owe you guys a lot.
Speaker: Appreciate that.
Speaker: But yeah, man, I've learned a lot from you too.
Speaker: And just being a knock star with you and seeing you take off.
Speaker: It's been pretty incredible what you've done.
Speaker: So 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.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: Yeah, so I got into Door to Door 2017.
Speaker: I did a little like four weeks summer with Hawk, switched over to Aptiv and did four years of Pest with them.
Speaker: And I was like, I wasn't a terrible rep.
Speaker: I wasn't like a god by any means.
Speaker: I just, you know, a little bit above average, I think.
Speaker: And then wanted to get into solar and
Speaker: and had buddies that were making just stupid money, watching them work way less than I was.
Speaker: And I was like a little jealous.
Speaker: So I started looking into some solar companies, looked around a ton, went on a blitz, and I was like, yeah, solar is definitely what I want to do.
Speaker: And at the time...
Speaker: 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 just how dominant of a space it was.
Speaker: And so he came to me.
Speaker: It was kind of right time, right place.
Speaker: It was me and a couple of the
Speaker: Guys that were either involved in solar already or who are thinking about getting involved in solar but had also worked at Aptiv.
Speaker: And we started Aptiv Solar then.
Speaker: And that was about two years ago.
Speaker: And yeah, now we're still just growing, chucking along.
Speaker: So it's been super fun.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: Did it get complicated?
Speaker: Because like, I know they probably didn't want to.
Speaker: 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 pests right well because they want to avoid you know there was a lot of drama i think with the whole vivant thing and 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 um but now we've kind of gone into a
Speaker: So, you know, in the early days, some people just kind of switched completely over into it.
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.
Speaker: I just focus on purely solar.
Speaker: That's my thing, but to each their own.
Speaker: So they get to participate in all of it, which is cool.
Speaker: Nice, that's cool.
Speaker: Is it like they do pest in the summer and then solar after the summer?
Speaker: It's kind of more they go out and they sell pest control and then they can set a solar lead 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.
Speaker: So just lead generation essentially through the pest program as well.
Speaker: Maximizes their earning potential, they can sell some solar and still sell what they know and what they've done for a long time.
Speaker: Yeah, that's fire.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: And yeah, you guys have grown out like crazy.
Speaker: And yeah, just seeing Noxstar, how many?
Speaker: Did you just, I can't remember, you won the Noxstar competition that one time, right?
Speaker: Yeah, the...
Speaker: Oh my gosh, was it the draft?
Speaker: No, I can't remember what it's called.
Speaker: Yeah, one of them.
Speaker: Back in the, it was like right in the beginning of the summer, it ended in June, won that one.
Speaker: That was super cool.
Speaker: Super high competition with like Austin, Melissa, all those guys.
Speaker: They were freaking thrown down.
Speaker: Super motivating when you have those guys to compete with.
Speaker: Yeah, those guys are dogs.
Speaker: Yeah, crazy to see the volume of deals you did.
Speaker: So right now with Optiv, do they do, like I know it's the summer program for pests and all that, but like how do you guys do this structure now for solar?
Speaker: Is it like Blitz or like guys doing year-round or how do you get structure now?
Speaker: We've gone away a little bit from the Blitz program just because Blitzes are, they're good, but they're hard, right?
Speaker: They're high margin and
Speaker: I guess low margin, high cost, right?
Speaker: So we have a summer program that, yeah, like you mentioned, Aptivist crushed the solar program for years, so we do a good job at that.
Speaker: But we've actually started opening up offices as well year round.
Speaker: So we have nine year round teams now too.
Speaker: Okay, cool.
Speaker: And so you've been out in Colorado the whole time doing it, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I actually live in Utah right now, though, helping build and grow the org.
Speaker: I'm technically VP of sales now at Aptive Solar, so that's been fun, really cool.
Speaker: And then I just help build the summer programs, and then I have teams in Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina as well.
Speaker: And then we'll have a couple other teams go out for the summer.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So yeah, for our listeners, tell them like, what were some of your struggles starting a team?
Speaker: And I guess like, tell us kind of what you grew it into and how they put you as VP of sales.
Speaker: Like how did that all go down?
Speaker: What do you think were some of your struggles in the beginning?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing was, you know, Aptiv had a ton of experience in door-to-door, but none in solar.
Speaker: And really the only people that switched, or I guess that helped start Aptiv Solar had only been doing solar for,
Speaker: a couple of months.
Speaker: So none of us had hardly any experience, which is why I joined Noxstar, actually.
Speaker: I was like, I got to get some experience, some training from the top dogs.
Speaker: So really, the learning curve was just the hardest part, for sure.
Speaker: It was, I believed in the product.
Speaker: Solar is obviously a great product.
Speaker: I loved selling it.
Speaker: And it was my type of sale as well, rather than just bulldozing through objections.
Speaker: I was never really good at that kind of sale, but
Speaker: relationship-based selling and just educating customers, that was my cup of tea.
Speaker: And so I picked it up semi-quickly, but getting people to pick it up quickly as well was really difficult in the beginning, right?
Speaker: So that's why I listened to your guys' podcast, I listened to
Speaker: the door knocking podcast, D2DU podcast, like I listen to everything, right?
Speaker: And then I just joined Noxstar United finally when I was like, yeah, it's just worth it to get and go from the culture.
Speaker: So getting that learning curve was the hardest part.
Speaker: Once we could start replicating the success that I was seeing, people started closing more deals.
Speaker: We learned how to get the setter closer model a little bit more nailed down.
Speaker: Last year, the volume was crazy compared to year one.
Speaker: I mean, the first year we had one little team in Denver, and I think we got like 120 installs from that little team.
Speaker: And then last year, like just my Denver team alone in Denver South, we installed like 450 accounts.
Speaker: So just that one team alone, like almost tripled our year one volume.
Speaker: So yeah, it was cool.
Speaker: It was really fun.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so, yeah, we're at Door to DoorCon right now, and you're getting your golden door up there tomorrow.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So how many deals did you do?
Speaker: 132, so right at the line.
Speaker: Okay, made it by the Skinner T. Yes, sir.
Speaker: But that's when I got it, it was only at 100, so.
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: And I need to get back up there.
Speaker: But yeah, so you did a ton, and I know most of that was just like in the summer.
Speaker: You were cranking like crazy, right?
Speaker: Yeah, I think I have like 16 or so installs from Blitzes before and after the summer, but everything else was summer, so.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, incredible.
Speaker: I think June was like 47 or 48 sales in June.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then there's like 35 plus every other month.
Speaker: So it was nuts.
Speaker: It was a grind, but it was super fun.
Speaker: Super fun.
Speaker: Yeah, because I mean, well, yeah, those of you listening know how hard it is.
Speaker: Most guys don't do this in a year and you cranked out the majority of that in the summer.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Incredible.
Speaker: So for you, do you like, are you the type of person that likes going super hard for, you know, like summer?
Speaker: What's your thoughts on like doing this whole like summer game versus doing it year round?
Speaker: It's a lot.
Speaker: I've actually transitioned a little bit more to more year round.
Speaker: So living in Utah and selling in Utah is a little different.
Speaker: You got to get batteries involved, all that stuff, but it's,
Speaker: It's actually been semi-successful, so I'll do more of a year-round now, but I do love the summer grind.
Speaker: I feel like it's a little nostalgic for me.
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.
Speaker: Everybody on our listening that has a spouse, you know what I'm talking about, but 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'll be fun.
Speaker: But I do love the grind.
Speaker: I get obsessed.
Speaker: I'm a very obsessive person.
Speaker: So for me, it's like I can put the blinders on and just go really hard for four months and I enjoy it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I think that's a key trait of everyone I've seen at Noxterb, like produce at a super high level.
Speaker: And some that I try to do myself, but I'm learning from you guys is just, yeah, you got to be obsessed.
Speaker: Like, you know, Grant Cardone says be obsessed or be average.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: like for you you're talking about all the stuff you did like listening to this podcast listening to all the other ones and yeah I listen to all those podcasts too and um I think some people think I just do this podcast and I only listen to my own podcast but 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 I think it's part of being obsessed and then combining that with just like your work ethic it's yeah insane to see what you
Speaker: way to accomplish.
Speaker: So yeah, pretty incredible.
Speaker: And then as you're setting all this up, so what's what was like your recruiting?
Speaker: How did you recruit all these reps for the summer?
Speaker: Yeah, these guys coming on?
Speaker: Well, I kind of knew that, you know, once people kind of saw what was available in solar earnings wise or lifestyle wise, whatever,
Speaker: that they would be pretty intrigued.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: I went out and helped other people figure it out.
Speaker: Come work with me.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Um, and so that was a big motivating factor for me this last year.
Speaker: That was a big why of mine.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Um, and that works really well.
Speaker: If you go out and sell at a high level, I mean, we watched Drew Hanson, right?
Speaker: He's just crushing it in sales.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: It's kind of unfathomable.
Speaker: It's hard to imagine what, how the volume that he actually does.
Speaker: But his organization did 20 million last year, which in pest control is ridiculous, right?
Speaker: 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 definitely grow your organization because people want to be around others that can help them elevate, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that was a big part of it.
Speaker: I think that helped a lot.
Speaker: I have awesome people that I work with who we create a cool culture.
Speaker: And so that makes it easier to recruit as well.
Speaker: But really just talking to everybody that you know about it.
Speaker: I feel like solar for me at least is an easier product to really be bought into.
Speaker: And I almost feel like an obligation to talk to people.
Speaker: Like I would hate to be the guy that is selling solar, making all this money, having an awesome experience with life.
Speaker: And then one of my buddies from high school is like,
Speaker: dude, I really wish you would have told me about solar, you know, at our 20 or 40 year reunion.
Speaker: So for me, it's like, yeah, I heard Melissa on a podcast.
Speaker: I think it was like on Mikey Lewis's podcast.
Speaker: And she was talking about that same thing.
Speaker: She's like, I just want to take as many people with me.
Speaker: And that was inspiring for me.
Speaker: And I want to do the same thing.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, and that's true.
Speaker: I think guys forget about that.
Speaker: I think that's probably the number one thing, though, is producing at a high level yourself, especially if you're trying to bring people just watching and all that.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I just think of Ricardo.
Speaker: I don't know if you met Ricardo, but he's getting his golden door tomorrow.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Ricardo Richie, yeah, he was on our team out in California, and he would get all the – he'd produce at a super high level.
Speaker: It's something ridiculous, like over 400 installs last year.
Speaker: That's so crazy.
Speaker: But it's like, oh, he has all these setters.
Speaker: Because, yeah, he did have a massive team of setters.
Speaker: But the reason he does is because all these guys see all the money he's making.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then he brings in setters.
Speaker: They make awesome money.
Speaker: And then it's just like a snowball effect.
Speaker: And they all come in.
Speaker: And then he's getting appointments set for them all day.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm thinking like, man, he just did that.
Speaker: He gets all these leads fed to him.
Speaker: But we can all do the same thing.
Speaker: Oh, absolutely.
Speaker: We kind of produce.
Speaker: There's always a little bit of a negative, I don't know if stigma is 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.
Speaker: He sets and he gets all these leads.
Speaker: And if you look at it,
Speaker: 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 they're the best closers.
Speaker: And so everybody wants them to close their deals, right?
Speaker: And you either got to, in my 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.
Speaker: Or you got to be a lights out closer because I've even seen people who recruited setters, but if they weren't closing their deals very well, then they're like, well, I don't
Speaker: I don't know if I want that guy closing my deals, right?
Speaker: So yeah, it's funny because same thing.
Speaker: I've found myself this summer.
Speaker: I had a kid on my team that was just crushing it.
Speaker: And there was a few times I was like, dang, I'm kind of jealous.
Speaker: He's getting a little more leads than I am.
Speaker: But he was a lights-out closer, and he had recruited a few more of them.
Speaker: And so yeah, it just goes to show.
Speaker: It's fun.
Speaker: What do I do?
Speaker: I got to go recruit more or I got to sell better.
Speaker: Got through yourself.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And, um, 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?
Speaker: Kind of like, that's the other thing.
Speaker: People bringing all this, all these setters and they're all complaining, like, Oh, my setters aren't like producing.
Speaker: I'm not getting leads and stuff.
Speaker: So how did you, uh, like, I don't know, get all your guys trained and how do you balance that with like going out and like self-channing and stuff?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Advice on tips on, on that.
Speaker: Two things.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: and just like become, you know, in a way they teach them to become a little bit of a robot.
Speaker: And obviously they need to memorize a presentation, they have to have a foundation, but the first thing that I found that help setters do well is I sell them on solar really hard and I make them believe in what they're doing.
Speaker: And I think that if you do a good job at selling your people on the product that they're gonna be selling, the conviction's there and then everything else that they have to learn afterwards, it comes a little bit easier, right?
Speaker: They understand the product.
Speaker: And I think that a lot of times we get lost in the fact that we've been in the industry for semi-new, but some people have been in solar for five, six, seven, eight years.
Speaker: They know it like the back of their hand, but these new guys, they really don't understand it at all.
Speaker: They're like a homeowner, right?
Speaker: And so once they understand it, now learning the presentation, learning how to overcome objections, it becomes really intuitive for them.
Speaker: That's the first thing that I think a lot of people overlook.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: And I really believe in killing two birds with one stone.
Speaker: So like if I'm gonna go out, I need to get my self gens in.
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.
Speaker: 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?
Speaker: I can go get my self gen deals.
Speaker: My reps are watching me.
Speaker: They're watching how it's done, teaching them a proper appointment, things like, you know.
Speaker: hey, we want you to get utility bills.
Speaker: Well, I'll show you how to get a utility bill, right?
Speaker: Things like that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I love that too, because especially for guys that have been in, like, 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.
Speaker: But the way to not get lazy is like go train a rep because if you tell them to be here, like you're going to show up yourself.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: So whenever I'm filmed, like not getting out there, that's one of the best ways I force myself to get out there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm like, hey, come shout on me.
Speaker: And then, yeah, and then the five reps, their experience.
Speaker: I know I need to recruit more new people in and get them on the door.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: So, yeah, I think that's fire.
Speaker: And then what about like clothes?
Speaker: And do you guys have a structure like people, sets, and then?
Speaker: Because I know some companies, they try to get people to stay setters forever.
Speaker: So what's your guys, what's been like your strategy with that, like balancing it?
Speaker: And
Speaker: helping guys feel like they can progress.
Speaker: How do you guys change this in like setter, closer and how you balance all that?
Speaker: For us, it's less about, I mean, I think there are definitely some benchmarks that they should hit before they should just go into closing.
Speaker: Like I think every good closer is first a really good setter.
Speaker: Especially if, you know, in the beginning of their closing career, they're going to be doing a lot of self-gens.
Speaker: Like they're not going to do that unless they're a good setter, right?
Speaker: I had this conversation with a kid yesterday.
Speaker: He's like, oh, I don't want to set.
Speaker: I'm just going to close.
Speaker: I'm like,
Speaker: Well, just so you understand, the best closers are the best setters, so we gotta teach you how to set first, right?
Speaker: But I do think that having a little bit more of an open mind as far as what's the best situation for that rep, rather than just like, hey, you need to close 25 deals before you can start closing.
Speaker: If it takes one kid
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So as a manager, I try to be a little bit more like, hey, what's the best situation for this rep?
Speaker: Danny Pessy talked about it one time and it couldn't be any more spot on.
Speaker: But don't underestimate the job of a setter.
Speaker: If you look at the time between those two jobs, a setter should only take 15 to 20 minutes versus a closer 3 to 12 weeks sometimes, depending on how much time you have to spend babysitting that account.
Speaker: And so, but they can still make, you know, a lot of cases, either 50-50 splits or 60-40 worst case scenario.
Speaker: We had a girl on our team last year who absolutely crushed it.
Speaker: She was top rep in the company.
Speaker: And so shout out to all the female knockers out there.
Speaker: You guys have such a huge advantage on these boys.
Speaker: You just got to go crush them.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: And between that same period of 8 and 9 p.m., she set three more appointments, two of which also got closed.
Speaker: So in one hour, she's closing five deals, essentially.
Speaker: If she's out self-genning, there's no way that happens.
Speaker: So for her, she's so good at setting.
Speaker: And you see people like Matt Cruz out there with Pure Setting, ridiculous.
Speaker: And he's been in solar for like three years now.
Speaker: He's not like the egotist of, I have to be closing.
Speaker: Setting can be a phenomenal job.
Speaker: People sometimes have this, I have to close.
Speaker: But if they just nailed setting and mastered setting, those guys that are setting at the highest level are making a lot more than...
Speaker: most closers in the industry which is crazy i know so 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 i don't know working at mcdonald's yeah it's like yeah there's setters making a lot of times more than closers and um 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
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He's making more money doing that.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: And then like you can always test it.
Speaker: So I think, you know, you know, he's try it.
Speaker: But like you go try closing and a lot of times people like force it and then they're making less.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I've seen so many reps like fell in this industry is because they try to force closing.
Speaker: It's not going as well.
Speaker: And they're not making any money.
Speaker: So there's like, oh, well, slower must not be for me anymore.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Or it's like maybe if they would have stayed setting or at least setting longer and made a slower transition.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: But yeah, is that something that you guys do is kind of like identify if someone's there?
Speaker: I don't know if you deal with that where guys like, oh, I want to close.
Speaker: I want to close.
Speaker: Do you have anything like to say no?
Speaker: Look, you're making all this money setting, but not make them feel like you're just trying to it.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Keep them demoted or anything.
Speaker: I think it's actually, it's crazy, but 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?
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 I just want to keep you in setting, I think people can really feel the difference, right?
Speaker: 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, it's like that obviously is like they're going to see through that.
Speaker: But if it's someone that's like, hey, I just really want to close, you can kind of show them, well, you're crushing it in setting.
Speaker: I think there's some things that we need to work on before I feel super confident in you going out and closing.
Speaker: then it's more based on you looking out for them as a leader rather than just trying to keep them doing your job for you, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But it doesn't, like you said, 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 a poor judgment on the leader's part, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker: Well, yeah, something I wanted to transition to before we kind of start wrapping up here, Tanner.
Speaker: Like I was talking about earlier, 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.
Speaker: And so how do you, and now you came from like a...
Speaker: didn't you do college wrestling and stuff like that a little bit yeah yeah yeah so you got that I got my uh black eye here from I know I was gonna say that that black eye looks nice on you dude for the listeners it's a it's a good shiner I keep telling people was uh on the doors but yeah there you go
Speaker: I guess I'm gonna get better at Jiu Jitsu.
Speaker: I keep getting beat up in there.
Speaker: I have to challenge you to a match.
Speaker: Absolutely, you gotta teach me a few things.
Speaker: Yeah, we'll throw it down here.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: So are you a pretty competitive person, would you say?
Speaker: Super competitive.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I hate losing.
Speaker: Alex Romose talked about it.
Speaker: I've heard it before as well, but he talks about there's two people in competition.
Speaker: There's the people who just love winning more than anything, and so they pursue winning with all they have.
Speaker: And there's the people that hate losing more than anything, and so they just, you know, winning isn't even that satisfying for them.
Speaker: It's more of like a relief.
Speaker: They just hate losing, and that's definitely me.
Speaker: I just hate losing.
Speaker: Like getting this golden door, for example, I set out that I was going to do it, and I'm excited, obviously.
Speaker: I'm proud of myself, but it's more of like a
Speaker: It's a relief that I didn't lose.
Speaker: And I refused to lose in what I try to do.
Speaker: But obviously, I still take my L's every once in a while.
Speaker: But wrestling definitely helped me with that.
Speaker: And I think turning it on as well, just being able to tap into that competitive side.
Speaker: Every time I had a big month, we were in some type of competition.
Speaker: So those things worked for me.
Speaker: Yeah, well that's cool.
Speaker: And yeah, competition, it's something I think about all the time.
Speaker: Like how do you get people to be more competitive and all that.
Speaker: So it's like, I don't know, do you guys have anything you do overactive?
Speaker: Or maybe tips in running competitions or stuff to help guys be more competitive and get that?
Speaker: Because you notice some guys are just like, oh, I'm not that competitive a person.
Speaker: And it's like, yeah, maybe they shouldn't be in sales then.
Speaker: But I don't know if you have advice on how to make people more competitive or...
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Run better competition, stuff like that.
Speaker: Take it back a step.
Speaker: 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 have three qualities.
Speaker: They're competitive, first and foremost.
Speaker: They're
Speaker: They're optimistic and they're hardworking, right?
Speaker: And so I go over those three things and I really actually do listen to, then I follow up the question with, what in your life has made you competitive, optimistic, and hardworking?
Speaker: 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?
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: And frankly, if there's someone that's like, I'm just not a very competitive person,
Speaker: I honestly don't have a huge desire to work with them.
Speaker: Just because that's not how I work.
Speaker: I don't have anything against them, but if I'm gonna work with them, it's hard.
Speaker: It's like I don't understand that person very well.
Speaker: And so that's one of the biggest things that I actually look for in filling as a team.
Speaker: But you know, you always have people that either
Speaker: You know, the competition just don't motivate them that much anymore.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: These are them.
Speaker: Let's lay them out.
Speaker: We have goals as a team to go win these, like getting you guys bought in early.
Speaker: So that's not like a week before the competition.
Speaker: You're like, hey, let's try to spark something.
Speaker: And you kind of like keep it in the back of their head.
Speaker: You put up the poster in the office of like, hey, this competition is coming up in July, you know.
Speaker: And so last year, our team actually lost in the semifinals.
Speaker: And we were like dominating everybody the whole summer, but we lost in the semis.
Speaker: And we were like devastated.
Speaker: And that was actually my favorite thing about the competition is how devastated they were because it showed me that they cared.
Speaker: So, you know, but and it drove a lot of competition.
Speaker: 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 in on it.
Speaker: You create a culture where it's like it's not cool to not be competitive.
Speaker: Does that make sense?
Speaker: Yeah, that's good.
Speaker: And I think I think that's key.
Speaker: Just like planning it because I see all the time guys try to throw a competition like the day before.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, the most successful ones I see them like, you know, promote not in social media.
Speaker: They got the posters.
Speaker: I like talking about it.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: getting guys ready so 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 look forward to it you know i think that helped a lot so yeah well and then yeah when your whole team's bought in too it's like they're almost going to force the people who maybe aren't as competitive to be that way because like i remember like to be honest i was getting a little like not as competitive with the knock star stuff going on
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then like I was on the winning team.
Speaker: You're on Melissa's team?
Speaker: Yeah, that we won.
Speaker: And I was like, yeah, I mean, I should have cared more about it, but I'm just like, whatever.
Speaker: But then I saw that like they actually needed me to produce.
Speaker: They're like texting me like, hey, what do you got on the schedule?
Speaker: Like what's going on?
Speaker: I'm like, oh, shoot.
Speaker: They actually like need me to go.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I wasn't even really thinking about this before.
Speaker: And it worked.
Speaker: And so I'm like, oh, well.
Speaker: And then, yeah, maybe we still would have won, but I put in a deal.
Speaker: I was on West Coast the last possible hour and all that.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: And that ended up being the difference maker, even though there's people that did way more deals than me.
Speaker: But my one deal, that's another thing.
Speaker: Yeah, if you have your whole team bought in, then they're going to almost drag the other people by the feet probably and be like, no, let's go out there and win this thing.
Speaker: And there always will be that one or two people that just either don't really care that much or they're kind of burnt out or whatever else.
Speaker: But yeah, that team aspect of lifting up everybody, it helps.
Speaker: And yeah, then I'll send Taylor.
Speaker: I remember when you threw that deal and it was like super late and they sent a screenshot of the chat.
Speaker: They were just blowing it up.
Speaker: And so, yeah, they did awesome.
Speaker: Those two teams that week, they proved, I mean, it was like December.
Speaker: It was like the week before Christmas and you guys threw in like 57 accounts or something like that.
Speaker: It was nuts.
Speaker: That's insane.
Speaker: It proved to me, I was like, and a lot of those people were knocking in Colorado where it's snowing.
Speaker: And that was motivating for me to see that competition will really pull some crazy stuff out of people.
Speaker: All for a trip with Tom Hopkins, you know?
Speaker: I'm glad I'm going to be on the team.
Speaker: That's sick.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, man, well, no, it's been awesome having you on the podcast today.
Speaker: I'm excited to see you speak tomorrow.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: I'm going to hear a bit more, probably talk about that.
Speaker: But yeah, just to kind of like wrap up here, for guys that want to start like running setter closer model and like getting that cranking, like how do you, I guess some advice on like managing the team?
Speaker: How do you like get people to step into leadership and
Speaker: Do you have any tips on getting leadership cranking and not letting stuff kind of fall off, especially if you're doing summer?
Speaker: Because it sounds like you have some that are more summer and then summer.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: One of the biggest things that I would give out as advice is don't underestimate the importance of an assistant.
Speaker: We hired an assistant just to help manage lead delegation, for example.
Speaker: Saved us so much time and headache that we could just focus on what we were really good at, which was recruiting new setters if we needed to, but mainly training and selling, right?
Speaker: And so I didn't have to worry about, oh my gosh, I gotta go delegate these appointments out to my closers and whatever else.
Speaker: That was all done, and so I could focus, and my leaders on my team could focus on the task that was more important for us, right?
Speaker: I think that assistant cost like $1,500 per month, or maybe it was like $3,000 per month or something like that.
Speaker: Easiest investment I'll ever make again, right?
Speaker: So huge, huge, huge having that assistant helped.
Speaker: And then I think just having clear roles as far as who people can go to for extra training, who people can go to for shouting on the doors,
Speaker: Making sure that the setters are just so taken care of and they know how to succeed brings up the whole morale of the entire team.
Speaker: Like we always would say that the setters were the lifeblood of the organization.
Speaker: You got to treat them like that.
Speaker: Like wine and dine them.
Speaker: Set up sweet incentives.
Speaker: Like our incentive budget this year on my team, like 95% of it was setters and like made 5% closer to you.
Speaker: Because, you know, closers were just stoked to be able to have deals that they could go close.
Speaker: And these setters, we just focused all of our effort on them as far as that goes.
Speaker: But then also, obviously, you have to have a healthy balance.
Speaker: Because if your setters are, you know, world-class setters, but they have terrible closers coming behind them, nothing happens.
Speaker: So 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.
Speaker: Yeah.
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 team popped off like 450 installs.
Speaker: And it's a phenomenal watch.
Speaker: It was really cool.
Speaker: But to get started, you know, you have to build a team that has a specific focus and goal.
Speaker: And that goal is to produce a ton of volume.
Speaker: And sometimes people have to be role players.
Speaker: Yeah.
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 closing that well during certain times and seasons.
Speaker: Like during competition, for example, like, hey, this week we're probably not going to have you closing deals like we're going to have you self-shenning.
Speaker: And they were like not offended by that.
Speaker: They were understanding because they had already been set beforehand like, hey, these are the standards, right?
Speaker: And as...
Speaker: that happened they weren't frustrated with the fact that they were no longer closing they were team players so yeah you're forming a 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 more tomorrow I'll give you more secrets there come the door-to-door con yeah yeah
Speaker: But yeah, I love about the organization stuff though because I've been on teams where the setters are like there's confusion around who's going to their deals.
Speaker: There's confusion on like there's like distrust that they even showed up to the appointment.
Speaker: They're like, oh, that lead was super solid.
Speaker: That was like in the bag.
Speaker: And then the closer saying they went to it, but it wasn't there or whatever.
Speaker: And then just like fights back and forth.
Speaker: So like it creates, yeah, just a nightmare situation when the setters don't trust the closer and then not organized.
Speaker: So I like that a lot.
Speaker: I think that's a huge key in all this.
Speaker: Trust is huge too.
Speaker: One thing actually really fast just to touch on that.
Speaker: I think one thing that helped a lot, people shy away from this and I think this is super important.
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.
Speaker: 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 and I'd rather find out
Speaker: beforehand that that customer is either not going to be home or like is not interested enough to do it.
Speaker: And obviously, you know, try to save the appointment.
Speaker: Don't just roll over and die, right?
Speaker: But it actually opens up the opportunity for higher quality and that actually helped maximize our volume.
Speaker: There were so many days when we had a full schedule and because we would text out all the customers to try to verify, maybe half of them fell off and we're like, shoot, that's crazy.
Speaker: But then we'd go get five or six same days and that is so much more valuable.
Speaker: So sometimes people are like, oh, I don't
Speaker: I don't want to text people because I don't want to lose the deal.
Speaker: It opens up another door for sure.
Speaker: So be strict with that, right?
Speaker: Make sure that that happens.
Speaker: And I think that helps, especially when you get into high volume situations where your schedule is packed.
Speaker: You got to trim some of the fat to open up opportunities.
Speaker: So is it always text or do you sometimes call them or you guys are always texting?
Speaker: 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 going to text you that day just to make sure that you're still good.
Speaker: Because obviously, you know, we're working with a lot of homeowners out here.
Speaker: We want to make sure everybody gets, you know, gets visited.
Speaker: And then you do need to coach your reps on how to text because there's a right way and a wrong way.
Speaker: It's like, hey, do you happen to, you know, potentially, hopefully still, you know, want us to come over today?
Speaker: It's like, no, definitely don't text that, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Be strategic, assume the appointment still, but just more of like a, you know, send me a thumbs up, that that time still works for you, right?
Speaker: And if you do the correct text script, you'll actually get people that maybe were going to forget about their appointment, and they're like, oh, thanks for reminding me, yeah, I'll be there, right?
Speaker: Yeah, okay, that's good.
Speaker: And so all the reps, all the setters will text their customers, okay?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I've heard some people doing it where they have like their office person like sending all the texts to them, they're sending the same ones.
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 confirm?
Speaker: Yeah, we definitely prioritize the ones that confirmed.
Speaker: And sometimes, like, if they never confirmed 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.
Speaker: And that worked actually a lot.
Speaker: They'd go by the house and reset the appointment for the next day or whatever.
Speaker: And people are usually pretty understanding because...
Speaker: 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?
Speaker: People are usually pretty chill.
Speaker: It's all about expectations, you know?
Speaker: Yeah, true.
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: Well, good stuff, man.
Speaker: Well, yeah, I can't wait to hear you speak tomorrow.
Speaker: And then for people that want to connect more with you from this podcast, Tanner, what's the best way to reach out and connect with you more?
Speaker: I'm super open.
Speaker: I love the abundance that the industry has taken on.
Speaker: People aren't afraid to go talk anymore and share their secrets and stuff.
Speaker: I love that we're all learning from each other.
Speaker: I remember listening to you be like, I went from having 50 bucks in my bank account to closing over 150 solar deals, and I was like, oh, I want to do that.
Speaker: And yeah, things like that helped me do it.
Speaker: So I'm super open to whoever.
Speaker: I mean, you can DM me on Instagram and get my phone number.
Speaker: I'm Tanner L. Williams on Instagram.
Speaker: I'm on Facebook, whatever.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: We'll hit them up.
Speaker: And then for our solopreneurs listening, shoot Tanner a DM and let them know you got some value from today's podcast.
Speaker: Shoot them a thank you.
Speaker: And then before we wrap up, any, I don't know, final advice or final words of wisdom you'd give to our listeners here, Tanner?
Speaker: Yeah, last thing I would say, the thing that I've seen 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.
Speaker: I don't think you need to do cold plunges necessarily, but go do something that challenges you.
Speaker: Like find something that's scary and do it.
Speaker: I think over the last couple of years, I started doing like...
Speaker: triathlons and that you're doing it Ironman's yeah so 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 it's a pretty daunting task as if you're looking at like a big mountain right 130 installs but going and doing those things and then you know all sudden work becomes easy and 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 and
Speaker: And it's super gratifying.
Speaker: So go do something hard today.
Speaker: Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker: 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 industries, I think solar, there's more lazy people.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: It's like, let's be honest, we can go knock for a couple hours.
Speaker: And probably still make six figures in a year pretty easy.
Speaker: Complacency, man.
Speaker: It'll destroy a lot of people's careers if they don't look out for it.
Speaker: But on the flip side, if they just act with a little bit of urgency, they'll become millionaires.
Speaker: So it's crazy.
Speaker: Too much money in solar, I guess.
Speaker: Seriously.
Speaker: Stop paying so much.
Speaker: Well, Tanner, thanks again for coming on.
Speaker: Thank you, Taylor.
Speaker: And I'm hoping to follow a podcast someday again.
Speaker: And yeah, appreciate you.
Speaker: And we'll be in touch with everything.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Thank you, man.
Speaker: Hey, solopreneurs, are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels every month and not seeing your sales increase?
Speaker: Well, so was I, and the truth is I was never able to improve it until I figured out what was going wrong.
Speaker: So that's why I'm excited to announce for a limited time, we are doing a free sales diagnostic.
Speaker: We'll break down your sales process, figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve.
Speaker: So at now we have six bucks for this month.
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Speaker: Don't miss out.
Speaker: What you're going to do is send an email to taylor at solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: That's taylor at solarpreneurs with an S dot com.
Speaker: I'll send you out a calendar link and we will figure out the time that works best.
Speaker: So shoot that email and let's increase your sales.
