Transcript
Speaker: Hey guys, quick reminder before we jump into this episode, our guest today, Lindsay Erickson, has graciously agreed to do a account audit for all of our listeners.
Speaker: That means she will go over your accounts, she will go over your processes, she will tell you what you're missing and how you can improve your processes from start to finish in your accounts.
Speaker: So go book a call.
Speaker: We're going to put in the show notes a link where you can schedule a call with her.
Speaker: Go book it.
Speaker: You're going to learn so much in this call.
Speaker: And if you want to continue working with her, she will give you the opportunity to do that as well.
Speaker: So go down to the show notes, schedule a call, and hope you enjoy the episode.
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 the 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 Solarpreneur you might ask?
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.
Speaker: Okay, what's going on, solopreneurs?
Speaker: We are back with another episode, and we actually just finished up SolarCon.
Speaker: It was a great event, and I'm here with Lindsay.
Speaker: She is CEO and founder of Radiant Resources, so thanks for coming on the podcast with us today.
Speaker: Thank you for having me.
Speaker: It's exciting.
Speaker: Looks like it's been a little bit coming, so I know we talked about it, but...
Speaker: We just haven't been able to connect.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Even today we didn't know if we were going to be able to connect, but finished up there.
Speaker: It's been a little mess.
Speaker: It really has.
Speaker: We both just got done speaking on stage, so we're hoping we have some brain cells left.
Speaker: The adrenaline's wearing off, but I'm pretty excited about the messages that were delivered.
Speaker: Yeah, that was good.
Speaker: It's been a good event.
Speaker: Yeah, and yeah, I was actually doing, I was in on another, you know, stage while you were speaking, so I felt bad I couldn't see your, you know, presentation, but the good news is we're going to hear even higher level stuff right now, right?
Speaker: Yeah, actually, there's a couple things I did, and I get a little squished for time.
Speaker: There's a couple things I didn't get to announce that are, I'll drop them here.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Going to hear it here first.
Speaker: Of course.
Speaker: So, Lindsay, she's been in the industry for a long time, but what's really cool, if you haven't heard of what she's doing, she is basically doing all the dirty work that the reps, the companies don't want to do.
Speaker: Is that fair to say?
Speaker: I do.
Speaker: So I do the job that nobody wants to do.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Basically, we can manage all of the pipeline issues, project management, homeowner communications, HOA's like, we're the crop pot of solar.
Speaker: So your reps can set it and forget it and we get the glass on the roof and we keep everybody happy in the process.
Speaker: Yeah, it's an important job and needs to be done.
Speaker: Yeah, it needs to.
Speaker: I mean, I spanked a couple people on stage today because there's some things going on in the industry that just are not going to set up for long-term customer success.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There's not.
Speaker: I mean, I know personally I've knocked on a door and had homeowners figure me for being with solar.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: no other industry are they mad the way that they are about selling is a reason for it.
Speaker: And being one of the first to come into the market to offer that back-end support, we're also hoping that we can help kind of mold the customer experience for the industry moving forward by setting standards and then
Speaker: you know exceeding them.
Speaker: Yeah well no it's so important just because like you said there's a lot of negative stigmas in the solar industry a lot of people screwing homeowners over unfortunately a lot of stuff that's going on that's not so great so I like that you're kind of changing that and I mean you just told me that you homeowners can literally call you and you'll advocate for them right?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes, so we, and I've done this long before we launched Radiate Resources.
Speaker: I've been doing this since I was a rep knocking doors.
Speaker: So I'm the rep that has never been scared to knock a door that already has solar because I want to know what the experience has been like in that community with solar representatives, right?
Speaker: Because it helps me not only kind of redirect the way that I'm pitching, it helps me be more successful with my closing, but
Speaker: It also gives me, you know, it's given me a lot of great opportunities to actually step in and be of service.
Speaker: I know a lot of us claim that we like to be service type leaders, but when I'll pull a crowd of us that have knocked doors and ask them how many people have actually
Speaker: talked to an angry homeowner that's already had solar and actually attempted to assist them.
Speaker: I mean, it's disgusting how little of that there actually is.
Speaker: So two years ago, two and a half, almost three years ago now, the first website for the solar company, we actually launched SOS calls.
Speaker: So homeowners could get on our website and request a 15-minute call with any of our professionals.
Speaker: And we would first approach it from a forensic point of view, like, let's figure out the issue first.
Speaker: because maybe the homeowner just needs to be reeducated.
Speaker: That's often the case.
Speaker: But if there is an issue, we will advocate for them with their solar company.
Speaker: I will get on the phone and I will bulldog for a homeowner.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: It's got to be done at some point.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: No one's doing it.
Speaker: And you might be the one that saves the industry from getting regulated and all this stuff.
Speaker: I'm the customer service crusader.
Speaker: push for us to actually start getting regulated it's gonna be the consumers it's gonna be the homeowners and you know issues with them long before it's gonna be anything else yeah I agree and so yeah I want to hear kind of your background Lindsay how did you what do you want to tell maybe how you got into solar and then I guess what led you to start reading resources and you kind of see this problem that's been going on absolutely I have a so I started knocking doors in August of 2018 mm-hmm
Speaker: In the Vegas market and I was one of those from the get-go I was 100 doors a day was what I Minimally like that was my minimal.
Speaker: I had to knock 100 doors a day and have a system I'm also the type that will start knocking at 9 a.m.
Speaker: in retired communities and 9 p.m.
Speaker: in younger communities, so like this, you know, I Spent my time on the doors.
Speaker: Yeah, I earned my stripes in a sense, but I
Speaker: About my first door, I will tell you that story first because it's part of the reason that I do what I do.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Because regulation and advocacy, it goes farther than just the homeowners.
Speaker: It starts really in teams as well, as we know.
Speaker: I knocked my first door with somebody who's fairly well-known in the industry, and I'm not going to put the name out there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: This person sent me to a door where he knew the homeowner was crazy and angry and was going to scream at me.
Speaker: And he smacked me on my ass and he said, okay, pretty girl, let's see what you got.
Speaker: I didn't have a pitch yet.
Speaker: I didn't have, I literally, my response was, what do I say?
Speaker: And I was told, well, you're here to sell solar.
Speaker: So I'd probably say that.
Speaker: I got torn apart, torn apart on my first start, but something about, and maybe this person is a genius for the way that he did it, but something about it lit that fire in me.
Speaker: And I may have cried every day my first three months, but by my fourth month, I was leading the leaderboards.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker: I didn't have a soft start in it and I didn't also have a lot of training where I was at at the time.
Speaker: I didn't have a lot of tools like we're so many online academies right now, like Solar Academy hosting, you know, and then hosting this like there's so many more tools out now than there were mid 2018.
Speaker: At least that my team had access to.
Speaker: So I kind of had to really dive into the science, the education.
Speaker: I had to dive into how my brain works because I couldn't really rip off and duplicate anybody else's pitch.
Speaker: I couldn't, I didn't really have strong people to learn from.
Speaker: So I approached solar sails in a different way than I think most people do.
Speaker: And it was more from a being of service, customer service, science type of way.
Speaker: Like it, I have, I built myself in the communities that I was knocking in Vegas.
Speaker: as the friendly neighborhood science solar girl.
Speaker: Like I knocked in jeans and boots and NASA t-shirts and baseball caps.
Speaker: Like you would never see me in leggings or a polo.
Speaker: I never had makeup on.
Speaker: Absolutely not.
Speaker: No, I don't.
Speaker: I sold the science.
Speaker: And because I sold from an educational point of view, I learned a lot from homeowners on what they would say about the people that had come before me.
Speaker: It kind of helped me build a,
Speaker: reinforcement for the things that you shouldn't be doing.
Speaker: But like, I mean, I'm sure you've knocked on a door and had somebody be mad that it was for solar, right?
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: Okay, I'm gonna ask you directly, how many times have you asked them why?
Speaker: I mean, yeah, probably not a ton.
Speaker: I mean, well, especially like if someone's mad for me, like if they don't have solar already.
Speaker: I will say if they have solar and they're mad about it, then yeah, I always ask them why and like, oh, why don't you like it?
Speaker: But yeah, but that's a good point.
Speaker: If it's someone that doesn't have solar and they're just pissed off and like getting mad, then yeah, then a lot of times I just get out of there, you know, they're not mad.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: I'm going to give you and everybody listening to this, I'm going to give you a little trick on what I do.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Those people that are mad that don't have solar, while they're a little trickier initially, they end up being my biggest referral pots.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Very much so.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So what I do is when somebody is immediately angry about, like we usually stand one side of the door or the other, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Generally, because we like to leave an open vision pathway, right?
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: So what I will do when I get a homeowner like that is I will literally take a step back and I'll put my hand up to my chest and be like, you are the fourth homeowner that has been angry at solar.
Speaker: And then I'll switch my body.
Speaker: Like I literally will turn and get to the other side of the pivot, you know, because in the homeowner's mind, I'm physiologically changing.
Speaker: I'm no longer that group.
Speaker: I'm not concerned.
Speaker: What did they do to you?
Speaker: Almost 80% of the time they will go into a rant about all of the wrong things that somebody said and open themselves up to being resold.
Speaker: That's interesting.
Speaker: So you think it's just that like change in location or it's like... It's possibly a change in the physicality.
Speaker: It's partially a change in nobody else that's knocked on their door has cared about why they were angry.
Speaker: That's true.
Speaker: Nobody does.
Speaker: And I've gone so much deeper into like caring about the homeowners that I have dealt with that like I have an entire nonprofit I've built from it.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I feed people all over Vegas that are low income or.
Speaker: have lost their spouses and, you know, don't have the resources that they would normally have.
Speaker: I call it Lindsay's Love Line.
Speaker: I have a whole train of people that get fed.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: But it's, I showed up and I became of service.
Speaker: And in doing that, I learned all of the things that the people around me were doing wrong.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because homeowners are quick to bitch about something.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They want to tell you everything that's wrong with your industry.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I think it takes a pretty solid person to sit and take that abuse and then actually try to change it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's kind of why I branched into doing what I'm doing now.
Speaker: I had to build systems to keep people happy with the amount of volume I was doing, the amount of bullshit in the market in Vegas that other people were doing.
Speaker: I had to create kind of like assurances and thank you programs and educational programs.
Speaker: And, you know, it started from there.
Speaker: And as my company, we're live in 28 markets now.
Speaker: And as we have grown, it's become a,
Speaker: It's become very clear to me that it wasn't a market issue.
Speaker: It's an industry issue.
Speaker: So now I'm here speaking and spanking for the appropriate reasons, right?
Speaker: I don't ever want to knock a door and have somebody be mad at me about selling something that actually makes sense.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, no, especially in like Vegas, I mean, it's a pretty competitive market, right?
Speaker: Brutal.
Speaker: Yeah, in San Diego, I mean, there's highest rates.
Speaker: So I would say those are probably two of the most brutal markets that get knocked all the time.
Speaker: People are throwing fits at doors.
Speaker: So, yeah, I mean, I think it's super important, especially in those markets, just trying to understand and, you know, like Stephen Covey says, seek first to be or seek first to understand, then be understood, right?
Speaker: And so many reps are just like, where's my money?
Speaker: Where's my money?
Speaker: Grant Cardone and, you know, not trying to understand.
Speaker: Just go somewhere.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: True.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so that's, that's what's so cool about what you, so would you say that's like the biggest reason that led you to start reading resources or how to, how do you get into all that?
Speaker: I found myself being valued more in fixing other people's problems in the industry.
Speaker: And as I became more known for it, as people started sending me like, Hey, I've got this client, I need help.
Speaker: Like, this is going to go to a lawsuit.
Speaker: Like I need a mediator.
Speaker: Like I need something.
Speaker: I realize that it's it's most people need something of that realm.
Speaker: We as an industry are growing so quickly that I think that, you know, the technology is, you know, we as humans are running to keep up with the industry.
Speaker: And I think the one thing that the majority of people focus on the least is the homeowner.
Speaker: And I think that that is going to be
Speaker: the downfall of a lot of companies.
Speaker: If you just look at the way that consumer trends are moving right now, COVID changed a lot of things about the way people expect to be treated.
Speaker: And you're already starting to see some of the same trends from homeowners in our industry.
Speaker: It's happening.
Speaker: And I think that the companies that actually step up and create a brand for themselves as being
Speaker: the company for homeowners.
Speaker: That's going to be the brand.
Speaker: You know, as we narrow, there's going to end up being an Apple and a Samsung.
Speaker: one of them will be the brand that the homeowners are taking care of the better.
Speaker: Like, that's just gonna be what it is.
Speaker: It's as in a consumer market for our nation, even globally, that is the way that industries trend.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, I love that.
Speaker: And yeah, well, when the company you first, you know, started selling for, did you see that they weren't doing any of this?
Speaker: Did they have any type of customer service or anything at the time when you first started?
Speaker: I had a couple of companies that I worked with at the very beginning because it was,
Speaker: could be as a woman at that time.
Speaker: Way less women in 2018 than there are now.
Speaker: Yeah, there's still not a ton.
Speaker: Way less.
Speaker: No, I actually ended up developing a lot of the systems.
Speaker: And as far as I know, that company is still using quite a few of them to this day.
Speaker: We're systems, customer thank you systems, even like welcome brochures and informational packets.
Speaker: Like that was one of, that was the first company where I developed and rolled out whole programs.
Speaker: And
Speaker: I can tell you that when I started at that company, there was about eight of us and we were producing about 150 kilowatts a month.
Speaker: And when I left that company, I think there was a little over 30 and we were set to install about, I think it was almost 900 kilowatts the next month in an 18 month period.
Speaker: Substantial growth in the Vegas market.
Speaker: Yeah, not bad at all.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: So, um, yeah, a lot of that, um,
Speaker: not so much the sales training i wasn't involved so much in that there but the upkeep how to talk to a homeowner the you know yeah i ended up even as i was just the sales manager as i was still out knocking doors i became more and more common that i was being pulled off the doors to fix that yeah you know so that's when you realize wow i'm actually really good at fixing all these issues that people are putting themselves into i had a full career before i came into this industry um i was actually a
Speaker: very highly rated chef in Vegas for over a decade.
Speaker: And I used to develop franchising packets for restaurants.
Speaker: So my specialty was to take mom and pop organizations and develop their branding, their processes, their hiring, their, you know, supply chains, all of that, develop all of that for them so that they could take in investors and mass duplicate, right?
Speaker: Like that's what I've always done.
Speaker: So building systems like that,
Speaker: easy for me.
Speaker: It's literally, it's just standing in the boat and seeing the holes.
Speaker: I think the hardest part for me has been getting, you know, the young, hungry 22 to 25 year old male in this industry, getting them to actually see more.
Speaker: Here's the phrase that's killing us.
Speaker: Are you ready?
Speaker: Don't worry about the cancels, just go sell more.
Speaker: That phrase is literally killing our industry because it's the cancels.
Speaker: Those are the angry homeowners that don't have solar on the roof.
Speaker: Those are the reasons that I exist.
Speaker: No, it's fully that.
Speaker: It's the largest investment that most of them make outside of their house for a good car.
Speaker: And we don't treat them like that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, and so what I see a lot of times is you obviously get the people that cancel because they found a better deal or whatever occasionally.
Speaker: So that's like, you know, brown eyes.
Speaker: But besides that, what are the main reasons you see that customers are canceling?
Speaker: Is it like issues?
Speaker: 100% communication.
Speaker: I can tell you exactly when it happens and why.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I know this for a fact.
Speaker: So majority of our cancellations come within three to five days of initial contract dates.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: It's about 41%.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: out of nine different reasons on average.
Speaker: So that normally happens because of retention.
Speaker: So we know what we do, right?
Speaker: We understand the solar project.
Speaker: We understand that metering.
Speaker: We understand the financing.
Speaker: We know what we're doing.
Speaker: Homeowners generally get two hours to learn about the opportunity, get fully educated on it,
Speaker: Qualify for it and contract with it and that's if you're doing a decent job like I really it disgusts me how many people I hear oh I close it in 30 minutes great your homeowner has no clue what's happening awesome I'll talk to them in a month great that infuriates me like it should this is well it's easy to sell like it sells itself it makes sense the science makes sense there's great incentives backing it like there's good stuff right yeah
Speaker: They don't know that.
Speaker: The homeowners don't really know that.
Speaker: They know what you tell them, and three days after the fact, they have lost 80% of that information because they're humans, and that's how we retain.
Speaker: Right, yeah.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: That's the majority of the issue is that they don't get resources or informational things initially.
Speaker: We always suggest within the first three days, send the homeowner a digital presentation or I prefer personally hand-delivered bifolds that they can actually put on the fridge, so that they can hear visually.
Speaker: I like that.
Speaker: Whatever you're capable of doing.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: What to expect.
Speaker: who to call for when, what happens if you get installed right before summer and you're going to have two bills.
Speaker: Like you can literally set the expectations for everything that the homeowner is going to need in that and alleviate
Speaker: 80% of your unnecessary communications from the homeowner post that.
Speaker: I think that's the biggest thing initially is like get the information in their hands because three days after the fact they're not going to know what just happened.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And even worse than not knowing they're going to remember it incorrectly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then they're really getting a man because they think they weren't sold the right thing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's the first one.
Speaker: Second one is lack of communication in general.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I think way too many people in this industry glorify install day.
Speaker: The homeowner doesn't give a fuck about install day.
Speaker: They do not care about install day.
Speaker: The homeowner cares about when their system is producing.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And nobody gauges that yet.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like I will ask a home.
Speaker: So I pull people constantly.
Speaker: I'm constantly pulling homeowners.
Speaker: I'm constantly asking them to use their recordings.
Speaker: Like I'm a scientist by nature.
Speaker: I gather the data and then I figure out what to do with it.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So I'll be a little bit better.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's communication.
Speaker: And the majority of the time, it's the homeowner calling the sales rep or the number that they have, that's what I'm told usually, with a question.
Speaker: And I've seen it happen hundreds of times where sales rep goes to get a call from a homeowner and either panics and answers panicked and the homeowner can hear that.
Speaker: The minute a homeowner hears panic, there goes your trust.
Speaker: Forget it.
Speaker: Forget it, right?
Speaker: So panic or they just don't answer at all.
Speaker: Or they answer and give the wrong answer.
Speaker: Like that's honestly worse than any of it.
Speaker: Like let's just put our egos aside for a minute.
Speaker: If you get a question from a homeowner and you're not 100% sure on the answer.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm not 100% sure.
Speaker: Give me two minutes.
Speaker: Let me find out.
Speaker: I'll call you back.
Speaker: We need to be better about that.
Speaker: The ego kills us.
Speaker: Ego and greed.
Speaker: It's horrible.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Well, yeah, I talk about it.
Speaker: I actually did an Instagram about this the other day story, but just how I was taught when I first started in 2016, I was taught that homeowners still would have electricity during a power outage, that the power would never go out if they had solar out there.
Speaker: So I was telling that.
Speaker: It depends on the market and the time of day, but yes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I told for like, you know, a year and a half, probably I was telling all my customers that, hey, you'll have power.
Speaker: And then what happens when they don't have power?
Speaker: I was the first call I made.
Speaker: Why don't I have power, Taylor?
Speaker: What's going on?
Speaker: And I'm like, oh, yeah, I guess I told you wrong.
Speaker: And yeah, so it came back to bite me.
Speaker: I also had some of that.
Speaker: My first probably 15 deals, I had been trained that you get the IETC no matter what.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: That sucks.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: That sucks.
Speaker: Same thing.
Speaker: So with our company, before you can actually, because we do multiple things, but if you actually want to become our client, we were managing your backend services.
Speaker: I have an hour and a half long interview process and I turned away about seven out of 10 companies that I
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Here's the reason.
Speaker: I will get into whether or not you've got lawsuits.
Speaker: I will get into your payroll, how you're paying your people, when you're paying your people.
Speaker: I will get into what educational training services are you using for your reps and how are you checking and balancing that because anything that your people do in the house is going to subject my people to what they're being subjected to on the back end.
Speaker: I care enough about my people to not subject them to...
Speaker: Scabs and dirty deals.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: If I even have a question about whether or not a company is going to match my integrity, I will request that we do welcome calls the first couple weeks.
Speaker: Yeah, that's smart because there's so much misinformation out there.
Speaker: You can't control what a rep does, but you can have the tools and the checks and balances in place to help.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, yeah, I mean, California, as you probably know, they have the consumer protection guide now that homeowners have to go through.
Speaker: But it's like even that a lot of reps are just like, oh, it's just, you know, just initial here.
Speaker: Yeah, it doesn't match.
Speaker: It's just an informational thing.
Speaker: You'll get a copy.
Speaker: Click, click, click.
Speaker: It's, you know, stuff they're not even explaining.
Speaker: So yeah, I think it's just we all need to do way better about educating the sales reps too about not giving misinformation because it's going to come back to bite us as I think it already has.
Speaker: It's made our job tougher in California.
Speaker: I don't think we'd have to do this consumer guide where now it says go get three quotes on there.
Speaker: I mean, it's not a huge deal, but like occasionally I get people that are like, oh, you know what, Taylor, we're going to go get other quotes.
Speaker: And I'm like, this wouldn't have happened.
Speaker: So I've been meeting with a few of the industry leaders this year.
Speaker: this weekend about some of so here's the thing I'm in a weird position I am plugged into pretty much every major installer CRM in the nation I'm also in the back ends of quite a few solar companies and I'm becoming a name where people are like oh you need to take this issue Lindsay right here's what I can tell you and I said this on stage a little while ago
Speaker: I see a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff.
Speaker: It's bad.
Speaker: I see who's doing it.
Speaker: I can tell when it's intentional and when it's not.
Speaker: We are getting to the point as a collective, I think in the upper echelon of this industry, where I think there's going to be a group of people that come together to start mediating.
Speaker: I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker: I think it's coming.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I can tell you personally that as far as permit poaching is a big thing right now, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm going to start announcing them publicly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I'm going to start calling people out because that's just, it's weak salesmanship.
Speaker: True.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it's often not healthy for the homeowner's experience either.
Speaker: And I don't, I don't align with either of those two.
Speaker: So we're actually going to start posting publicly when this is happening because it's, it's,
Speaker: There's way too much out there for all of us to be pulling shit like that.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: It's just too much.
Speaker: It's such a scarcity-minded thing, and I won't... I think that's the first thing that needs to stop.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think there needs to be required training, and I think that there needs to be...
Speaker: mediating process yeah my greens pretty sad I don't think I've ever had that happen to me but you know especially in Texas you go on the Facebook group say now it's that's all people are posting about all right okay there's a few states where it's you know yeah they're they're filed publicly yeah
Speaker: So it's pretty sad.
Speaker: And yeah, I mean, hopefully all the people listening to this, you know, listen to the podcast, you need to cut that crap out if you're doing it.
Speaker: Because it's just going to hurt us all in the end.
Speaker: And if you don't, I mean, you're going to get called out by Lindsay here.
Speaker: She's going to take you on stage and spank you publicly.
Speaker: It's coming.
Speaker: You know, it's just too easy to sell solar.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: It's too easy to sell it to have to resort to things like that.
Speaker: It's just...
Speaker: You would be embarrassed if people knew you were doing it publicly.
Speaker: And if that is a factor, you probably shouldn't be doing it.
Speaker: If it's even a threat of somebody mentioning what you're doing publicly, you probably shouldn't be doing it.
Speaker: But that's the mom in me.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: True.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: And so, Lindsay, I want to hear just maybe from like, we have a lot of reps listening to this that maybe they don't have it set up.
Speaker: So you work with reps and companies.
Speaker: Is that right?
Speaker: We do, yes.
Speaker: We can be hired by installers, sales organizations, EPCs,
Speaker: And the individual rep, absolutely.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So what are you seeing if a rep says, Lindsay, I want to have you take care of all my customers, what would you say?
Speaker: Is it more referrals for them?
Speaker: I mean, obviously, happy customers, better process.
Speaker: It's that they don't want to deal with the communications.
Speaker: They would rather just focus on the doors.
Speaker: And then, of course, everybody wants referrals.
Speaker: Yeah, everybody wants a phrase and what we do is we we white label our services So we basically we adopt whatever it is that your company does don't have something in play that we help you develop what works for you for your
Speaker: Personal branding.
Speaker: OK.
Speaker: And obviously your pocketbook.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because referrals are cash, generally.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: And something I have a question about is there's so many different types of customers.
Speaker: Some like to be in the loop constantly.
Speaker: You get the grandmas, the grandpas that are old school that want stuff to order to end paper that go, print me off a paper contract.
Speaker: which drives me nuts sometimes.
Speaker: I have to go print off contracts, drop them out to them.
Speaker: So with all these different types of customers, all these different types of preferences, are you developing different ways to communicate with all of them, or is it all one procedure?
Speaker: What's your take on that?
Speaker: This is what I will tell you if you're an individual that's listening, or if you're a sales owner that's listening, don't have a process yet.
Speaker: Ask people what they want and give it to them.
Speaker: It's very simple.
Speaker: You want to have the happiest customers that give you the most referrals.
Speaker: Treat them the way that they want to be treated.
Speaker: It's that simple.
Speaker: Take the 30 seconds to ask what their preferences are.
Speaker: I usually have the sales reps work it into the close where at the very end where they're getting ready to leave.
Speaker: Like, hey, I'm going to submit all this.
Speaker: I just need to ask you to prefer text or phone call.
Speaker: And then I need to make sure that you mark this email because you're going to be receiving emails from this.
Speaker: Like I set them up for the way that they're going to be communicated with because giving the expectation first helps Because obviously everybody's going to do docuscience nowadays.
Speaker: They need to be watching for these things If you are having an issue with elderly people I've done multiple instructional videos so I literally I'll get on zoom and I'll go over exactly what they need to do and I'll share my screen and then I'll just email it to
Speaker: So much easier for them to follow that way.
Speaker: Yeah, it's the video everybody watches YouTube now.
Speaker: Yeah, true.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, it's a I suggest that you ask that and then what we do for our clients everybody has their own personal pipeline management tool that we've created and we actually have in there how the homeowners is supposed to be communicated with because it gets submitted with the deal.
Speaker: So deals get submitted to us we comb them make sure everything looks good.
Speaker: We also will let the rep know that
Speaker: Mark and a few of the guys will actually go through and do like the best bar calculations and everything so that we can preemptively, you know, expect MPUs.
Speaker: He's also gone through and saved quite a few too.
Speaker: It was like, that's not necessary.
Speaker: So, you know, but we, we just, we put it into the pipeline manager and then we follow suit.
Speaker: Like most of the, most of our stuff can be automated, but we,
Speaker: The main reason that people hire us is because they want the human element.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: So we keep it as human as personalized as possible.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker: And so if someone's just trying to do this their self, because I know obviously not everyone's going to go work with you and everything.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But if they want to do some of these things themselves, what are, I don't know, just some best practices or things that you do every time?
Speaker: Sure, sure, sure.
Speaker: I talked about customer gifting, but I don't know, what are the biggest mistakes you see that people aren't doing?
Speaker: They're just like, okay, I don't need full out Lindsay doing everything, but what would you say to that?
Speaker: Very easy.
Speaker: So I actually gave a couple things away today on stage, and I'll give them to you on here so that people can find them.
Speaker: So the first thing is you need to understand what your customer experience blueprint is.
Speaker: It's the first thing you have to do is you have to set up what it's going to be so that you have something to stick to because you have a system in place.
Speaker: It's a lot easier to manage than just like, Oh, I got to do this thing for this random homeowner.
Speaker: So figure out what you want your process to look like.
Speaker: Automate as much of that process as possible.
Speaker: But the two biggest things, something informational and to paint them almost immediately.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So three to four days, about the time that site survey has been completed when we're starting the design process, I will send them out their welcome packet or their online presentation.
Speaker: I have used PowerPoint, Sway, Canva, all of those things.
Speaker: There's a free template on my website.
Speaker: You can just get on and look at it.
Speaker: You can download it.
Speaker: You can use it if you want.
Speaker: I've got a couple more instructional videos that are coming on to explain best delivery methods and whatnot.
Speaker: But the informational brochure to begin with, that should cover basic steps,
Speaker: what to expect, who to call and when to call them if you have an issue, what net metering actually means for your market and how that's going to live for you.
Speaker: What happens if you get installed right before summer, how you're going to have a second bill.
Speaker: More referral information, ambassador program, whatever you're using.
Speaker: And then I personalize it.
Speaker: So I keep all of the information the same on my template, but I will personalize.
Speaker: I'll do the last name, household.
Speaker: whatever brand, soul or family, and then their system size, their panel information, their sales reps information, their install company, like just the basics.
Speaker: So they have something tangible that's customized to them.
Speaker: They know what they're working with.
Speaker: They know what to expect.
Speaker: I like a trifold if you're doing a paper one.
Speaker: Mainly because I can put magnet in the middle and then it's on the fridge, right?
Speaker: You get more spaces to fill.
Speaker: Sway and Canva are my two best online presentations, but I've got copies of each on the website to see that you can see what it should look like.
Speaker: And then gifting.
Speaker: Gifting and feeding the install crews.
Speaker: Those are the two biggest things.
Speaker: Oh, really?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So every install that I've ever personally had, I have fed the crew.
Speaker: And I usually prefer to do it in person if I can.
Speaker: So here's what I do is I give them food and business cards.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: So when people come up and say, what are you doing?
Speaker: First of all, I'm feeding them.
Speaker: If they've been working with the install company I'm working with for a while, they know if it's my job, they're going to get fed, right?
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: So they're going to be the most pleasant with the homeowner.
Speaker: If the homeowner's going to get better taking care of, they're going to clean the job better.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: They're just going to do a better job because they know they're going to be rewarded.
Speaker: I'm incentivizing the install crews.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Who doesn't want to get fed?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And sometimes I'll do like, I'll do some cool stuff too.
Speaker: I'll do like gift cards or whatever.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: So I'll do that with my business cards.
Speaker: I've pulled many referrals from homeowners coming out and seeing, um, and then gifting the homeowner.
Speaker: I think most people make the mistake of gifting at point of install.
Speaker: Um, I think most people make the mistake of celebrating point of install.
Speaker: It means something to us because that's when we get paid, right?
Speaker: That's when it's tangible.
Speaker: It's on the roof.
Speaker: It's done.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It doesn't mean shit to the homeowner.
Speaker: They don't care.
Speaker: They do not care.
Speaker: Do you know what they actually care about?
Speaker: Their system producing.
Speaker: It's turned on.
Speaker: It's turned on.
Speaker: Point of PTO should be the biggest celebration for the homeowner.
Speaker: It really should be.
Speaker: And you should be in full communication with them and tell them anyways.
Speaker: So I really pump up the point of PTO.
Speaker: If I'm capable of getting over and turning on their system, I'll actually have the homeowner do it.
Speaker: And I'll record it for them to post on their social media for referrals.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: Because it's a huge moment.
Speaker: We'll pop a bottle of champagne.
Speaker: We'll turn their system on.
Speaker: Like, I'll put a strobe light in her back.
Speaker: Like, it's great.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: It's wonderful.
Speaker: It works like a charm.
Speaker: That's genius.
Speaker: If you get the homeowner to celebrate, they're going to get other people to celebrate with them.
Speaker: Nobody wants to celebrate alone.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker: It's just it's human nature.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's fire.
Speaker: Those couple of things are, like, the biggest ones.
Speaker: And then I also suggest keeping in touch with your homeowner until tax season.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Even if it's not like point of PTO, just set up a reminder in tax season to send them an email.
Speaker: And what I usually let the email say is like, hey, we know it's tax season.
Speaker: We know sometimes there are unexpected issues, whatever.
Speaker: If you have any issues, please feel free to reach out to us.
Speaker: And then I always keep a tax professional, like a fairly non-biased one, you know what I mean?
Speaker: Just a tax professional in my back pocket that may get new clients, but where I can say, okay, well, let's get a second opinion.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: You know, let's make sure that this is being done correctly because half the time they're on TurboTax and they don't know whether it's.
Speaker: But that alone, additionally, is another pull for referrals.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Who gets taken care of all the way to tax season in this industry?
Speaker: Yeah, no, that's cool.
Speaker: I didn't even think of it because I get calls all the time.
Speaker: I mean, this tax season, I've gotten like probably six or seven calls from people.
Speaker: You all know what it means.
Speaker: Set their expectations.
Speaker: Send it out in December.
Speaker: Let them know that it's coming up or beginning of January, right before the first open filing date.
Speaker: Yeah, so yeah, I wish I would have, I wish I had talked to you before tax season because like, because I can, yeah, I can see how like if you beat them to the punch on that, like they're, they probably would have gotten a referral instead of them having to call me and search for my number and all that.
Speaker: Here's the thing, if you set the expectation,
Speaker: Most homeowners, if they know what to expect and when to expect it, are good with just about anything.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: True.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: And I don't think we put enough stock in to educate.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, and it's like you said, it's all about expectation.
Speaker: Like, I've lost so many deals just by not knowing, not giving the expectation that the installs, you know, there's NPUs, so it's going to take an extra three months or whatever.
Speaker: And they're mad that it's taking too long, so they cancel.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: or a document issue.
Speaker: It's like, oh, really the stupidest stuff.
Speaker: But if I would have just said, Hey, we might be needing some extra documents or, Hey, your home's in a trust.
Speaker: So just so you know, get this beforehand or whatever, you know, like stupid stuff like that.
Speaker: But it works.
Speaker: I'm telling you, like people, people want to, people want to feel heard, obviously, but they want to feel like, you know, they're valued as customers.
Speaker: I think if,
Speaker: I think if we went just about anywhere and like a restaurant, a car dealership, anywhere, receive the type of customer service that our homeowners receive in general.
Speaker: none of us would be very happy about it.
Speaker: True.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think it's just too much greed, not enough education.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Well, I didn't think about feeding the installers who show up with pizza or what do you bring them?
Speaker: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: So it depends on the day and my availability.
Speaker: I never missed an install when I was knocking doors because not I will knock every door that can possibly see that roof in the neighborhood.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't care.
Speaker: That's smart.
Speaker: Like we're knocking everybody.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I sometimes will show if it's like a cold day, I'll show up with like coffee in the morning.
Speaker: And sometimes I'll get their order.
Speaker: Like, what do you guys want for lunch?
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: We want got you.
Speaker: I come back and knock in a different hour and people are home anyway.
Speaker: So what can I get you?
Speaker: I have pulled probably, I've got 304 installs.
Speaker: From my installers, I've pulled probably a good 40 referrals.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Wow, that's crazy.
Speaker: And I rarely have a homeowner complain about an installer.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, yeah.
Speaker: And I see what you're saying.
Speaker: They're probably not going to leave trash and, you know, like be rude to homeowners or anything like that.
Speaker: Well, because here's the thing I learned early that you can request certain install teams.
Speaker: Oh, really?
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: So when I had an install team that did a really good job and did the foreman communicate, because I am one, I communicate with the foreman throughout the day.
Speaker: I want to know what's happening.
Speaker: I want to know everything's going according to plan because I want to be able to communicate with my homeowner, right?
Speaker: They start to learn...
Speaker: that you're gonna feed them.
Speaker: Like even if it's somebody you haven't worked with before, they start to learn.
Speaker: You just build that as being part of the process.
Speaker: I've done pizza, wings, gift cards.
Speaker: On a hot day, I've brought some of the, you know you can get the five gallon buckets and fill them with ice water and they have the little Arctic cooler bands that they sell at Home Depot?
Speaker: I'll give to those, to the teams.
Speaker: It's hot as hell, here's an air conditioned lunch time, you're welcome.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: You know, I take care of people.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so many of us say that we're of service people.
Speaker: It's rare that I actually meet somebody in this industry that's really of service.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Not many people are thinking like that.
Speaker: I have built computers.
Speaker: I've taken out trash.
Speaker: I've driven people to doctor's appointments.
Speaker: Oh.
Speaker: But I was the solar girl for that neighborhood or those neighborhoods.
Speaker: And if anybody else came knocking, they called me.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, it's, I honestly think it's the best way to
Speaker: fully take over a market.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You have to be good to the homeowners.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't see enough of that.
Speaker: And yeah, I forget sometimes too.
Speaker: But I remember I've had homeowners call me up and I had a company truck at one point.
Speaker: And so some customers will call and say, hey, can you take me to Home Depot?
Speaker: I had a customer call.
Speaker: That's one of my favorite stories.
Speaker: And this old like Vietnamese guy would call me up.
Speaker: I'd run his errands at Home Depot and stuff like that.
Speaker: Can I ask you something about that?
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: Do you know why that's a really good memory for you?
Speaker: Probably because I felt good and like, yeah.
Speaker: Paycheck didn't matter.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Did it?
Speaker: No, I didn't make that much.
Speaker: We have to stop thinking about the paychecks.
Speaker: We have to start thinking about the people.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: And that's what's cool is like you feel, I don't know, like money, money doesn't really bring happiness, but when you actually like conserve people, not just from solar, but I don't know, like helping and cheering them up.
Speaker: Like some of these old people are lonely.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Or I've been like kids, soccer games and stuff like that.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: You ever looked for a lost dog?
Speaker: I've never done that, no?
Speaker: You've done that?
Speaker: Yeah, I've done that.
Speaker: Did you find it?
Speaker: Yeah, actually.
Speaker: Did they go solar with you after that?
Speaker: No, we didn't.
Speaker: Well, they were already in the process, actually, and I happened to be re-knocking in the neighborhood.
Speaker: They had already signed with me.
Speaker: We were like a week shy of their install date.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: And I just happened to, I saw the flyer, and I was like, I know that dog.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because I love animals.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I send the thank you gifts for the dogs, not the humans.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I bet people love it.
Speaker: They do.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, Lindsay, I don't want to take all night here, but last question or two I had is just dealing with these installers because I know obviously installers are probably going to treat you better if you're doing the level of service you're talking about.
Speaker: But what do you do when sometimes the installer drops the ball?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: That's a pretty big portion of what I do.
Speaker: You'd be surprised.
Speaker: Um, the biggest, the biggest thing that I do is I keep the homeowner happy.
Speaker: I've pissed off quite a few sales reps and installers.
Speaker: I have, it's, I mean, it is what it is.
Speaker: And sometimes there are unforeseeable things.
Speaker: I mean, what do I do when the utility drops the ball?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, the thing is, is that you have to be understanding of the homeowner and where they're at.
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: I don't, here's the thing that I will tell you that everybody can use immediately, stop apologizing.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Stop apologizing.
Speaker: I did not tell a homeowner that I'm sorry, ever, ever, because sorry implicates guilt and I didn't do anything wrong.
Speaker: True.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: So this is the way that you approach the homeowner and then I can get into how you approach the installers well if you like, but the way that you approach the homeowner is this, I understand how you feel.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I would feel the same way if I were in your shoes.
Speaker: I'm going to do my best to get this solved for you.
Speaker: I'm going to need to start by doing a little bit of discovery, figuring out kind of what's going on.
Speaker: But I will find a solution that will work for everybody.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: I like it.
Speaker: It's really not something.
Speaker: And then just hear them out after that, see what they're going through.
Speaker: And then really, most of the time, they just want to be heard.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Most of the time, they just want to be.
Speaker: So Google did a study two years ago.
Speaker: It was 2019 or 2020.
Speaker: It was the beginning of 2020.
Speaker: They did a study about communication in general and homeowners and like consumer trends.
Speaker: And basically what they found was is that you can kind of, I don't know the best way to describe that.
Speaker: You know what, actually, I'm going to post this on my, I'm going to follow back on this.
Speaker: We're going to post this on the social media.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Because I have a video that explains this really well with a homeowner that I went through this with.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Basically what you do is you come back to them with everybody wants to be heard, right?
Speaker: So the study was that 57% of customers would be happy with just being heard.
Speaker: They don't need an actual solution.
Speaker: So I start with the idea of that and then I go through kind of like process of elimination.
Speaker: Is this an actual issue or is it a misunderstanding?
Speaker: Who do I contact?
Speaker: Like it's really just it's problem solving and it's basic.
Speaker: But I think that the thing that a lot of us don't do that would help everybody on every installer sales homeowners, everybody is that we get so upset without actually having the information that we need.
Speaker: You know, these are this is high stakes stuff.
Speaker: It's very emotional.
Speaker: You know, we don't want to lose a deal.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I think that what I have done different from everybody else is that I approach issues the same way I'm talking to you right now.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: You know, we've got an issue more than likely it's already happened.
Speaker: So what are we going to do to fix it?
Speaker: Who's accountable?
Speaker: You know, and it's just, it's, it's really just an advocating position.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I often find I do the last method.
Speaker: So when I'm talking to a homeowner with like problem solving issues, it's listen,
Speaker: acknowledge, solve, and think.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: It works for everything.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Listening, acknowledge, solve, think.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Can I have to write that down?
Speaker: L is listen.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So you listen to the problem.
Speaker: Let them fully get it out too.
Speaker: Let them bitch.
Speaker: Let them complain.
Speaker: Let them just let them fully vent.
Speaker: Sometimes they work it out for themselves.
Speaker: It's weird.
Speaker: Like I love when that happens.
Speaker: So I'm like, cool, my job's done.
Speaker: Great talk.
Speaker: Acknowledge.
Speaker: I hear you.
Speaker: This is a real problem.
Speaker: You're not, you're not crazy.
Speaker: Like this is the thing.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I hear you and all the things that are happening.
Speaker: So I'm going to solve this.
Speaker: I may not have the solution right now, but I'm going to solve this for you.
Speaker: Or here is the solution.
Speaker: If you have it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And thank you for bringing this to my attention because you could have just canceled.
Speaker: You could have called and canceled your loan and been done and not answered a phone call.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I didn't apologize on any of that.
Speaker: That's how I solved 90% of the problems I come up with.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: No, that's super helpful.
Speaker: And what about if someone's like coming to you to cancel?
Speaker: Is it a pretty similar way you would try to get them to not cancel?
Speaker: Cancellations go through our exit interview.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: It's like our...
Speaker: kind of a patented little thing that we do.
Speaker: So we actually, we started a role play one on stage and it got cut a little short.
Speaker: But basically what it is, is I play the non-knowing customer service representative.
Speaker: Hi, Mr. Williams.
Speaker: It looks like I see a red flag on your project here, but I'm not really seeing any information from my side.
Speaker: Can you just kind of run me through what's been going on?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: That's clever.
Speaker: He goes through the entire, all of the issues, right?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Sometimes they work some stuff out for themselves or what have you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But basically what he's doing is telling me how to resolve fully.
Speaker: And this is the reason that I advocate for project managers to be trained on how to sell solar because that is usually the disconnect.
Speaker: They know the information about the solar.
Speaker: They don't understand the sales process.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So they're really like I have I'm not getting my full ITC amount back.
Speaker: I've got two bills, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Legitimately what I'm doing is having them work down like a list of issues because it's almost always more than one.
Speaker: They're pissed off and worked up by now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then I'll tackle the easiest one first.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Or the misunderstandings first.
Speaker: And then after that, I will go into the things that are just common in the industry.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So like, yes, okay, this is an IETC thing.
Speaker: You can pull it for multiple years, but let's maybe up your referral amount for the time being so you can get that money back before it re-amortizes and then collect the rest on the back.
Speaker: You're getting more business.
Speaker: They're getting their shit paid.
Speaker: Like, it's good.
Speaker: That's good, yeah.
Speaker: And then when it comes to things that are like just really fucked up, I almost always will sweeten the pot with something.
Speaker: Like, I had a lady, 1960s,
Speaker: famous architect built home hand stenciled paint on the walls.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: From the 1960s.
Speaker: Oh my gosh.
Speaker: And PT crew drilled through it.
Speaker: Oh.
Speaker: Drilled through it.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Sometimes we fuck up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Sometimes we mess up.
Speaker: Sometimes the installers mess up.
Speaker: Like we are all human.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: These things happen.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Explaining it like that helps to the homeowners, by the way.
Speaker: Like sometimes people mess up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And we all made mistakes, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's construction.
Speaker: Yeah, it is.
Speaker: And that's one thing.
Speaker: It is construction.
Speaker: Most people are engaging that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: Sometimes you do have to get creative.
Speaker: If anybody out there ever gets stuck with an issue and they need to get creative, they can message me for free.
Speaker: I'll help you.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: So I ended up actually hiring an artist in Vegas.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: A fairly well-known artist to come and re-stencil it.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: So got it solved, right?
Speaker: Not something you would normally think about.
Speaker: Cost a little bit of money, but she's stoked and her house has been in a magazine with my solar.
Speaker: So sometimes you have to get creative, but really it's just they want to be heard.
Speaker: They want to know that somebody gives a shit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: most of the people in our industry don't act like they do yeah well I love how you like word it that way too because most the time if you just ask oh why you can't slink I feel like almost every time they're I don't want a lot of times I don't even want to tell you because they know you're gonna try and resolve it but I love how you word it that way cuz it's not like confrontational it's just like
Speaker: I just need to be filled in so I can process your exit interview.
Speaker: I just need you to fill me in so I can get this all written down.
Speaker: And then as they're saying the things like, oh, well, just so you know, that's not really how that works.
Speaker: This is actually the process.
Speaker: Or, oh, no, it's the weight.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: Like it's always a, oh, I'm surprised you think that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: And then get some questioning.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's not, it's usually just reselling.
Speaker: Most of the cancellations that I say, I'm just reselling.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And then would you recommend like sales reps to be the one to try to, like, are you saving your clients' accounts?
Speaker: I'm saving my clients' accounts.
Speaker: So I don't suggest that, obviously, you can't call and play a customer service representative if you're the sales rep, right?
Speaker: But it doesn't actually need to be a customer service representative.
Speaker: You can get any other salesperson on your team.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: You know, slide them a little bit of cash, like, hey, I need you to run through this and figure out what's going on.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: That's how I started learning how to do that is because I was helping other reps save their stuff.
Speaker: My retention rate was sky high.
Speaker: I didn't really have a lot of cancellations.
Speaker: Yeah, I can imagine.
Speaker: Yeah, so pretty simple.
Speaker: Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, well, there's so many nuggets in this.
Speaker: I'm going to have to go back and re-listen.
Speaker: I do have one thing I will tell you for that.
Speaker: I was going to announce this today, and I didn't.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: The one thing that we are about to roll out, if you get stuck, if you're a sales organization, a sales rep, if you're an installer and you have a deal that's sold badly and you have a homeowner's pissed and the sales rep's gone, we can help you.
Speaker: We'll come help as the sales rep in the homeowner communications, right?
Speaker: But we're about to roll out where you can actually come on and request a live customer service assistance from any of our professionals.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: So you come on and say, hey, I have a customer with this issue.
Speaker: We get on with the sales rep or the installer first.
Speaker: We get all of the back information.
Speaker: And then we contact the homeowner for you.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Yeah, that's unheard of.
Speaker: So, yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker: That's the next thing.
Speaker: Yeah, and then just the homeowners can, like, call you.
Speaker: You said you get, would you say, like, 200 calls a day you guys have been here?
Speaker: I get about 200 phone calls a day from homeowners, yes.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: And here's the thing, homeowners can call me for free.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: 24 hours a day because I will help them clean up the crap.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And she has a team.
Speaker: Don't worry.
Speaker: She's not a... No, no, no.
Speaker: Those are just the ones that get forwarded to me.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We are live in 28 markets.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We've got three different offices.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: We have 17 people running around.
Speaker: Well, yeah, I can see why you guys are growing because this is a huge need.
Speaker: And I've never heard of anyone doing the things you're doing.
Speaker: So we appreciate you for what you're doing for the industry, Lindsay.
Speaker: So, guys, hope you took notes.
Speaker: And for all our solopreneurs, just try to have that level of service because, I mean, I know it's gotten you so far in your...
Speaker: all the referrals you're getting I mean yeah and just feeling good at serving people it's a whole different feeling so hoping people can experience that so if people want to reach out to you Lindsay and you know potentially work with you or maybe their company wants to you know start using you guys what's the best way to get into that Instagram I am an Instagram baby it's just it's my preferred communicative tool okay
Speaker: It's also where I post a lot of the value.
Speaker: I'm constantly posting little things on there that are helpful in doing what we do.
Speaker: Instagram, it's Lindsey underscore the tank.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: They call you the tank.
Speaker: They do.
Speaker: They call me the tank.
Speaker: It was well earned and I upheld it quite well.
Speaker: I can see why.
Speaker: That's the biggest one.
Speaker: Our website is radiantresources.support.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: We actually have some great customer service training videos that are about to launch on there.
Speaker: They're in editing right now, literally as we speak.
Speaker: Sweet.
Speaker: Yeah, that would be pretty cool.
Speaker: And I always like, even without our service, I mean, obviously we do consulting as well.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But my DMs are always open.
Speaker: I, if anybody knows me, I answer 24 hours a day.
Speaker: Like, yeah.
Speaker: If you need help, I'm here.
Speaker: I don't, you know, charge for the heavy lifting, but, you know, I just want us to start being better humans.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: To the humans that we serve.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, now it needs to be done.
Speaker: So go reach out to Lindsay.
Speaker: Let her know you appreciate her.
Speaker: Shoot her a follow on Instagram.
Speaker: And, yeah, I can't wait to see what's, you know, next for you and all the, you know, lives of homeowners you're changing and hopefully helping people's lives not get ruined.
Speaker: For the customer experience.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so before we wrap up here, Lindsay, do you have any, I don't know, final advice for people or any, I don't know, just for all our solar printer listeners, any final words of wisdom?
Speaker: The next time, I'm just, it's not really advice.
Speaker: I'm going to challenge everybody.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: The next time that you come across a homeowner that's just angry about solar, try to help them figure out why.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Because...
Speaker: Of all the things, I ask this question on stage often, I'll say, hey, raise your hands if you've ever had somebody be mad at you for solar, right?
Speaker: Keep your hands raised if you've ever stayed around to find out why, right?
Speaker: I lose about 60 to 70% of my hands at that point.
Speaker: The next question is, have any of you ever actually helped solve the problem?
Speaker: I usually have about two to three hundred people I'll drop down to maybe one or two hands and I will actively and publicly thank them because it is not easy to stand and take the bullshit from the person before you left.
Speaker: It's not, but I think if a few of us just start doing that, it's going to change the bias, you know?
Speaker: So I would challenge everybody next time you come across a homeowner that's angry, try to help fix the issue.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Challenge accepted.
Speaker: So guys, make sure you have the servant mindset that Lindsay is talking about.
Speaker: Let's all do our part to change the industry and yeah, go reach out to Lindsay.
Speaker: Let her know you appreciate it.
Speaker: Thanks again for coming on the show with us.
Speaker: Thank you for having me.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: We'll have to do a follow-up, but I'm sure we'll get lots of people reaching out.
Speaker: So I appreciate you.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: See ya.
Speaker: What's up, Solopreneurs?
Speaker: Hope you enjoyed the episode.
Speaker: Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
Speaker: One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
Speaker: What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
Speaker: You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
Speaker: So what we've done, we created the top 10 most downloaded, most listened to, and I would say widely accepted, most useful podcasts that we've done here on Solapreneur.
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Speaker: Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
Speaker: We will have that in the show notes.
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Speaker: That's going to show you how.
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