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 how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
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: What's up solarpreneurs?
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong, here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar industry.
Speaker: We're coming to you live from a neighborhood, so I apologize, you're going to hear some cars driving around, probably some dogs barking, things like that.
Speaker: Hopefully it's not too crazy out here.
Speaker: But the reason we're doing it in a neighborhood is because, I'll be honest,
Speaker: was a little bit behind schedule this week.
Speaker: We got a season passes to Disneyland.
Speaker: My kid is two years old and so we thought what better time to get season passes than right now because we still get him for free.
Speaker: We still get him in for free I should say until he's three.
Speaker: So long story short we went to Disneyland on Monday which is
Speaker: My or Tuesday, but anyways it took up the time that I usually it would record a podcast for a day So doing out here between appointments.
Speaker: I got 20 minutes till my next appointment Probably should be hitting a few doors, but I thought hey, I'm gonna hop on a podcast share some secrets so this week we're gonna be talking about how to build trust and
Speaker: A few of you that have followed on Instagram, you saw me, I recently lost a deal.
Speaker: I didn't sign them.
Speaker: And the main reason I didn't is because I couldn't build enough trust.
Speaker: At the end they liked what they saw.
Speaker: They liked the numbers, there was awesome savings, but they didn't fully believe what I was saying.
Speaker: And this guy, he was an engineer.
Speaker: I am not the greatest at selling these engineers.
Speaker: I need to get a little bit better selling the engineers.
Speaker: They're very analytical.
Speaker: They like to crunch numbers themselves.
Speaker: They like to research things, research the facts and the figures.
Speaker: So I couldn't sell them.
Speaker: And after this deal, I'm just like, man, why couldn't I get it done?
Speaker: What was holding them back?
Speaker: He liked everything I was saying.
Speaker: And so I sent out a little poll.
Speaker: on Instagram, got a lot of awesome responses.
Speaker: So what we're going to do today, I'm going to talk about some of the responses we got.
Speaker: So thanks to everyone who responded to that.
Speaker: And then just give a little, I don't know, things that I think I could have done a little bit better.
Speaker: And hopefully you don't repeat some of these mistakes I made.
Speaker: Hopefully you are better than I am at building trust in your deals because at the end of the day if people trusted you 100% you wouldn't have to explain anything You could say sign this If there's full trust they wouldn't question anything they'd sign it right?
Speaker: So that's the level of trust we want to try to achieve is to where they don't even need to know all the details they trust you they like you and they'll just sign up
Speaker: Okay, so let's go through a couple of the responses that I got on Instagram here.
Speaker: And then at the end, I'm going to give my two cents as well.
Speaker: So here's just a couple.
Speaker: This is from Jacob.
Speaker: He says, say things and then pull up on the internet and show that it's true.
Speaker: This is great advice here and actually something I have talked about but I haven't been doing as much lately.
Speaker: So in the podcast we've talked about keeping a folder of all the links and articles and testimonials, whatever other content you have, keeping a folder of that content.
Speaker: and then using it as ammo, you think of your bows, or your arrows, and your quiver, right?
Speaker: So anytime someone throws something at you, you should have a supporting article, supporting evidence, to back that up.
Speaker: So I love that tip, and this is something I look back, I did not do in this deal.
Speaker: Especially with your engineer types, especially with people that are skeptical.
Speaker: show them proof, right?
Speaker: Like Grant Cardone says, people believe what they see, not what they hear.
Speaker: So if you can show them and they actually see it, much more likely that you're going to get the deal signed.
Speaker: Great tip right there.
Speaker: So from Marshall Tootin, my friend Marshall, he said it's all about the first three minutes.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: I think that's true, that's actually all he said, but what I think he meant by that is you gotta get in, you gotta establish that trust right off the bat.
Speaker: You gotta act like your friend.
Speaker: Think how many times have you been in a social situation, at least for me, if I go to a party and someone says, hey what's up Taylor, what's going on homie, acts like they've known me all their life,
Speaker: I'm instantly connected to that person.
Speaker: I'm like, wow, this guy's cool.
Speaker: I didn't even think we were friends, but I feel like I'm best friends with this guy.
Speaker: So how can you create that with your customers?
Speaker: Are you going in the deal?
Speaker: Are you treating them like family?
Speaker: Are you treating them like you've known each other?
Speaker: People want to have that connection and people want to mirror.
Speaker: So I agree it is all about the first three minutes if you can get in there quick, build that connection.
Speaker: Janie Escobedo, she had an advice, she says, to build trust, call a customer you've had and it's already installed that is having a great experience.
Speaker: don't do it with their approval either just say hey let me earn your trust off this call with one of my previous friends I've signed up and call them.
Speaker: One, you're hinting to them that you want to be friends.
Speaker: Two, the credibility grows from the homeowner talking you up.
Speaker: Then say after so there's one I can call more I'm only here to help.
Speaker: If they don't bite give them time and on to the next.
Speaker: That's good stuff.
Speaker: So I agree this is something that I have yet to do
Speaker: but I should say I haven't built a referral list or a reference list because that's what it's called but I think that's something powerful if you can have past customers that you can actually call that could get you the deal right there and a substitute for that is of course some testimonial videos I think those help but I agree that would probably be even more powerful actually calling a customer and getting them to
Speaker: Um, give you a testimonial on the spot.
Speaker: great advice what else we got Harry Gold he says Taylor I take pics and videos with my customers because I saw you do that show those videos during your presentation and then show a pic of your guys on their roof and they got to do it today because the tax credit will be gone tomorrow good stuff right there not only are you showing them video evidence of the people you're helping but you're building the urgency by showing them the tax credit
Speaker: And remember, when you talk about the tax credit going down, things like that, show them it written too, right?
Speaker: I use one of the Noxstar slicks, and it shows the tax credit going down, you know, the following year.
Speaker: So I mean, that's a great piece of advice right there, getting those testimonial videos.
Speaker: What else we got?
Speaker: Josh Bitten, he says, one of the first questions I like to ask, why did you buy your house?
Speaker: They always say ownership.
Speaker: Then you tell them going solar, you will keep your...
Speaker: You will own your power plant, then keep reminding them the ownership of power.
Speaker: Ask them how much the power went up the last five years, keep talking about inflation, then just remind them about ownership of power again.
Speaker: Good stuff.
Speaker: So, yeah, I think if you can make the utility, the enemy, right, gives you someone common to stand up against, right there.
Speaker: So maybe not as much building trust, but yeah, you do have to make the utility the enemy for sure and talk about the ownership aspect.
Speaker: We got from Josue.
Speaker: Josue Phillips, he has been on the podcast, so definitely a good person to listen to advice.
Speaker: He says, ask them two to three questions, then share something about me.
Speaker: It makes them feel it's a conversation, not a questionnaire.
Speaker: Have fun, drop some jokes, make it interesting.
Speaker: Love that.
Speaker: And yeah, this is a mistake I made, especially starting out.
Speaker: So I was really good at asking questions, but it would almost turn into a, like an interrogation, right?
Speaker: I was asking so many questions, I wasn't really talking, having a conversation between the questions.
Speaker: So there needs to be a balance.
Speaker: Think 70% of them, 30% you.
Speaker: They should be talking more, but how can you make it a conversation?
Speaker: And I like to throw in little fun facts about you because if they can see you as a human, that's ultimately what's going to build trust.
Speaker: So what can you talk about yourself that makes you seem like a human?
Speaker: One of my favorite ways to do that is show them pictures.
Speaker: So on my walk screen on my phone, I got a picture of my wife, my two kids.
Speaker: This is one of the first things I show them.
Speaker: and then I ask them about advice.
Speaker: I say, hey, you guys got kids, right?
Speaker: Do you have any advice for a new parent like myself?
Speaker: Seems like your kid's pretty successful.
Speaker: What's your advice?
Speaker: People love giving advice, and then all of a sudden you're a human to them, right?
Speaker: You're not a sales guy coming in.
Speaker: If you don't have kids, maybe you show them a picture of your dog,
Speaker: Maybe you show them, I don't know, where you grew up.
Speaker: Google Maps, whatever.
Speaker: Show them the small town you grew up in.
Speaker: Maybe you have an accent, like myself.
Speaker: Maybe you're talking like a Canadian.
Speaker: So maybe you talk about that, right?
Speaker: Anything that can make you more human, this is going to build big trust.
Speaker: Good stuff right there.
Speaker: And let's see Jorge Luis Rojas, he says be more their friend Ask about family, work, make them laugh, trust is belong connection Going right along with that Something I like to remember is the acronym FORM
Speaker: Family, occupation, recreation, and what's the M stand for?
Speaker: I think it stands for materialistic.
Speaker: Okay, I forgot what the M is for.
Speaker: But anyways, family, occupation, recreation.
Speaker: You can never go wrong with those types of questions.
Speaker: Colin Grandma, he says, keeping it simple and talking with confidence.
Speaker: It's a big thing, confidence.
Speaker: make sure to have the right body posture make sure you keep it simple and especially with your people are analytical you need to give them the detail also make it seem super simple because people do not make a confused brain always says no right gotta be keeping it simple we had Tyler Breskin he says trust in you trust in the company trust in the program you're offering
Speaker: so this is huge the three T's right they got a trust in you they got a trust in your offering your product and they got trust in the company so if those three things are not at a 10 then they're probably not going to do it so that's a great question I should have asked and looking back on the deal that I didn't sign this is something I could have done I did ask him I said hey how
Speaker: I think I asked him on a scale of 10, 1 to 10.
Speaker: 10 being you would do it today, 1 being there's no way you would go solar.
Speaker: What would you rate yourself?
Speaker: And he told me 50, 60%.
Speaker: But my mistake was I didn't ask him what would make it 100%, what would make it a 10.
Speaker: I could not cover his actual objections.
Speaker: And then just to wrap up here, gotta run into this appointment here, in just a second, but just to wrap up, I think the number one thing I could have done is just been straight up with this guy.
Speaker: A line that I love from Taylor McCarthy and the Noxstar guys, is just ask him, hey, level with me, how much of what I said do you actually believe?
Speaker: Just being frank with them, almost calling them out and seeing what their true concern is because a lot of times you can tell people are just running in circles around you.
Speaker: They're not telling you their true concerns.
Speaker: They're not telling you their true objections.
Speaker: So just being frank with them, almost calling them out and seeing what it is.
Speaker: And this is the last comment we'll end the show with.
Speaker: This is from Christian.
Speaker: He said, yeah, Christian Duarte, he said, it's very hard to explain.
Speaker: In my market, it's the biggest hurdle.
Speaker: Too many bad contractors are scammy people.
Speaker: Just got to get straight up with them.
Speaker: Like Taylor says, how much of what I'm telling you do you believe?
Speaker: Or if it was exactly like I'm saying it is, no more, no less would you do it.
Speaker: Kind of skips the whole BS part of playing ping pong back and forth.
Speaker: Or they just need pull back, follow up, save your time.
Speaker: And he says, I'll legit even say that to you.
Speaker: The hardest part is getting through the questions and answers.
Speaker: It can be a 10-minute conversation or a 10-hour conversation.
Speaker: All depends on how many questions you got.
Speaker: Pretty much hints that you're down to discuss into a technical level if need be, but still gives them the opportunity to understand that they don't need to go there unless they have a specific concern.
Speaker: And then he says...
Speaker: The last line he uses, look, some people make this a way bigger decision than it needs to be.
Speaker: It's essentially a bill swap program, like switching internet providers.
Speaker: Thank you, Christian.
Speaker: I thought that was fire.
Speaker: So I hope this helped today.
Speaker: Again, sorry for the background noise, but I think there is some solid advice there for building trust.
Speaker: So if you were having a difficult time, if you notice customers do not trust you, if you're having issues with cancellations, think, how can I create this human element?
Speaker: How can I create more trust in my deals?
Speaker: And that's the number one way you're going to prevent all that, right?
Speaker: If people trust you, they'll do anything.
Speaker: So I hope that helps.
Speaker: I'm going to go hop in my appointment here.
Speaker: Hope you close your next deal.
Speaker: And we'll see you on the next podcast.
Speaker: Hey, solopreneurs, quick question.
Speaker: What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day.
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