Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
How Top Solar Companies are Building Culture image

How Top Solar Companies are Building Culture

E139 ยท The Solarpreneur
Avatar
72 Plays5 years ago

Speaker 1 (00:03):

Welcome to the Solarpreneur podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong and went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail. I teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bringing the top solar dogs, the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals. What is a Solarpreneur you might ask a Solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery. And you are about to become what's up Solarpreneurs Taylor Armstrong. Back with another episode here

Speaker 2 (00:45):

To help you dominate the sales industry, close more deals, generate more referrals and leads and see success as a Solarpreneur, as solar professional. So hope you're having an awesome week. Hope you're having a great start to this quarter. Something that I've gotten a lot of great feedback from just a few episodes back we had on Zack Bassett. He talked about these ERC COVID relief funds, and then also just some, um, you know, just some general finance advice, gotten a lot of great feedback on the episode. So if you haven't checked that out already go back should be two episodes back from this current one, you can hear him, but guys, if you don't have your finances in order, we're all making. We should all be making awesome money. Now it's time to handle it, to create that long-term wealth. So go listen to that episode, it got a ton of good feedback and then get that COVID relief fund made some money for businesses.

Speaker 2 (01:47):

We're all our own business here. So what Solarpreneur being a Solarpreneur is about. So take advantage of these funds and use them to invest. You. Don't just get that nine, 10 grand. And I mean, don't take it to the casino. I guess if you're good at gambling, you can do that, but go invest in something awesome. And let's double that money. So I'm point is go listen to the previous episodes. We've had a lot of awesome guests on, so if you're not taking advantage of these, these are guys that charge normally thousands and thousands to listen to them, hear from them. We're getting the best on the show. So take advantage of these awesome guests we're getting on and then share it with your teams, share it with the people you're trying to help improve. Okay. So speaking of the guests, next episode, we had privileged to have, uh, my friend Sam Taggart back on the show.

Speaker 2 (02:40):

And, um, I actually did a show with him too. So if you're not already subscribing to his podcasts, go check it out. And that shouldn't be dropping here in the next week or two week or two. The interview he did with me on his show, talked about some strategic door-knocking tips and some cool little hacks to help people out their areas on the doors. And just some other general solar advice, things that have helped things that I've learned from interviewing the best. So go check that out. But in our episode, I just want to give you kind of a little demo of what we talked about. And then just an epiphany I had as I was talking to him is Sam. He's worked with, um, he's helped dozens of solar companies just, you know, double their revenue, um, increase the production of their reps and just have a lot more success than they were having before.

Speaker 2 (03:33):

So I was asking him, Sam, I'm like, what are you doing? What is it? You change with these companies? How do you help them? Um, go from good to great to go from average to good. What are you doing? So one of the biggest things, and you'll hear it in the next episode, we're gonna, we dig deep into it. But number one, he talks about how these companies, um, figure out their why basically their, um, why do they want to have that product top production? What's the goal with their company? Why

Recommended
Transcript

Introduction to Solarpreneur Podcast

00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
00:00:08
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:00:10
Speaker
I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro, and closing more deals.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solarpreneur you might ask?
00:00:33
Speaker
A solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
00:00:42
Speaker
What's up solarpreneurs, Taylor Armstrong back with another episode here to help you dominate the sales industry, close more deals, generate more referrals and leads and see success as a solarpreneur, a solar professional.
00:00:57
Speaker
So I hope you're having an awesome week.
00:00:59
Speaker
Hope you're having a great start to this quarter.

Financial Management for Solar Professionals

00:01:02
Speaker
Something that I've gotten a lot of great feedback from is just a few episodes back we had on Zach Bassett.
00:01:09
Speaker
He talked about these ERC COVID relief funds and then also just some general finance advice.
00:01:19
Speaker
Gotten a lot of great feedback on the episode.
00:01:22
Speaker
So if you haven't checked that out already, go back.
00:01:25
Speaker
It should be two episodes back from this current one.
00:01:28
Speaker
You can hear him.
00:01:29
Speaker
But guys, if you don't have your finances in order, we're all making, or we should all be making awesome money.
00:01:36
Speaker
Now it's time to handle it to create that long-term wealth.
00:01:39
Speaker
So go listen to that episode.
00:01:41
Speaker
It got a ton of good feedback.
00:01:42
Speaker
And then get that COVID relief fund.
00:01:46
Speaker
I mean, it's money for businesses.
00:01:47
Speaker
We're all our own business here.
00:01:49
Speaker
That's what being a solopreneur is about.
00:01:52
Speaker
So take advantage of these funds and use them to invest.
00:01:56
Speaker
Don't just get that nine, ten grand and, I mean, don't take it to the casino.
00:02:02
Speaker
I guess if you're good at gambling, you can do that.
00:02:03
Speaker
But go invest it in something awesome and let's double that money.
00:02:09
Speaker
So point is, go listen to the previous episodes.
00:02:12
Speaker
We've had a lot of awesome guests on.
00:02:14
Speaker
So if you're not taking advantage of these, these are guys that charge normally thousands and thousands to listen to them, hear from them.
00:02:21
Speaker
We're getting the best on the show.
00:02:23
Speaker
So take advantage of these awesome guests we're getting on and then share it with your teams.
00:02:28
Speaker
Share it with the people you're trying to help improve.

Finding Your 'Why' with Sam Taggart

00:02:31
Speaker
Okay, so speaking of the guests, next episode we had the privilege to have my friend Sam Taggart back on the show.
00:02:40
Speaker
And I actually did a show with him too.
00:02:43
Speaker
So if you're not already subscribing to his podcast, go check it out.
00:02:47
Speaker
That should be dropping here in the next week or two, the interview he did with me on his show.
00:02:53
Speaker
I talked about some strategic door knocking tips and some cool little hacks to help people out in their areas on the doors and just some other general solar advice, things that have helped, things that I've learned from interviewing the best.
00:03:08
Speaker
So go check that out.
00:03:09
Speaker
But in our episode, I just want to give you kind of a little demo of what we talked about and then just an epiphany I had as I was talking to him.
00:03:18
Speaker
Sam, he's helped dozens of solar companies just double their revenue, increase the production of their reps, and just have a lot more success than they were having before.
00:03:33
Speaker
So I was asking him, Sam, I'm like, what are you doing?
00:03:36
Speaker
What is it you change with these companies?
00:03:39
Speaker
How do you help them?
00:03:41
Speaker
go from good to great or go from average to good what are you doing so one of the biggest things you'll hear in the next episode we're gonna we dig deep into it but number one he talks about how these companies figure out their why basically their why do they want to have that product top production what's the goal with their company
00:04:06
Speaker
Why did they actually start it?
00:04:08
Speaker
Where do they want to take it?
00:04:10
Speaker
And he said most of these companies, they don't have a good answer for this.
00:04:13
Speaker
They don't know why they started a solar company.
00:04:16
Speaker
Some of them say they want to sell it eventually.
00:04:18
Speaker
Some of them don't even know where they want to take it.
00:04:21
Speaker
He said that's the problem.
00:04:23
Speaker
And it's a big problem not only with company owners, but with all solar sales professionals.
00:04:28
Speaker
Why do you want to be in this industry?
00:04:30
Speaker
Where do you want to go with it?
00:04:33
Speaker
What are your future goals?
00:04:35
Speaker
If you had to write down what two years in advance looks like, what would it look like if you looked two years in the future?
00:04:43
Speaker
So I thought that was a good exercise, and you're going to hear it.
00:04:45
Speaker
Okay, but the second thing is sort of the epiphany I had, and that's what I want to focus on today.

Building Strong Company Culture

00:04:51
Speaker
is just what companies are doing to have great culture it's something that we've been talking a lot about here in our the dealer that i'm helping manage uh switch to solar down here in san diego it's something we're trying to build and something that i'll be honest has been a struggle with us we've had a lot of reps come on um but a lot of mediocrity a lot of people not producing
00:05:16
Speaker
up to their potential and then you know you get guys coming in from local ads things like that that's end of the day just aren't really producing selling themselves short and then just pretty much fizzle out after a month or two so i'm asking sam what do you see what what's the difference in these huge organizations these big companies what are they doing to have great culture
00:05:38
Speaker
In the epiphany I had, something he told me is that as he's talked with, I think he told me he's talked with someone that was basically over all the culture at Vivint Solar, and then something he's heard from other large organizations is that they essentially have a marketing department for their sales organization.
00:06:02
Speaker
And I didn't really think about this, but it dawned on me.
00:06:04
Speaker
I'm like, huh.
00:06:06
Speaker
Yeah, I've seen that across all successful sales organizations is that they're marketing hard to their sales reps.
00:06:15
Speaker
So what do I mean by that?
00:06:16
Speaker
If you look at, we'll take Vivint Solar, for example, obviously one of the largest direct sales organizations, Grandfather's Adore-to-Door.
00:06:28
Speaker
I've been to, I've seen how they run things and what they do, they have a whole basically TV channel set up
00:06:36
Speaker
that gets their reps excited about competitions, that gets their reps just highlighting who the top rep was for each week.
00:06:44
Speaker
And maybe we need to get someone on to talk about exactly what it is.
00:06:47
Speaker
But obviously these guys are, you know, have a huge marketing budget for their reps and they're just doing little things to get their reps super excited.
00:06:57
Speaker
It's their marketing probably more to homeowners.
00:07:02
Speaker
or sorry, probably more to their sales organization, more to their sales reps than they are to homeowners or they are to customers they're trying to attract.
00:07:11
Speaker
Because guess what?
00:07:12
Speaker
When they market and get their reps fired up, get them stoked to go out there,
00:07:17
Speaker
What are they going to do?
00:07:17
Speaker
They're going to bring on more revenue.
00:07:19
Speaker
They're going to bring on more customers for them.
00:07:22
Speaker
So it's a win-win.
00:07:23
Speaker
So think about that.
00:07:25
Speaker
How are you, if you are a sales manager, if you started a deal or whatever you are,
00:07:34
Speaker
If you're top dog at your company, are you marketing to your team, to your sales reps?
00:07:41
Speaker
How are you getting them excited?
00:07:43
Speaker
I think about my previous company I was at too.
00:07:49
Speaker
They really pushed hard on these competitions.
00:07:51
Speaker
We had them twice a year.
00:07:52
Speaker
I've talked about it on the show before.
00:07:54
Speaker
We call them Ironmans.
00:07:56
Speaker
And what we did, the winner got a big, it was like you see the UFC belts that puts the title champion on there.
00:08:03
Speaker
We had a big belt for the winner.
00:08:05
Speaker
So that was a huge thing.
00:08:07
Speaker
Let's get you to the top.
00:08:08
Speaker
You're going to get your name engraved on the championship belt.
00:08:12
Speaker
So everyone was like, ah, I want to get top rep.
00:08:15
Speaker
I want to win Ironman.
00:08:16
Speaker
And then at one point we had a truck that they would get to drive for the next six months, which was awesome.
00:08:22
Speaker
People were fired up about that.
00:08:25
Speaker
And then what they did is they had weekly videos during the competition, invested a ton into designing like, you know, the leaderboard, the tournament bracket that went out.
00:08:37
Speaker
There were daily videos on like the prizes and highlighting the top reps for the week.
00:08:44
Speaker
So think about that.
00:08:45
Speaker
And it's something that I realized we're not doing right currently.
00:08:48
Speaker
I mean, we've run a few competitions.
00:08:51
Speaker
But we failed to market them like we should.
00:08:53
Speaker
We failed to get our sales teams really excited about it.
00:08:59
Speaker
And we haven't really done videos.
00:09:01
Speaker
It's just been kind of a reminder, hey, guys, remember when the competition, don't forget to push hard.
00:09:06
Speaker
That's not going to work.
00:09:08
Speaker
So what can you do?
00:09:09
Speaker
Remind your reps, shoot them out videos, shoot them out texts.
00:09:14
Speaker
market to them because that's the thing that's going to change.

Focusing Marketing on Sales Teams

00:09:17
Speaker
Another guest we had on recently, Mo Fala.
00:09:21
Speaker
Go back and listen to that episode too.
00:09:23
Speaker
But it's something I, that's why I say it's an epiphany because I think he talked about it a little bit.
00:09:29
Speaker
But he hires, he has basically social media managers.
00:09:33
Speaker
He pays people thousands and thousands to help him run his social media, help him run his team social media.
00:09:39
Speaker
and then just do graphic design for all his team incentives for anything they got going on for competitions, tournaments.
00:09:49
Speaker
He has them do a suite design for it.
00:09:52
Speaker
He has them do the videos and then he's just spreading it like wildfire on social media.
00:09:57
Speaker
Hey, our top rep this week was so-and-so.
00:09:59
Speaker
He did this many accounts.
00:10:01
Speaker
And number one, it's helping his team just want to be that top guy and then seeing them highlighted on social media, seeing the production that all social media guys are doing, the graphic design.
00:10:13
Speaker
And then number two, it's helping them a ton in recruiting.
00:10:15
Speaker
Because if guys see you have this rock solid culture, if you're posting out on social media, if you're sharing it, then I know Mo, he has recruited dozens of guys just off of the presence he has on social media.
00:10:30
Speaker
So something to think about if you are leading a team, just think about that.
00:10:33
Speaker
How can you increase your awareness for your reps?
00:10:38
Speaker
If you're leading a sales organization, what are you doing to really market to your team?
00:10:42
Speaker
Get them fired up because I think it's a key part in the culture, getting your reps excited.
00:10:47
Speaker
and then helping them have that excitement to want to be the best and then also helps with recruiting okay and then for uh the next week or two we actually have an instagram expert that is going to come on his name is brock johnson so we're going to talk more about the social media and that's something that i need to improve improve on big time that i've been thinking about too
00:11:11
Speaker
But those are all things that help a lot.
00:11:12
Speaker
So keep tuning in.
00:11:13
Speaker
We're going to have more experts come on.
00:11:16
Speaker
But if you're not taking advantage of the marketing opportunities you have to your own team, do that.

Introducing Sol Society

00:11:22
Speaker
I would say it's more important than marketing to your customers because the more you market to your team, get them fired up, the more they're going to produce results and the more success you're going to have.
00:11:32
Speaker
So that's my thoughts.
00:11:33
Speaker
Hope it helped.
00:11:34
Speaker
Go out and lead your teams.
00:11:35
Speaker
Go out and be great.
00:11:37
Speaker
Never be satisfied.
00:11:38
Speaker
And we will see you on the next show.
00:11:41
Speaker
Hey Solar Printers, quick question.
00:11:43
Speaker
What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day?
00:11:52
Speaker
For the last three years I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite solar professionals
00:11:58
Speaker
and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.
00:12:04
Speaker
That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new solar learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with the top performers in the industry.
00:12:15
Speaker
and it's called Sol Society.
00:12:17
Speaker
This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give Solar Pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it, less than $3.45 a day.
00:12:35
Speaker
Currently Sol Society is closed to the public and membership is by invitation only, but solopreneurs can go to solciety.co to learn more and have the option to join a waitlist when a membership becomes available in your area.
00:12:49
Speaker
Again, this is exclusively for Solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to www.solciety.co to join the waitlist and learn more now.
00:13:01
Speaker
Thanks again for listening.
00:13:03
Speaker
We'll catch you again in the next episode.