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Don’t Make These 5 Closing Mistakes
175 Plays1 day ago
Today's podcast is a recording of our team training: focusing on how to reinforce accountability by addressing very common closing mistakes. Firsthand accounts, personal critiques, and genuine knowledge make this episode extremely productive and relatable for solar sales reps both old and new.
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Transcript
Introduction & Promotion
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, Taylor here. Before we jump into the episode today, just wanted to give a brief intro. This was a training I and gave to our team here in San Diego, California, going over five of the biggest mistakes that new closers make in the closing process.
00:00:15
Speaker
So hope you enjoyed the episode. And if you have not grabbed your ticket to SolarCon, go grab it. They're free. You can also get a upgraded ticket VIP and get some awesome bonuses.
00:00:26
Speaker
So make sure you go do that and enjoy the episode.
Taylor's Journey to Success
00:00:30
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. 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.
00:00:47
Speaker
I teach you 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.
00:00:58
Speaker
What is a solopreneur, you might ask? A solopreneur is a new breed of solopro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery. And most solopreneurs fail.
Common Mistakes in Closing Sales
00:01:09
Speaker
Five mistakes you must avoid.
00:01:11
Speaker
So I believe that there's five major mistakes that hold us back from making money in this business. So today I'm going to share some mistakes. Is that okay with you guys? Yeah. Okay, cool. All right, let's get it.
00:01:23
Speaker
So um I'll tell you a little story. Has anybody read this book? It's called Closer Survival Guide. Okay. It's like Dylan has. No wonder he's closing. di um So great book.
00:01:34
Speaker
You guys should check it out. um This is one of the first books I read um as I was getting into closing. And I'll talk more about it here as we go through the training. But it's cool because actually took this from Grant Cardone. He has like basically 10 mistakes. So some these mistakes I took from his book.
00:01:51
Speaker
And then he has like 20 golden rules where he goes through like, you know, everything that closers should be following, what great closers do. Then he has like a whole, he has like 120 closes in there.
00:02:02
Speaker
um Some of them are pretty terrible for solar and and didn't work ah too great. So more on that later. But yeah, check this book out. So this training is based loosely off of some of Grant Cardones.
00:02:15
Speaker
But yeah, I want to ask you guys, what are maybe, I mean, we see new closers come up all the time and we see people struggle. I don't know, from you guys that have seen people struggle or maybe you've struggled yourself, what are some reasons you think people struggle starting out and closing? any ah Anything you guys have noticed?
00:02:31
Speaker
After preparation. Okay. Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. Preparation. Yeah. All right. Here. Chillin'. I would say probably time management because they start closing and taking two to three hours each deal, including from mentor deals.
00:02:44
Speaker
Yeah. They get off the doors a little more or just, you know, follow off and getting their own leads and self-gen stuff. Yeah. tim But that comes down to time management. Yeah, for sure. Especially people as they
Building Client Relationships
00:02:55
Speaker
first start closing. It's like, yeah, sometimes a seat it's kind of a shock for them to go from just sitting and they're like, oh, getting prepared for deals, spending in like weeks.
00:03:04
Speaker
um yeah I mean, remember Mateo was telling me, Mateo's like the best seller there was. And even you, didn't you say, ah it took like a week to like learn all the systems and stuff. Yeah. As soon as I transitioned into closing, I stood up at the doors wanting to feel it like a closer. Yeah. I forgot that still had to set the appointment.
00:03:21
Speaker
Yeah. It's hard recognize when someone's on the I'm a setter and then in the house I'm a closer. You kind of want to both of them together. I think it's important to separate task. yeah learning o different yeah yeah yeah I remember Ashton does a training where, i don't know if he still does this, but would talk about how he has, he tries to do just setting days and then just closing days just cause he's like, uh, I can get so hard, kind of switching back and forth between setting closing.
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah. So it's not a bad
Generating and Managing Leads
00:03:50
Speaker
idea. Switch days. Um, I noticed like with a lot of my reps in Arizona, um, not building enough rapport and just feeding client as much information as possible even if it makes sense to them if they don't like you yeah like a lot of them will either end up canceling or just not wanting to do it in the first place yeah for sure yeah and I think especially after the deal like newer guys I see they close the deal and they're like ah okay it's good I'm gonna get out of there We almost need that like cooling off period where you go back to building rapport and like your friends, your friends after the deal, you don't just sign them and get out of there. People don't cancel on their friends, right? Then going back to the deal.
00:04:29
Speaker
But cool. So yeah, that's a good start. and mistake number one. So that's not sending in enough appointments. Okay, it really has nothing to do with closing, but I see it all the time where, yeah, I mean, Mateo was kind of talking about it. Like he he almost stopped setting for a little bit.
00:04:43
Speaker
And it's like, no wonder we're not closing deals. Because if we're not seeing enough in appointments, then we're only getting in one or two appointments a week. Then it's probably going to be close or tough to close, you know, more than two deals max.
00:04:55
Speaker
So like Jose, I mean, you're one of the top closers. How many appointments do you typically sit in a week? Would you say? On weeks when you're closing. lesson Yeah. And it's like we can't really compare ourselves. since We're only sitting in a couple appointments.
00:05:06
Speaker
Like no wonder we're not hitting numbers like Jose. Most of us, we don't have a closing problem. Most of us actually have an appointment setting problem. So it's figuring out how to get in more appointments. Like do we need to get our setters going. Do we need need to incentivize our setters more?
00:05:20
Speaker
do we need to teach them how to set stickier appointments? If we don't have setters, like how many hours are we putting in the doors? How many appointments are we getting ourselves? Because that's a big problem. And we're not going be able No matter how much we sharpen the saw with closing, it's not going matter we're not getting in, you know, four or five appointments minimum a week.
00:05:37
Speaker
So that's a big mistake. And yeah, these are some little ah throwback. You guys, everyone heard of the golden door word that they do. Sam Taggart has his adored work on.
00:05:48
Speaker
So we got some ah OGs here. Michael O'Donnell. Maybe you guys have heard of him. Ricardo Richie. This dude, he closes like 400 plus deals a year. Just absolute insanity. This is back when I got my best year in solar was 2019. I got like 150 deals that year.
00:06:03
Speaker
I thought I was like... incredible at the time but um you know my company was only paying like 300 bucks a kilowatt and so I'm probably making more now than I did when I closed all these deals so I wish we were making the money we make now but back then so the point of this is is I have like a massive team of setters and similar to Jose I was sitting in like 10 deals minimum a week and so it's like no wonder I had so much success that year and all these guys im like this guy Ricardo he closed his 400 deals but He has like 20 setters. He's taking like only the best appointments that are confirmed. He doesn't go to an appointment unless it's like confirmed. All decision makers are going to be there.
00:06:42
Speaker
So he's picking like the cream of the crop from like 20 setters that are feeding him appointments. So yeah, sometimes we've got to step back and it's like we compare ourselves to other people. But these guys that are doing big numbers, not that we have to have setters. We can still make great money doing self-gen, but yeah.
00:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, we got to realize that that's the reason they're getting in so many appointments because they got different lead sources. Maybe they're working referrals. You know, this Tuesday, this is something you guys could try. um I'm actually going to do a like a lunch and learn type thing for we got like supposed to be like 30 realtors coming. Actually, my real estate agent, he invited me to it. He's like, hey, do you want come do a little presentation?
00:07:19
Speaker
So I'm going this Tuesday to give like a presentation on solar to like 30 realtors. But yeah, maybe you guys, you know, if you buy a house or whatever, maybe that's something you can do. There's opportunities to create appointments from
Tracking and Improving Sales Performance
00:07:30
Speaker
that, from networking too.
00:07:31
Speaker
But yeah, so common thing with that. um And then the other thing we talk about in our squad all the time, i mean, this is something Javi and myself, we do this every week, but how many of you are tracking your KPIs every week in here?
00:07:42
Speaker
Key performance indicators. It's funny, this is the app that most of us use on our squad is Tally. But it's funny, like we're always talking to our setters, hey, how many doors are you hitting? Are you hitting 50 doors minimum? How many conversations are you having?
00:07:55
Speaker
But what I found find myself as I'm closing deals, a lot of times I forget to like track it myself. So I know a lot of us in here are experienced, but sometimes you just need to go back to the basics. So especially if you're not getting appointments you want, I would encourage you to start tracking these numbers.
00:08:10
Speaker
Because I'll have days where I feel like I'm working super hard. Talking to tons of people, but then I didn't have success and then I go look at my actual numbers and I only talked to like five people that day Talking to like pure renters and I only sat in two appointments for the week So every time I forget this I try to start tracking again and most of the time I'll notice that again It wasn't really a closing issue. It's just because I didn't sit in very many appointments in that week So yeah after this i would go Yeah, I mean, at least start it again. I would just go encourage you to download go download this Tally app. I just put like, I don't even know if I have mine updated for the week. Keep it pretty simple. You can just put like your conversations. Yeah, I need to go update mine for the week. So bad example.
00:08:51
Speaker
um i was going to say, I find it useful to use one of these and also take notes on paper. Yeah. I find i I'm more accurate on the paper notes and then I can just update this after.
00:09:02
Speaker
Yeah, so you can just, yeah, I used to put like a tally on a piece of paper and do that. Yeah, I've heard some guy, I think I heard this from, don't Michael Donald or something, that they carry like 10 marbles or something. Then every conversation they have, they just move one marble to the next pocket or something like that. John told me he does like 10 boxes a piece of paper. It stands for like 10 quality conversations.
00:09:23
Speaker
Yeah. Check them off throughout the day. Yeah. Comparable to that. Yeah, that's a big, I think an underrated secret that a lot of us forget. We all tell our setters to track it, but that's mistake number one. Okay, mistake number two is just lack of a pre-frame. Yeah, I really struggled with closing for a long time just because I wasn't framing the deal correctly.
00:09:43
Speaker
And I was actually talking with Posway about this the other week. um yeah We try to record our presentations and all that. So I remember I was kind of leaving you some comments about this. But just like pre, well, first of all, who knows who can give a good, good, like explanation of what a pre-frame is?
00:09:58
Speaker
and Anyone have a good ah explanation example in case someone doesn't know? Like when you're in a close, how do you pre-frame the deal of what's going to happen and ah with the customer that day? today we're going to cover over YSOLAR, we're going to break down your bill, after that I'm going to go over your design, and then we're going to go into the numbers.
00:10:16
Speaker
If everything checks out, then my job today is just to submit an application to CVQual. Yeah, so super simple. You don't have to make it complicated, but just telling the customer exactly what's going to happen. Because yeah, when I first started closing, it was just like, get them excited. And then
Adapting and Personalizing Sales Techniques
00:10:30
Speaker
I'd be like, okay.
00:10:31
Speaker
At the very end, I'm like, okay, so the first steps are, we're going to submit your application, see if it qualifies. and like, wait, wait, what? I thought I was just getting information today. I thought you were just doing a ah presentation. And I'm like, oh no, we have to do this. But then at that point, the deal was already lost. It's like...
00:10:45
Speaker
Trying to catch up. So yeah, we all, we gotta be, make sure we're gonna make sure it's super clear what's gonna happen that day. What are the exact steps? What are we gonna go through? And then what's gonna happen at the end of the application. yeah Yeah, even better if you can get your setters doing this even before you come.
00:11:02
Speaker
Because people forget too. So I think the best closers, they're like framing all the time. And it's like, even after you say something like that, maybe as you're going through the numbers, that's like you're doing little assumptive closes, right? You're doing little trial closes.
00:11:16
Speaker
So yeah, when they come out and check your roof... When we submit your application, we'll figure out if you can qualify for these numbers. It's like constantly reminding him of what's going to happen. These are some closes from that book I was telling you about.
00:11:28
Speaker
Grant Cardone's Closer Survival Guide. Yeah, i think he has like maybe it's 200 closes. But yeah when I first started, this is all I was doing. I wasn't pre-framing. So he he doesn't talk about this in the book, but I thought when I read the book, he has like delivery closes. I was trying to like model these closes after solar.
00:11:44
Speaker
So I would get to the very end and I'd be like, okay, when would you like to take delivery of your new solar panels? And that's the first time it's like hearing about it. so I was like learning all these closes. I'm like, Grant Cardinal lied to me. He said said I'd be a master closer. I just like memorize these clothes. I was like writing on all these flashcards and all that stuff.
00:12:04
Speaker
But yeah, come to find out it's really just because I wasn't framing the deal correctly. Yeah, and a great book on that. If you guys haven't read, pitch anything. I would go read the book, pitch anything, because he talks about all about creating the frames and everything. Yeah, I think one of his clothes called, like, the Just Do It clothes.
00:12:20
Speaker
And he's like, it's like, you get to the end, they're like, oh, I don't know. And he's like, hey, I understand, but do it anyways. let's just Sign here. Sign here. So I was like trying that in my clothes is for solar.
00:12:32
Speaker
They're like, get out of my house. It wasn't working. So so some of these, yeah, maybe not the best for solar, but yeah, you can go check out some them later. and Especially when we're low on appointments.
00:12:42
Speaker
Sometimes we're desperate to like sit with anybody that's breathing, even though they're maybe not even good candidates or one-leggers and all that. and It can be tempting because yeah, maybe you will close, you know, one out of a hundred of those or something. So there's probably still a chance, but...
00:12:57
Speaker
It's like how much, how valuable is your time? Would it be better spent finding people that are more solid too, right? I had ah actually on Monday, I had to walk out of a deal. ah This guy, his wife wasn't there and I was trying to fit reschedule him, like frame him. Hey, we have to we have to sit with everyone that's on the title at home. Just we don't want to put you guys in a game of telephone. And you know, the state requires us to go through with everyone that is on the title for full understanding.
00:13:20
Speaker
And the guy got like pissed. He's like, no, show me. Show me your get out here. was like, okay, well, that's what we have to do. so He's like, okay, then leave. So I just got up and left. So yeah, hopefully you don't have to do that too much. too much But don't be afraid to like, if people aren't going fit in your frame and they're not going to agree to the terms that you're setting, then we got to respect our time too.
00:13:39
Speaker
And know that there's people that are probably a lot more solid that we could go find out there. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. If the homeowner is not willing to play ball or within your rules, then there's no game to play, right? There's no game to play.
00:13:55
Speaker
So I like that. If they're not willing to play within your rules, yeah then then you know the off. Yeah, experience yeah exactly. greeting and Yeah, and most people, you don't have to have like hard sell. I need a yes or no now.
00:14:10
Speaker
But usually I find if you give them like the urgency, like I'm sitting in three of three to four of these every day just because so many people are trying to get in on the program right now. The reason is, Mr. Homeowner, is because, not to get political on you, but the new administration is potentially changing a lot of the legislation and incentives that we're able to get.
00:14:29
Speaker
So we still have access to those, but we just need to make sure we at least get you guys online for it in an application. So if it makes sense, then great. We'll submit your application so you guys are online for all that today at the end of this. But if it doesn't, then don't do anything.
00:14:42
Speaker
And then, yeah, just if if you do it like that, then usually you don't get ton pushback. It's pussy. I guess a good question was something I saw earlier this week. This is for like the all high-level closers too. what How would you guys approach and like would you guys even sit somebody that lets you know up front that they're shopping around?
00:15:01
Speaker
Would you even sit that? And then if you do decide to sit it, Would you still preframe the same way or like how would you guys go about that? this Is there somebody that called you back and said, Hey, I want to look at this, but just so you know, I'm looking at other people too. As soon as I sit down, like, Hey, look, I went to the preframe and he mentioned he was going to shop around. Like, look, it's been a couple of years. we wanted to go solar. We just started working into it and you're the first person we're actually meeting with. So we're probably not going to move forward to anything right now.
00:15:32
Speaker
In the back of my mind, I would just hear love blah, blah, blah. I'm going to close this guy. And this guy's going to insult. So I was just able, like, that gave me a little bit of a chip on my shoulder to really give my everything. And what I just told him, um as everybody else, like, we work with six companies. I can give you a price that's going to be right here, but that's not going to be what you want on your roof.
00:15:52
Speaker
So the way I priced you is super. I just really put my name on my back and made him feel sure, feel that, I was going to be the guy that would give him the smoothest transfer to solar possible.
00:16:05
Speaker
I really just gave my every hand told him, look, I'm your guy. I'm whoever needs. We work with six companies. I know all the prices. I know the prices that are here, the prices that are here. I'm giving you this one right here because it's the best for your house.
00:16:18
Speaker
So really I just sold myself.
Ensuring Deal Approval and Overcoming Challenges
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah. At the end they both signed and they're going to let's go, let's go. Gave it up for Mateo. And if you guys decide to do shop around, just please don't let them know the price that I gave you because I'm sure no one can beat my price.
00:16:33
Speaker
Yeah. So I was just so, i have so much belief and conviction and what I was telling him and he didn't even shop around after. That's fire. Yeah, so, I agree with that? anyway two is We're pre-framing, but the homeowner can also pre-frame you too.
00:16:47
Speaker
Yeah. And I think it could be a battle of frames. Yeah. Seller be sold. Seller be sold.
00:16:56
Speaker
Because the homeowner is saying, hey, just so you know, I'm shopping around. they're a I'm not going to make any decisions. That's what they're doing, right? They're doing qualify.
00:17:08
Speaker
Yeah. It's like, who's called someone that said, oh, I'm not signing in today no matter what. i Well, what I do is um every time I go to a customer, I just give them the best price I can give them. i just I just assume that they're going to be shopping around like everybody.
00:17:21
Speaker
I just let them know. they Same thing, you know nobody's going to help you the way I'm helping you. I'm real transparent with homeowners, so I don't play around with numbers. i just you know I just find out what they need, if they're going to use more, and just give them the best price.
00:17:37
Speaker
Even if they go and shop around, they're not going to find it, like, a best quote. that's That's what do. Yeah, that's good. You're transparent with them. I'm real holding real transparent me because you want to have, like, your first 100 clothes, especially for the young guys, the you guys you know the new cloerss i'm you too but um' forty seven so i have experience in life but you want to close a hundred sales that are real transparent and that you're the most honest person so after those 100 installs everything's gonna be easier for you because you've helped a hundred people so those people are gonna refer you if you go out there and do a hundred installs but you know you're getting 15 20 take commissions and they're not gonna be happy after you know when they see the increases and all that so you're not gonna get referrals so it's just better to you
00:18:26
Speaker
How would you you have to get paid, but you also don't want to price them low because you setters to paid? on a deal that i know i couldve made fifty but those people down the line are going to refer five ten people of your i love making more money yeah than if you would have made fifteen k on that yeah how do you do look you have let's say setter that really have to get paid but you also the want to press them too low because you wanted your settles to get paid the lowest that that we've been paiding on setters is like
00:18:58
Speaker
So I tell my setters, you know, we're not going to make a lot of money. We're going to make like $2,500. And even with Rene, when I was setting for him, it was the same thing. would make whatever if it was the least amount. But at least those customers right now, they're referring people. So I'm getting deals from those customers.
00:19:17
Speaker
And they're not BPS customers, are they? That's how you're expecting it.
00:19:32
Speaker
right now i had an installation in tracy and i have my roofer because bps over there and in livermore like they're they're they're the baddest like they they drill 30 holes in the roofs and do all kinds of stuff so what i do is i send my roofer in i pay my roofer three four hundred dollars to go and make sure that everything that he basically model he goes and he tells them where the studs are because like they gotta drill 30 holes right but i do that because i'm taking care of my customer i want a happy customer yes and I want referrals down the line. So I don't want drilling 30 holes. He goes and he tells them where the studs are. Yeah, that's awesome, man. Yeah, that's fire. And you don't have to do that here, becauseps at least here they're they're better Yeah, but yeah, yeah. Yeah. Over there, sites are drawington yeah my friends that started the Yeah, All right.
00:20:25
Speaker
Well, cool. So, yeah, thanks for the comments. But, yeah, no, I think, like, we've all seen people close that said they're not going to do it no matter what. So, yeah, like you guys all said, it's just anyone can be closed.
00:20:35
Speaker
So it's not that we need to give up. But, yeah, we just need to learn how to frame them better and maybe handle it. Well, Mr. Homeowner... and That's actually why people like going with us because we work with all the providers.
00:20:46
Speaker
So that's our goal is we make sure I always say hey I'm the Expedia of solar. You guys use Expedia before goes and gives you all the flights. So say yeah, that's what we do and that's why people like us because they don't have to go sit with 10 companies. We just put it all through our system then we have the quotes already.
00:21:02
Speaker
So hypothetically if I can show you that we're getting you the best option of all of them and save you the time from sitting a bunch of people and it made sense today and there's no reason you guys wouldn't be open at least getting your name submitted online, you know, things like that.
00:21:15
Speaker
Asking them the hypothetical questions I think helps too. But cool. So yeah, that's mistake number two, not setting a proper free frame. And number three, this is especially for the new people, is just not getting your deals approved. So this is funny. People complain about getting deals approved now sometimes.
00:21:32
Speaker
and you know i know with like nfin sometimes they acquire different title docs and everything but didn't anyone was anyone around back when the pace programs were uh big and anyone heard like cal first or the hero program okay so this was like old school solar when i first started we did a lot of these things So if you guys haven't heard of this, these Hero PACE programs, basically it's ah it's a different finance option where it puts it on, basically puts like a lien on the home and it puts it on their property tax. So they don't pay like a monthly bill for the solar now included in their property tax. Their property tax goes up to like pay for the solar on their house.
00:22:07
Speaker
So we did a ton of these and what was cool, it's not credit based. So all the failed credits, we'd run them through this and a a of them would get approved. But the downside was, is these guys, they had like,
00:22:17
Speaker
Speaking a deals getting approved, there's like 10 different things you had to submit. You had to submit like the title. you had to do income verification. Everyone on the title had to be included in the application. And then you would submit all these documents, and they'd take usually about an hour like fully approve it all before you could send out docs.
00:22:34
Speaker
And then they had to do ah welcome call with everyone on the title of the home. Yeah, you guys can go check it out. This is and this is one this is actually the longest deal I've ever sat in. And it took me seven hours to get this guy approved.
00:22:46
Speaker
So you guys can go to his house. But was in this house seven hours. It was a 2.8 kilowatt system. made like two grand on it Seven hours. Yeah, seven hours in the home to get this this ah this baby closed.
00:22:59
Speaker
So, yeah, it's just funny because guys complain about some of the stuff we have to go through now. But it's like, I'm like, man, we should send you guys back when I had to sit in deals seven hours to get them fully approved. And even back then we had to get like when I started in solar, we had to run a credit check on the doors.
00:23:15
Speaker
It wasn't like now. literally had to get their social and income on the doors. We filled out these cards as OK. We're going to see if you qualify when we come back. We'll have all the results of it. So yeah, I mean, we're lucky now we don't have to do all this.
00:23:28
Speaker
This is a mistake though. Like these were our approvals from last month. This was February, right? You can see we had 212 closed and we're missing. What is that like? 54 deals or something that weren't approved.
00:23:41
Speaker
So I think it's a huge opportunity for us to improve. And I know some of us are really good at this, but it's like teaching other guys to make sure, hey, let's get everything done the first time. So you guys that are running squads, this is something myself, Javier, we're trying to work with on our squad is just having our guys, hey, let's not like drag it out. Let's get all the title docs the first time.
00:24:00
Speaker
you know whatever we need for it. And yeah, I think we all know what what are the things we need to get for deals approved. Let's do a pop quiz, a newer closer. what What are the, what do we need to get for approval typically? Approval just verification call, site survey, schedules, docs, pre-qualification credit.
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah. or utility we Yeah. Auto pay. Auto pay. blood tap Yeah, i don't pay yet so yeah, I think we all knew it. And what are the hardest?
00:24:33
Speaker
Does anyone struggle getting one thing over another? there anything that's like harder for you guys to get? But ah especially for newer guys, yeah, I would almost send them like a checklist because I think sometimes guys just forget probably.
00:24:46
Speaker
So it's just, and I know there's maybe more more than this for other, depending on the lender you're using, but yeah, full bill, signed agreement, CPUC, auto pay, verification call done.
00:24:57
Speaker
it just should be like, okay, do we get all these things done? If not, then it's probably not going to get approved. And then some ones I added here too, they're not necessarily like required, but I think we all should. It's just setting expectations.
00:25:10
Speaker
um I think most of us have like the little legacy brochure in the back. It shows the whole, you know, solar process. So just making it super clear, hey, Mr. Homeowner, this whole thing, sometimes it's as quick as like three weeks, but um obviously a lot isn't in our control.
00:25:25
Speaker
So here's the process, just explaining to them exactly what's going to happen next. Then asking for referrals. Okay, that's it. That's underrated too. I think a lot of people aren't getting referrals because they don't ask.
00:25:35
Speaker
So in my opinion, the best time to ask for referrals is right after the deal is closed because the emotion's high. They should be excited about the program. ah You're not going to to sit and chase them down later to ask for referrals. Have a sheet of paper.
00:25:49
Speaker
Say, hey, we write down three people you think could benefit ah from this. Then just pass them sheet of paper. ah Separate training on that. but And then, yeah, um I like getting photos, videos. You guys see me post the photos and videos.
00:26:02
Speaker
it's not really just for the group me. It's more for other customers. and Because if I have a whole photo album saved, with every single person that I've helped. I think i need to update mine, but like I would go and I would just save a whole photo album of every single person you've helped.
00:26:20
Speaker
know they changed it. Yeah, just saving like a testimonial thing of every like video. think So if people need like more social proof, um boom. I've got like a hundred videos.
00:26:32
Speaker
So yeah, like, oh, and then some, whatever, like personality or type, I probably have like a story to tell in a video. to like show them of something similar that happens.
00:26:43
Speaker
I don't do it for the groomy, although it is nice. I more do it so I can just have a massive album of social proof to show anybody that we have to help you.
Effective Account Management
00:26:53
Speaker
I mean, it could be when they have like a certain objection.
00:26:56
Speaker
say, oh, that reminds me, we actually helped this person, dad, kind of do the whole fill-fell-found thing and pull it up. So I don't always show them, but i like you guys see me close a lot of old grandmas and stuff like that.
00:27:07
Speaker
And this stuff, yeah, trust me, this this stuff is massive with them. Because depending on the personality type, if they're if they need more kind of like social proof, the lots of people are doing it. Like the two I got this week, that's the first thing I did in the home.
00:27:19
Speaker
Hey, we just helped out this person. Have you seen her? She walks her dog around her. Because they're kind of like, they they want to do it and they like it, but they're just hesitant because they they're like not confident in their decision making.
00:27:30
Speaker
So I can show them, look, we helped out five other grandmas, same thing. And then show them a little video. Usually works like super good. You're done. Okay, cool. We'll wrap them. Okay, so um yeah, we'll speed things up a little bit.
00:27:42
Speaker
But yeah, so anyways, just have an old deal checklist. Make sure you guys go through that. Okay, and then last two mistakes. We'll jump through pretty quick, but just not managing your accounts.
00:27:52
Speaker
Another thing that people slack on, where were you guys here when John did that training on buying back your time? So John, he talked about how he hired like a senora for his house and, you know, people help with his kids and stuff like that.
00:28:06
Speaker
So yeah, i just I think it's huge having someone to help with your accounts. And I know lots of Haley, Jack, they all talk about this. But if you guys don't have someone that's helping with your account management, I would ah definitely get on that. Even if you're not closing that many accounts yet, I still think it's helpful.
00:28:23
Speaker
Because just the time you buy back, the extra time you have to focus on your deals, it's massive. So yeah, even you can get like a virtual assistant, super cheap, 300 bucks a month. I have my wife do it.
00:28:36
Speaker
I know Javi, he's getting a, Kimmy doing it right? Hopping on his accounts. And ah if you're like me, i got like ADD and I just like forget stuff. I can't like, I start going crazy. If I try to sit down for an hour and like think about all my accounts, I honestly like lose focus and everything.
00:28:53
Speaker
Yeah, it gets like overwhelming sometimes. So yeah, consider getting help with that. If you answered yes to those questions, you probably should get help with and with your accounts. Okay, and then last thing, guys, and then we'll wrap it up with this.
00:29:08
Speaker
Oh, well, here's some account management tips. So I would just pick two days a week. Give customers an update one time a week. Use a CRM. um I know a lot of guys just use free stuff like notes, Google Sheets.
00:29:21
Speaker
There's one called Trello that's good. ah There's some paid options. I really like this one called Go High Level because you can send text to your customers from the account. So my wife, she actually helps them with the account management and she'll go, she's the one that sends text to my customers every week from this account.
00:29:37
Speaker
And then we can all see the, you know, communication and everything. So I like that one. If you guys want to do paid options, can, I can give you more help with that. If you have questions, there's a couple of account management tips. Okay. And then the last mistake, Oh, get scrappy with your accounts.
00:29:52
Speaker
Yeah. Jake, he always says this, you guys probably think guys, we are get scrappy. always calls BPS scrappy. They're the scrappy installers actually got in trouble the other day for being little bit too scrappy.
00:30:05
Speaker
and The short story, can tell you guys the long story later, but the HOA, they had locks on the electrical cabinet and they were refusing to cooperate after like months and months of trying to get these locks off to complete the site survey.
00:30:18
Speaker
So the other day I just went and took a bolt cutter and cut the locks off. yeah And let's just say I got in some trouble and the customer's canceling now. So... So maybe you, yeah, be careful with how scrappy you want to get. Yeah. it's It actually wasn't from that. It actually, cause I was trying to get a picture of the like panel inside there and they have, well, they have cameras, but they had a switch that I thought was like a handle to open the thing, but it actually was to shut the power off for the entire unit. and but So I shut the power off in the entire unit and didn't notice it.
00:30:53
Speaker
And I think they went like a whole night without power and yeah. So so yeah, yeah so yeah i got yeah know I got a little too scrappy with it.
00:31:06
Speaker
And I'm just, I'm hoping that's all that happens. The customer cancels. have like five other customers in this neighborhood. So I'm hoping I don't get in more trouble, but no, they're pissed. Yeah. He was like, he's like, we're done and like screaming at me on the phone.
00:31:20
Speaker
Because they they had to call SDG&E out there, I guess, because they didn't know what happens. And they didn't see me, so I'm like, hope i'm like maybe they don't know it's me. mean, the customer thought it was me.
00:31:31
Speaker
But I'm just like, okay, i hope no one else calls. And was like, oh, I don't i don't know what happens. Was it a condo? That's why they didn't know. And it was for like five units. So shut off power for like five people.
00:31:43
Speaker
Yeah. so yeah That's bad news. That's a good thing. Cut their power. be like, hey, we're here with the power. It's like, should I go knock it tomorrow?
00:31:53
Speaker
What's up? No, Yeah, I should have. Yeah, know. and That's what I'm hoping. I already... already yeah I already went and returned the murder weapon. I went, because I bought, like, a bolt cutter from Home Depot. So I went and returned it right after.
00:32:12
Speaker
Like, threw the locks away. but Yeah, exactly.
00:32:17
Speaker
So please don't rat on me. Okay, and then the last thing to wrap up here, guys, is just having a financial plan in place. Because I think one
Financial Planning for Stability and Growth
00:32:25
Speaker
of you mentioned this before is so many people, they close they get one BCF, they close a few deals in a week, but then they stop pushing.
00:32:32
Speaker
And it's so easy in this job to just like go make some good money, get our bills paid, have a little bit extra. Yeah, I know, BCF. Um, so if we don't have a financial plan and a financial plan is different than a budget, right? Budget is just how you're going to like budget where your money goes.
00:32:49
Speaker
But a financial plan is like, what are your dreams? How going to become financially free? Yeah. And it's funny. I typed in Earl to Pearl and this is the picture that popped up for Earl to Pearl.
00:32:59
Speaker
I couldn't find a picture of it. Guess he left. I was going to get a good joke out of that. But yeah, just like there's more to this. I did like, you know, a church mission thing. We weren't getting paid, but we' we're closing people on um the gospel Jesus Christ.
00:33:13
Speaker
So just you've got to think of things that are going push you even when you're making money. Like you go look at guys like John. He doesn't need to make. He's probably got more plenty of money, but he has bigger dreams for himself.
00:33:25
Speaker
So as we start making money, we need to have a financial plan. How are we going to be financially free? Where are we going to put that money? Um, and have plans with that. And yeah, we're actually doing, yeah, here's what Grant Cardone.
00:33:36
Speaker
And this was one of the things he talks about in his book to put a plan in place that doesn't just pay your bills, but creates financial freedom. And, uh, yeah, we're actually doing a little financial mastermind thing with Will right now.
00:33:48
Speaker
We're like a month into it, but I know he's going to be continuing that for future people and everything. If you guys want to ask him about that. Okay. But yeah, those are the five mistakes that I came up with.
00:34:00
Speaker
I think that's it. So yeah, just to review, it's like put a financial plan in place, create a solid pre-frame. ah what are the other ones? I already forgot, forgot my own mistakes, managing and account managing accounts, uh, buying back your time, approve getting deals approved and then not signing up appointments.
00:34:24
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so yeah, I promise if you guys focus on ah those, overcoming those mistakes and help other people do the same, you're gonna we're going to make a lot more money in solar.
00:34:36
Speaker
We're going to create some massive influence. We're going to conquer San Diego and we're going to change our lives. Okay, so if you're with me to change our lives and conquer those mistakes, let's say change our lives on three, one, two, three. Change
Innovations and Opportunities in Solar Sales
00:34:49
Speaker
our lives.
00:34:50
Speaker
All right, that's it. Good. Thank you, guys. So some of you already know that I run my own door to door sales team here in San Diego. And as we are gearing up for the summer, I realized if we do the same thing we always did, we're going to get the same results.
00:35:04
Speaker
But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout. But it's not a door knocking app. It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
00:35:17
Speaker
It shows us who has previously applied for solar but later canceled the deal, who has moved in recently, and even how much electricity the homes are using in a given neighborhood. It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too.
00:35:31
Speaker
I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show, you need to give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
00:35:42
Speaker
So go to solarscout.app forward slash Taylor and book a demo with them and you'll get 10% off your first month when you sign up. That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:35:55
Speaker
Okay, back to the show.
00:35:59
Speaker
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00:36:11
Speaker
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00:36:33
Speaker
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