Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
Speaker: I teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals.
Speaker: What is a 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: How to discern a smokescreen from an actual objection.
Speaker: That's the topic we're going to be jamming on today in the podcast.
Speaker: Welcome to Solapreneur.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and hopefully have a much better time in the solar industry.
Speaker: How are you?
Speaker: I hope you're doing well.
Speaker: Hope you're crushing it.
Speaker: And thanks for making the podcast the first listen of every Tuesday and Friday.
Speaker: So before we get into this, I wanted to tell you, make sure you're taking advantage of your Saturday sales or Sunday, but really just any holiday, any day where people are home can change a week.
Speaker: I had a pretty bad week last week up until Saturday.
Speaker: Zero closes on the week, appointments falling through left and right, meeting with one-leggers, you name it.
Speaker: And then Saturday went out, 9.30 a.m., got out there, about 9.45 maybe.
Speaker: I worked till 9 p.m., got three closes.
Speaker: And shout out to my boy Gabe Pearson.
Speaker: He had some solid sets that day too.
Speaker: Had two of them were same day closes.
Speaker: So whatever you're doing, don't give up on the week.
Speaker: If you're having a slow week, one Saturday can change everything.
Speaker: One holiday can change everything.
Speaker: And if you haven't read Ed Milet's new book, The Power One More, go read it.
Speaker: Because that very much this job.
Speaker: One more.
Speaker: One more Saturday, one more door, one more whatever you're doing.
Speaker: So I just wanted to share that.
Speaker: Make sure you're not giving up if you're having a slow week.
Speaker: And that week, it actually applies directly to what we're going to talk about in the podcast today.
Speaker: And that is the smokescreen versus the actual objection.
Speaker: So the reason we're talking about this is because I had a cell on Saturday where they were giving me smokescreens over and over and over and over and over again.
Speaker: And I couldn't close them until I finally ripped these off.
Speaker: It's like ripping a bandaid off.
Speaker: And so for you, whether you're in a door, whether you're at a door or in a presentation in a close, you need to get very good at recognizing when is it an actual objection?
Speaker: When is it a smoke screen?
Speaker: And if it's a smoke screen, how do I get past it?
Speaker: And so like Grant Cardone says, treat every objection as a complaint until further validated.
Speaker: Remember that.
Speaker: And then obviously, when you're out of door, easiest way to handle this is first treat it as a speed bump.
Speaker: Hey, I'm not interested.
Speaker: Oh, no worries.
Speaker: You actually don't have to be interested.
Speaker: The reason we're here is a little bit different.
Speaker: you don't give it, you don't address it until they bring it up again.
Speaker: And then when they do bring these concerns up, when they do bring them up again, they're further validated.
Speaker: Then you can do some looping, right?
Speaker: You actually address them.
Speaker: You talk about what you're doing.
Speaker: That's different from that.
Speaker: Then you go back into it.
Speaker: Think of it as, I don't know.
Speaker: I've been going to Disneyland.
Speaker: I'm thinking of the Incredibles roller coaster has the loop.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Think of it like that.
Speaker: You're going on a loop, then you're coming back to where you were in the presentation, asking them a question, getting them involved again.
Speaker: So that's an easy way to think of it when you're on the doors doing a presentation.
Speaker: But what about in the home?
Speaker: Here's what happened to me.
Speaker: So I was in this close Saturday, same day set.
Speaker: Guy's name was Rogelio, Mexican guy, super nice, had the sweetest mustache I've seen in a while.
Speaker: We're going through it.
Speaker: This guy's interested.
Speaker: He's liking everything I'm saying.
Speaker: We get to the end of the close and he says, you know what, Taylor, we have this other project.
Speaker: We're replacing part of our roof.
Speaker: That's actually why we couldn't go somewhere before.
Speaker: So we're just going to wait till we're done with that.
Speaker: And I'm like, come on, man, let's get your application in.
Speaker: Let's do it.
Speaker: He was interested.
Speaker: I thought I could get him with kind of a softer close.
Speaker: He wasn't budget.
Speaker: We already ran his credit and
Speaker: But he was not budging, did not want to sign.
Speaker: And so this was a one layer too.
Speaker: And his wife, she was like showering the whole time.
Speaker: She must have been the cleanest lady in the world because she took like a 40 minute shower would not come out.
Speaker: But I was not trying to give up.
Speaker: I hung in there.
Speaker: So that's the first lesson.
Speaker: Do not give up easy.
Speaker: Have more belief for the yes than your clients or than your prospective clients have for their no.
Speaker: And you can defeat their no if your belief is high enough.
Speaker: Have extreme belief in the product you're offering.
Speaker: So I had that extreme belief.
Speaker: I knew we could give them something that was way better for their situation, way better for their home.
Speaker: And so I start using different closes.
Speaker: It's the second lesson.
Speaker: Make sure you have an arsenal of closes.
Speaker: So I use my typical one.
Speaker: Hey, Rogelio, if everything is how we said it is, and let's say we can't approve your home, would there be any reason that you don't think this is a good idea or anything that you could see that wouldn't be a good benefit for your home or for your situation?
Speaker: No?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, we're going to get into forms.
Speaker: Wouldn't budge.
Speaker: Wouldn't sign.
Speaker: And then he starts bringing up, he needs to talk to his wife, all this.
Speaker: I said, go get your wife.
Speaker: He wouldn't get her.
Speaker: Said she's still showering.
Speaker: So I went with a loop and I said, I brought her back.
Speaker: I said, well, you know what, Rogelio?
Speaker: Tell you what, we need to get our paperwork in because we're actually scheduling site surveys while we're out here with everybody.
Speaker: So if I can get you scheduled with everyone else, not saying this is a for sure thing.
Speaker: But if I get an agreed, I don't know, I'll give you a little bit better offer, a little bit better deal.
Speaker: Can we get these forms in?
Speaker: Then I sat there.
Speaker: We sat, we sat, we sat, we sat, wasn't saying anything.
Speaker: And then I finally said, well, I can make the call.
Speaker: You want me to make the call?
Speaker: He's like, I don't know.
Speaker: So I said, I asked again, I said, Rogelio, you know what?
Speaker: Why don't we just grab your wife?
Speaker: Then we can run a buyer and then she can at least see what would happen now versus later.
Speaker: You guys can decide.
Speaker: Asked one more time for the wife to come.
Speaker: She finally comes out.
Speaker: So got past one hurdle.
Speaker: Hey, you got to keep chipping away at these things until you can uncover the gold.
Speaker: So got the wife.
Speaker: She came out.
Speaker: She was stone cold.
Speaker: She was not.
Speaker: She was giving me the exact same objections.
Speaker: Real hell you was.
Speaker: Says Taylor, you know, yeah, we need to do this roof.
Speaker: We're not going to do it.
Speaker: We're going to do it after we take care of the roof.
Speaker: So once again, I was in the same place, but luckily I had the wife here this time.
Speaker: Luckily, I at least had both decision makers, even though he told me it's his decision.
Speaker: Never believe that.
Speaker: You always want to have the wife if possible.
Speaker: It's possible to close them, but almost everyone that says this is not telling the truth.
Speaker: So finally, I start going through the same thing.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: Look, here's what we're doing.
Speaker: We're trying to get you guys in so you can get a full tax credit so you can get in before some of these net metering deadlines.
Speaker: This is why people are getting in on it.
Speaker: And then slowly, one by one, I start uncovering some actual objections.
Speaker: Kate, I found out this whole roof thing was actually a smokescreen.
Speaker: over and over and over and they were just saying this.
Speaker: But as I went through different closes, as I added more value, Rogelio would slowly give me another piece of the puzzle, another piece of information, another card he showed me.
Speaker: Think of it, you're in a poker match.
Speaker: They don't want to show their cards.
Speaker: You don't want to show your cards.
Speaker: Who's going to win that hand?
Speaker: So this is what I was doing.
Speaker: I was slowly bringing out more and more, trying to add more value.
Speaker: And as I did this, he would slowly show one more of his cards.
Speaker: So the next card he said was, we actually met with Sunrun and I think I might have signed something with them.
Speaker: So I don't want to do it until we can get that figured out and see what our status is in that project.
Speaker: But again, you don't give up.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I could have given up right there.
Speaker: I say, okay, well, you know what?
Speaker: Why don't we give them a call?
Speaker: Let's see what your actually, let's see what your status is with that project.
Speaker: We call in and sure enough, he's in a contract with Sunrun.
Speaker: He's, yeah, a couple of weeks that he had signed.
Speaker: They're going through the process.
Speaker: Said, okay, let's get you a copy of your contract.
Speaker: Got that.
Speaker: have another piece of this puzzle.
Speaker: And then now I can show him what he's getting with them versus what we can offer him.
Speaker: So that's another piece.
Speaker: And then finally, after all that, I bring up the whole, hey, so we're picking model homes for this.
Speaker: And this is what finally piqued the wife's interest.
Speaker: She did not want to go anywhere with this.
Speaker: She did not want them to touch the iPad.
Speaker: She said, no, we're not signing.
Speaker: And I said, look, what we're doing, we're looking for model homes.
Speaker: So we can't usually do this.
Speaker: But if I can get you guys in as a model home, then what we do, we'd actually give you the American made panels.
Speaker: We will give you the longer warranties and we will give you X, Y, Z. I just started naming off things that we're going to give them.
Speaker: And then the other thing that I made a mistake on is Rogelio, he had told me he wanted to do a 10-year deal.
Speaker: And I, of course, was pushing, pushing, pushing just for 25-year financing.
Speaker: I wanted to get the monthly bill as low as possible.
Speaker: And he was not biting.
Speaker: So I learned my lesson.
Speaker: You need to listen.
Speaker: You need to give people what they want.
Speaker: It doesn't matter what you want.
Speaker: Sometimes you're giving them the best option.
Speaker: But end of the day, it's their decision.
Speaker: It's their project.
Speaker: Give them what they want.
Speaker: And so finally, I
Speaker: I decided he brought this up again and I'm like, okay, you know, I just got to give him the 10 year, even though it was more than what he's paying monthly.
Speaker: That's what he wanted.
Speaker: And I should have listened to him earlier.
Speaker: So I came out, I said, okay, look, we can give you this.
Speaker: It's going to be tough.
Speaker: You do a takeaway, right?
Speaker: After all this, you don't just hand him the farm.
Speaker: You got to do a takeaway.
Speaker: Look, normally we don't have tons of spots in our 10 year plan.
Speaker: But if you guys can agree to this, would this work for you?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: The wife piques her interest as I make it the prize, as I do the takeaway, as I get them to agree to put a shield in their front yard, do some marketing for us and get them to agree to give referrals.
Speaker: Now they want it.
Speaker: What changed in that?
Speaker: Nothing changed except for the fact that I did a takeaway.
Speaker: I listened to their objections and slowly, one by one, I peeled back the layers in the cell.
Speaker: And I finally figured out what their objections were and that the roof was just a smokescreen.
Speaker: So that was the lesson.
Speaker: Ended up closing it.
Speaker: Got them a better deal.
Speaker: Got them something they were super happy about.
Speaker: Got the wife on board and made it happen when the husband told me 10 times he wasn't signing that day.
Speaker: So I hope that helps.
Speaker: That's the lesson.
Speaker: But end of the day, a lot of times you're going to get these smoke screens.
Speaker: A lot of times people are going to tell you whatever they tell you.
Speaker: But as you're persistent, as you add value, people are going to start showing their cards just like Rogelio did.
Speaker: So make sure in your next presentation you are persistent.
Speaker: Make sure you're adding value.
Speaker: Make sure you listen to what the customer actually wants and what he's saying.
Speaker: He wanted the 10 year.
Speaker: I was trying to shove the 25 year down his throat.
Speaker: Give them what they want.
Speaker: Add value.
Speaker: And as you do this, and as you do your takeaways, as you play hard to get, right?
Speaker: This is how people are going to sign up.
Speaker: This is how they're going to do it today.
Speaker: So if you do all these things, and obviously you come across as a trustworthy person, build that trust because that's what it's about.
Speaker: So that's how my sale went.
Speaker: Hopefully that's an experience that y'all can learn from, but make sure over anything, have that extreme belief, have that extreme confidence.
Speaker: And if you have that, you're going to cancel out any of the doubts from your customers.
Speaker: So go apply that in your sales this week, do your takeaways, and we'll see you on the next episode.
Speaker: What's up, solarpreneurs?
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 Solopreneur.
Speaker: We put them together all in one sheet so you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new, you do not want to not have this sheet.
Speaker: So go download it right now.
Speaker: It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
Speaker: We will have that in the show notes.
Speaker: Go download it right now.
Speaker: And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them.
Speaker: That's going to show you how.
Speaker: So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.
