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Smokescreens vs. Objections in Solar
63 Plays3 years ago
Thanks to our sponsor Pi Syndicate for this episode!
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Transcript
Introduction to the Solarpreneur Podcast
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Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
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Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
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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.
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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.
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What is a Solarpreneur you might ask?
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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.
Understanding Smokescreens vs Objections in Sales
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How to discern a smokescreen from an actual objection.
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That's the topic we're going to be jamming on today in the podcast.
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Welcome to Solapreneur.
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My name is Taylor Armstrong.
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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.
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How are you?
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I hope you're doing well.
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Hope you're crushing it.
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And thanks for making the podcast the first listen of every Tuesday and Friday.
The Role of Weekend Sales in Success
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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.
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I had a pretty bad week last week up until Saturday.
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Zero closes on the week, appointments falling through left and right, meeting with one-leggers, you name it.
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And then Saturday went out, 9.30 a.m., got out there, about 9.45 maybe.
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I worked till 9 p.m., got three closes.
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And shout out to my boy Gabe Pearson.
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He had some solid sets that day too.
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Had two of them were same day closes.
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So whatever you're doing, don't give up on the week.
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If you're having a slow week, one Saturday can change everything.
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One holiday can change everything.
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And if you haven't read Ed Milet's new book, The Power One More, go read it.
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Because that very much this job.
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One more.
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One more Saturday, one more door, one more whatever you're doing.
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So I just wanted to share that.
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Make sure you're not giving up if you're having a slow week.
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And that week, it actually applies directly to what we're going to talk about in the podcast
Handling Smokescreens with Grant Cardone's Strategies
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today.
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And that is the smokescreen versus the actual objection.
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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.
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And I couldn't close them until I finally ripped these off.
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It's like ripping a bandaid off.
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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?
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When is it a smoke screen?
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And if it's a smoke screen, how do I get past it?
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And so like Grant Cardone says, treat every objection as a complaint until further validated.
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Remember that.
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And then obviously, when you're out of door, easiest way to handle this is first treat it as a speed bump.
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Hey, I'm not interested.
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Oh, no worries.
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You actually don't have to be interested.
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The reason we're here is a little bit different.
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you don't give it, you don't address it until they bring it up again.
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And then when they do bring these concerns up, when they do bring them up again, they're further validated.
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Then you can do some looping, right?
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You actually address them.
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You talk about what you're doing.
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That's different from that.
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Then you go back into it.
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Think of it as, I don't know.
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I've been going to Disneyland.
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I'm thinking of the Incredibles roller coaster has the loop.
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Okay.
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Think of it like that.
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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.
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So that's an easy way to think of it when you're on the doors doing a presentation.
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But what about in the home?
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Here's what happened to me.
A Challenging Sales Experience with Rogelio
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So I was in this close Saturday, same day set.
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Guy's name was Rogelio, Mexican guy, super nice, had the sweetest mustache I've seen in a while.
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We're going through it.
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This guy's interested.
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He's liking everything I'm saying.
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We get to the end of the close and he says, you know what, Taylor, we have this other project.
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We're replacing part of our roof.
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That's actually why we couldn't go somewhere before.
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So we're just going to wait till we're done with that.
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And I'm like, come on, man, let's get your application in.
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Let's do it.
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He was interested.
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I thought I could get him with kind of a softer close.
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He wasn't budget.
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We already ran his credit and
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But he was not budging, did not want to sign.
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And so this was a one layer too.
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And his wife, she was like showering the whole time.
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She must have been the cleanest lady in the world because she took like a 40 minute shower would not come out.
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But I was not trying to give up.
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I hung in there.
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So that's the first lesson.
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Do not give up easy.
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Have more belief for the yes than your clients or than your prospective clients have for their no.
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And you can defeat their no if your belief is high enough.
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Have extreme belief in the product you're offering.
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So I had that extreme belief.
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I knew we could give them something that was way better for their situation, way better for their home.
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And so I start using different closes.
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It's the second lesson.
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Make sure you have an arsenal of closes.
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So I use my typical one.
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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?
Uncovering Real Objections
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No?
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Okay.
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Well, we're going to get into forms.
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Wouldn't budge.
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Wouldn't sign.
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And then he starts bringing up, he needs to talk to his wife, all this.
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I said, go get your wife.
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He wouldn't get her.
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Said she's still showering.
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So I went with a loop and I said, I brought her back.
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I said, well, you know what, Rogelio?
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Tell you what, we need to get our paperwork in because we're actually scheduling site surveys while we're out here with everybody.
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So if I can get you scheduled with everyone else, not saying this is a for sure thing.
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But if I get an agreed, I don't know, I'll give you a little bit better offer, a little bit better deal.
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Can we get these forms in?
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Then I sat there.
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We sat, we sat, we sat, we sat, wasn't saying anything.
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And then I finally said, well, I can make the call.
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You want me to make the call?
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He's like, I don't know.
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So I said, I asked again, I said, Rogelio, you know what?
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Why don't we just grab your wife?
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Then we can run a buyer and then she can at least see what would happen now versus later.
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You guys can decide.
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Asked one more time for the wife to come.
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She finally comes out.
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So got past one hurdle.
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Hey, you got to keep chipping away at these things until you can uncover the gold.
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So got the wife.
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She came out.
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She was stone cold.
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She was not.
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She was giving me the exact same objections.
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Real hell you was.
00:06:35
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Says Taylor, you know, yeah, we need to do this roof.
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We're not going to do it.
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We're going to do it after we take care of the roof.
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So once again, I was in the same place, but luckily I had the wife here this time.
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Luckily, I at least had both decision makers, even though he told me it's his decision.
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Never believe that.
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You always want to have the wife if possible.
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It's possible to close them, but almost everyone that says this is not telling the truth.
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So finally, I start going through the same thing.
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You know what?
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Look, here's what we're doing.
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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.
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This is why people are getting in on it.
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And then slowly, one by one, I start uncovering some actual objections.
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Kate, I found out this whole roof thing was actually a smokescreen.
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over and over and over and they were just saying this.
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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.
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Think of it, you're in a poker match.
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They don't want to show their cards.
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You don't want to show your cards.
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Who's going to win that hand?
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So this is what I was doing.
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I was slowly bringing out more and more, trying to add more value.
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And as I did this, he would slowly show one more of his cards.
Closing Strategies and Overcoming Objections
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So the next card he said was, we actually met with Sunrun and I think I might have signed something with them.
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So I don't want to do it until we can get that figured out and see what our status is in that project.
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But again, you don't give up.
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Okay.
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I could have given up right there.
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I say, okay, well, you know what?
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Why don't we give them a call?
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Let's see what your actually, let's see what your status is with that project.
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We call in and sure enough, he's in a contract with Sunrun.
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He's, yeah, a couple of weeks that he had signed.
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They're going through the process.
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Said, okay, let's get you a copy of your contract.
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Got that.
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have another piece of this puzzle.
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And then now I can show him what he's getting with them versus what we can offer him.
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So that's another piece.
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And then finally, after all that, I bring up the whole, hey, so we're picking model homes for this.
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And this is what finally piqued the wife's interest.
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She did not want to go anywhere with this.
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She did not want them to touch the iPad.
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She said, no, we're not signing.
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And I said, look, what we're doing, we're looking for model homes.
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So we can't usually do this.
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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.
00:09:00
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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.
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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.
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And I, of course, was pushing, pushing, pushing just for 25-year financing.
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I wanted to get the monthly bill as low as possible.
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And he was not biting.
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So I learned my lesson.
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You need to listen.
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You need to give people what they want.
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It doesn't matter what you want.
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Sometimes you're giving them the best option.
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But end of the day, it's their decision.
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It's their project.
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Give them what they want.
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And so finally, I
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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.
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That's what he wanted.
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And I should have listened to him earlier.
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So I came out, I said, okay, look, we can give you this.
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It's going to be tough.
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You do a takeaway, right?
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After all this, you don't just hand him the farm.
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You got to do a takeaway.
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Look, normally we don't have tons of spots in our 10 year plan.
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But if you guys can agree to this, would this work for you?
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Yes.
00:10:01
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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.
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Now they want it.
00:10:14
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What changed in that?
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Nothing changed except for the fact that I did a takeaway.
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I listened to their objections and slowly, one by one, I peeled back the layers in the cell.
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And I finally figured out what their objections were and that the roof was just a smokescreen.
00:10:28
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So that was the lesson.
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Ended up closing it.
00:10:31
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Got them a better deal.
00:10:32
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Got them something they were super happy about.
00:10:34
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Got the wife on board and made it happen when the husband told me 10 times he wasn't signing that day.
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So I hope that helps.
00:10:42
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That's the lesson.
00:10:43
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But end of the day, a lot of times you're going to get these smoke screens.
00:10:46
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A lot of times people are going to tell you whatever they tell you.
00:10:48
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But as you're persistent, as you add value, people are going to start showing their cards just like Rogelio
The Importance of Persistence and Belief in Product
00:10:55
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did.
00:10:55
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So make sure in your next presentation you are persistent.
00:10:58
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Make sure you're adding value.
00:11:00
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Make sure you listen to what the customer actually wants and what he's saying.
00:11:03
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He wanted the 10 year.
00:11:04
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I was trying to shove the 25 year down his throat.
00:11:07
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Give them what they want.
00:11:09
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Add value.
00:11:10
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And as you do this, and as you do your takeaways, as you play hard to get, right?
00:11:15
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This is how people are going to sign up.
00:11:18
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This is how they're going to do it today.
00:11:19
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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.
00:11:26
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So that's how my sale went.
00:11:27
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Hopefully that's an experience that y'all can learn from, but make sure over anything, have that extreme belief, have that extreme confidence.
00:11:35
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And if you have that, you're going to cancel out any of the doubts from your customers.
00:11:39
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So go apply that in your sales this week, do your takeaways, and we'll see you on the next episode.
Top Solarpreneur Episodes Cheat Sheet
00:11:46
Speaker
What's up, solarpreneurs?
00:11:47
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed the episode.
00:11:49
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.
00:12:00
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
00:12:07
Speaker
What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
00:12:10
Speaker
You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
00:12:14
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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.
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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.
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So go download it right now.
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It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
00:12:42
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Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com.
00:12:47
Speaker
Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
00:12:49
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes.
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Go download it right now.
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And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them.
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That's going to show you how.
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So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.