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It's Time To Hold Your Reps Accountable
190 Plays13 days ago
While we can do anything in the world to make productivity happen, what happens when things don't go as planned? This episode teaches leaders healthy strategies to reinforce responsibility and commitment that is extremely needed in the fast-paced solar market.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Solarpreneur Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Taylor Armstrong's Journey to Success
00:00:10
Speaker
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 fail.
Sales Techniques and Avoiding Mistakes
00:00:19
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.
00:00:31
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 you are about to become one. What's going
Importance of Accountability in Sales
00:00:42
Speaker
on, solopreneurs? Today, we're going to be talking about one of the most important things you can do as leaders to help hold your rep accountable, your reps rather accountable. And make sure you stay tuned till the end, because i'm gonna be sharing some specific real world applications that instantly help my team take it to another level. So welcome to the show. My name is Taylor Armstrong. We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar industry. I hope your 2026 is kicking off with a bang. I hope you're getting lots of sales, lots of installs, lots of accounts to the roof. Hopefully we can contribute to you having
00:01:17
Speaker
as much success as
Upcoming Sales Blitz Event Details
00:01:19
Speaker
possible this year. Before we get into the topic, wanted to make a quick announcement. We are having a upcoming Blitz in March, according this podcast here in February. So if you'd like to join us for our upcoming Blitz in about a month, be sure to go click the link below in the show notes, or you can also shoot us an email or a DM. Find me, Taylor Armstrong, over on Instagram or taylorsorepreneur.com. Would love to hear from you. So ah shoot us a message and we'd love to have a chat, see if you would ah be a good fit for upcoming Blitz.
Leadership and Accountability
00:01:52
Speaker
Let's get into the topic. This show was inspired by a leadership call we had. And so quick side note, if you're not doing leadership calls with your team, key people on your team or your squad, as we like to divide our teams here in our office, I think you're missing the ball because It's so important to pour into your leaders, your upcoming leaders, and then ah you know just pour into everybody. But I think it's great to give specific attention to the people that are leading. So if you are not leading a team of
00:02:25
Speaker
you know maybe leaders or maybe you're just leading one person right now, still it's a good idea to look for ways how you can hold yourself accountable or hold one in person. Maybe you're over two setters, whatever it is. Maybe you're a company owner. You need to find a way to hold your leaders, hold your people to a level of accountability. And my favorite way to do that is doing a weekly call. So we have we divide people weekly calls up into, you know, like our management team. but I have a weekly call for my own squad, the people I'm over. think it helps.
00:02:57
Speaker
It helps me out a lot. and And I think it helps the guys that I lead out a lot as well, just because we're able to hold each other accountable, kind of mastermind different ideas, things that are working and ah plan out where we're working that week, go through our goals. So very important to do. and so this week, we had a leadership call And um Mike Brands, a leader that is one of my mentors, he shared some important things to think about as leaders. And was so good, wanted to share with you all here on the show today. And so like I said, even if you're not leading ah a team, even if you're just leading a few people or just yourself, I think these principles can apply just as much.
Defining Effective Leadership
00:03:39
Speaker
So he walked us through just a definition of leadership. I hadn't heard as much before. So the definition he told us, he said, leadership is the ability to persuade, inspire, and empower humans to be better, do more, see, believe, and reach their potential based off your vision, encouragement,
00:04:00
Speaker
accountability, standards, and actions. So i'm gonna read it one more time. says, leadership is the ability to persuade, inspire, and empower humans to be better, do more, see, believe, and reach their potential based off your vision, encouragement, accountability, standards, and actions. So I want you to think to yourself, if you're leading someone, are you actually inspiring them and empowering them to be better, to do more? Are you holding them accountable?
00:04:28
Speaker
Are you inspiring them to reach their potential? If you answered no, then what can you improve? How can you make changes to be different and to inspire your people to better hold them accountable, to better hold them to standards? Mike, he talked to us all today as leaders. He said, if your reps are just going off to random areas, if you don't know what they're doing, if you don't know how many doors they're at,
00:04:51
Speaker
then you're not a leader, right? Maybe you're talking to some people, but you're not a leader. You should hold people to a standard. You should point them where they should be knocking. You should know what time they're hitting their first door, not that we're babysitting people.
00:05:03
Speaker
But too many of us were just saying, oh, you know what? This job is 1099. It's independent contractors. Go do whatever you want. go work whenever you want. you know You'll make a good commission on a deal. It doesn't matter. yeah And I've had that attitude a lot of times as a leader in solar, just because you know sometimes you you feel like, oh, this guy, you got to sell this week. He doesn't need to be held accountable to more.
00:05:26
Speaker
ah This guy made a great commission on this one. It's fine. He doesn't need it. I don't need to bug him see if he's out knocking. okay And it's not about pestering people and hounding them to get out there. right We're not a boss.
00:05:39
Speaker
But as leaders, we should empower people. We should help them see their potential and really just be able to call them out, know why they're being called out, ah because we want so bad for them to have success.
00:05:52
Speaker
And maybe they don't see it themselves, but it's our job as leaders to help people see what they can become. This is another important point that he went through with us. He called it the act as if principle. So what act as if is,
00:06:06
Speaker
It's acting if you're already in the position that you want to strive for, right? So maybe you're listening to this and maybe you want to be a leader. Maybe you want to step up. You want to grow a team. You see yourself leading a team. You see yourself inspiring others in solar. But maybe you just started a week ago.
00:06:24
Speaker
Maybe you're brand new. So this is where the act as if principle comes in. Act as if you're already that leader. Act as if you're already the top rep. Act as if... you're already you know closing deals and having tons of success helping people go solar left and right. Because the people that act as if, it's usually the ones where it actually happens.
00:06:45
Speaker
right If we can't manifest it, if we can't act like we're already the thing, then it's going to be hard to actually arrive to that level. you know I had a conversation with one of um our top setters the other day and ah he's like, I want to start getting overrides off people. I want to grow a massive team. i want to be like, he started naming off some of the other big leaders at our company that's, you know, they make good overrides off people. They're and and they're in a position that's would be cool to have, right? So he's talking about that.
Introducing the SolarScout App
00:07:14
Speaker
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. But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage.
00:07:30
Speaker
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. 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.
00:07:48
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too. 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.
00:08:03
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.
00:08:16
Speaker
Okay, back to the show.
Leadership Mindset and Growth
00:08:18
Speaker
And I started telling them, I'm like, well well, dude, how come you don't... We need to get you running some trainings. We need to get you up there sharing your secrets with people. You're already one of the top setters.
00:08:30
Speaker
Why don't you share that with people? And he starts talking about, oh, well, like I don't want to do... Once I become... a leader and once I start making overrides of ah other people, then I'll give trainings.
00:08:40
Speaker
And I'm like, bro, that is not how it works. Like you got to step into the leadership position now and then you'll become it. Right. Do you think they want someone? you think they're going to promote you? You think you're going to gain the respect of your peers? You think you're going to really earn that position if you're not willing to step up and give trainings, do what's necessary to ah be seen as a leader? Probably going be tough. And he kind of understood.
00:09:05
Speaker
And i told him, I'm like, look, I'm not in any of the positions that you're talking about. And I give trainings. A lot of times I give trainings to people that I gain nothing from, right?
00:09:16
Speaker
You know, I give trainings to our entire office here in San Diego. And a lot of people, it's not like I'm making... overrides off our entire office here in San Diego. So explained to him, I'm like, the reason I do it, because I know it's going to benefit me.
00:09:29
Speaker
And I know that's how I'm going to become a leader is because I'm willing to go out there and step into the position, even though I don't have it yet. And I've always lived by that in my solar career. I think it's been one of the big factors in my success, right? I started this podcast As a nobody, I started this podcast as someone that had had basically zero success in solar when I first started it.
00:09:50
Speaker
And just with the belief that I could become that person that was one of the top people in solar. i could become someone that was a leader of leaders. I could become someone that people looked up for and was like, man, this guy's killing it in solar. you know And maybe I've achieved some of those things. Maybe I haven't.
00:10:08
Speaker
But I know it has helped me grow in so many ways. Couldn't even put a number on it, right? It's been one of the biggest factors of my growth. Just stepping into the position before I had it, right? Stepping in the title of solopreneur, podcaster, before anyone was listening, before I was getting sales, before I had won competitions at my company. think it's all been done because I stepped into the role before I necessarily had the position.
00:10:33
Speaker
So for you, whatever your role is, start acting if... acting as if you were the next person up on the totem pole, right? Maybe you're manager, you want to lead an entire region.
00:10:44
Speaker
Start acting like you're over in the entire region and don't be afraid to overstep the boundaries sometimes. It's another thing we went over in our leadership call today. If you get people saying it, you go tone it down, man. might be a good Might be a good sign that you're pushing the boundaries. You know, you can tone it down. But if you're the one trying to inspire others, if you're the one trying to drag other people to success, even though maybe you're not even over these people, maybe you're just calling somebody out and saying, hey, man, let's hit let's hit our numbers this week.
00:11:15
Speaker
Why didn't you get your two sales this week, like you said, even though you're not managing that person? You're going to be seen as the one that is a leader in the office. You're going to be seen as someone that is, you know, an inspirer, ah influencer. they're goingnna These people are going to remember that. and then you're they're going to think of you as the leader when you do gain that title.
00:11:36
Speaker
So yeah, just a couple of things to think about and stop waiting for people to tell you what to do.
Leading Through Challenges
00:11:42
Speaker
We need to take the initiative. Part of being independent contractors, part of being our own solopreneurs, as we call on the podcast, is we're we're the ones in control of our own destinies.
00:11:53
Speaker
So we need to take the initiative. We need to be one the ones to lead others. We need to call people out when they're not showing up for themselves or for their team. And as you do that, I know that's what's going to help you have more success than maybe anything else in the industry. It's going to be something that'll increase your progress, just increase your influence and help you become a leader of leaders.
00:12:15
Speaker
which is what we need more of in the solar industry. When people are freaking out, when people are losing their minds, when people are talking about, oh, solar is no good anymore, ah big, beautiful bill this, this incentive is going away, they're going to look to the people that are calm, that are cool, that are collected. that are leading their peers.
00:12:34
Speaker
And those are going to be the ones that move this industry forward. so I hope this inspires you today to go out to be that leader for yourself, be that leader for somebody else, hold people accountable,
00:12:46
Speaker
Remember the act as if principle. Act as if you're already in that next role. And then ask yourself, as a leader, am I inspiring other people? Am I leading myself? Am I influencing other people?
00:12:58
Speaker
am I holding them accountable? And whether you have one person, two people, a whole team, or it's just yourself right now, maybe you just started the job, the opportunity, look for someone to lead and start leading yourself. So I hope that helps.
00:13:13
Speaker
ah Send us a comment. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Or if you're watching this on YouTube, would love to see some comments, hear your thoughts on this
Top Episodes Cheat Sheet for New Listeners
00:13:21
Speaker
topic. Stay blessed. Go close lots of deals this week.
00:13:24
Speaker
And we will see you on the next episode. What's up, solopreneurs? Hope you enjoyed the episode. Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created it specifically for you in mind.
00:13:41
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start? What episodes should I listen to in the podcast? You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
00:13:56
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.com.
00:14:09
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. So go download it right now. It's going to be top10.solarpreneurs.com. Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com. Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
00:14:31
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes. Go download it right now. And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them. That's going to show you how. So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.