Taylor's Journey in Solar Sales
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Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
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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.
Defining a Solarpreneur
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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.
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Okay, what is going on?
Introducing James Rushing
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We're here with another episode and I'm super stoked for today's guest because this is something that I've been working with for I think six months or so now and he's gotten me massive results in my organization, specifically in my referral process.
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So I am excited to have James on the podcast.
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Mr. James Rushing, thanks for coming on the show with us today.
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Pleasure to be on, Taylor.
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Glad we finally got to do this.
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We've been talking about it for a while, so it'll be fun.
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But no, I think it's good timing because initially I was thinking about getting you on like right when we started working together.
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But I think it's almost better now.
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Now that we've been working together for six months or so, we kind of know, you know, the things I was struggling with.
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We know what you've helped me with.
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So I think we'll have a lot more, you know, focused conversations now that we've been able to work together.
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So it should be a good time.
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But yeah, so just to kind of introduce you a little bit and I guess tell how we ran
Collaboration for Business Success
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So I first heard James.
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He was on Sam Taggart's door to door podcast.
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And I remember you guys were doing this podcast just in a park or something.
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And I think he just hit you up, I guess, when he was out in your neck of the woods.
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But you started just talking about all these referral systems you had in place and how you got guys just transitioning to where they could get most their business from referrals.
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And I'm like, man, that sounds like the dream, especially for solar, just having people call you.
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And like you're telling me it's possible where I don't have to knock a thousand doors a day.
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I can just have getting, you know, these referrals.
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And so caught my attention.
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I'm like, man, I got to.
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see what this guy's all about.
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And so we hopped on a call and long story short, started working together from there.
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And yeah, it's been great results.
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And I know there's still some things that are working in progress with me, but definitely helped me get my referral system in place way better than it was before.
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So that's the beauty, right?
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It's that Japanese symbol.
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I think it's Kaizen, the never ending constant improvement, right?
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Yeah, but no, it's gotten a lot better.
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And yeah, so I'm excited here.
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We're going to be jamming on, you know, how to set up a referral system.
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We're going to talk about just some things that I changed in the way I sell to and kind of the whys behind all of it.
James's Direct Sales Experience
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But yeah, before that, do you want to give us just fill in the blanks with the background, kind of why you decided to start Retention Experts, James, and I guess your background in sales and why you decided to start your company and all that?
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Yeah, so I grew up selling Cutco, the high-end kitchen knives, door-to-door direct sales, direct selling association, run strong in my blood, and had a Hall of Fame background in Cutco, sold about 700, 750 accounts.
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Most of those actually while I was in college.
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And I just, I really realized, you know, I was averaging 20 plus referrals when I got referrals.
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And a lot of them were heads up techs,
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you know, yeah, absolutely.
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Call me, things like that.
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And I actually got it down tailored to where I could make about six phone calls, regardless of if they answered or told me to pound sand.
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But about every six phone calls resulted in an appointment and we wound up having an 80% show ratio, which I know is a big thing in the D2D industry as well.
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So I started looking at it systematically, you know, and I met a lot of business owners.
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And, you know, I got referred to people like Lance Berkman, who will be a Hall of Fame baseball player, played for the Asterisks.
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I'm down here in Houston.
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Mitt Romney's Texas finance chair when Mitt had run for president, the lieutenant governor of Texas at the time.
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met a top 130 wealth manager on Forbes list.
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And I don't share any of these.
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I mean, you and I know each other pretty well.
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I don't share these to brag about who all I've met.
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I think some of the things we're going to talk about today, though, are about how to build trust where people will really give you their best referrals and then will help you because they believe in you as a person.
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And I think one of the things we're going to talk about today even is like how to humanize the experience because people always want to help people.
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They don't necessarily want to help the salesperson, but they want to help tailor the father or tailor the husband or
From Sports Aspirations to Sales
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it's kind of funny.
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It actually all goes back to 18 years old where I kind of figured some of this stuff out and I was going to play football at Harvard, had a couple of Ivy league offers.
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And I actually don't know if I've ever shared this with you, but what happened was,
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Never shared this, huh?
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I'm like, well, I've been talking for six months.
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I haven't heard this story.
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So you got my attention.
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Yeah, this is a good one.
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So I wound up playing football at the Air Force Academy.
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But what ultimately happened before that, 18 years old, Tim Murphy, literally second most winningest coach in the history of college football at Harvard of all places.
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He was supposed to be in my living room.
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He was about 30 miles south.
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Hey, we're running late and we'll be there tomorrow.
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Well, if you know anything about college sports, there is a dead period.
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And this is being recorded, so I probably shouldn't get too, too much into the details.
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But long story short, to this day, I've never met Coach Murphy at Harvard.
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And I got a text, 18 years old, I got a text and it was like, hey, three offensive linemen quit.
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We're pulling all defensive line offers.
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And so nothing that I had ever done, but wound up not playing football at Harvard over that.
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And when you're 18, 19 years old, I'm sure you can relate.
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Like that's kind of crushing.
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But the reason I share that, Taylor, is I learned it wasn't about football.
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It's about connection.
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And it was about a team.
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And it was about being a part of something bigger than myself.
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And that's why in the industry, we have door knocking.
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We have sales rallies.
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We have team night outs.
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I think you were sharing with me a couple months ago, you were in Hawaii, right?
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Like companies understand that and it's not about employees.
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It's not about clients, not about referral partners.
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It's about a core human condition that needs
Post-COVID Inspiration and Retention Experts
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And so, you know, I don't want to run away too much, but that's kind of what I realized.
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We created this little equation at
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the retention experts.
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Client data plus psychology.
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That's the connection significance that we're talking about and unique gifts.
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So data plus psychology plus unique gifts equals incremental revenue.
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Um, and so I met all these people and had had a direct sales background in a fragmented industry and said, rather than working for these guys or gals one day, like, why don't I just start my own business?
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Kind of the long-winded story of the understanding of connection and gratitude and appreciation that led to founding the retention experts.
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Yeah, that's cool.
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Well, and something I wonder, and I'm sure people listening to this might be wondering, it's like, James, if you're so good at selling these Cutco knives and you're just getting referrals galore, like why would you step away from that?
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Start your own company.
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So for you, and I know people do that.
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Like there's people that leave solar, start companies, things like that.
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Maybe they're top reps.
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So for you, was it just the fulfillment part or what's the reason you decided to start your own company versus just continuing to run with Cutco?
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I really, we were putting logos on gifts and stuff like that.
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You know, we can talk about that later, but it was just like helping a lot of people.
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And I realized I'm like, it's, it's just not about the gift.
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Like it was really put on
Transition from Cutco to Entrepreneurship
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my heart that the world right now, Taylor, and I'm sure you will agree with this, but it's like,
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the world needs more gratitude and connection right now.
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Like we're coming out of COVID, you know, it's 2023 when we're recording this, whenever you listen to it and we're just in such a fragmented world and disconnected.
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And, you know, people are like, do I matter?
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Like we're seeing the great resignation and jobs.
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People are changing jobs all the time right now.
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And I just, it was really on my heart that like the world needed more of this.
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and really loving on people and taking care of your clients at above and beyond.
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And so it just, Cutco is a great product, extremely grateful for the company.
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I'm sure a couple of people listening to this today have sold Cutco at some point.
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I wouldn't be here where I am without them, but it just, there was an above and beyond that was on my heart.
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Well, yeah, and you've certainly helped a lot of people.
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I know you have clients that are just, you know, selling 100% referrals now.
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We didn't quite get to that level with solar yet, but hopefully I can say that too someday.
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Be nice to be the first.
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We're not done yet.
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Maybe there'll be a version two or episode two and we get you there.
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But definitely have increased that.
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But no, so we want to talk a little bit more about you talk about this humanizing the experience.
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And as we are working together, this is something you helped me with.
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James is just like in my sales process.
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How do I get people to look at me more as not just a salesman sitting across from them, but actually as a person?
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And I was doing some of that before, you know, I had the picture saved, my background screen of kids and all that.
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I would share that.
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And I think it'll seem to help for sure for the listeners.
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If you're not doing that, I would recommend it.
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But yeah, do you want to talk to some other things that you'd help me with in that process and specifically in solar, things you would suggest for solar guys to just make the experience more human instead of them looking at us as just this?
Beyond Sales: Building Connections
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cells rep where they've heard a million cells reps about solar so what are some other things that you would suggest with that uh solar no i'm not interested slam right it's like it's like no like that's a person you just slam the door in their face right that is somebody's father or husband or daughter or mother or whatever right
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And so I think it comes back to that equation, right?
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The data plus psychology plus unique gifts equals incremental revenue.
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Like there's a psychology piece there.
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And like you said, you know, you had the phone where you were like talking about why you got into solar, how you got into it, you know, talking about your kids.
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But it's like, I believe honestly, Taylor, at the end of the day, it's like business doesn't have to be business.
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Like you're selling a product for their home.
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You're selling, you're helping their lives improve by saving money that they can divert into using and other things in their life.
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So not only is it humanizing yourself, but it's not necessarily selling solar is like a cost savings, but it's like, what would you do with that money?
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You and I have a mutual connection.
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And what they do is they run a referral program based on giving a drawing for a trip.
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And it literally lets Matt keep a lifetime relationship, a client for life, rather than just a contract and install.
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And you never talk to them.
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So, you know, I know when you and I first started, a couple of things that we always do for our solar clients is to humanize that, you know, we really get three things going.
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It's about referral networks.
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It's about proving that you know their friends, their social circles.
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It's social proof.
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It's like, hey, my biggest goal isn't that I sell.
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you solar that you want huge panels for your roof it's just seating right it's uh hey my biggest goal is that you like me enough to introduce me to a couple people and and you need to make it your own language right but yeah you know taylor my goal isn't that you buy solar today it's actually that you introduce me to a few more people like sam did
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But we'll worry about that at the end if that's cool with you.
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So you've seeded that, right?
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And you get their permission.
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They know you're going to ask because the worst is you get to the end, you ask for referrals and they're like, what?
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There's another thing?
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And then, so I would say the seeding is number one.
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Number two is the referral proof.
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So I remember we took the San Diego neighborhoods and sorted it into Tula Vista and a couple other areas that you're sold in.
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And we titled it and then we put the names of people that they would recognize in those areas.
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And then you're able to have them printed and connect social networks.
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And then I think the third thing you kind of mentioned, this is almost like an all about Taylor.
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And it's like, you know, you ask your prospect, what do you do when you're not waiting for the solar guy or gal to knock your door?
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And then you let them go.
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And then you're like, yeah, kind of crazy story.
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Here's how I actually got into solar.
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And you tell about who you are and how you got there.
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maybe some social proof of awards you've won, things like that.
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So now it's Taylor sitting at a table.
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It's not the solar guy or the solar gal or the solar sales rep.
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It's, hey, I'm Taylor Armstrong and this is who I am.
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And I think what's cool is you just helped me get up way more organized than I was doing.
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I think all of us to a degree that are selling solar, we're all building rapport.
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We're all telling a little bit about ourselves, but it's just like, you know, I would forget a lot of times to
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to tell like my background and so you help me like organize it in this sheet that it's almost like giving me a step-by-step framework for okay i'm gonna hit these points every time and i'm gonna do these things and that's gonna give give me a way higher chance where they look at me as a human being instead of a salesperson sitting across from them and then yeah again yeah go ahead
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Well, I was just saying, yeah, with the sheets, like the area sheet too, it's like we all know it is a name drop, right?
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Say we were working with XYZ, with Joe across the street, with Judy, all the people.
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But I really like the idea of putting it on a sheet because we've all heard people believe what they can see.
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And so I think it's way more powerful if they actually see it on a sheet and they're like, okay, this is real.
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He's not just like spitting out random names.
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And then what I was doing, too, is just like, you know, these little testimonial videos.
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But as people see it on a sheet, then they see an actual video with it.
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I think it took it just made it way more credible, way more believable as I was combining all three of those things.
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And I'm curious, you know, we worked on this for six months or so and a couple other things, too.
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When you start combining those, what did you see?
Overcoming Referral Challenges
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I know one time you were like, dude, I can't believe I got, we were talking about how many referrals you got and some limiting belief about that.
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And when we were able to combine the video and the social network and the proof and the referral sheet,
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What did you see come from that?
00:15:00
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Well, yeah, just like they know that that's the way business is done.
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Because I think that was a big shift for me.
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It's like the seeding.
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And I talk about it on the podcast all the time, how, you know, we need to be telling what the process is, how we're going to go through it.
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their proposal, their breakdown.
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And then at the end, we're going to submit an application.
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So you just helped me realize it's like, okay, we need to do the exact same thing.
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If I'm trying to build a referral based business, I need them to know that from the beginning, hey, we're going to submit the application, we're going to get the process going with solar.
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But also, hey, the way we work is we work through word of mouth marketing.
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So at the end, we're going to get you a great product, great deal.
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And we're going to
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go for it within the end.
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We're just going to help you think of some people that may also be able to benefit from this.
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And then it's, it was cool because you see it, it's almost making it a higher status.
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So I go like, Oh, I have to do all these things just to get this.
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So the value is going up in their head.
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They're like, Oh, well, I'm going to get a way better deal because I'm going to like do these things for them.
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But then also you're getting referrals from it.
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So it's like, yeah, it was super powerful combining those.
00:16:07
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And, you know, you bring something up, right?
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Like the law of reciprocity there.
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And I think that's one of the things we talk about.
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Like, yeah, maybe you do have to, you know, mess with the dealer fees, give a discount, something like that.
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But it's like, if I can do this for you, can you do that for me?
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It's like, yeah, I would love to get you a great deal, Taylor.
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If I can do that, though, I don't care if they answer my call, buy solar, refer me to 100 people, ha ha ha, or like never answer my call.
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But hey, Taylor, if it's cool with you, if I can lower that rate for you, do you mind texting 10 people just that I'm going to be reaching out?
00:16:46
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I've got it pre-scripted for you, right?
00:16:47
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But there's always, if I can do this, can you do that?
00:16:50
Speaker
And it's not tit for tat, right?
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It's a very much so like, hey,
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By the way, these dealer fees are coming out of my commission and I don't mind doing that for you.
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Like I want to get a great deal.
00:17:02
Speaker
And we do some gifting, right?
00:17:04
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Some of the contracts, some of the during installs when you're waiting for PTO, like, you know, I know you and I have sent some gifts, stuff like that.
00:17:11
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We do a little bit of the gifting and I always joke.
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I'm like, it's not really about the gift, right?
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It's about the law of reciprocity.
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Like you just said, wow, I value this way more because I did this, this and this, and now I'm getting this reciprocation.
00:17:29
Speaker
And then just something that happened to me actually recently, I don't think I told you this, James, but one of my customers, her name is Veronica, but she had some major issues after the install.
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And unfortunately, you know, previous installer...
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dropped the ball on a lot of things and it's whatever.
00:17:45
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But we had sent her one of these Cutco knives you helped me send out.
00:17:50
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And long story short, all these issues we were having, I think the only reason that she didn't like, you know, just blow up and
00:18:00
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like start ripping off panels because of these issues.
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She's an old lady, so she just wanted the process to go super smoothly.
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But I think just the fact that I had sent her that knife and that you helped me get some gifts out is really what turned this situation into just being...
00:18:16
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you know, an absolute disaster.
00:18:18
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And so I think that's a different side of it that people probably don't think about is in solar, it's construction.
00:18:23
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Sometimes we can't control everything, but on top of like getting referrals and all that, if you can get people to see you as a human being, if you send some of these gifts out,
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Then when stuff does go wrong, it's a lot easier to deal with when they see you as a human being.
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Because she was upset, but she was like, hey, I'm like, and I was offering, I'm like, hey, I want to help fix some of these issues.
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Let me just help pay for this, pay for that.
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She's getting double billed.
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And she's like, no, you got kids to pay for.
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You got this house you told me about.
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So she was like literally repeating back all the stuff that we did during this, like, you know, humanizing phase and me and me and me trying to get her see me as a human being.
00:19:05
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But anyway, it's just kind of another, I guess, side benefit from it, too.
00:19:09
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Well, and that's another thing too, though.
00:19:10
Speaker
And like, you know, it's one of the things you and I looked at in that analysis.
00:19:14
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So we looked at of like, what's on, what are you leaving on the table?
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Speaker
Where is it being left?
00:19:19
Speaker
And how do we go capture that value?
00:19:21
Speaker
Like in your book of business, right?
00:19:23
Speaker
We talked about lowering your cancellation rate.
00:19:26
Speaker
And I think a lot of times reps want to just sell more and sell more and sell more, but they don't really look at conversion rates and how many contracts are moving to installs.
00:19:35
Speaker
Because, you know, depending on the kilowatts, like that's a four or $7,000 commission check where like,
00:19:42
Speaker
a little 50 ish dollar gift saved you several thousand dollars.
00:19:47
Speaker
And I think a lot of solar reps don't really look at their cancellation rates and how to keep those lower and how to keep more deals that you've worked so freaking hard to, to get to begin with.
00:19:58
Speaker
So thanks for sharing that.
Turning Issues into Referral Opportunities
00:20:03
Speaker
And I think actually her name's Vanessa.
00:20:05
Speaker
Sorry, I got her name wrong.
00:20:08
Speaker
I need to care more about my client retention.
00:20:14
Speaker
Yeah, but no, it's true.
00:20:15
Speaker
And then like, I think I had a lot of limiting beliefs.
00:20:18
Speaker
I wanted to ask you about that.
00:20:20
Speaker
And I don't know if this is something you see in a lot of other people you work with, James, but just like limiting beliefs around getting referrals.
00:20:27
Speaker
Because it's like me as a door knocker.
00:20:29
Speaker
I was telling you this before we had the call.
00:20:32
Speaker
Sometimes it's easy for us to just be like, OK, we know how to knock doors.
00:20:35
Speaker
We know how to overcome the objections at the door.
00:20:38
Speaker
Like, what am I going to do?
00:20:39
Speaker
Trying to set up a whole system around referrals.
00:20:42
Speaker
And specifically for me is around like calling referrals because I would get these names, I would get numbers.
00:20:49
Speaker
I'm starting to get better about having the customer actually introduce me to them to make that easier.
00:20:53
Speaker
But I think my limiting blues is like, okay, why am I going to put in all these times, actually set up these systems and like put in all this effort, organize it when I can just go and,
00:21:04
Speaker
I know I'm good enough to go knock for an hour or two and get a couple of leads off that.
00:21:08
Speaker
And so what do you see?
00:21:10
Speaker
I don't know if you see a lot of that in people you work with, but what are some, I guess, limiting beliefs and how do you help people like, I guess, wrap their mind around building a referral based business instead of just falling back on what they're used to?
00:21:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we hear all kinds of things, right?
00:21:26
Speaker
Oh, I can only ask for referrals after install happens or after they have PTO.
00:21:30
Speaker
And I'm like, if they want to help you, they want to help you.
00:21:33
Speaker
Like, they're going to help you now.
00:21:34
Speaker
They're going to help you later because they're helping Taylor.
00:21:36
Speaker
They're not like, oh, solar is the greatest thing.
00:21:38
Speaker
And like, I don't know, like, what did, like, when you started humanizing yourself, like, what, what did you see in your close percentage?
00:21:46
Speaker
Did it go up or did it stay the same?
00:21:49
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, definitely went up.
00:21:51
Speaker
I'd have to go through and calculate everything, I guess.
00:21:53
Speaker
But yeah, definitely.
00:21:54
Speaker
Closing ratio goes up.
00:21:56
Speaker
Your deal sign to installs goes up.
00:22:03
Speaker
So I think the biggest thing, honestly, Taylor, is like you hear everything from like, oh, I can't ask for referrals.
00:22:09
Speaker
I'm going to go door knock more.
00:22:11
Speaker
Some reps are doing SEO, paid advertising.
00:22:14
Speaker
They're like, oh, I'm going to just turn the funnel up and get more leads.
00:22:18
Speaker
It's like, yeah, but your cost per acquisition, what it really is, Taylor, is I teach data-driven decisions.
00:22:24
Speaker
And you just kind of alluded to it, right?
00:22:26
Speaker
At the retention experts, we're a lot about data.
00:22:29
Speaker
But not the heavy analytics of CRMs and stuff.
00:22:31
Speaker
Like, we got it down to five or 10 minutes a month of reporting, which we can talk about systems and organization here in a second.
00:22:38
Speaker
But it's like, I think in general, you have feelings versus data.
00:22:44
Speaker
And it's like, hey, maybe we feel something, but what does the data show?
00:22:49
Speaker
So for example, I have a client and he was like, I just can't ask for referrals till install happens.
00:22:57
Speaker
And I was like, show people what you're asking for.
00:22:59
Speaker
If you want 10 referrals, you need to ask for 20.
00:23:01
Speaker
And that client was like, nobody's ever going to give me 10 referrals.
00:23:04
Speaker
I was like, okay, but have you ever asked?
00:23:06
Speaker
And it's funny because I have a testimony.
00:23:08
Speaker
He's out in the parking lot.
00:23:09
Speaker
He's beaming a huge smile.
00:23:12
Speaker
Hey, James, guess what?
00:23:13
Speaker
And he's like, I got 10 referrals.
00:23:16
Speaker
And I think the biggest thing that I would say about that is just what does the data show?
00:23:22
Speaker
Like we all have feelings, but like, what are they based on?
00:23:26
Speaker
Um, so I don't know.
00:23:28
Speaker
Does that answer the question of like, what would I really tell people?
00:23:33
Speaker
Yeah, I like that.
00:23:34
Speaker
And I think that's what you helped me with is just seeing the data.
00:23:37
Speaker
Because, yeah, I remember with that, too, my limiting belief was like, oh, I can only get like three people max, like three introductions max.
00:23:47
Speaker
And then I think as you started telling me like, hey, I would get like 10 people minimum from every single cut call or maybe it's more than that.
00:23:55
Speaker
But I know you started telling me like, look, there's people doing.
00:23:58
Speaker
10 20 like names off of every cell they get and so i'm like oh wow okay um i guess i've never tried to ask for more than like three introductions from a cell but um well and yeah i mean and i think you and i we talked about this too it's like you know you already know your funnel you go knock 50 doors and you get roughly one deal out of it right so you're like well why would i go do anything different and it's like well
00:24:23
Speaker
I always ask them, like, who's gotten a referral?
00:24:26
Speaker
Okay, we've all gotten a referral, but who has a system for referrals?
00:24:30
Speaker
Because I was talking with my buddy, Davis, and he owns Ori Solar down in Florida this morning, and he goes, dude, I got an inbound lead today.
00:24:39
Speaker
And I was like, yeah?
00:24:41
Speaker
He goes, yeah, I don't even remember my client, but he was like, yeah, my buddy told me y'all were like drinking wine and eating popcorn or something.
00:24:47
Speaker
And, and it was 2018.
00:24:48
Speaker
And he's like, I literally set him next datum and he's already signed up and is texting me referrals all in two days.
00:24:57
Speaker
And it's just like, it's just easier.
00:25:00
Speaker
Like the setup might take a while, but when I start talking about data driven decisions, like you even shared with me when you looked at all the referrals,
00:25:08
Speaker
that you just had over your years, like, and this was, I think, the last thing we may talk about, it's like systems and organization.
00:25:16
Speaker
It's like the data showed you had referrals everywhere.
00:25:20
Speaker
You just weren't consistently getting them.
00:25:22
Speaker
You had no way to like turn that referral faucet on.
00:25:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's true.
00:25:30
Speaker
I mean, I'll be honest.
00:25:31
Speaker
Sometimes this is where the reps are like, oh man, like there's a lot of setup and do I really want to deal with the CRM?
00:25:38
Speaker
And it's like the data part doesn't have to be that complex.
00:25:42
Speaker
It can be as simple as a Google sheet or Excel, you know?
00:25:47
Speaker
But what I think a lot of things, and I know there's some stuff you want to talk about, about systems, but I think a lot of times like,
00:25:55
Speaker
people don't track where their deals came from.
00:25:57
Speaker
And so if you're not saying thank you to somebody that gave you a referral, you're not going to get more referrals from them.
00:26:03
Speaker
Like people that reps reciprocity, significance connection, like just a little thank you.
00:26:10
Speaker
If you were to write a handwritten note or send a referral, thank you or a gift or,
00:26:15
Speaker
It's like that goes so long.
00:26:17
Speaker
And then one thing I love we do for all of our clients is, Hey PS, call me when you get this.
00:26:22
Speaker
So I know it got delivered properly.
00:26:24
Speaker
And what's cool there.
00:26:25
Speaker
Taylor is like, now you don't have to call your clients.
00:26:27
Speaker
They're calling you.
00:26:29
Speaker
That is really cool.
00:26:31
Speaker
And that helped too, as we sent out the gifts, just getting these calls, uh,
00:26:34
Speaker
I actually had forgotten you put that on there.
00:26:36
Speaker
So I was getting calls from customers being like, what are you calling about?
00:26:39
Speaker
And I'm like, oh yeah, you put that.
00:26:42
Speaker
You do that thing like, I think this is a client.
00:26:44
Speaker
What do you want now?
00:26:45
Speaker
It's like, they just call in to say thank you.
00:26:48
Speaker
Usually it's a problem.
00:26:51
Speaker
it's kind of nice that someone calls me and it's not a problem they're wanting to cancel or something yeah i was i was talking with one of my sales reps uh last week and he said you know i just i just want somebody to appreciate the work we're doing right yeah and it's really cool to hear you share that story of like ah somebody's calling what do they want oh they're saying thank you that's kind of nice actually yeah
00:27:16
Speaker
Well, something I wanted to, yeah, I wanted to ask you, like, I know we're going to get a little bit into systems here, which I wanted to help you or ask you about.
Systematic Approach to Referrals
00:27:24
Speaker
Cause you helped me just organize a system a little bit better.
00:27:26
Speaker
But a question that just popped into my head is for me specifically, like I mentioned, I've had some things go wrong and probably most people in solar have had issues with their customers where they install or like, you know, like,
00:27:40
Speaker
left trash behind or they left like a tile undone on the roof stuff like that and then uh also that happened to me unfortunately my first company i sold with they closed the doors they're not doing installs anymore so recently i had i was sending out a little text campaign and trying to see if anyone wanted to add on some more panels
00:28:00
Speaker
But it didn't go too great because most of these people that were my first clients, they're like, oh, well, we haven't gotten a response from your company.
00:28:09
Speaker
So obviously I didn't really get a great reception when I was asking for referrals from them.
00:28:16
Speaker
So it's just something I was thinking about.
00:28:19
Speaker
And so like in a situation like that, do you have any tips or suggestions?
00:28:23
Speaker
Like if there's stuff that goes wrong, and I know we talked about like law reciprocity, but anything else that you think would help?
00:28:31
Speaker
I don't know, like whether these storms are still get referrals when stuff that's kind of out of your control with company goes wrong or what would you do in that situation?
00:28:40
Speaker
Well, I think the biggest thing before we even get to referrals in general, Taylor is like, people just want to be heard.
00:28:46
Speaker
They want to feel heard.
00:28:47
Speaker
And so if you're just like, yeah, like I can only imagine.
00:28:50
Speaker
And you have to put it in your own words, right?
00:28:53
Speaker
But it's like, I can only imagine what that must have been like, you know, you're expecting this.
00:28:58
Speaker
You know, I'm sorry that happened.
00:29:01
Speaker
And then it's just like, I can only imagine what that felt like.
00:29:05
Speaker
And you just kind of sit there with them through it and
00:29:09
Speaker
You're like, hey, how can I help?
00:29:12
Speaker
How can I fix that?
00:29:13
Speaker
And one, you just let them be heard and feel heard and seen.
00:29:17
Speaker
Then number two, you're just like, yeah, I can only imagine how frustrating that must have been.
00:29:23
Speaker
And then three, solution-oriented.
00:29:25
Speaker
It's like, how can I help?
00:29:28
Speaker
Now that I'm aware of it, how can I actually help you with it?
00:29:31
Speaker
And I feel like a lot of the times...
00:29:33
Speaker
I mean, you tell me, but I feel like a lot of the times I feel like, oh, I'm so sorry.
00:29:36
Speaker
I'm just hearing about that.
00:29:38
Speaker
I can't believe how frustrating that was.
00:29:40
Speaker
That must have been a really big deal.
00:29:42
Speaker
I feel like a lot of times the client's going to go, no, not really.
00:29:45
Speaker
They just wanted to be heard about it.
00:29:50
Speaker
And some every once in a while will be like, yeah, no, it's this and that and I would like this.
00:29:54
Speaker
And then now you have a real conversation to remedy it.
00:29:58
Speaker
I would just start with like, yeah, thanks for sharing that with me.
00:30:00
Speaker
I can only imagine that must have been pretty frustrating.
00:30:03
Speaker
Like, tell me more.
00:30:04
Speaker
Just ask a couple of open-ended questions and let them get it off their chest and then see where the real conversation lies.
00:30:12
Speaker
And yeah, I think we've talked about this before, James, but it's like sometimes the people that cause the most issues or the most upset, you just like listen to them and try to help them find a solution.
00:30:23
Speaker
They can be your biggest source of referrals down the road.
00:30:26
Speaker
And I'm sure you can name a handful of people like that.
00:30:28
Speaker
And I can definitely think of a few.
00:30:31
Speaker
But yeah, I'm like, as I was going through this, I'm talking to people about their frustrations, how the company wasn't there anymore.
00:30:38
Speaker
I actually was able to help a few of them get in touch with just in phase one of the manufacturers and get some solutions on issues they were having.
00:30:46
Speaker
So even though the company wasn't around, I still helped them with a few things and I haven't gotten referrals from it yet, but it's like, I think they did appreciate that I helped them, you know?
00:30:55
Speaker
But I think one of the things that doesn't get talked about is like, I mean, those are clients of yours from a while ago, right?
00:31:02
Speaker
Like years and years ago.
00:31:04
Speaker
How does that feel?
00:31:05
Speaker
Just like, how does that feel for you?
00:31:07
Speaker
Just knowing that you were able to take care of people.
00:31:09
Speaker
Yeah, it felt good.
00:31:11
Speaker
Your job just feels different now, right?
00:31:13
Speaker
Like to an extent.
00:31:18
Speaker
But yeah, no, it's good.
00:31:19
Speaker
Well, yeah, so let's transition here and just as we start wrapping up a little bit, the other thing that I wanted to touch on before we end this is just the organization part because I think, and you can probably agree, this is one of my biggest challenges is before we started working together, I was getting referrals here and there, but...
00:31:39
Speaker
I think the biggest reason for not having success for me was just my lack of organization.
00:31:44
Speaker
I would have them on random sheets of paper.
00:31:46
Speaker
I didn't have like a CRM set up and I didn't even know who these referrals were from.
00:31:50
Speaker
I think I showed you some like my binders and notepads or whatever, which is some bunch of names and written on.
00:31:55
Speaker
And you're like, cool, Taylor, where'd you get these from?
00:31:57
Speaker
How long ago was it?
00:31:59
Speaker
And I couldn't even tell you.
00:32:00
Speaker
I'm like, I don't know who gave them to me.
00:32:02
Speaker
I just, I know they're referrals, but I can't remember how long ago it was.
00:32:05
Speaker
I don't know who gave it to me.
00:32:07
Speaker
And so like, obviously it's going to be tough calling those people.
00:32:09
Speaker
And I'm like, Hey, someone referred you, um, might've been like a year ago.
00:32:13
Speaker
I'm not sure who, but do you want to get some solar from me?
00:32:16
Speaker
It's like, that's kind of a tough way to start a conversation.
00:32:18
Speaker
Basically a cold call at that point if you don't remember who it was or know anything about them.
00:32:25
Speaker
Looking back on our work, I would say there are probably two main systems that I really saw.
Consistency in Client Interactions
00:32:33
Speaker
I think the first one, I remember asking, I was like, hey, when you set the appointment, you come back, right?
00:32:39
Speaker
Sometimes you go straight in.
00:32:40
Speaker
But when you come back, what's your pre-appointment routine?
00:32:43
Speaker
And you're like, well, I have this slick, I have that slick, right?
00:32:47
Speaker
And I think the big first system that I would say is just like, and we kind of alluded to it earlier.
00:32:51
Speaker
It's like have everything in one place.
00:32:53
Speaker
So you go through all the same things every single time.
00:32:56
Speaker
So get, you know, if you do it with an iPad, have everything on an iPad.
00:33:00
Speaker
If you do it with slicks, have a clipboard.
00:33:02
Speaker
You know, a great idea is get a three ring binder that has slicks clipped into it.
00:33:07
Speaker
Your referral sheets, your all about you sheet and put your iPad in there.
00:33:12
Speaker
But I think it's like having everything in one tangible place, whether it's an iPad, a clipboard or a binder, where it's like, this is everything I need to do a great appointment and have it in order.
00:33:22
Speaker
And then it doesn't need to be scripted and it's going to give a great sales rep flexibility.
00:33:28
Speaker
It's going to give a new rep a reminder to not miss anything.
00:33:32
Speaker
So that's the first system.
00:33:33
Speaker
And then the second system is like, just keep track of your referrals in the same place.
00:33:39
Speaker
Maybe it's a printed sheet that says, help me hit my goals.
00:33:41
Speaker
And it's numbered one to 20 with a gold line at 10 and 20.
00:33:45
Speaker
So people have a visual goal.
00:33:46
Speaker
Maybe it's taking that and putting it into a Google sheet.
00:33:49
Speaker
Maybe it's taking your referral names and putting them into your CRM.
00:33:54
Speaker
Last week, I built out a sales pipeline for a solar company where they're like, yeah, we don't have any of our referrals in here
00:34:03
Speaker
And therefore, when somebody says, call me back or I need a, you know, it's a two legger or one legger instead of both spouses, it's like you need to set that appointment.
00:34:12
Speaker
So you could build it out in your CRM of like not contacted, started, call me back, appointment set, contract signed, waiting on financing all the way to, you know, waiting for site survey, right?
00:34:30
Speaker
You can put all of that in an appointment setting pipeline in a CRM or you could even build that out in a Google spreadsheet.
00:34:37
Speaker
It wouldn't be all that hard.
00:34:40
Speaker
So I would say those are kind of the two systems is one, have everything in the same place so you don't miss anything.
Scaling Referrals with Three-Way Texts
00:34:46
Speaker
And then number two, store your referrals in the same place.
00:34:49
Speaker
And if I were to throw one other just like freebie out there for systems, it would be have a three way text that you can copy and paste, send to your client and they can three way group text you and their friend or family so that they know you'll be reaching out and just do that over and over and over again.
00:35:05
Speaker
That's how you scale.
00:35:07
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, that's really what you helped me set up.
00:35:10
Speaker
And yeah, like now I have my three ring binder, I walk into the plane with the same stuff every time.
00:35:18
Speaker
And yeah, before I just had like these three, four slicks that I was like carrying with slapped on my iPad.
00:35:23
Speaker
And then it's like I'd walk into someone's house and throw like all these random sheets of paper with an iPad on it.
00:35:29
Speaker
these like laminated sheets.
00:35:31
Speaker
So yeah, I think that's something you helped me see too, is it definitely, uh, you know, probably helps with the professionalism look a little bit better.
00:35:38
Speaker
You have it all on a binder instead of just like throwing all over the place on their kitchen table.
00:35:43
Speaker
And I forget what it is, but it's like people make an initial assessment of somebody in the first three seconds or eight seconds or something.
00:35:50
Speaker
So it's like that professionalism is what's ingrained, right?
00:35:54
Speaker
The iPad's more professional, the binder's more professional, the pictures of your kids.
00:35:59
Speaker
Like, I don't know.
00:36:00
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree with that.
00:36:03
Speaker
Yeah, and I think like CRM, yeah, you helped me with my CRM, put them all, get my referrals set up.
00:36:09
Speaker
I have my virtual assistant that she was taking all my referrals that I would get in the appointment and plugging them in the CRM.
00:36:15
Speaker
So that's what's worked for me, and that's what you helped me set up.
00:36:18
Speaker
But I think it's important to, like, I don't know, I'm sure there's clients, yours, that they don't necessarily have, like,
00:36:23
Speaker
this crm i know our people are using different things so i think the point is more just like get organized and have a system um rather than like i don't think everyone necessarily has to have the same crm the way of doing it but it's more just like kind of a system that you do every time right and that's the data part of the simple equation we talked about at the beginning data plus psychology right some people send gifts some don't but data plus psychology um
00:36:47
Speaker
Plus unique gifting equals incremental revenue.
00:36:50
Speaker
Like keep track of your leads, keep track of who you've set appointments with, follow up on the ones you need to.
00:36:56
Speaker
The psychology is literally activate the reciprocity, make people feel significant.
00:37:01
Speaker
And then if you want a system put in place, you know, where I forget.
00:37:06
Speaker
What was the client's name who just, you sent the gift and then she didn't cancel?
00:37:12
Speaker
You know, that's a unique gifting part, right?
00:37:14
Speaker
Putting that in place.
00:37:16
Speaker
And then your business has grown through referrals and your contract signed to cancellation rates gone down.
00:37:23
Speaker
So that's incremental revenue right there, let alone from referrals.
00:37:27
Speaker
yeah well i guess there's a i was just gonna say i guess there's a reason why you're called the retention experts and not just the referral experts right is because it's like it's because yeah if you do all these things yeah it's you're not only getting referrals but you're retaining a lot more clients and keeping them keeping them happy right you know it's interesting we uh our motto is appreciation means growth and there's definitely a dual meaning in that but
00:37:53
Speaker
But I always say I'm like, it's honestly not the retention or the referrals.
00:37:57
Speaker
It's actually engagement.
00:37:58
Speaker
And if you have like one, two or three, I put engagement in the middle because engagement's the glue between retention and referrals.
00:38:06
Speaker
And so if you can humanize the experience, right, you're going to have a more engaged prospect or client and therefore you're going to have less cancellations.
00:38:14
Speaker
You're going to get more referrals.
Contact James for Referral Systems
00:38:18
Speaker
Well, James, it's been awesome having you on and, you know, just kind of refreshing all the things we worked on.
00:38:25
Speaker
And I know you're helping a lot of people out there.
00:38:27
Speaker
And so for solar people that do want to work more with you or hear more about retention experts, what's the best way to do that and be able to get in touch with you?
00:38:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think the best way is to go to our website, www.growretention.com.
00:38:40
Speaker
It's www.growretention.com.
00:38:43
Speaker
Or on all social medias, YouTubes, the handle's the same.
00:38:47
Speaker
It's the retention experts.
00:38:49
Speaker
So we're pretty easy to find.
00:38:51
Speaker
And I really appreciate you having us on, Taylor.
00:38:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a good time.
00:38:55
Speaker
So guys, whether you want to set up a referral system or you're a business owner, company owner, want to have more referral partners, which is something I know you help a lot of organizations with, hit James up.
00:39:06
Speaker
He can help you with all of the above.
00:39:07
Speaker
He's definitely gotten me results.
00:39:10
Speaker
Over the past several months, I've been able to increase my referrals from probably just a couple of closed deals off referrals a year to, I would say, 30, maybe even 40% over the last three, four months.
00:39:21
Speaker
definitely seen the results appreciate the help you've given me James.
00:39:24
Speaker
And, um, yeah, with that, I think we'll, uh, good place to end anything else, any other final advice you'd have for solar reps or, uh, people out there hitting the doors, James, just have, have fun, be a person, humanize your business.
00:39:39
Speaker
Don't keep business business, like make it personal.
00:39:42
Speaker
And if you want help with that, hit up grow retention.com.
Free Sales Diagnostic Offer
00:39:46
Speaker
Appreciate you coming on the show, guys.
00:39:48
Speaker
Let James know you appreciated him coming on the podcast today.
00:39:51
Speaker
And thanks again for coming on the show.
00:39:53
Speaker
Keep closing deals.
00:39:54
Speaker
We'll talk soon, James.
00:39:58
Speaker
Hey, solopreneurs, are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels every month and not seeing your cells increase?
00:40:04
Speaker
Well, so was I, and the truth is I was never able to improve it until I figured out what was going wrong.
00:40:11
Speaker
So that's why I'm excited to announce for a limited time, we are doing a free cells diagnostic.
00:40:16
Speaker
We'll break down your cells process.
00:40:19
Speaker
figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve.
00:40:23
Speaker
So act now we have six bucks for this month.
00:40:26
Speaker
So book a call now.
00:40:29
Speaker
What you're going to do is send an email to taylor at solarpreneurs.com.
00:40:34
Speaker
That's taylor at solarpreneurs with an s dot com.
00:40:38
Speaker
I'll send you out a calendar link and we will figure out the time that works best.
00:40:43
Speaker
So shoot that email and let's increase your sales.