Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
Speaker: My name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell.
Speaker: I teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals.
Speaker: What is a Solarpreneur you might ask?
Speaker: A Solarpreneur is a new breed of Solar Pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.
Speaker: Hey, what's up, solopreneurs?
Speaker: This is part two of how to save your customers from canceling without sounding desperate.
Speaker: If you have not listened to part one, go listen to the previous episode where we talk about the steps you must take to save your customers if they try to cancel.
Speaker: In this podcast, we're going to be getting into some live footage of me going back to one of my customers that called me trying to cancel.
Speaker: You're going to hear how I handled it, some things that I could have done better.
Speaker: So let's jump into it.
Speaker: My
Speaker: name is Taylor Armstrong.
Speaker: We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and have a much better time in the solar industry.
Speaker: Thanks for being here.
Speaker: Much appreciated.
Speaker: And if this is your first time listening, welcome to the show.
Speaker: You are about to double, triple, quadruple your income by listening to this podcast.
Speaker: And if you're a returning listener, thanks so much for putting your trust in myself and our team to help you improve your craft at selling solar and growing your solar business.
Speaker: And as usual, we are free and available on Apple, iTunes, Spotify, and most recently, YouTube.
Speaker: And we actually have a giveaway going on right now.
Speaker: If you're listening to this after the fact, sorry you missed out, but we will be doing more giveaways in the future.
Speaker: But assuming you're listening to this, that at the time it was launched, this is going until June 25th, 2023.
Speaker: I think that's the year we're in, right?
Speaker: Yeah, time flies. 2023.
Speaker: And the giveaway is this.
Speaker: We're doing some solar drop cards, which these were created by our friend Brad Mortensen over at RepCard.
Speaker: In my opinion, it is the best and most effective business card out there because it's not your typical business card.
Speaker: It is the modern day revolutionary business card where it has some info about solar on the front and on the back.
Speaker: It has a little QR code.
Speaker: People scan this QR code.
Speaker: You're getting notified now.
Speaker: assuming you're using rep card you can get them added in your rep card CRM follow up with them automatically so it is a game changer trust me you don't want to miss out on this and these things aren't cheap either but 129 bucks per box I think it's 500 of them we're giving out two boxes of these so if you want to try them out
Speaker: make sure you enter the giveaway.
Speaker: There are just a couple simple rules.
Speaker: And number one, you need to go subscribe to the YouTube channel, that solarpreneur podcast, or maybe it's just that solarpreneur.
Speaker: It's going to be in the show notes.
Speaker: Okay, so refer to the show notes.
Speaker: It's a brand new YouTube channel.
Speaker: And number two, if you have not already
Speaker: we need you to go follow Solarpreneur Podcast on Instagram and leave a review for the podcast.
Speaker: So three rules, pretty simple.
Speaker: And then once you're done with this, we have a post either in the Facebook group, Solarpreneurs, or on Instagram if you're from Solarpreneur Podcast.
Speaker: Just comment Solarpreneur on there and you are entered.
Speaker: If for some reason you're not on social media, then you're missing out.
Speaker: But you can also email myself at taylorsolarpreneur.com if you're not on social media that you completed the test.
Speaker: So go enter today.
Speaker: Don't miss out and go get some free drop cards.
Speaker: And the YouTube channel, we are switching it up.
Speaker: It's not always going to follow the schedule of the podcast, but we are launching exclusive interviews on there.
Speaker: A lot of the podcasts from
Speaker: You know, the earlier days of the Solarpreneur podcast, we're going to be launching the video footage that's never before seen.
Speaker: So definitely tune in because you're going to be able to take advantage of both of them, podcasts and YouTube channel.
Speaker: Okay, so today we're going to jump in, like I said, the live footage of me trying to save a deal that was canceling.
Speaker: And spoiler alert, I did not save the deal, unfortunately.
Speaker: Hey, but there were some tough...
Speaker: I'd almost call them conditions, but we ran into the moving objection and made some crucial mistakes.
Speaker: I still think maybe if I would have played my cards a little bit differently, there could have been a better chance, but either way, it was a tough deal to save.
Speaker: So let's listen to some live footage of this.
Speaker: And by the way, you're going to hear this recording.
Speaker: on my other one of my other favorite apps for solar pros.
Speaker: It's called Ciro.
Speaker: It is the best, fastest and easiest way to record all your sales conversations to go back and let's see the transcriptions on them to work with coaches and tag different sections.
Speaker: So definitely check that out.
Speaker: If you want to hit up the guys over at Ciro, let it
Speaker: Let them know you heard about it from a solarpreneur podcast.
Speaker: They will hook you up.
Speaker: And then also another way to get access is we do have a few spots available in our coaching group where you can get live feedback from coaches in our exclusive zero community.
Speaker: But let's jump right into it here.
Speaker: So I'm going to play from the time I went back to these people.
Speaker: If you listen to last podcast, you know how I handled the phone conversation, which is you need to use the phone to leverage your way back inside the house because it is very difficult to save a deal over the phone.
Speaker: So you always want to figure out a way to get back in front of the customer.
Speaker: And that's exactly what I did.
Speaker: You're going to hear what I did once I got inside the home.
Speaker: So let's check it out.
Speaker: Just get back to the beginning here.
Speaker: And the audio quality, it is not the greatest case.
Speaker: So sorry if it is tough to listen to, but it's recorded all from my phone.
Speaker: And I think I was kind of adjusting my phone a little bit.
Speaker: So I heard some muffling, things like that.
Speaker: But I think you'll get the idea here.
Speaker: Check it out.
Speaker: Hello.
Speaker: Hey, Bonnie, how's it going?
Speaker: How are you?
Speaker: I'm doing well.
Speaker: I'm going to hear you.
Speaker: It's okay, but I'm stepping with you.
Speaker: How's it going?
Speaker: I haven't worked all of you.
Speaker: I'm done.
Speaker: I'm done.
Speaker: I'm done.
Speaker: Yeah, sorry to hear you guys.
Speaker: Yeah, nothing against you.
Speaker: I hope you don't take it personally.
Speaker: So yeah, it sounds like you guys just talked to a realtor and they were the ones that kind of recommended it.
Speaker: Yeah, because we're hoping to sell the goal is within a year.
Speaker: And he says that type of thing, complicated stuff.
Speaker: I mean, if we were already established or if this was going to be our forever home and we weren't going to move, then it would have been a no-brainer and then we would have just stuck with it.
Speaker: Well, probably the neighbor, she's going to be there for as long as she's going to be here.
Speaker: And it's just, you know.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I didn't realize it was so soon.
Speaker: So you guys are thinking of moving like within a year?
Speaker: Yeah, we were bouncing back.
Speaker: Okay, so a couple things here.
Speaker: Sorry, we started off a little bit quick.
Speaker: I usually put these things on like 1.5x speed just to get through them a little bit quicker, but I know they can get fast on the podcast.
Speaker: So you hear a couple things right off the bat.
Speaker: I went and got to the door, and as you know from the previous podcast, the reason I was able to get back in front of them is because I told them, if you guys want to cancel, we need to fill out a cancellation form in person.
Speaker: And so I set an appointment to go fill out the cancellation form.
Speaker: So you notice that once I get there, don't settle for doing this on the porch.
Speaker: You need to make your way back to the kitchen table inside the home.
Speaker: And that is what I did.
Speaker: I assumed that I'm going back inside.
Speaker: Started taking my shoes off and got back inside the home.
Speaker: And then instantly you can hear him just spitting out the reason why.
Speaker: And this is...
Speaker: why it's much easier to do these things in person because the homeowner, he told me exactly why he is thinking of canceling.
Speaker: And the other key with this, when I got in, I didn't say, oh, why are you guys canceling?
Speaker: Why this?
Speaker: The way you want to phrase these things, this comes from one of my favorite books for sales and negotiations, Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss.
Speaker: So the line I use is, hey, it sounds like your realtor recommended against it.
Speaker: I think that's what I said.
Speaker: Yeah, sounds like you guys talked to a realtor and they recommend you didn't do it.
Speaker: This is called labeling.
Speaker: You're putting a label on what they're feeling, what they're doing.
Speaker: And much more effective than just saying, hey, why are you guys canceling?
Speaker: It sounds like
Speaker: this is going on.
Speaker: It's called labeling.
Speaker: And that is, I think the most powerful way to get people to give you more information.
Speaker: It's non confrontational.
Speaker: People like it much better than saying why, why is this happening?
Speaker: If you notice, if you say why, like, why aren't you guys interested in solar?
Speaker: Why are you canceling?
Speaker: Why this?
Speaker: Why that?
Speaker: Sounds a lot more confrontational, right?
Speaker: And people, they put up walls when we ask these why questions.
Speaker: So you need to take these lines from never split the difference.
Speaker: This dude was a top FBI negotiator, literally talked people out of, you know, murdering others and all this crazy stuff.
Speaker: So I think it's, I think this guy knows what he's talking about.
Speaker: So we need to use these same lines in cells and negotiate people from jumping off the cliff of staying with the utility company.
Speaker: Terrible decision.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But yeah, it worked great in this case, and he told me exactly why they wanted to cancel.
Speaker: So let's keep it going.
Speaker: We also had some, we were talking to the bank, and there was just things that we could do to kind of speed things up the same day that you were coming over.
Speaker: So at first we thought it might have been a good idea, but then after talking to the realtor, it may not be an ideal, especially in due recurrent.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And so I've got an uphill battle.
Speaker: They talked to their realtor who come to find out sounds like it's someone they've been working with for a while is a trusted advisor for them.
Speaker: And here's my biggest mistake right off the get go is you got to understand that if they get a recommendation from a friend or in this case, a realtor that they really trust that they think knows this stuff, it doesn't matter what I say at that point.
Speaker: they're always going to trust their friend, the realtor they've been working with for forever.
Speaker: They're going to trust them more than whatever I have to say, than whatever proof evidence I can throw at them.
Speaker: They're not going to believe that.
Speaker: Really, I need to point.
Speaker: What I should have done is figure out a way to get in front of that realtor.
Speaker: Because unless I get the realtor involved and get him to buy in and recommend this, it's not going anywhere.
Speaker: And you'll see
Speaker: I try to throw some solid reasons they should still go with it, but it's like throwing marbles at a battleship.
Speaker: It's not getting me anywhere, right?
Speaker: I'm not going to sink that battleship now.
Speaker: So that's my biggest mistake in all of this is I needed to figure out a way to talk to the realtor.
Speaker: That is pretty soon.
Speaker: Yeah, I can.
Speaker: We have talked to a lot of people.
Speaker: Do you know if you're a realtor?
Speaker: Greens are going to buy it.
Speaker: He's a lot of us.
Speaker: We just we have to work on credit.
Speaker: We didn't just call him out of the blue and ask him questions.
Speaker: He's somebody that we already know.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, that's good.
Speaker: Yeah, because I work with a realtor too and he sold a lot of homes with solar.
Speaker: And I'm sure your realtor knows a lot, but he asked him to search on the zip code here.
Speaker: These are all the homes that have sold, I guess, in your zip code with solar.
Speaker: See, he pulled up like 60 homes.
Speaker: Yeah, we still want to cancel.
Speaker: Yeah, that's fine.
Speaker: I was just curious about it too.
Speaker: Hey, and here you can see I was trying to start selling them again, but Bonnie, she instantly put up a wall saying I was trying to show her like evidence.
Speaker: I'm like, hey, look, look how many homes have sold with solar in your area, which by the way, this is, I think the most powerful way to like pre-overcome this objection.
Speaker: Go get your realtor, get a realtor.
Speaker: on pull up on the MLS, just all the homes that have sold with solar in specific zip code.
Speaker: And if you show someone that list in the cell, like they can't argue with that.
Speaker: It's like, hey, some people have heard in the past that solar can complicate homes.
Speaker: But just so you guys know that in the newer programs, don't look how many homes have sold near you with solar and boom, they can't say anything to that.
Speaker: OK, but again, doesn't matter because I'm not in front of their realtor.
Speaker: So the way I have brought realtors into the equation a few times and save things.
Speaker: But and the other thing I tried is to try to place a little doubt in their heads that their realtor maybe doesn't know what he's doing.
Speaker: It's like, hey, is your realtor green certified?
Speaker: Yeah, but they're defending their realtor.
Speaker: It's their friends.
Speaker: So they're defending it and they've already made their decision.
Speaker: So I should have been like, hey, well, that's cool.
Speaker: Hey, just for like future, your realtor, you have his number, right?
Speaker: If I call him, I just want to get his opinion on things and kind of hear his perspective.
Speaker: Because what's happened in the past is we've talked with realtors and
Speaker: Turns out they were thinking that we were doing solar on some of the older leases or older programs.
Speaker: So it sounds like your realtor is a smart guy, but I would love to just kind of get his feedback on things and then make sure he knows the difference between some of the newer programs because we've had much lower issues, much less issues selling homes with it.
Speaker: So yeah, do you have his number?
Speaker: And then we'd love to get his feedback on that.
Speaker: And then if I can call him,
Speaker: and show him, convince him.
Speaker: Then it's like, that's the only way I'm getting my foot back in this door.
Speaker: But I didn't do that.
Speaker: So still lost the deal.
Speaker: Okay, so we're going to go through a few more sections.
Speaker: But really, this was the gist of it.
Speaker: As you can see, I'm not really getting anywhere.
Speaker: But she gives me pushback when I'm showing her this spreadsheet of homes that have sold.
Speaker: And then I have to lay out, I have to put on the brakes, kind of slow things down because they're feeling pressured.
Speaker: If they're feeling like I'm trying to sell them again, then it's not going anywhere.
Speaker: So instantly I put on the brakes.
Speaker: I go back to the cancellation stuff to try and reel them back in.
Speaker: You'll hear we built some rapport, stuff like that, but that's kind of how this went.
Speaker: Okay, let's see.
Speaker: So I'll get your... At the bottom there.
Speaker: We've had some situations where they think they might move and then they go back, you know, three years later in their strong house.
Speaker: Okay, sorry for the bad audio here.
Speaker: But yeah, you hear me.
Speaker: I'm trying to get to the bottom of if they're for sure selling or not.
Speaker: Because being in this business for a while, you know, people say they're going to move.
Speaker: Then you go back five years later, they're still in the house.
Speaker: Okay, so most people don't know.
Speaker: And what was frustrating is these homeowners, they did tell me they might move in the future, but it was nothing like set in stone, just a thought they had.
Speaker: And now conversation completely changed.
Speaker: This time they're saying that
Speaker: They're considering moving within a year that, you know, just different than what we talked about.
Speaker: So it's frustrating, but it's how it goes sometimes.
Speaker: I want to drink a coffee.
Speaker: I want to make you want to waste your time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, it's our other commitments or whatever.
Speaker: homes with solar now but it's a pretty common thing to sell it.
Speaker: Because with this they do like a buyout option.
Speaker: So that's the thing even if someone didn't want solar then you guys have the option with this to increase the buyout and then you'll just be like bought out on this all alone.
Speaker: Well that was the thought but yeah you gave me other advice.
Speaker: We've been working with him for a while so.
Speaker: it out and it's all that we don't pay anything because it was including like the transaction to sell the home so for us it wasn't complicated at all and that's taken from my experience but i get it there's always a fear that maybe something could go around to make some more complex there's possibility it'll go wrong for us it usually does um yep so kind of just beating around the bush at this point not really getting anywhere but still getting back in there and um at this point it's kind of like you have to preface it look hey i know you guys have made up your mind because if i don't say that then
Speaker: they're putting up walls again.
Speaker: But if you preface it with the yay, I know you guys made up your mind.
Speaker: But just so you know, and it's like it's kind of the push and pull.
Speaker: It's buying you a little bit a little bit more time to slip them some more information.
Speaker: See if anything changes.
Speaker: But yeah, no luck.
Speaker: So yeah, I think that's the end.
Speaker: Yeah, my last kind of last ditch effort here.
Speaker: I'll play that and then we'll wrap up.
Speaker: But
Speaker: Here's the last ditch effort.
Speaker: I sent him a copy of the cancellation forms we filled out.
Speaker: That was that.
Speaker: I was getting ready to leave.
Speaker: And here's my last ditch effort to see if we could change anything at all, but didn't work.
Speaker: So things like this do work, but you win some, you lose some, some will, some won't.
Speaker: So what?
Speaker: That's the mindset you got to have.
Speaker: that we have all the different things that are in the contract.
Speaker: I think we're more comfortable knowing that we're not operating to that for 25 years.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And I'll just make sure when, if the house we get doesn't have it, then we'll definitely be in the market.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, you guys got my number, right?
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Put your name in there.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So it's not just your number.
Speaker: So that was it.
Speaker: My last ditch effort was just saying, hey, I know you've talked to your realtor.
Speaker: If we could show you, if I could have you talk to like 10 people that have sold without issues, would that change anything?
Speaker: Just if you talk to like several people gone through it personally.
Speaker: And of course they say no.
Speaker: So it's like, all right, I'm moving on.
Speaker: But the last things that you want to get out of this interaction, number one, you want to make sure that they have your number saved for in the future if anything changes.
Speaker: And like if they do move, hopefully I'm the first person they're reaching out to, right?
Speaker: And then number two, I think I...
Speaker: just paused it right before this, but you want to go back and try to get some referrals.
Speaker: Like I'm getting referrals at every close that I sit in on.
Speaker: So this person I did get a referral from.
Speaker: And so that's the other thing I followed up with them on that referral.
Speaker: Make sure he still talked to his buddy that he referred.
Speaker: So even though I lost this one, there's still potentially good things that can come from it.
Speaker: I got a referral out of it.
Speaker: So I'm reminding him to talk to his buddy.
Speaker: that he referred.
Speaker: And it's a few, it's a potential sell in the future if I follow up.
Speaker: And yeah, maybe they'll hit me up when they new move.
Speaker: So that's how it goes.
Speaker: I hope that was valuable.
Speaker: And even though I didn't get this one, I have saved quite a few deals over the years by doing this process that you've heard in the last two episodes.
Speaker: Getting back in front of these people is key.
Speaker: You're not going to necessarily go back to every person like I talked about in the
Speaker: previous podcast maybe it's people that have a major condition where their husband died or I don't know something crazy for some crazy conditions of people needing to cancel cancel their solar so sometimes there's nothing you can do no matter what those people yeah you're not going to go back to because there's no chance in saving them all then
Speaker: move on.
Speaker: But if there is a chance, then I recommend going back and showing up in person just like I did, especially if it's a decent commission, then always worth a shot.
Speaker: So I hope that helps.
Speaker: Again, don't forget to enter the giveaway.
Speaker: We have until June 25th, so about a week, week and a half.
Speaker: So go enter the giveaway.
Speaker: And next episode, we have someone that is a master of simplifying the solar process.
Speaker: His name is Scott Hyde.
Speaker: He's coming on the podcast.
Speaker: He is CEO over at Coda Solar and EPC out here in California.
Speaker: But bigger than that, in my opinion, is he is the creator and I think CEO of Sunobi, which is definitely my top three favorite proposal softwares in solar.
Speaker: One of the best and in my opinion, the most simplified solar proposal software.
Speaker: So you're going to hear from them why it is so important to simplify your sales process.
Speaker: And whether you use Sunnobi or not, you're going to hear some great tips from a very successful CEO of a solar company and someone that's crushing it in the solar software space.
Speaker: So don't miss out on that one.
Speaker: We've got some heat coming up on the podcast.
Speaker: You're going to want to keep tuning in every Tuesday and Friday.
Speaker: Thanks again for listening.
Speaker: I love you.
Speaker: Have an awesome week.
Speaker: Go close some deals.
Speaker: Peace.
Speaker: What's up, Solopreneurs?
Speaker: Hope you enjoyed the episode.
Speaker: Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
Speaker: One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
Speaker: What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
Speaker: You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
Speaker: So what we've done, we created the top 10 most downloaded, most listened to, and I would say widely accepted, most useful podcasts that we've done here on Solarpreneur.
Speaker: We put them together all in one sheet so you can go, you can hit the ground running, especially if you're new, you do not want to not have this sheet.
Speaker: So go download it right now.
Speaker: It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com.
Speaker: Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
Speaker: We will have that in the show notes.
Speaker: Go download it right now.
Speaker: And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them.
Speaker: That's going to show you how.
Speaker: So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.
