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A Costly Reminder To Always Do this One Thing
108 Plays1 year ago
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The SOLARPRENEUR podcast is here to help you close more deals in the solar industry, generate more leads and referrals, and hopefully, have a much better time and situation.
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Transcript
Introduction and Purpose
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level.
00:00:08
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:00:10
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.
00:00:19
Speaker
I teach you how 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.
00:00:31
Speaker
What is a solopreneur, you might ask?
00:00:33
Speaker
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.
Learning from Sales Mistakes
00:00:41
Speaker
Hey, what's up, solopreneurs?
00:00:43
Speaker
Today, we're going to talk about a costly reminder, costly mistake I made that lost me a deal last week.
00:00:50
Speaker
Hopefully, y'all can learn from my mistakes and some of the stories behind that.
00:00:57
Speaker
But first, welcome to the show.
00:00:58
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong.
00:00:59
Speaker
We're here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, hopefully have a much better time in the solar industry.
00:01:06
Speaker
I'm actually just coming back from a closed deal myself.
00:01:10
Speaker
We're 11 o'clock, 10.50 at night.
00:01:13
Speaker
So apologize if I'm sounding a little bit exhausted.
00:01:16
Speaker
Got out of three appointments today.
00:01:19
Speaker
I guess two and a half.
00:01:20
Speaker
But hey, that's
00:01:21
Speaker
part of the solar coaster.
00:01:23
Speaker
That's part of the grind.
00:01:24
Speaker
You got to work till the job's done, right?
00:01:27
Speaker
Job's not finished till the docs are signed, till the welcome calls are complete, until you have the utility bill.
00:01:36
Speaker
You got to make sure you get everything in.
00:01:39
Speaker
So that's what I'm coming from.
00:01:41
Speaker
Okay.
00:01:41
Speaker
But before we get into the costly mistake I made,
00:01:47
Speaker
Just wanted to thank everyone that has supported this podcast over the years.
00:01:52
Speaker
I looked at some stats today and this should be the 449th episode.
00:01:56
Speaker
And that's absolutely insane.
00:01:58
Speaker
Almost 450 episodes we've been at this.
00:02:04
Speaker
I don't know if I'm crazy.
00:02:06
Speaker
I don't know if, I don't know how long this is going to go.
00:02:10
Speaker
Who knows?
00:02:10
Speaker
Maybe we'll only do 10 more episodes.
00:02:12
Speaker
Hopefully we keep it going until a thousand.
00:02:15
Speaker
But just wanted to thank all of our listeners because I was looking at some stats and I
00:02:21
Speaker
Check this out.
00:02:22
Speaker
There's currently around 3.2 million podcasts out there.
00:02:26
Speaker
Super interesting.
00:02:27
Speaker
It says 44% of podcasts have less than three episodes.
00:02:29
Speaker
Crazy.
00:02:30
Speaker
44% have less than three.
00:02:31
Speaker
And then out of that, only 720,000 podcasts have more than 10 episodes.
00:02:35
Speaker
And then out of 720,000, only 156,000 are releasing a weekly episode.
00:02:50
Speaker
So we're coming at you with two episodes.
00:02:53
Speaker
I don't know how many podcasts are doing that out there, but I definitely would not be doing this if y'all weren't sharing the show, if you weren't reaching out, saying how much it's helped you.
00:03:04
Speaker
If you weren't encouraging me and other guests to get on the show.
00:03:09
Speaker
So just really appreciate for all those that have left us comments, reviews, shared the show.
00:03:16
Speaker
It means so much to us.
00:03:18
Speaker
And that's really what has allowed this podcast to keep it going for nearly 450 episodes.
00:03:24
Speaker
So appreciate you.
00:03:25
Speaker
Thank you so much.
00:03:27
Speaker
And if you haven't, feel free to leave us a review.
00:03:31
Speaker
Or share the podcast.
00:03:32
Speaker
That's the price of a mission.
00:03:34
Speaker
That's all we're asking.
00:03:35
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:36
Speaker
And so back to the costly
The Importance of Involving Decision-Makers
00:03:39
Speaker
mistake.
00:03:39
Speaker
So here's the scoop.
00:03:41
Speaker
Last week, I closed the deal.
00:03:43
Speaker
It was just a single... She's like 32, I think.
00:03:49
Speaker
Just a single lady, single girl.
00:03:51
Speaker
Had a couple roommates.
00:03:53
Speaker
And this deal was a complete laydown.
00:03:56
Speaker
Probably the easiest deal I've had in a long time.
00:04:00
Speaker
But if you have been in solar for a while, you will find that sometimes the deals that appear to be laydowns and that give you a little resistance, a lot of times those ones can come back to bite you.
00:04:13
Speaker
And I did probably make some mistakes because it was such a laydown.
00:04:17
Speaker
I think I did possibly skip some steps, probably went through the contract a little bit quicker than I should have, was a little less thorough.
00:04:25
Speaker
So lesson learned from that.
00:04:27
Speaker
But the major mistake I made, and here's the theme of the episode, topic of the episode, is, and spoiler alert, this deal did cancel today, actually, the time I'm recording this.
00:04:43
Speaker
So a big reason why this deal called me today and canceled is because I did not get all the parties involved.
00:04:52
Speaker
And by parties, I mean that come to find out this girl, she co-signed with her parents and she over the weekend, she had a conversation with them.
00:05:04
Speaker
And even though she was the one paying the bills, she was the one living in the house.
00:05:11
Speaker
Her parents talked her out of it.
00:05:13
Speaker
They were on the title and they just basically said, you're not doing this and discouraged her.
00:05:19
Speaker
So she canceled.
00:05:20
Speaker
So lesson learned.
00:05:22
Speaker
Make sure you get every party involved that needs to be, right?
00:05:26
Speaker
Because if you do not, so often these will come back to bite you.
00:05:30
Speaker
And especially when you're closing older folks, you have retired folks, you have people that seem like maybe they're a little too quick to agree.
00:05:41
Speaker
Those are all red flags.
00:05:42
Speaker
Those are all signs that these people...
00:05:46
Speaker
probably are going to consult with others.
00:05:48
Speaker
Okay.
00:05:49
Speaker
They're social buyers.
00:05:51
Speaker
And so just make sure if you do see people just really eager to sign, quick to it.
00:06:00
Speaker
And especially if they're like the only one in the home, you got to keep in mind that these people often will consult with other parties.
00:06:08
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:10
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:11
Speaker
And so two things I should have done is, and this was probably the biggest mistake, is I actually notice in our knocking app, okay, and I'm using SolarScout, which is one of our sponsors right now.
00:06:29
Speaker
But if you're using SolarScout or that would for sure have it, or even a lot of other knocking apps that show the homeowner data, okay,
00:06:38
Speaker
I clicked on the homeowner data.
00:06:40
Speaker
It shows who's on the title.
00:06:42
Speaker
And it did show her parents on there.
00:06:45
Speaker
I did notice this before I went in the deal, but my mistake was I didn't bring it up to her.
00:06:49
Speaker
I'm just like, okay, this is a complete load lay down.
00:06:52
Speaker
I'm not going to say anything.
00:06:54
Speaker
It's a done deal.
00:06:55
Speaker
What I should have done is realize that, hey, there's more people on the title here.
00:06:59
Speaker
Do these people need to be brought in?
00:07:01
Speaker
Are you going to talk with them?
00:07:02
Speaker
Who are these people, right?
00:07:04
Speaker
First of all, ask who they are.
00:07:05
Speaker
Then finding out it's the parents.
00:07:06
Speaker
Hey, are you going to consult with your parents about this?
00:07:09
Speaker
Is this something you guys talk about things together for the home?
00:07:12
Speaker
Maybe she would have said yes.
00:07:13
Speaker
Maybe she would have said no.
00:07:15
Speaker
But it would have given me at least a chance at possibly getting in front of the parents because now I lose control.
00:07:22
Speaker
She talks to him.
00:07:23
Speaker
And they kill the deal.
00:07:25
Speaker
And then, yeah, just the second thing in general, I should have at the end of the deal just done a better job at wrapping it up, asking more questions.
00:07:34
Speaker
I think I could have maybe through the discovery process figured out, hey, is there anyone else that needs to be involved in this decision?
00:07:42
Speaker
Which, you know,
00:07:43
Speaker
a younger lady, younger girl would have been a smart thing to do.
00:07:47
Speaker
So if you see younger people, if you see older people, I guess that's the two themes, you know, different age groups.
00:07:53
Speaker
If they're really old or if they're really young, then there's a much higher chance that they're going to consult with other people, whether it's their parents, whether it's their kids.
00:08:04
Speaker
Funny how their roles are reversed.
00:08:05
Speaker
The younger are going to talk to their parents.
00:08:07
Speaker
Old are going to talk to their kids.
00:08:09
Speaker
But make sure you check for other decision makers.
00:08:12
Speaker
Hey, and then the flip side, continuing this story, here's where I did apply the lessons.
Applying Lessons Learned
00:08:19
Speaker
So hopefully if you have mistakes you make and reasons that people cancel, take note of that because you can recover and you can make it a learning experience instead of just making it a loss.
00:08:31
Speaker
And so what I did today, I actually had two chances to redeem myself.
00:08:36
Speaker
And I will play, I'm going to play part of a recording of one of them.
00:08:39
Speaker
And funny enough, this was actually the neighbor of the younger girl that canceled on me.
00:08:45
Speaker
Hey, because I went into this appointment today,
00:08:48
Speaker
Ended up closing it, but you'll hear in this recording shortly, she had to talk to her brother, who was actually one of the trustees of the home.
00:08:58
Speaker
The home was their mom, and then she died, left to the trustees, which was her, this lady, and then her brother.
00:09:05
Speaker
And then the second one, I didn't get a recording of this one, but...
00:09:08
Speaker
This was a lady that her husband was in the Navy and he was actually deployed.
00:09:15
Speaker
I guess I was like blessed from, from God above on this one.
00:09:19
Speaker
But, uh, she said that she wasn't going to be able to talk to her husband and,
00:09:24
Speaker
Her husband at right is we're pulling up the docks.
00:09:26
Speaker
I kid you not.
00:09:27
Speaker
She gets a Facebook messenger call from her husband on the ship he was on.
00:09:32
Speaker
And when this was the first time she talked to him in, I think, weeks, she said that she didn't even think she'd be able to talk to him because before it was just like through email.
00:09:42
Speaker
So this was definitely like a blessing.
00:09:45
Speaker
I don't think this is going to happen again.
00:09:46
Speaker
But it gave us the opportunity to now talk to her husband.
00:09:50
Speaker
I was able to explain the whole thing, keep control of it, figure out what his concerns were, and then just really ask, hey, is there any reason you wouldn't want your wife to start this process or get involved in this?
00:10:06
Speaker
and just check for their concerns.
00:10:08
Speaker
Because a lot of times I think I see it where people just tell, explain it to the other party or to the other decision maker, but they don't even check to see what they think about it.
00:10:20
Speaker
So the key with this is when you are explaining it to other people who are going to have a strong influence, you got to ask them.
00:10:27
Speaker
You want to keep it in control.
00:10:29
Speaker
You want to keep the ball in your court.
00:10:31
Speaker
So you explain it and say, hey,
00:10:33
Speaker
So knowing what you know now, now that I explain it to you, would you recommend, is this something that you would recommend to your daughter to do, to your son to do, to your mom to do?
00:10:47
Speaker
Do you see any reason why you don't think she should get involved in something like that versus staying with their current situation?
00:10:53
Speaker
Hey, you got to isolate their objections and check to make sure they actually overcame them.
00:10:58
Speaker
Because if not, they're just going to say, okay, leave this as a paperwork.
00:11:01
Speaker
Then they're going to share their true opinions when you leave, which may or may not be good.
00:11:05
Speaker
All right.
00:11:06
Speaker
So you need to tackle it head on when you're with these people.
00:11:10
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:10
Speaker
So I'm going to share with you a little clip of how I was able to tackle this.
00:11:17
Speaker
And I felt like it went pretty well.
00:11:18
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:20
Speaker
But this is how I handled it.
00:11:22
Speaker
Check it out.
00:11:23
Speaker
do you think if your brother if you called your brother do you think you'd pick up right now and we could um i'm not sure because he just came back last night from a trip to canada so um i should check okay just because that way while i'm here we could answer any questions he had you know right yeah he he may prefer to talk later but
00:11:52
Speaker
Okay, so she ended up calling her brother.
00:11:54
Speaker
And then the line that's been working really well for me, and I actually use this when I'm setting appointments, works really well as well, is just, you heard me say it.
00:12:07
Speaker
So some of you already know that I run my own door-to-door sales team here in San Diego.
00:12:12
Speaker
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.
00:12:18
Speaker
But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage.
00:12:23
Speaker
Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout.
00:12:26
Speaker
But it's not a door knocking app.
00:12:27
Speaker
It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
00:12:32
Speaker
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.
00:12:41
Speaker
It's been working for a lot of teams across the country, and now I'm on board too.
Tools and Strategies for Success
00:12:46
Speaker
I'm going to be one of the first to use Solar Scout in San Diego, so I decided to partner up.
00:12:50
Speaker
But I told them, hey, I'm going to talk about Solar Scout on my show.
00:12:53
Speaker
You need to give my listeners a great deal, and they did.
00:12:56
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.
00:13:06
Speaker
That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
00:13:09
Speaker
Okay, back to the show.
00:13:12
Speaker
hey, if you called your brother, do you think you'd pick up right now?
00:13:14
Speaker
And I like this because you're not saying, hey, call your brother, let's go ahead and see if he can talk right now.
00:13:23
Speaker
Which a lot of people are like, no, I'll call him later, do this, that.
00:13:28
Speaker
But I like this because it's kind of like indirectly squeezing your way in there, getting your foot in the door to them agreeing that they're, you know,
00:13:39
Speaker
spouse, whatever brother, loved one would answer.
00:13:43
Speaker
And then from there, if they say, yeah, he would answer, then you got him.
00:13:48
Speaker
So it's kind of the same concept of, I don't know if you do this when you all are booking appointments.
00:13:55
Speaker
It's like...
00:13:56
Speaker
giving them the option, hey, are you particularly more afternoons or evenings?
00:14:01
Speaker
And then they say evenings, be like, okay, does seven o'clock work?
00:14:06
Speaker
You're catching them.
00:14:07
Speaker
They're basically feeding you ammo here, right?
00:14:10
Speaker
It's like you're catching them in the act.
00:14:12
Speaker
So this is why I like this because you're not saying, hey, call your brother right now.
00:14:17
Speaker
You're just asking them if they would pick up.
00:14:20
Speaker
And this line has been working really well, just setting appointments and getting other parties involved.
00:14:26
Speaker
Right.
00:14:26
Speaker
And then, yeah, you hear me just say, yeah, well, um, if he would answer, let's call him real quick.
00:14:32
Speaker
Then he, then we could just answer any questions he had while I'm here.
00:14:36
Speaker
Right.
00:14:37
Speaker
So she ends up calling him.
00:14:39
Speaker
I'll play just a little clip of that.
00:14:41
Speaker
It goes on for a while.
00:14:42
Speaker
So I explained the whole process, but let me explain a quick clip.
00:14:46
Speaker
Um, you know what I'm calling because, um, I'm, I don't think I mentioned this last night, but
00:14:55
Speaker
I met today with a young man who, um, you know, is, um, selling a solar installation package.
00:15:05
Speaker
Okay, and so this is exactly why you should be in control of talking to other folks because look, she's already butching the explanation, right?
00:15:14
Speaker
Saying, hey, he's selling solar.
00:15:16
Speaker
Hey, like when you're setting appointments too, I guarantee you if you're setting up appointments with the wife, they're going to their husbands and saying, hey, someone's coming in to sell us solar.
00:15:27
Speaker
Do you want it?
00:15:28
Speaker
These people, they're not trained in the dark arts of selling solar, of explaining to people.
00:15:34
Speaker
So we need to take matters into our own hands and make sure that we can control that process.
00:15:40
Speaker
So that's why we're there.
00:15:42
Speaker
For you to talk, it sounds like you're busy because otherwise, as co-owner, I think it's a good arrangement, John, but are you interested to talk to this young man now or would you prefer to talk to this?
00:15:56
Speaker
do so later.
00:15:58
Speaker
Um, it is right here right now.
00:16:03
Speaker
And if this is not the best time for you, I understand.
00:16:06
Speaker
Cause I'm sort of springing this on you.
00:16:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:09
Speaker
Well, yeah, we'll
00:16:12
Speaker
Right.
00:16:12
Speaker
Right.
00:16:12
Speaker
That's what I remember.
00:16:40
Speaker
How about if I hand the phone over because yeah, we did review a proposal and
00:17:09
Speaker
So and then, yeah, I should be able to email it from you because I can see you up on my phone.
00:17:16
Speaker
I can email.
00:17:17
Speaker
I'll hand the phone over.
00:17:19
Speaker
OK.
00:17:21
Speaker
OK, I can only talk like 10 minutes.
00:17:27
Speaker
I don't want to put you under pressure.
00:17:29
Speaker
This is not a good time for you to understand.
00:17:34
Speaker
Okay, this is Taylor or John.
00:17:36
Speaker
I was just going to give you a super quick rundown if you have a couple minutes.
00:17:40
Speaker
Is that okay?
00:17:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:41
Speaker
Okay.
00:17:43
Speaker
Okay, so you can hear what went on.
00:17:46
Speaker
And I don't want to drag it on too much.
00:17:47
Speaker
But basically, it comes a point where you got to take control, right?
00:17:52
Speaker
We're going back and forth a little bit.
00:17:54
Speaker
Hey, I don't know if this is a good time.
00:17:56
Speaker
So I eventually just had to jump in there.
00:17:59
Speaker
Otherwise, it was getting to the point where he might have been like, oh, I don't want to talk to him right now.
00:18:05
Speaker
Hey, so that's the key.
00:18:05
Speaker
You want these people to put it on speakerphone.
00:18:08
Speaker
You want to just jump in when you can, take control of it.
00:18:12
Speaker
Just say, hey, I'll just give you the rundown, the quick version.
00:18:15
Speaker
And then I explained the process to him.
00:18:18
Speaker
And yeah, he had his questions, concerns, probably went on for like 10 minutes, 15 minutes.
00:18:23
Speaker
But I got to the point where I emailed him over the proposal, explained it all pretty in depth to him, all the common questions, concerns.
00:18:35
Speaker
And it just gives me a way higher chance of this deal actually sticking.
00:18:40
Speaker
Is it going to get installed for sure?
00:18:41
Speaker
I don't know.
00:18:42
Speaker
Maybe the brother will come back and overthink things he did by his systems.
00:18:49
Speaker
That's another thing.
00:18:50
Speaker
You have to get these people out of the mindset that, hey, there are different ways of going solar.
00:18:55
Speaker
This is why for your sister and her situation, this is why we chose that for her.
00:19:00
Speaker
And this is why it's beneficial to her versus buying.
00:19:05
Speaker
Okay, because that's another thing.
00:19:06
Speaker
If you don't like explain to people, they think that the way they went slower is the best way, the only way to do it.
00:19:12
Speaker
A lot of times is what I've experienced.
00:19:14
Speaker
Hey, so this allowed me to get the deal in to make it way stickier and hopefully prevent it from canceling.
00:19:22
Speaker
And then the other one, a similar situation.
00:19:26
Speaker
Tonight's these deals were practically back to back.
00:19:29
Speaker
Close this one.
00:19:30
Speaker
It's two o'clock.
00:19:31
Speaker
Close the Navy one at like six o'clock.
00:19:36
Speaker
And so, yeah, very similar situations.
00:19:39
Speaker
I had to get the husband on the phone.
00:19:40
Speaker
He's on the ship.
00:19:41
Speaker
Had to walk through everything, answer his questions and just solidified it way more than if I had just kept it a one legger deal, even though I could have.
00:19:51
Speaker
close both and could have just been like, oh, I hope they don't cancel to run away.
00:19:56
Speaker
No, you need to tackle these problems head on.
Final Advice and Caution
00:19:59
Speaker
You want to make sure you stay in front of anything that could keep that deal from going to install.
00:20:06
Speaker
So I hope that helps someone out there.
00:20:08
Speaker
Make sure you're presenting to all parties.
00:20:11
Speaker
Don't make the mistake like I did of just talking to the person that's not in charge.
00:20:17
Speaker
And remember, if it is too easy of a close,
00:20:22
Speaker
then it could be too good to be true, right?
00:20:24
Speaker
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.
00:20:27
Speaker
That applies to pretty much everything except for solar.
00:20:33
Speaker
But yeah, make sure if someone's like a lay down close, hey, you probably got to, you got to go make sure you're not skipping steps, make sure you're going in depth and make sure there's no one else involved in the decision making process.
00:20:46
Speaker
Because if they close that easy, then a lot of times they can be talked out of their decision just as easy as when they sign the documents.
00:20:57
Speaker
So I hope that helps.
00:20:58
Speaker
Stay tuned.
00:20:59
Speaker
We got some exciting episodes coming out for y'all.
00:21:02
Speaker
Thanks again for being a loyal listener.
00:21:05
Speaker
And we'll see you on the next ones.
00:21:07
Speaker
Peace.
00:21:09
Speaker
What's up, solarpreneurs?
00:21:10
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed the episode.
00:21:12
Speaker
Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created specifically for you in mind.
00:21:23
Speaker
One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start?
00:21:30
Speaker
What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
00:21:33
Speaker
You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes.
00:21:38
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.
00:21:51
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.
00:22:00
Speaker
So go download it right now.
00:22:01
Speaker
It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com.
00:22:05
Speaker
Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com.
00:22:10
Speaker
Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
00:22:13
Speaker
We will have that in the show notes.
00:22:14
Speaker
Go download it right now.
00:22:16
Speaker
And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them.
00:22:22
Speaker
That's going to show you how.
00:22:23
Speaker
So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.