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 fail.
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.
Speaker: What is a solopreneur, you might ask?
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.
Speaker: Hey, what's up, solopreneurs?
Speaker: Taylor Armstrong here with another podcast.
Speaker: We're going to be breaking down
Speaker: A live close footage from today actually just got out of the appointment probably about an hour ago.
Speaker: So this is super fresh footage.
Speaker: You're going to be hearing what I did to lock down the deal.
Speaker: Let's get into it.
Speaker: Welcome back to the podcast.
Speaker: We are here to help you close more deals, generate more leads and referrals, and hopefully have a much better time in the solar industry.
Speaker: Coming at you free and available every Tuesday and Friday.
Speaker: Your boy dropping fresh content.
Speaker: Hope you enjoy it.
Speaker: Always got to get our little intro out.
Speaker: And before we get into the content for today, wanted to give a quick thank you to our latest review over on Apple iTunes.
Speaker: We got a review from Pauly Connor.
Speaker: She gave us five stars.
Speaker: Great podcast.
Speaker: I've been in the solar business for almost three years now, and I've learned so much.
Speaker: Nice nuggets from Taylor's podcast.
Speaker: I listen to it every day.
Speaker: Thank you, Pauly.
Speaker: That is so sweet.
Speaker: And this is why I keep doing the podcast for reviews like that.
Speaker: So if you have not left us a review, please consider going on Spotify, Apple, iTunes, wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker: And it would be much appreciated to leave us a review, especially if you've listened to more than an episode or two.
Speaker: Come on.
Speaker: Give us a little love.
Speaker: And then also, another reminder, grab your tickets.
Speaker: Our live event, April 17th, coming up right around the corner.
Speaker: We have a limited amount of availability for this.
Speaker: Spots are filling up, so go grab your ticket.
Speaker: It's going to be in the aquarium in Utah right before SolarCon.
Speaker: You can get your ticket for free if you use our discount code, which is Taylor, and get your SolarCon ticket.
Speaker: If not, you can just buy a ticket to our event and come anyways.
Speaker: But it's going to be so cool, so awesome.
Speaker: We're going to have some great speakers.
Speaker: We're going to be previewing them here in the coming weeks.
Speaker: But make sure you don't procrastinate.
Speaker: Get your tickets now.
Speaker: All right, so enough of our event.
Speaker: I know I talk about that every episode because I have to.
Speaker: So I'm going to tell you what happened in this appointment.
Speaker: I set the appointment on Saturday.
Speaker: The guy, it was funny.
Speaker: I wish I would actually recorded the door approach too because this guy, he actually slammed the door in my face.
Speaker: He had one of those screen doors.
Speaker: So I'm like banging on the screen door.
Speaker: No one's coming to the door.
Speaker: And finally, this guy, he comes, he opens the door real quick.
Speaker: says stop trying to unlock my door.
Speaker: I'm not talking to anybody, slams it.
Speaker: So what do I do?
Speaker: I knock it again.
Speaker: Like, I'm not going to be treated like that.
Speaker: You got to at least hear what we're doing.
Speaker: So I knock it again, knock it again.
Speaker: He comes, he's obviously upset that I'm still knocking, but I'm like, Hey, not trying to bother you.
Speaker: This is actually pretty important.
Speaker: Um, I'm not doing sales here today.
Speaker: And he hears me out, set the appointment, get the bill,
Speaker: talk to the wife.
Speaker: So this point turns into a semi-solid appointment, pretty solid appointment, right?
Speaker: Feeling pretty good about myself.
Speaker: And so anyone that gets the door slammed immediately like that, I would definitely consider knocking again because these people, they don't know what they're saying no to.
Speaker: Like knock again.
Speaker: Yeah, sure.
Speaker: It's not going to work a ton of times, but occasionally you look at someone, you knock again, you start talking to them and they hear you out.
Speaker: Hey, but I go to the appointments this evening, end up closing it.
Speaker: I'm going to play for you some of the footage from the appointments, but I did get told we're not signing anything today.
Speaker: We need to read through everything, the typical objections.
Speaker: So I did have to fight pretty hard for this one and definitely made mistakes.
Speaker: Definitely was a little bit softer close.
Speaker: Had to kind of like push through some objections.
Speaker: So you're going to hear some mistakes.
Speaker: You might hear some things that were not great at all, but hey, that's part of the process.
Speaker: I don't claim to be the world's greatest solar salesperson.
Speaker: I think I'm a pretty good one, but hey, I know there's people better than me out there.
Speaker: I recognize that and that's why I interview them.
Speaker: That's why I try to get them on the show.
Speaker: But hopefully you can pick up a thing or two from this recording.
Speaker: And if anything, you can know, hey, I'm not going to do what he just did.
Speaker: But I did close it.
Speaker: So let's get into it.
Speaker: And once again, the best way to record your presentations is always zero.
Speaker: That's what I'm using over here.
Speaker: And also wanted to give a special shout out to the latest, the newest and latest member of our coaching program.
Speaker: Joseph, thanks you for joining in on the coaching program.
Speaker: And as part of the program, he actually gets access to our entire library of closes,
Speaker: He's going to record his own presentations, get feedback from myself and other coaches in the program.
Speaker: So welcome to the program.
Speaker: And if you are interested in getting live feedback like that and also getting full access to our entire library of closes, to objection handling, to word-by-word training,
Speaker: then hit me up.
Speaker: We have a few spots open for that.
Speaker: Definitely keep it small exclusive.
Speaker: Hit me up, either shoot me an email, taylor at solarpreneurs.com or shoot me a DM.
Speaker: We can hop on a call, see if you qualify.
Speaker: So let's get into this.
Speaker: I'm going to play just from the beginning the pre-frame.
Speaker: We all know we should be pre-framing what's going to happen during the appointment.
Speaker: What is our purpose?
Speaker: So I'm going to play for you what I did to pre-frame it.
Speaker: And then we're going to get into the end where the true battle begins when they start throwing objection after objection.
Speaker: Show you how I handle it in this specific situation.
Speaker: So if you're asking about credit, are you going to run credit today?
Speaker: So yeah, like obviously we'll go through all this and you guys will see exactly what it entails.
Speaker: And then yeah, if it looks good and looks super beneficial, then the next step is today.
Speaker: Yeah, there'd be a quick application.
Speaker: It's just like a soft check.
Speaker: So it's not going to affect the credit or anything, but that would just be like, yeah, there's still an option.
Speaker: Because if that part doesn't go through with anything,
Speaker: to spend so long.
Speaker: Are we trying not?
Speaker: So it's a soft check.
Speaker: We can't have any hard inquiries right now.
Speaker: Right, hard inquiries.
Speaker: Yeah, it's just like getting a birthstone.
Speaker: Okay, so you notice here I'm going through what it takes to qualify for the program.
Speaker: I think this should be part of your pre-frame, should be part of your fact-finding.
Speaker: Tell them the qualifications and then naturally that typically leads into me telling them, hey, today the point is we're going to see if you're qualified.
Speaker: So I'm going through it.
Speaker: They start asking, hey, what is that?
Speaker: Me?
Speaker: Are you going to have to check my credit?
Speaker: Sometimes you get that.
Speaker: So I set the stage.
Speaker: Yeah, today we are going to do a soft check.
Speaker: We're only going to do it if it looks good.
Speaker: If the numbers look great to you guys, then I'm going to walk you through the next steps.
Speaker: If not, we're going to we're not going to do anything.
Speaker: Of course, they start asking me more details and all that.
Speaker: But you need to make sure people know what what's going to happen.
Speaker: If you get to the end and they're shocked that you're asking their
Speaker: you know, personal information to do a credit check, then you've, yeah, you've already lost.
Speaker: You need to set the stage for what's going to happen when you get to the end of the presentation.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And then you notice here, they're already hesitant.
Speaker: I think I skipped part of the beginning where they're talking about, Oh, we're definitely going to need to read over things.
Speaker: Think about it.
Speaker: We don't make quick decisions.
Speaker: So I know right off the bat, I need to give them a reason to,
Speaker: to go ahead and submit the application.
Speaker: Because if I just try to strong arm them into submitting an application without building urgency, it's not going to work.
Speaker: They're going to know, hey, this guy's just trying to get me to do something today.
Speaker: He just wants to sell today.
Speaker: What are the reasons that they should submit an application today?
Speaker: So my reason out here is, hey, we're putting in batteries, right?
Speaker: We get funding.
Speaker: There's funding from the state of California to actually install these batteries, which is true.
Speaker: It's called the SGIP fund.
Speaker: If you are in California, you can look it up.
Speaker: There is funding.
Speaker: But obviously, that funding is not unlimited.
Speaker: So my urgency builder is, hey, when we submit our applications, you're going to get put in line for that battery funding.
Speaker: If we aren't able to get you that, then guess what?
Speaker: These batteries, they cost like 10 grand to buy.
Speaker: They're expensive.
Speaker: So this is a big reason why so many people are looking into this right now.
Speaker: So you're going to hear me say that, and you got to think of ways to build the urgency and use that side by side with your pre-frame.
Speaker: But, yeah, that's kind of how we look up there.
Speaker: And the other thing, I don't know if I mentioned, they put in a battery with these systems, too.
Speaker: So you guys actually store your own power.
Speaker: Oh, right, yeah.
Speaker: So, yeah, I think the big thing for, like, Danielle, most of your neighbors, especially now, they have this funding that's covering basically the cost to put in the batteries, where if you just buy these things, the battery's like $10,000 a piece.
Speaker: They're pretty pricey.
Speaker: So I think that's kind of the reason why a lot of people are looking into this now is because there's like, it's kind of like a, I don't know, set amount of funding they have.
Speaker: So once we submit applications, it just puts people in line for that funding.
Speaker: And you don't forget that.
Speaker: Because, yeah, it's like, I don't know, people in the deal with it.
Speaker: Yeah, they're just putting an extra $10,000 to put in a battery.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Might not make quite as much sense to me.
Speaker: But, yeah, like I said, we'll go through these numbers and then
Speaker: You guys would get put in line for that too?
Speaker: Did you guys get many like power outages here?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So yeah, I'm telling them we're going to put them in line for the funding.
Speaker: And that's part of the application process too, is they get put in line for that funding.
Speaker: So make sure you are combining that sense of urgency with the reason that they're going to submit the application or have that be the reason they're submitting an application today.
Speaker: And then you're going to hear right after this, they start bringing up the age of their electric panel that is an original electric panel.
Speaker: And that they're probably there.
Speaker: They were saving up.
Speaker: They're going to replace it anyways.
Speaker: So that gives me an idea as they start talking about that.
Speaker: I'm like, hey, something they were saving up to do anyways.
Speaker: We're probably going to have to replace it to do this solar.
Speaker: And I should have went and snagged a picture of their electric panel.
Speaker: That was a mistake I made.
Speaker: It's best to know, you know, 100% beforehand if they're going to need that electric panel upgrade that may MPU or not.
Speaker: You should know that beforehand.
Speaker: So pro tip is to grab some photos of it.
Speaker: If you're in an area where it's older homes, especially out here in San Diego where I'm at, a lot of these old homes, they have these old 100 amp panels that pretty much always need an upgrade.
Speaker: So know if they're going to need an NPU or not.
Speaker: But when they started talking about this, I'm like, okay, there's my queue.
Speaker: That's another way I can build urgency.
Speaker: What if I use that as a reason to do this today?
Speaker: Hey, if we are able to get your application in, then we can cover
Speaker: While we're out here, we can cover most of the costs to go ahead and upgrade that panel for you.
Speaker: And then, you know, I'm going to cover part of that in the pricing.
Speaker: And I'm not lying to them.
Speaker: Like, I will take a little hit on my commission to cover part of that for them as a bonus, as a way to help them out for getting the application in today.
Speaker: But that is the other cue I had to build some more energy.
Speaker: Hey, this is something you guys are doing anyways.
Speaker: Why don't we just go ahead and throw this in?
Speaker: It's going to be part of what we're offering you guys to get this in.
Speaker: Part of the promotion that we got going on while we're in the neighborhood.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: So here's what they said next.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess my biggest concern is the age of our family for you guys.
Speaker: I guess just we're going to need to do our homework and
Speaker: looking to, you know, like you said, like what our neighbors are saying.
Speaker: We haven't done that.
Speaker: Yeah, so hypothetically, if we were able to preview guys, like cover the cost, you don't pay anything, maybe even have them replace the panel for you, then it sounds like you guys would be pretty open to it if they were able to do something like that for you.
Speaker: Well, we know what the vet...
Speaker: Okay, so gotten a little agreement.
Speaker: Could have been smoother on my part there, but you want to be asking these hypothetical questions.
Speaker: Hey, hypothetically, if we can replace your panel, if we can save you money, if we can cover that out-of-pocket costs, then sounds like this is something that you guys would be pretty open to getting into if we can do all those things.
Speaker: Great.
Speaker: Hey, you're getting them to agree to it already in a noncommittal way, right?
Speaker: The top closers, they're all asking these hypothetical questions.
Speaker: So make sure you figure out ways to ask hypothetical questions when you're in your closing presentation.
Speaker: Another pro tip, another secret for sure.
Speaker: Okay, so I'm going to skip to the point of the close now.
Speaker: We passed our credits.
Speaker: I'm telling them we're going to start submitting the documents.
Speaker: They still don't know that, hey, we're signing this today.
Speaker: So they know we're submitting an application.
Speaker: They know we're submitting some forms.
Speaker: But, you know, I'm not straight out telling them, hey, we're signing a contract today.
Speaker: So as we start pulling up the documents, it becomes clear that, okay, this is the actual contract.
Speaker: So you're going to hear the reaction.
Speaker: You're going to hear how I handled it.
Speaker: Let's see what goes on.
Speaker: Let's do some analysis.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, just the fourth thing.
Speaker: Let's go through with you guys.
Speaker: So just call this.
Speaker: And then you're going to call people on this too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You're going to call people on this.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: This just is like a guide from the States.
Speaker: Just to say that we received it?
Speaker: Just to say that I work.
Speaker: And then it's going around here like it's Tony Rudolph, it's going to show that you guys have like 10 days to review everything.
Speaker: You know, read every word as much as you want.
Speaker: Okay, but as far as this program isn't just like a general, like, yeah, sorry.
Speaker: That guy hits you to save.
Speaker: I'll just drop it through the first four pages I just go through.
Speaker: So just say, it's like spalls, you can get an image installed for free.
Speaker: So that's not true, right?
Speaker: There's no paper for the power in this case.
Speaker: So they want to make sure it ends.
Speaker: So I'll skip through a little bit of this, but hopefully you can hear that okay.
Speaker: I know it's not the greatest recording.
Speaker: Hopefully the audio is coming through.
Speaker: In case it wasn't all clear, they're just saying, hey, we don't want to sign anything.
Speaker: We want to read it all first.
Speaker: So I'm trying to reassure them, hey, you guys are going to get copies of this.
Speaker: You can read everything.
Speaker: You can go through it with a fine-tooth comb.
Speaker: And, you know, I have to pull up the cancellation.
Speaker: Ideally, with people, you should never be closing on a cancellation, right?
Speaker: That is not ideal.
Speaker: And so I made the mistake.
Speaker: I think I leaned on the cancellation a little bit more than I should have here.
Speaker: They are hesitant, so I have to lean on it more and more.
Speaker: But you want to be getting down to why are they hesitant?
Speaker: And this is where I messed up.
Speaker: I should have been better.
Speaker: Hey, if everything's exactly how I'm showing nothing more, nothing less, then what what is it that you guys would want to think about?
Speaker: Or what is it?
Speaker: What is it that would be causing you hesitation if everything was exactly how I'm saying here?
Speaker: Hey, sometimes you're going to be able to get to the bottom of it.
Speaker: Hey, you got to kind of fish for what their true concern is.
Speaker: They're not always going to come out and tell you, but you want to have that trust with people.
Speaker: Hopefully they come out and tell you, hey, this is why we're hesitant.
Speaker: And sometimes it's just going to be people want to read every single word of whatever they're signing.
Speaker: And yeah, you got to understand that.
Speaker: But at the end of the day, it's your job.
Speaker: This is why we get paid the big bucks to be closers.
Speaker: You got to go through it with them.
Speaker: You got to have that reassurance.
Speaker: You got to have read your contracts and come across super confident in what you're doing that, hey, this is exactly what it is.
Speaker: It's exactly what I'm telling you.
Speaker: And this is, I think, what allowed me to get them over the hump.
Speaker: And disclaimer, like, because I leaned on the cancellation, probably a little more than I should have.
Speaker: This job might cancel.
Speaker: It's definitely not the most solid close I've had, but I have had a lot of these that have gone install.
Speaker: Way more than deals where I don't put in the effort to close it now and then just try and follow up.
Speaker: Very, very rarely has that happened, but I've had a much higher success rate when I have had to push a little bit, have had to lean a little on the cancellation and get them over that hump.
Speaker: Let me see if I can skip to the part just for time's sake to where we get to the saucer.
Speaker: Let's see.
Speaker: Okay, so he starts asking me, hey, what if we just want to cancel before you guys come put it up there?
Speaker: I tell him, hey, you got 10 days.
Speaker: It'll say 10 days in the documents you guys have to review everything.
Speaker: He's asking me, hey, what happens if not 10 days?
Speaker: I'm just like, well, that's where we're going to start spending money on the project.
Speaker: So we're just asking in 10 days, you can get to that point where you guys want to do this or not.
Speaker: So here's what happens.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, you think after 10 days, you feel like you could at least get to a point where you're like, okay, this sounds like a good idea.
Speaker: This sounds like a better option than staying with S&P.
Speaker: Right, so bottom line, what's out of pocket for us?
Speaker: Nothing.
Speaker: Yeah, and this will show you here, too.
Speaker: I mean, again, you're going to copy all this, but this is exactly what we talked about.
Speaker: There's zero dollars.
Speaker: There's no out of pocket costs.
Speaker: A 20-day seats, 168 instead of the two-day seats you're paying right now.
Speaker: And it's producing the power.
Speaker: So, yeah, really, it's just nothing more, nothing less for exactly what we talked about.
Speaker: My dad always said documentation is better than conversation.
Speaker: It was just getting it documented for you.
Speaker: Everything exactly how we talked about.
Speaker: And, yeah, I mean, again, do you guys, like, think of any reason why you're better off saying what that's you doing?
Speaker: No, right.
Speaker: Of course, your pitch is sound.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But no, we want you guys to feel good about it, you know what I mean?
Speaker: So it's not to rush you into it.
Speaker: Obviously, we'd love to be able to cover the panel, too, if it gets down to that.
Speaker: And as long as we're able to just get you guys in line for that, then they wouldn't be able to cover the cost for that, too.
Speaker: They need to.
Speaker: Because those things, I think they typically cost.
Speaker: I don't know if you've looked into it.
Speaker: I'm just going to be real quick.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, so just for time's sake, we're going to wrap it there, but maybe I should do a part two.
Speaker: I like to keep these from dragging on forever.
Speaker: But long story short, you hear what I said, I'm giving them all the reasons to do it today.
Speaker: Hey, let's get this in.
Speaker: We'll cover your panel, upgrade if we need to.
Speaker: He goes and talks to the wife, comes back, and he's like, all right, let's do it.
Speaker: We're good to get in the documents.
Speaker: So yeah, and he's still not, he knows that he has these, he likes the idea.
Speaker: Everything sounds good, but their big thing is just like, oh, we want, we want to read through everything.
Speaker: We don't want to rush into this.
Speaker: So I just have to reassure him, say, Hey, look,
Speaker: As long as you guys feel good about it, you have the time to make sure you still feel good about it, to make sure you think of every reason that you'd be better off staying with SDG&E.
Speaker: If you think of all those reasons or if you think of something, then by all means, let me know.
Speaker: We'll leave it at that.
Speaker: We'll part as friends.
Speaker: Hey, but I just want to make sure I can get you guys in line for the funding, get you the battery covered, and get you potentially the cost of a panel upgrade covered, at least a good portion of it.
Speaker: And that's how I was able to get them over that hump and get them to get those documents submitted.
Speaker: give myself a much better chance at them going to install than me just leaving it.
Speaker: Hey, here's the documents.
Speaker: You read through it.
Speaker: I'll come back.
Speaker: Because what happens when you do that?
Speaker: Nine times out of 10, they're going to text you and say, hey, Taylor, we read through it.
Speaker: We don't want to do this right now.
Speaker: And no need to come back.
Speaker: Hey, still could happen with how I did it.
Speaker: But
Speaker: Believe me, the odds are much higher in my favor than just sending them docs, letting them read it.
Speaker: You want to get them when the emotion is high, people make decisions based on that emotion and then they justify it with the logic.
Speaker: Okay, so you want to get them while that emotion is high, while they're thinking about it and not just leave them to second guess their decision.
Speaker: All right, so that's what helped me.
Speaker: Hopefully you took some things you can apply in your clothes, you can implement in your clothes.
Speaker: Hopefully you learned from some mistakes that I made.
Speaker: Hey, remember when at all possible, try to not soft close, get the people to make a firm decision, right?
Speaker: And worst case, yeah, then you can go into some soft closing or, you know, tell them about the cancellation period.
Speaker: if you have to, but that is not the ideal way to close.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So go register for our event.
Speaker: It's bootcamp.solarpreneur.com.
Speaker: Hope to see you all there April 17th in Utah, and then also at SolarCon after.
Speaker: We'll see you on the next podcast.
Speaker: We've got some exciting, dope content coming your way.
Speaker: So tune in every Tuesday and Friday.
Speaker: We'll see you on the next one.
Speaker: Hey Solarpreneurs, quick question.
Speaker: What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day?
Speaker: For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite level solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level.
Speaker: That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new learning community exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with top performers in the industry.
Speaker: And it's called Solcitee.
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Speaker: Currently, SoulCity is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled.
Speaker: So go to SoulCity.co to learn more and join the learning experience now.
Speaker: This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to SoulCity.co and join.
Speaker: We'll see you on the inside.
