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2 Ways to be More Prepared for Your Solar Presentations
54 Plays4 years ago
SOLARCON April 21st - 23rd, 2022
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HOW: Send a screenshot of your receipt to taylor@solarpreneurs.com or support@solarpreneurs.com
Thanks to our sponsor Pi Syndicate for this episode!
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Transcript
Taylor's Solar Success Story
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 Solarpreneur you might ask?
00:00:33
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.
00:00:41
Speaker
What's going on, solar pruners?
00:00:43
Speaker
My name is Taylor Armstrong, and 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.
Podcast Growth and Listener Engagement
00:00:53
Speaker
Thanks for making the Solar Pruner Podcast the first listen of every Tuesday and Friday, and hopefully every day, because we've got over 200 episodes now.
00:01:04
Speaker
So a lot of content you can go back and listen to.
00:01:07
Speaker
We're actually thinking of making a little guide for some of the top episodes because a lot of people are asking me, Taylor, you have a lot of episodes now.
00:01:16
Speaker
I just barely started listening to your podcast.
00:01:19
Speaker
What are the best ones to go listen to?
00:01:21
Speaker
So we're actually in the process of making a little guide.
00:01:24
Speaker
So let me know if you want access to that.
00:01:26
Speaker
It's going to be coming out soon.
00:01:28
Speaker
Probably do like the top five or ten must listen to episodes.
Preparation in Solar Sales
00:01:34
Speaker
But anyways, today we're going to be talking about why is it important that you prepare for your appointments if you prepare for your solar deals.
00:01:43
Speaker
When I first started in solar, I had so many appointments that I just burned through where I didn't know something, where I didn't know answers to a lot of questions, where I didn't know...
00:01:56
Speaker
exactly what the customer wanted, just a ton of mistakes made.
00:02:00
Speaker
And that's what we're all about is helping you guys prevent the same mistakes that I made or not make the same mistakes that I made when I was starting out.
00:02:10
Speaker
Hopefully you're much better about being prepared for appointments.
00:02:13
Speaker
Things have changed.
00:02:14
Speaker
There's so much more education now than when I started in the solar game in 2016.
00:02:20
Speaker
So many more ways to be educated.
00:02:22
Speaker
So many great courses, great people teaching, sharing on social media.
00:02:28
Speaker
So this is one of the biggest tips I would give if you're not already go interact on social media.
00:02:33
Speaker
There's some great Facebook groups.
00:02:37
Speaker
Solar objections is a great one.
00:02:40
Speaker
Solarpreneurs, although I will say we have not been the greatest about keeping the activity going on that.
00:02:48
Speaker
But go join our solopreneur group if you haven't already.
00:02:51
Speaker
But a lot of great interaction going on on Facebook and Facebook groups.
00:02:55
Speaker
And then just a lot of great people you can follow on Instagram and on Facebook, which if you don't know who to follow, just go follow the people that have been on the podcast.
Exclusive Offer for SolarCon
00:03:06
Speaker
So before we get into the meat of the content today, just wanted to remind you, if you have not gotten your ticket yet to SolarCon, go grab it.
00:03:17
Speaker
Link is posted in the show notes.
00:03:19
Speaker
You can get the 25% discount.
00:03:22
Speaker
That will also be in the show notes, our code.
00:03:25
Speaker
And if you didn't hear in the previous episode, we are doing a little bonus for anyone who wants to purchase through our coupon code.
00:03:33
Speaker
And that is you will get exclusive one month access to SoulCity.
00:03:40
Speaker
$99 value.
00:03:41
Speaker
And we're hooking you up with a discount and free access for a month.
00:03:45
Speaker
So you can go try it out.
00:03:47
Speaker
See if it's beneficial.
00:03:48
Speaker
See if we can help you out on our coaching platform.
00:03:52
Speaker
Which if you don't know, you can record your presentations and get live feedback.
00:03:57
Speaker
One of the best features, I think, of the platform.
00:04:01
Speaker
And then on top of that, tax season is coming up soon.
00:04:05
Speaker
So if you do not have someone handling your taxes, super important.
Financial Strategies for Solar Professionals
00:04:09
Speaker
We make great industry.
00:04:10
Speaker
We make great money, rather great money in the industry, right?
00:04:14
Speaker
Great money selling solar.
00:04:16
Speaker
But what's the point of it if you cannot hang on to it?
00:04:19
Speaker
So that is why we have allowed, we have, well, we had the opportunity to have Pi Syndicate sponsor the podcast.
00:04:29
Speaker
If you don't know about Pi Syndicate, they are, in my opinion, the best in the business right now at handling the taxes and not only taxes, but also just helping you invest your money, direct it toward investments where you can not have to give it to Uncle Sam because I
00:04:48
Speaker
I want to hang on to my money.
00:04:49
Speaker
I don't want to give it all away.
00:04:50
Speaker
So go check out Pi Syndicate if you do not already have someone to help you with the taxes.
00:04:55
Speaker
And as usual, you know what I'm going to say.
00:04:58
Speaker
It's in the show notes.
00:04:59
Speaker
So go check it out and then get the exclusive solar printer treatment.
00:05:04
Speaker
Let them know you heard about them from solar printer podcast.
00:05:09
Speaker
They will give you the VIP treatment.
The Five Ps of Preparation
00:05:12
Speaker
So let's jump into why you should be prepared for your appointments.
00:05:17
Speaker
What's the point of being prepared?
00:05:20
Speaker
So something we have been talking a ton about in our team lately, with our team, is the five Ps.
00:05:27
Speaker
If you don't know what the five Ps are, it's this.
00:05:31
Speaker
Okay, great thing you can share in your meetings or you can just use this kind of your mantra as you're out there trying to sling some solar.
00:05:39
Speaker
And that's this proper preparation prevents poor performance.
00:05:43
Speaker
I'll say it one more time, a proper preparation prevents poor performance.
00:05:49
Speaker
So if you think about it, there is so much poor performance, but why does it happen?
00:05:54
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It happens because usually we're not prepared.
00:05:59
Speaker
And the previous episode, we talked a lot about how you can improve your presentation.
00:06:04
Speaker
So that is obviously part of being prepared.
00:06:08
Speaker
Practicing it, making sure you know your presentation forward and backward.
00:06:16
Speaker
But what about specifically as you're going in your solar appointments?
00:06:19
Speaker
So we're going to talk about two things, two ways you can be a little bit more prepared.
00:06:26
Speaker
Okay, so
Understanding Products and Lenders
00:06:27
Speaker
here's the first one.
00:06:27
Speaker
Number one, know your products and offerings.
00:06:32
Speaker
This includes lenders, the reviews of the companies you work with, of your installers, the technical info, all these things.
00:06:43
Speaker
Hey, and before we talk about this, something I forgot to mention, the reason I'm thinking so much about this preparation aspect, I'm actually doing a jiu-jitsu tournament this weekend.
00:06:56
Speaker
We're end of March, beginning of April here, depending on when you're listening to the podcast.
00:07:02
Speaker
I'm doing a jiu-jitsu tournament.
00:07:04
Speaker
If you want to come check it out, let me know.
00:07:06
Speaker
If you want to come see me do some jiu-jitsu here in San Diego.
00:07:10
Speaker
But I've been stressing a ton just like how am I prepared for this tournament.
00:07:15
Speaker
I've been doing jiu-jitsu now for about six months.
00:07:19
Speaker
My first tournament ever.
00:07:21
Speaker
And I did do some wrestling in high school.
00:07:23
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I did a year.
00:07:24
Speaker
My senior year, I went and wrestled.
00:07:27
Speaker
Obviously not ideal, just doing one year.
00:07:29
Speaker
But it is what it is.
00:07:32
Speaker
And now I'm doing some jiu-jitsu.
00:07:35
Speaker
This whole week, I've just been thinking about how can I get prepared.
00:07:37
Speaker
We've got so many things to think about.
00:07:40
Speaker
I have to make the weight.
00:07:42
Speaker
Right now I'm a little over 200, so I have to drop some weight this week.
00:07:46
Speaker
I love my cookies.
00:07:47
Speaker
I love my ice cream.
00:07:49
Speaker
Love all the carbs and things that are tasty.
00:07:53
Speaker
So it's tough.
00:07:54
Speaker
I have to cut out a lot of things that I love, and I try to not.
00:07:58
Speaker
eat a ton of that during the week obviously but I'm trying to be really conscientious of what I'm eating during the week and then also another thing I'm doing I'm watching videos of opponents I'm going and I'm looking up my opponents that are already in registered for the tournament trying to find them on YouTube I found a few of them I'm scouting them out and
00:08:19
Speaker
So just these little things that when you care about something, when you want to win, you think of all these ways how you can be more prepared.
00:08:29
Speaker
So that's the first thing.
00:08:30
Speaker
How seriously are you taking your solar game?
00:08:33
Speaker
Are you making a game, a competition?
00:08:36
Speaker
Because if you are, you want to win, right?
00:08:39
Speaker
Think back to any time you've competed or you've really wanted to win something.
00:08:45
Speaker
How prepared did you make yourself?
00:08:49
Speaker
And sometimes this happens to me all the time where I think, wow, I am like right now, even I'm preparing so much for this jujitsu tournament.
00:08:58
Speaker
But that same level, I forget to apply that same level of preparedness in my solar appointments, in my solar cells.
00:09:06
Speaker
So that was just a reminder for me.
00:09:09
Speaker
How serious are you taking this game?
00:09:10
Speaker
Because it's a game.
00:09:12
Speaker
What we're doing, it's just a game out there.
00:09:14
Speaker
It's trick-or-treating for free money.
00:09:16
Speaker
It's an Easter egg hunt for money behind doors.
00:09:20
Speaker
Are you treating like that?
00:09:21
Speaker
Because the people that are most successful in this, a lot of them I talk to, they don't even care about the money.
00:09:28
Speaker
They just care about being the best.
00:09:29
Speaker
They care about getting out there.
00:09:31
Speaker
They care about dominating.
00:09:32
Speaker
And they are ultra-competitive individuals.
00:09:36
Speaker
That's a trait that I would say almost all the top guys have in common in solar.
00:09:42
Speaker
So that's the first thing.
00:09:43
Speaker
Little tangent.
00:09:44
Speaker
Had to plug my jujitsu.
00:09:46
Speaker
Yeah, I'm no pro yet.
00:09:48
Speaker
White belt, but it is a really good workout if you want to try it.
00:09:52
Speaker
But back to the main point we're talking about.
00:09:55
Speaker
Number one is knowing your products and offerings.
00:09:58
Speaker
The reason I bring this up last year, if I can count back the deals I've lost, it's been mostly because, well, a lot of, I shouldn't say mostly, but a lot of these deals that I've lost, if I would have known my product better, if I would have known my offering, if I would have known the contract better, I think there's a good chance I probably would not have lost the majority of those deals.
00:10:23
Speaker
An example of this, I had a Brazilian family.
00:10:26
Speaker
This was about four or five months ago.
00:10:30
Speaker
I sold this really cool Brazilian family.
00:10:32
Speaker
They were super interested in solar, good to go.
00:10:37
Speaker
Almost a lay down sell, I would say.
00:10:39
Speaker
But the one thing they brought up during it is, Taylor, we're going to go look at our reviews.
00:10:45
Speaker
We are going to do some research, look at some reviews.
00:10:48
Speaker
But yeah, everything sounds good.
00:10:51
Speaker
And the mistake I made, I financed their system through Sunnova.
00:10:57
Speaker
And those that use Sunnova as a lender, you should know that you look them up online, they do not have the best reviews.
00:11:07
Speaker
And some people are turned off by this.
00:11:10
Speaker
So I guess if you don't have anyone to use besides Sunnova, I would consider getting some other finance options.
00:11:18
Speaker
Sunnova has great terms and everything, but the downside, they don't have great reviews.
00:11:24
Speaker
So looking back, what I should have done, I should have pivoted, used a different lender.
00:11:30
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:31
Speaker
I could have avoided a whole headache.
00:11:32
Speaker
They told me right there, they said, Taylor, we're going to look up some reviews and I did try to prep them.
00:11:38
Speaker
I said, Oh, so no way they don't have the greatest.
00:11:40
Speaker
Here's why.
00:11:42
Speaker
And that's another thing you want to beat people to their objections, right?
00:11:46
Speaker
You want to overcome the objection before they can bring it up.
00:11:50
Speaker
So I tried to do this a little bit, but it would have been better if I would have just, after they told me that used a different lender.
00:11:58
Speaker
Because sure enough, what happened, they went and looked up some Nova, saw the negative.
00:12:02
Speaker
They said, yeah, you know what?
00:12:03
Speaker
This sounds too negative.
00:12:05
Speaker
We're not going to do this.
00:12:07
Speaker
And then I tried to pivot, tried to use someone else, but too late.
00:12:12
Speaker
Trust was already a little bit lost.
00:12:14
Speaker
They, I don't know, they just went through some, I guess, buyer's fatigue.
00:12:19
Speaker
Didn't want to check it out anymore.
00:12:21
Speaker
So that's what I mean.
00:12:23
Speaker
Know your lender, know your installers.
00:12:25
Speaker
Hopefully you have multiple options that you can offer people, but you need to know what are the reviews like?
00:12:32
Speaker
What are some potential negatives that people could find?
00:12:35
Speaker
And then most importantly, what are their contracts like?
00:12:39
Speaker
This is something that I've learned from my friend and mentor Jake Hess over at Solar Academy.
00:12:46
Speaker
This is something that he talks about all the time is if you can know your contract,
00:12:51
Speaker
If you can know the ins and outs of what's actually in the contract, then it makes it easier to sell the customers.
00:12:57
Speaker
Most people are afraid of contracts, but the best salespeople know their contracts and they know that's really basically everything in the contract is the benefit and protect the customer.
00:13:08
Speaker
And if you can explain that to them and not try to sound shady, you're not trying to sound like you're rushing through the contract, but sound like an expert, then you will close more deals.
00:13:20
Speaker
So that's point number one.
00:13:21
Speaker
Make sure you know your products and offerings, the reviews, the lenders, your installers, the technical info as much as you can.
00:13:30
Speaker
And don't, you know, a word of caution with this.
00:13:33
Speaker
Don't try to shove way too much information down people's throats, especially for newer reps.
00:13:38
Speaker
Sometimes you go and learn all these things.
00:13:40
Speaker
But remember, you need to be keeping it simple.
00:13:43
Speaker
You need to know these things, but...
00:13:45
Speaker
At the same time, keep it simple.
00:13:47
Speaker
So when I say know your contracts, I'm not saying take half an hour, 40 minutes to go through every single detail of the contract.
00:13:55
Speaker
I'm just saying know it, sound confident in it.
00:13:57
Speaker
If people have a question about something, you should know exactly where it is in your contract and know the ins and outs.
00:14:05
Speaker
But at the same time, you got to be keeping it simple because you do not want to overwhelm your customers.
Knowing Your Customer
00:14:12
Speaker
Okay, and then the second point, just to wrap this up, is just know what type of customer they are.
00:14:19
Speaker
And I would say this is done more in the setting of the appointment.
00:14:22
Speaker
So if you are working with a set or closer program, maybe you have leads given to you, or if you're booking these appointments yourself, then try to set up the deal and know what you're looking at as much as you can before the appointment.
00:14:36
Speaker
If you're setting it for yourself, try to ask them those questions.
00:14:41
Speaker
Hey, who owns the home?
00:14:42
Speaker
Is it just you?
00:14:44
Speaker
Are you married?
00:14:46
Speaker
Who's going to make the decision?
00:14:48
Speaker
Maybe not who's going to make the decision, but find out who the decision makers are.
00:14:53
Speaker
Ask them who's on the actual title of home.
00:14:56
Speaker
Make sure you get both those people there.
00:14:59
Speaker
And then try to find out all the essential information before you even get to the appointment.
00:15:05
Speaker
Do they plan on using more energy?
00:15:08
Speaker
Is their credit decent?
00:15:12
Speaker
Do they plan on getting any electric vehicles, putting in pools, hot tubs, all those types of things?
00:15:19
Speaker
See if you can figure that out before you even get to the appointment.
00:15:22
Speaker
If I would have known this one thing to figure out, you know, kind of the estimated credit of the customer, I would have saved myself so much time starting out.
00:15:34
Speaker
How many, depending on the areas you're knocking, I would say, especially if you are knocking lower income areas, this is crucial.
00:15:41
Speaker
Just ask people, Hey, you guys haven't had any like bankruptcies, uh, credit, you have decent credit and everything, right?
00:15:49
Speaker
If you can figure this out beforehand, you're going to save yourself a lot of wasted time.
00:15:54
Speaker
And then also just, you know, set the expectations.
00:15:58
Speaker
Something my friend's company started implementing recently, they do these verification calls with their Sutter Closer program.
00:16:07
Speaker
So they have a whole team of setters and every single appointment they set, they require them to call in on a line, a verification call.
00:16:17
Speaker
And they pretty much go over in the majority of these questions.
00:16:20
Speaker
Hey, do you understand that we're coming back to present a solar option for the home?
00:16:25
Speaker
Hey, do you understand that you have to have decent credit?
00:16:30
Speaker
All these types of things.
00:16:31
Speaker
And then it's making these leads way more solid.
00:16:34
Speaker
When the person closing the appointment shows up,
00:16:37
Speaker
The close ratio has gone way up for them.
00:16:40
Speaker
So maybe that's something you can do too if you're running a setter closer model.
00:16:44
Speaker
But if not, just ask your people setting the appointment.
00:16:48
Speaker
Ask them to try and get these key pieces of information.
00:16:53
Speaker
When I go to a setter appointment and the setter doesn't know very much about the potential appointment, potential customer, that's always a red flag.
00:17:03
Speaker
It's always kind of a sign that it's not probably as solid.
00:17:08
Speaker
And you're not going to be able to get every single piece of information every time, but I think it's a great idea to attempt to get those pieces of info.
00:17:17
Speaker
So just two things that I've been thinking about to help people really have more solid appointments and prepare.
00:17:25
Speaker
And then before we go here, we have a very special episode coming up next time.
Upcoming Episode Teaser
00:17:31
Speaker
It's going to be with Michelle.
00:17:33
Speaker
She is the SolarEdge Sales Education Manager for all of SolarEdge.
00:17:38
Speaker
And she actually goes over a ton of these ways we can be more prepared, specifically with a lot of the SolarEdge products and a lot of things that I was surprised, you know, that I had no idea about.
00:17:51
Speaker
For example, how many panels should you actually add if someone's getting an electric vehicle?
00:17:57
Speaker
And then a lot of specific things that if I would have known them, would have made a lot more money and would have had a lot more happy customers.
00:18:04
Speaker
So make sure you don't forget about the episode next week that's coming up.
00:18:08
Speaker
It's going to be again with Michelle.
00:18:11
Speaker
And share this with your teams.
00:18:13
Speaker
Share this with anyone that's struggling to be prepared as they go to their solar appointments.
00:18:18
Speaker
And we'll catch you all on the next one.
00:18:20
Speaker
Peace.
00:18:21
Speaker
Thanks.
Introducing SoulCity Community
00:18:22
Speaker
Hey, solopreneurs, quick question.
00:18:24
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?
00:18:34
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.
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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.
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Speaker
And it's called Solcitee.
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Speaker
This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give Solar Pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds for, are you ready for it, less than $3.45 a day.
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Speaker
Currently, SoulCity is open, launched, and ready to be enrolled.
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Speaker
So go to SoulCity.co to learn more and join the learning experience now.
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Speaker
This is exclusively for solopreneur listeners, so be sure to go to SoulCity.co and join.
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Speaker
We'll see you on the inside.