Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Solarpreneur Podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail.
Speaker: I teach you 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? 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. Okay, what's going on We are here today with our solopreneurs, and we have a special guest. His name is Joe Ordea. Joe, thanks for coming on on the show with us here today. Yeah, Taylor. Honored to be on with you. Thanks for having me Yeah, it's going to be a good time. And if you are not familiar with Joe...
Speaker: You probably have not been on YouTube much because this guy is crushing it on YouTube. He's got some of the most informational videos I've seen and I've learned a lot myself just from watching your videos, Joe. So his channel is called Solar Surgeon. How many ah subscribers are you guys at now on your channel over there, Joe? I think we're just over 48,000 now.
Speaker: We've been at it for about two years. Yeah, crushing it. So this guy, he knows the stuff when it comes to technology of solar. um He does panel reviews. He does technology reviews. He's keeping up with all the latest and greatest in solar.
Speaker: So I'm excited to have him on today. We're going to talk about just his beginnings, why he started doing YouTube and yeah, just hear his background with all that and hear what he's got going on. Is it safe to say, are you like the number one, ah you think solar kind of tech review channel on YouTube right now?
Speaker: I don't know if we we can claim that title yet, but that certainly is is our goal is to be that that go to place, whether you're ah a sales professional, a homeowner or even a solar equipment manufacturer. You know, we want to be that go to place for the discussion to be had about ah solar battery storage, you know, anything to do with that whole home energy ecosystem.
Speaker: Well, yeah, like I said, I've learned a lot just from watching you and we're having a conversation just before we started recording. You know, I know a lot of homeowners watch your videos and lot of, you know, consumers of solar themselves. You said it's what about 70%, you know, actual consumers. And then you think 20, 30% that are like selling it and other people. Yeah, it's about 75, 80 percent homeowners that are in the process of just researching solar options for their home.
Speaker: And the other 20 or so percent is mostly solar professionals, sales professionals, solar contractors, installers, as well as solar equipment manufacturers as well. Well, yeah, and what you were telling me the other day is that you told me this story how, i think it was sales rep that told you they didn't get a deal because some homeowner was watching your videos and that homeowner knew then knew more than the sales rep that was trying to sell them.
Speaker: like some of the solar system. So it's true. I think you, yeah I mean, you share a lot of great contents, educate a lot of people. And so, um, yeah, for you, why, like, what's the big reason you started all this? Like, why, why is it important to get educated on the technology and, and know these things?
Speaker: Sure. Sure. So, well, I think the, the, the world that we're in now is one where you know, the the consumer is more educated now than they ever have been in the past, you know, and that's, that's true, not just of solar, but just about any other product you're selling, particularly high ticket products, automobiles, homes, investment products, you name it. I mean, there's so much information available out there now that most consumers, if if they're not the sort of the one sit close type of solar buyer, um you know, any consumer that's actively engaged in shopping for solar
Speaker: They're going to be online. They're going to be reading reviews. They're going to be educating themselves on the different products and brands. And so I wanted to position Solar Surge as the go-to place, as that trusted advisor, that trusted resource that could help a homeowner sort through all the different options that were out there.
Speaker: We do at the end of the day we do sell a highly technical product. I think it's something that we can boil it down to some simple, some simple concepts for homeowners. And I think that's a lot of what SolarSurge is today is, you know, we take what might look like to an engineer, a very complex engineered system, and we boil it down to some simple points that that a homeowner can digest and then make an informed decision of which is the right solar system for them.
Speaker: Yeah, no doubt. 100% agree with you. I think it's more and more important these days to know the technology, be educated on it. Back when I started solar in 2016, could roll up to a door, knock a door and just say, hey you're goingnna we're going to slap a system on your roof. Your bill is going to be cheaper monthly.
Speaker: And that was about it. We got lots of sales back then doing that. But I realized that as time as time has gone on, especially out here in California, people are getting more and more educated. And, you know, we'll talk more about some of these things here in a little bit. But just with like the net metering 3.0 changing here in California, like the reps got to know how to sell batteries and transition to more of this business.
Speaker: you know, technology that we're not as familiar with and used to selling. So yeah, I think it's super important. We'll get to more of that, but I want to hear, Joe, how did you first start the YouTube channel? What's like your background? What made you guys decide to start this and how did this all come about? Yeah, sure. And I'm um i'm glad that you asked that question too, because ah a lot of what you see on solar surge today was born out of necessity and so for those of you maybe haven't heard my backstory but i i started in solar as an installer contractor and so i came up on that side i actually still have my electrician's license in a few states but that's the side that i started on was i was designing building and installing solar for homeowners starting in virginia and then we went out to the carolinas as well and did did a few projects in west virginia as well
Speaker: The installation business, you know, as my as my business grew, we actually found that we were growing less and less profitable in our last year operation as a as an install business. We actually lost about a million dollars when we had a chance to kind of, you know, take a step back and sort through the records and figure out what happened.
Speaker: You know one of the things that we figured out that happened is that we took on a lot of risk and complexity. in doing solar plus storage installations many of them with battery systems that were not proven yet and so that's part of the risk that you take as a contractor is you know when you're bidding a project you don't know what your actual cost is going to be so you make your best guess ah based on what you think your cost will be and you put a bit out there and you do the job and then you know you sort of own the results right and we whether you either you make money you lose money
Speaker: Or you break even. And so in our case, we actually had several losses on complex battery installs, which forced me into a position where I had to restructure my business. And I was approached with a deal that our finance partner had put together. And the deal was essentially, hey, Joe, you're you know, you're losing money on the install.
Speaker: Why don't you let a larger company take over that part of your business and just focus on sales and marketing since you seem to do really well on the sales and marketing side of things? And so that's that's the model that we operate in now at Solar Surges. we're We're an independent dealer or they call I guess they call originator now. So if I were to boil that down right for for somebody who's not an industry guy, that means my job is to get customers. right My job at the end of the day, if you boil it all down, it it's to get customers, our install partners, their job is to actually turn that contract into a working system. And so that's sort of how the how the structure works.
Speaker: But in my case, I was in a position where I was basically forced to relaunch my business under a new model. with very little capital. And so I just kind of took an assessment of, okay, well, we don't have a whole lot of cash. We don't have a whole lot of physical assets anymore, trucks, you know, tools, that kind of stuff. So what do we have? You know, what I came up with, well, what we what we have is we have a lot of experience for sure. You know, we we took a lot of lumps being one of the first people installing many of these new solar plus storage products.
Speaker: So we have a lot of experience. Well, what can we do with that experience? And I figured, well, I have my cell phone here. have but have a TV screen. Many of my YouTubes, I record just in standing in front of a TV screen teaching as if I'm teaching to a classroom. I just teach into the iPhone. And I figured, well, I'll start teaching the marketplace about all these different solar and battery solutions because if I don't have cash, at least what I do have is all the lessons learned from all those projects. And so I'll start putting that information out there in the form of little educational YouTube videos in the hopes that if there's somebody out there who's thinking about some of these products or some of these different design architectures,
Speaker: you know, maybe they'll learn something from our videos and, and maybe if, and when they're ready to go shopping for a system, maybe they'll pick up the phone and call us first. And that's kind of how we started. So, you know, again, it was, it was very much born out of necessity, you know, doing what you can with what you've got.
Speaker: And, uh, you know, we were about three months into it when we had our first video that, that really took off. And it was, uh, It was a Tesla Powerwall versus Enphase video. It was orders of magnitude more successful than anything we had put out to that point. Putting out videos, I might get 100 views, 200 views, and then the videos would peter out.
Speaker: And then we finally had this one video, and it got like 60,000 views in the first two months. And then my email box started blowing up. And then I realized, hey, wait wait a second, and I think we actually might have something here. know, if we talk about the right things, the right products, we answer the right questions, then we can actually get significant viewership on this YouTube platform.
Speaker: And then again, as I was hoping, people that were in the process of shopping for some of these products, well, some of them are going to be willing to pick up the phone and call us because we've we've already kind of built that trust factor with them because we've been able to educate them and answer some of the questions that they've had already. Yeah, that's awesome. I love that. And yeah, I mean, I think a great lesson just to learn from that. I mean, solar cells aside is just look at how, um you know, you had to fight through not getting any views. You had to keep pushing. You had be consistent with it. And I think for those listening, that really goes, that's important lesson for anything solar related.
Speaker: Like a lot of my audience here is, um you know, knocking doors out there, hustling that way. And some them aren't seeing success, but it's the same thing, same exact thing you did with your YouTube channel. It's like you had to push for three months before you started getting these probably leads from it and significant viewership from it. Like you said, do you think you would have continued, let's say, like how long would this have gone on? Let's say it took five or six months before you had a video take off. Do you think what you would have kept doing it or was there a point where like, okay, I'm going to try this for maybe one more month. And if it doesn't Like, go anywhere. Maybe I'm done done after that. Or what was going through your head during all this? Not getting a ton of views?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. There's definitely some of that. You know, you second guess yourself a little bit. For me, I had come to the resolve myself that I was going to give this a shot. I was going to put out a video every other day. And I was going to do that for two months straight.
Speaker: And it was right towards the end of that that second month that we had that that video that that was published. Now, it didn't go it didn't go viral until about two weeks after it was published. So there was a little bit of a lag there. But no, I was kind of getting to the end of my you know my rope, so to speak, to say, you know, is this really worth it? Is this is this really going to pay back?
Speaker: And, it you know, it it did. and I thank God it did in ah in a major way that really got my attention and said, OK, we can actually build our whole business around this now. And that's what we've done. That's awesome. Well, I'm glad you stuck with it. And yeah, it's really cool to see this success you've been able to have. So how many leads would you say it will? Like, so when this video went viral, was it like instant flow of leads?
Speaker: Some people just asking questions or what does it look like from a lead standpoint? Like how many leads are you typically getting from these videos? First, let me say, you know, it it was unexpected. And so I was totally unprepared. What I had been doing up until that point was telling folks, you know, leave a comment on the video or you can email me. Here's my email address. You know, email in if you have a question.
Speaker: And so that that just didn't work. You know, when you go from 200 views 50,000, 60,000 views. the The first thing that that I noticed was so much of this email traffic is just going back and forth trying to figure out what's a good time for a phone call or what's a good time for a Zoom call so we can actually sit down and talk shop about your particular solar project.
Speaker: So right around that time, we switched to an automated booking platform. If you guys out there haven't made use of that or haven't looked at that option, there's a lot of great automated booking calendar software out there. Like we use Calendly here at at Solar Surge, um but there are others out there that will Basically allow allow a prospect to go and and book their own appointment with you. It'll show them what times you have available. And you can specify you know how much of a time block you want to give them, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, whatever it is.
Speaker: And so that was one of the first things we had to do is just automate the booking process so there wasn't this constant back and forth. And, um, and that's still the system that we use today. So if you're, if you're a viewer of solar surge, you'll, you'll hear me giving this sort of call to action at the end of most of the video saying, Hey, if you're a homeowner out there and you're interested in looking at options like this, or you want to get some pricing for your home, you know, hit the link and, and, and you schedule a short call with one of our experts and we'll be happy to talk through what all the options are.
Speaker: And so that's usually how our how our engagements start is through that that Zoom call. I don't know how how often you're doing videos now, but is it pretty like sometimes you'll see huge spikes and you guys are slammed and it's, you know, back and forth a lot. Or have you got to the point where it's pretty consistent? Like you're getting a pretty constant full of leads at this point from your videos.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. So what what we see on YouTube is we have we have a baseline. In our case, it's about 5,000 views a day. So the videos that we already have out there through people that are searching for specific products or or search terms, we get about 5,000 views a day just off of search.
Speaker: Then depending on what our new posts are about, you know, we may have a video that that catches a wave and goes viral. And so when that happens, we do. We get like a flood of leads that might come in. People that haven't seen us before. And this is part of the power of YouTube.
Speaker: You know, for those of you that are out there that maybe you haven't really gone all in on YouTube yet or you're wondering, you know, what is it, this YouTube thing? Why are people some people having massive success and some people aren't? the The real value in YouTube is this ability to go viral. and what What I mean by that is YouTube is excellent at figuring out who your audience is, what they're interested in.
Speaker: And then when when YouTube finds something that starts performing better or above trend to your audience, YouTube is excellent at figuring out other people that are likely to have the same interests as your audience. And that's where that viral effect comes and takes place. Because let's say let's say I have a group of my viewers that are subscribers or they're fans of of the tesla brand or the tesla hashtag right so if i put out a tesla powerwall video they're going to likely see and watch that video but youtube also knows that people that are interested in tesla are also tend to or they might also be interested in in rivian they might also be interested in enphase
Speaker: uh or any other brand like that and so that's really where the viral effect takes place is when youtube finds something that is like a smash hit for your core group it will then find all the other look-alike audiences out there and if the video is performing really well it'll show it to all of them as well and that's where you start to get the massive exposure and the massive viewership and as a creator that that's how you grow your audience is is youtube suggesting your content to somebody who's never heard of you before But they figure, hey, what you're talking about is similar enough to what this other guy is watching. I think I'll go ahead and try showing a couple your videos to him and see what happened.
Speaker: And that's how it works. Yeah. Well, i noticed that because I watched one of your videos yeah a few few days ago. And um right after I watched your video, I wasn't looking to see which one's next. But i automatically started playing like a Tesla comparison video after that, they comparing Tesla cars.
Speaker: So I'm like like, wait a second, I want to watch videos on solar. Yeah. I guess it didn't catch me soon enough. Yeah, I see what you're saying. I mean, it's just looking for like similar stuff. And then, um you know, moving along to the next suggested video.
Speaker: But now that's really interesting. And so like for you guys, walk me through what's the what's the type of research you do? Because you've put forth a ton of videos now. And similar to me, like sometimes I've been doing this podcast now for like three years, got 250 plus episodes. And so sometimes like, oh, what do you do next? And, you know, I get listener questions, things like that. So for you guys, what's what's like your content strategy? How do you decide, okay, I'm going to a video on this. And i don't know if it's listener based or what's your strategy to kind of keep pumping out the videos.
Speaker: Yeah. i'm i I'm really glad that you asked that too, because when when I first started with YouTube, I was just talking about whatever I wanted to talk about. Mm-hmm. and And this was back when I was ah still a contractor. you know i I started a YouTube channel back then and I would just kind of bring the camera along for different things. Like, hey, we're doing a ground mount install today. Let's do a YouTube video about it. And there there wasn't a whole lot of strategic thought to it. It was just like, hey, I'm just going to bring the camera and I'm going to talk about whatever I feel like talking about.
Speaker: But with YouTube and and with social media in general, you know you may have heard the saying that the creator who understands the audience best wins. And so what I really had to do is put myself in the mindset of the consumer and think about, okay, if I'm a consumer, if I'm not a solar expert, if I'm a consumer and I'm just like starting out and I want to know about solar panels and how they work, I might search for how do solar panels work. And so if I'm a creator and I have a video entitled How do solar panels work?
Speaker: That may be a ah great way for me to get in front of a somebody who's beginning their solar shopping process. Right. Now, as ah as a contractor, I may not it may not occur to me to say, make a video how to solar panels work because I already know how they work. I've been putting them in for a living. That's what I do. But as ah as a consumer here, let me give you another example.
Speaker: When I started on YouTube, one of the first things i I gravitated towards was what's the best camera to use for YouTube? That's for me because I'm kind of a tech guy. I'm into like tech gear and stuff like that. So the first thing I gravitated to was what's the best camera for YouTube? And I was searching stuff like that.
Speaker: And I would find videos from different photographers and people saying, hey, this camera is great because of this or that. What I realized after I had actually done some research and I got some skill on YouTube, i realized the camera wasn't even the question I should be asking. I should be using my iPhone because I already have it.
Speaker: And then I should be investing in lighting and microphones and tripods and all the other stuff that you need besides the camera. But I didn't know that because I was a novice. And so a lot of people start their solar journey in a similar way.
Speaker: So, for example, one of the videos that we do, we do it twice a year. minimum is best solar panels for 2021, 2022, 2023, because that's that's and a popular novice search term is what's the best solar panel or what are the best solar panels? And and then, of course, the year makes a little bit more relevant it's this year's best solar panels.
Speaker: Now, an expert solar shopper knows that the solar panel is probably the third most important decision, but it tends to be the first thing that they search for because that's that's kind of where the consumer is at that point in their journey.
Speaker: So what we try to do at Solar Search to answer your question, Taylor, is we try to position ourselves as the source of information or the source, the answer of those questions that are going through the homeowner's head as they go through that journey.
Speaker: So they're generally going to be asking specific questions, which I can answer and I can title my videos as an exact match to those questions, those search terms. Yeah, I can review specific products.
Speaker: Right. Are they looking at SolarEdge? Because I know if they got door knocked, they're going to get pitched either SolarEdge or Enphase. Right. Right. So if you go on YouTube and they're searching for SolarEdge and Enphase, they're going to find SolarSurge.
Speaker: They're going to find SolarEdge review. They're going find Enphase review. They're going to find SolarEdge versus Enphase. They're going to find SolarEdge versus Enphase 2022, 2023. Right. They're going to find us if that's what they're looking for. And so that's really what we do is we try to figure out what's going through the homeowner's mind. What questions are they trying to answer? What products they trying to understand?
Speaker: And then we be the source of the information. Does that make sense? Yeah, i love that. and Yeah, it's so true. It's like, because i I mean, I get that just knocking doors too, and as we're in appointments.
Speaker: Like you hear all the questions that everyone asks, but you know, it's like, this probably isn't the question you should be asking. But yeah, everyone's like, oh, what what type of solar panel do you use? It's like, it doesn't matter as much, but i hope we'll answer it.
Speaker: So, yeah, I mean, that makes that makes a lot of sense. Probably getting a lot of the same things as people go online and, you know, just type in these things as they're going there. And then, well, like for you guys, something we struggle with a lot is just like finding that balance between how much information do you give them, um like knocking a door. um i'm sure you heard this, but a lot of door to door guys, is that sometimes we want to give them less information because people get all this information overload and it's like, oh, we need to think about it.
Speaker: And we need to go watch ah every single one of Joe's YouTube videos before we decide on on a solar, right? And so what' what's been your experience? You guys are you know a little bit different approach, a little bit different, ah I guess, way of prospecting compared to us door knockers. But how do you take someone from, ah okay, we're getting information, just gathering information to actually... um you know making a decision on it?
Speaker: And is that a challenge you guys face like as you're getting these leads in? do a lot of people just want to like take it and you know go shop around more? or What's kind of your process from taking these leads to actually getting them to make a decision on that? Well,
Speaker: One of the things that we we believe is that, you know, any anybody that takes the step to actually book an appointment with us is is a serious enough lead because chances are, I mean, again, these are people that are watching solar YouTube videos in their spare time.
Speaker: Yes. So, I mean, you you as a doorknocker, you know, and I've never done that. Everything I've done has always been digital, whether it's paid or content creation or whatever. It's always been some kind of online thing. Yeah. But one of the things as a door knocker, I i would imagine is incredibly challenging is, you know, you're taking somebody that doesn't really know anything about solar in many cases, and you're getting to the to the point where they not only do they understand the basics, but they actually want it.
Speaker: You know, they want it and they want it now or they want it quickly. Yeah. um In our case, a lot of the people are already interested in solar. Otherwise, they wouldn't be watching solar videos in their spare time. And so that's kind of the attitude that we have is, hey, look, if somebody took the step to book a live call with you, they're they're a serious enough prospect. And so we assume that this person is going solar one one way or the other. Maybe they're not going solar right now. Maybe it's six months or a year from now, but they're going to go solar. The question is with whom and with what equipment?
Speaker: yeah And so if we can help them through that process with whom and with what equipment, then, you know, we'll, we'll convert a decent number of those into paying clients. And of course, you know, we, we believe in the product that we're selling, right. You know, I don't, I don't look at solar as just some product to pitch to earn a commission. I mean, for me, solar is, I wouldn't say like a way of life, but it's almost like that. I mean, it's like, I eat it, I breathe it. And it's something that I believe in. And and it's frankly, something that it pay it pays for itself.
Speaker: And as, as inflation gets worse and, You know, energy prices go get worse. I mean, the the financial case is there. Of course, for me, I like it. Just I just like the idea of being able to be self-sufficient. You know, I would pay a premium for it.
Speaker: You know, just being able to produce my own power because the way it makes me feel makes me feel more empowered, more self-sufficient. And that's that's something that ah that I ah that I believe in. Yeah, I like that. Yeah. Well, and so you you do a lot of technology reviews. You talked about like the best panels, the the breakdowns you do with that. So do you find a lot of times when these leads are setting up calls with you is like, oh, hey, Joe, I saw you in this video talking about this best panel.
Speaker: They cooked me up with this best panel and they already know what they want. Yeah. kind of who they want it from? Or um is it like, I don't know, you get on these calls and there you have to still explain to them they have a lot of questions.
Speaker: or what's yeah I'm curious, what's been your experience with the actual like appointments you guys set up with these people? Well, there there is a range. There is a range. I will say that there are folks that come in and and some folks will come in with a very, very strong brand preference. um some Sometimes for solar panels, like right now, you know the REC brand is a very popular brand of solar panels that we're seeing people requesting it by name.
Speaker: Yeah. um Definitely certain battery products. We see some people, whether it's the Franklin or Tesla or Enphase, lot of them are are requesting the battery by name. guys um But as as a sales professional, I try not to get too focused in on if the if the homeowner has a particular brand preference.
Speaker: And what I like to do and what I what I think teach my my system designers, that's what we call our sales representatives, system designers. What I teach them to do is, you know, when ah a homeowner comes in and they have a strong brand preference, investigate why, right? They must have learned something about that product that's making them want it. Is it, you know, is it the the capacity? Is it the chemistry? Is it the power rating? Like, what is it? Is it the the generator hookup?
Speaker: But figure out exactly what is it that the homeowner likes about the product. And then if you can offer that exact solution, great. But it might turn out that there's another product in your portfolio that they've never heard of that's a better match for those requirements. So that's the approach that we take. It's very consultative. You know, the first call with the the homeowner is it's just us asking questions. It's just us trying to figure out exactly what the situation is.
Speaker: exactly what that homeowner's pain points, preferences are, you know, what goals are they trying to accomplish? And then we'll come back and we'll build a custom design system and we'll, we'll present that, you know, to match those needs. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker: Yeah. i like that. and yeah I think it's the same. And so for those listening that don't do a lot of virtual that are only in homes, um, I follow this exact same thing too, because even just knocking on doors, we get a lot of people, It's like, oh, I heard a battery can give me backup power twenty four seven I want a battery. Or just like saying, oh, I want a Tesla battery. But then without knowing the why, it's like, I don't know if you get this, Joe, but I get people all the time just saying they want a Tesla battery and then thinking it's going to give them like 24-7 backup. They're going to be able to you know, chop down the power lines and stuff like that. And it's like, Yeah. You're not going to be able to do that. Like, that's not what the battery does. And we're not there yet.
Speaker: And so I think that is super important, just figuring out what their intention is or what they actually think about it. Because I'm sure your people are a lot more educated, but definitely when we're not coming on doors, sometimes people throw these products out there and they have no idea why they want it They just heard that their cousins, friends, neighbor, like got this thing and yeah think it'll be good for them.
Speaker: So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'll tell you, i mean like ah as a sales professional, right? So, I mean, one thing I won't do, I'm not going to argue with ah with a prospect. If the prospect really likes a particular brand, I'm not going to sit there and argue with them. You know, we we always try to acknowledge and agree, right? You know, acknowledge and agree. However, if if a homeowner is clearly miseducated and they're they're they're they're talking about a battery doing something that's really not going to do for them, I'm i'm not going to let them walk off a cliff. There's many people that they they think that, well, if I have a battery, I can go off the grid, you know, quote unquote off the grid. Yes. And you have to explain, well, it's not really off the grid. You know, what you have is a backup system. So it'll run a portion of your home, but you're still only, you know, there's only so much energy in that battery, right? Once it's out, and it's out. You have to recharge it before you get power back. So, you know, most people that might have ideas of going off the grid, in most cases, if you already have grid lines run to your house, you're not and you're not going off the grid. You're getting a battery
Speaker: That will give you some backup power or in some cases even allow you to use the battery to avoid having to purchase from the power company during peak peak rate hours. But it's not really going to be going off the grid.
Speaker: Now, other other folks that have net metering, um I find there's there's many homeowners that are under the misconception that adding a battery will will increase your electric bill savings. you know which sometimes we also have to correct. Because if you're on a one-for-one net metering program where the power company will take your excess and give you full credit for it, well, you might not not need a battery, at least for financial reasons. You don't really need a battery, right? The grid will act as your battery. You just send them what you don't need, let them pay you for it, and then you buy it back whenever you need it. Whereas with the battery,
Speaker: you're you're not generating any more electricity you're just you're just storing it it allows it like lets you hold on to it for use at a later time it doesn't really save you anything uh if you're already on that meter yeah it's good to know good to make sure your homeowners know this too especially with all the stuff changing you know in california specifically a lot of stuff going on with that um yeah yeah and then and then like what's your team so you do all these videos how many videos are you doing currently a week now do you still do two a week or how many videos Yeah, two a week has it been about our our average.
Speaker: We've had some times when we're slower than that. We've had some times, like like last quarter, we were doing about four a week because we had so much content that we captured at the RE Plus conference. So we were just kind of dripping those videos out along with the new news. um This year, we're going to be doing a lot more short form. So if you guys haven't seen us, you know, please follow us, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube shorts.
Speaker: um Our goal this year is is to be, you know, doing the long form videos, but then still being able to pull short form videos out of that. And we're putting together a really solid content team here. So you should be seeing more and more of us, both the long forms and the short forms of this year.
Speaker: Yeah. And was going to say, you probably have, and I would imagine you have a team helping you with all this now. um But what does it look like with your team? Do you have, you know, video editors and build it out pretty good versus when you started? But what's your kind of team look like for doing all this content?
Speaker: Yeah, sure. So so the the first first two years was pretty much all me, you know solo creator. um i had some of my salespeople that would help as you know camera or microphone operators when we were at like conferences and I couldn't like run all the gear myself. But was pretty much you know a solo creation type of operation for the first two years.
Speaker: um Now it's a three-person team. So we have myself, we have a content director, which we actually just engaged a professional content director. And then we have our video editor. And so our video editor, know, his job is basically like, like working the editing software, actually producing the the video assets that end up getting uploaded and posted.
Speaker: So it's a three person team so far for 2023. And the goal for 2023 is to have 10 content pieces out, 10 video content pieces out every week, two long form, the rest shorts, and then also some other micro stuff that we can put on Twitter and LinkedIn and other places. Okay, that's cool. Well, yeah, I think it's important for those listening too. It's like, um you're not going to be like Joe and go start ah you know this massive YouTube channel, build out this whole team. It's like Joe had to start from square one and anyone doing these type of videos, they're all, I mean, I see people doing these videos in their garage or, know, just in their room, little whiteboard and and they're getting leads from it. So I mean, people that do want to start with this, um I mean, yeah, you're not going to start it out with a massive team like Joe is Yeah. What would you say for those that want to start maybe like generating their own leads or just doing these like educational type of videos?
Speaker: um ah Do you have to be like a giant YouTube channel to get leads? Or what would you say if someone's saying, Joe, how do I start out and just start getting some leads in my local market by doing some of this educational content? What would you say to them?
Speaker: Yeah, well, I would i would say start. I mean, look, guys, what do you have to lose? I mean, seriously, what what do you have to lose? YouTube is free. You already have cell phone in your pocket. If you don't want to do YouTube, because I know a lot of people, they they don't they don't feel comfortable in front of the camera or doing a long form, but you can do shorts. I mean, you you could do a selfie video. Hey, let me answer this question in you know couple two simple steps. Let me answer, how does net metering work? Do a 30-second selfie video. Just put it put it out there. It's free.
Speaker: I mean, think think about it. if If you're in the solar sales profession right now and you're and you're using a traditional customer acquisition message like Facebook ads, for example, all right? Think about how much does it cost you every time you walk into somebody's living room? How much did it actually cost you to walk through that door?
Speaker: You know, how much ad spend did you have to make? How much did you have to pay your appointment setter? You know, how much how much went into actually getting you in that living room? And then think about how much does it cost you to post a selfie video on Facebook? Or how much does it cost you to record ah a video in your bedroom?
Speaker: I mean, you see, this is my office here. yeah How much does it cost me to flip my cell phone on and and record a video for five minutes? And so if you can just get past this idea of oh, I don't know if I'm going to screw up. Well, who cares you screw up? Nobody will watch it.
Speaker: If you screw up, nobody's going to watch it. If you get it right, tens of thousands of people will watch it. And you won't care if you look stupid because you have yeah you're going to have an inbox full of leads. Yeah. And so, uh, I think that's, that's the, the, the approach is just put it out there.
Speaker: I mean, it's free, it's free. If it doesn't work for you. Okay, fine. You gave it a shot, but if you're on the fence about it, there's, there's no, there's no downside here, guys. You already have the cell phone. You already have a Facebook account. You're probably using it for entertainment purposes, you know, just put it out there and, and, and think about this, you know, you should be the guy that all of your friends and everybody knows you're the go-to guy for solar. If your social circle doesn't know that you're the go-to guy for solar, then you're doing something wrong.
Speaker: hundred That's what I would say, guys, just just go for it. there's There's no downside, you know, at least give it a shot. Yeah, for sure. And um what's cool is I've seen, i haven't done a ton of this myself, but um like I have friends that just do videos.
Speaker: I'm in San Diego, so I have friends that just do videos like solar panels in San Diego or like they they do it for a specific market and then they're getting leads that way. um So I think you can start small. I mean, yeah, just like you said, sharing on social media, sharing on Facebook, Instagram, like people are going to see these things and it's not going to be instant leads.
Speaker: So um like if we if we got door knockers listening this podcast, I don't think either of us are saying stop knocking doors and just try to go all in on this because I think you'd agree, Joe, that it takes a while to build up and start getting consistent leads from this.
Speaker: So, you know, don't don't make your manager mad and just stop knocking on doors. But I think this is a good thing to do. Just like, you know, think of all the people just wasting time on Instagram right now or wasting time ah mindlessly mindlessly scrolling or reading about solar. It's like, why not share some of that solar knowledge that you're already studying every day and use it? And if anything, you're educating yourself more because you're probably going do some research on, you know, preparing for the video. And then if you keep at it and be consistent with it, then you know I've seen people get leads just by lean like sharing these videos on Facebook groups or posting on their Facebook and yeah just adding value that way.
Speaker: So yeah, I mean, think consistency is key and definitely paid off for you guys. We agree, Joe. Yeah, I mean, yeah obviously, you know, i would definitely do it again. and and And what I would also say is, you know, don't let the fact that, oh, well, you know, I couldn't catch solar surge. They, you know, they're two years ahead of me or there are X many subscribers ahead of me. yeah You could literally do videos on the same things I talk about.
Speaker: But because of who you are and where you live, you're you're going to maybe resonate with a slightly different audience. You know, maybe you just have a little bit different, different communication style than I do. So you could literally take the exact same topics, the exact same search terms, just put a little bit of your spin, your, your perspective on it.
Speaker: And, and, you know, you can, rep you know, you can repurpose it. So a lot of times it's not about reinventing the wheel. Yeah. You know, it's about taking what's out there, putting a little bit of your spin, your, your perspective, your experience on it, and then putting it out there and just seeing who, who will it resonate. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, no doubt. And then something I was curious about, Joe, is you obviously, you know, are the go-to for solar like knowledge and solar technology for a lot of people. But where do you get your knowledge from? It's like, are you doing constant research on all this stuff or um is your team kind of sending you stuff and say, hey, we should do a video about this or what's ah like, how do you educate yourself and actually do all these videos on it?
Speaker: Yeah, sure. So, um Well, a lot's changing, right? Every year the products are changing. And so, I mean, one of the places I learn is I learn on YouTube. So I look at what other solar YouTubers are putting out there. I look at what the manufacturers are putting out, ah going to the conferences and trade shows, you know, making sure that we're staying on top of all the new releases because every year something is changing. You know, new solar panels are coming out. New models are coming out every year.
Speaker: Power ratings are going up. Efficiencies are going up. now You've got new batteries that are coming into the market every year now, it seems, or or batteries are receiving generational improvements you know every couple of years. So there's always something new to to talk about.
Speaker: But a lot of the basics are still the same. I think a lot of the basics of the reasons why people go solar, the basics of how solar power systems work, how net metering works, you know a lot of that is is more evergreen. you know the The answer from 10 years ago is still pretty much the same answer today.
Speaker: Yeah. um but you know, like with any technology, you're going to have new products, new features, new enhancements every year. So that's part of the reason we go to the trade shows is, you know, if we can be the, if we can be that, those, those boots on the ground, you know, ears and eyes at the trade shows, you know, we'll help get that up to date information to homeowners and to other, other stakeholders within the, yeah within the community.
Speaker: So that's what we do. Okay. And in your opinion, do you see, you've been at this for a while and you were super educat educated on the technology and all that. Do you see things changing pretty drastically in the next couple of years? Or i don't know if you've seen like big, big changes. And I guess obviously with the ah net metering stuff going on in California, um i don't know if they're seeing any big changes with batteries, but where do you predict the market kind of going? And I don't know, do you think there's going to be any big shifts or anything like that anytime soon?
Speaker: Well, the net metering rule change in California is definitely going to be a game changer for a lot of folks. yeah um For us, I don't think we're going to be impacted as much or at least not negatively impacted just because we've so much of what we do is solar with battery storage.
Speaker: And we're used to selling battery storage, not as as like some kind of of a financial investment, but just because it's it's self-sufficiency, it's peace of mind. So I think solar surge in particular is well positioned for this this shift.
Speaker: And of course, now there will be a financial case to be made for batteries in California as well. Whereas before it was purely, hey, just do panels, just do net metering and you know use the grid as your battery. right um The other thing that we're seeing, of course, is is we're in a high interest rate environment. So high inflation, high interest rate, um consumer confidence is lower than it has been And so, again, I think it comes down to being able to to frame solar as a solution that provides more security and peace of mind for the homeowner, not so much as a financial investment that's going to pay you back in dollars, although it does it does pay for itself over time. The payback's just slower now if you have to finance it 6% versus 2%.
Speaker: right But, but I think, I think for us in particular, since we've always sort of had that approach of, you know, energy independence, we're selling energy independence. We're not just selling solar. Solar is just it's just a means to get to a state of energy independence.
Speaker: And I think that's the approach that you you need to take. So, you know, if you're a sales professional out there and you're, you're used to just selling on the numbers on the chart, you know, For some homeowners now, that that number's on the chart's not going to work anymore. In fact, you may have to throw the chart and say, look, Mr. Homeowner, yeah you know I understand that if we're just looking at the numbers here, it may not make sense for you to go solar right now.
Speaker: However, and I say this sometimes, don't do this because I'm showing you some numbers on the spreadsheet. Do this if this is something that you believe in, if you believe in being energy independent, but if you believe in being self-sufficient and you like the idea of producing your own energy,
Speaker: then go for it. I promise it will pay for itself over time. But if not, if you're just doing it because of the numbers I showed you here, you know, don't, don't bother. There's other investments that you can, yeah sometimes I'll tell the homeowner just like that. Like, don't, don't do this because of these numbers here, you know, do it. Cause you better have a better reason than that, you know, but if you believe in it, by all means, let's, let's go.
Speaker: Yeah, I love that. Well, that's pretty much how it's going to be in California, you know, once NetMeeting 3.0 comes out. And I know that's how it is in a lot of other markets already. Like the reps that are just selling off as savings, it's getting harder and harder to do that. And that's, in my opinion, like the weakest way to sell.
Speaker: Because I mean, people dig in and they're like, okay, saving 20 bucks a month. No, I don't know. doesn't really seem worth it. It's like people don't really go solar anymore to save 20 bucks a month. They need a deeper reason behind that. And I think you hit the nail on the head with that, Joe. So it's a good point.
Speaker: um And then last kind of couple of questions I wanted to ask you before we wrap up here, and Joe. um So you're in South Carolina, right? That's where you're based on. yeah Yep. In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina now.
Speaker: Okay. Right on. Good place. I went there couple years back. Beautiful place you got there. 70 degree weather today in February. Yeah. Not bad. Not bad.
Speaker: Pretty similar to San Diego. Two best places. um So my question is, you an objection we get a lot of times in the home is like, oh, Taylor, I'm going to wait until the technology gets better. i'm going to wait until the interest rates go down. or There's always a reason to wait. Right. And so I'm sure you guys get these objections as you're doing sales calls. And so how do you, you and your team, especially where you are talking about technology and you're doing videos on newer technology coming out every year, twice a year, you said, so how do you counter this objection? How do you get people to want to do it, even though they see you posting videos about new technology, like literally every month?
Speaker: What's your answer to that? Yeah. Well, no, I would agree with them. I say solar is just like just like ah most technology. You know, it's always advancing. Every year there's a new model that comes out. Things get a little bit more efficient, you know, better, faster, cheaper, more features.
Speaker: um But just like anything, at at some point you have to just pull the trigger and say, I want this and and I'm going to have to get whatever's the current state of the art right now. I understand that there might be a better version of it. a year from now, but just like my, my computer, I just bought a new Mac studio here with the M one chip. And then two weeks later is the M two chips out now. Like, Oh, what do I do i have to go buy another one? like no, I just bought this one. This will last me for another five years, right? It was five years since I bought my last Mac. And so, yes, I know there's going to be another chip this year and there's going to be some advancement next year too.
Speaker: But I think it's just one of those things. Like if this is something that you want to have, then you're going to have to make a purchasing decision at some point. It and doesn't mean that you won't upgrade in the future because you you probably will. Whatever the next house you move to, you'll probably purchase whatever the state of the art solar equipment is at that time.
Speaker: But yeah, and i wouldn't I wouldn't get hung up on that. I would agree with them. Agree with them that technology is always changing. Agree with them that there's going to be another solar panel that comes out next year. And then remind them that they have a computer and a cell phone that's also going to be obsolete next year, but they bought it anyway. So let's just go ahead and get this going. Yeah. Boom. I love that. When I think people appreciate that, just you being real and like, you know, given like a personal example that, hey, you just bought a computer and a new one came out in two weeks. So because ah everyone can relate with that, right? Buying a computer, buying a cell phone and your solar is no different.
Speaker: So I think, ah you know, homeowners definitely appreciate that as we're talking Yeah, because it's it's really because it's it's not a real objection, Taylor. That's the thing, you know. So if you're a sales pro out there, you have to you have to be able to recognize what's what's an objection, what's a complaint. The fact that the technology is changing is not an objection. That's just a complaint.
Speaker: That's like saying, oh, yeah, you know, there's a new iPhone coming. OK, well, yeah, doesn't really mean anything about the purchasing decision. So, yeah, if you have to get that out of your system, Mr. Homeowner, by all means, go ahead and get that out of your system, get that complaint out of your system. And then let's get back to business. So the business is do you want to have this or not? You know, if it's something you want to have, then great, let's Go for it.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, that's true. Anyone saying that, you can probably look at 99% of people saying that. And they have a computer from three years ago. They have you know two models ah two models past the iPhone. And so it's like, they're all doing this. They're all buying stuff.
Speaker: And yeah, it's something like Grant Cardone talks about is just look for evidence that they're buying things every day where new new models are coming out of everything. So yeah, same is true in solar. I love that.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, I almost have to laugh at that objection because it's like everything that you buy is obsolete in the future. Right. It's not even cars, televisions. I mean, you know, whatever it is. You know, I would I would like kind of acknowledge it, but I wouldn't I wouldn't even give it any weight. and I would just kind of keep going with the conversation. Remember, they wouldn't be talking to you if they weren't interested in solar in the first place. They already knew that there's going to be some new model two, three years from now. They already know that.
Speaker: Well, Joe, it's been awesome having you on the show and um you're a unique guest. We've never had anyone, i don't think, as well. We've had a couple of people from ah you know solar manufacturers, stuff like that come on, but you're definitely one of the higher knowledge people we've had on when it comes to the technology and the changing equipment that we have in the solar and industry here. And so if people want to connect with you more, you know I know you got your YouTube channel, but what's the best way to connect with you is just over on YouTube or any other way or any other yeah you want to give?
Speaker: and And thanks again for having me on. I'm really honored to have been invited on. and And the work that you're doing here really is incredible, too, and it's needed in the industry. So please keep doing what you're doing. And guys, I'm just a solar guy that that found something that happens to work for me. And YouTube is one of those things that happens to work for me.
Speaker: It can work for you, too. And that is the best way to keep up with us. So the the channel is Solar Surge on YouTube. Now you can find us on some of the other platforms to Instagram, TikTok, but but most of that is going to funnel you back to long form videos on YouTube. So that's the best way to keep up with us.
Speaker: And that's probably a great channel for you to keep up with as well. If you want to just be up to date with the the latest equipment, the latest news within the industry, you know, to help support your sales process. Yeah. Okay. So everyone listening to this, go check out Joe's YouTube channel, Solar Surge, if you are not on it already. It has been one of my go-tos for learning more about the technology and staying up to date with all that. So we appreciate you appreciate the work you're doing over there at Solar Surge, Joe. And before we say goodbye here, is there any other, I don't know, final advice you would give to our solopreneurs or people just trying to break through to that next level, final tips you'd give? Guys, I would just say stick stick with it.
Speaker: um And everything is hard and everything worth doing is hard. But stick with it. The opportunity that's in this industry is still unlike just about anything else out there for a sales professional, where if you come to it with just the right attitude and the willingness to work hard, you can make something of yourself. You don't need any any special college degrees. You don't need any special... really any special technical training beyond what you could even get on on YouTube, ah all it just takes is work the process, work the process, take the lumps, take the rejections, and just keep keep moving. Because once you find once you find a groove that works for you, the ability to generate a very, very high income for you and your family and everybody who else who's attached to your success, it's unlike just about anything else out there. So keep with it. That is a nugget right there. So for our solopreneurs, keep being consistent, just like Joe has been over a solar surge. Don't give up and remember you're just one deal away from breaking through and seeing the success that you deserve. And so Joe, let me know if you're ever in a California, we'll maybe shoot a YouTube video together and then we can go ah knock some doors after that. How's that sound?
Speaker: Sounds good. I'll bring my running my running shoes, my walking shoes. I'm actually, by the way, you mentioned it. We're we're actually going to be in Long Beach in two weeks for the Intersolar Conference. So if you didn't want to get together, maybe we can do a podcast. We're going to have our our podcasting gear with us too. So ah that might be a great way to to do some in-person live content.
Speaker: Yeah, be sweet. Cool. I'll have to look into that. Well, cool, man. Appreciate you coming on the show again and we'll talk soon. Excellent. Thanks again for having me. i think so So some of you already know that I run my own door door sales team here in San Diego. 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. But if I want to increase my deal flow, I need to do something different to get an advantage. Then we discovered an app called Solar Scout, but it's not a door knocking app. It's a data platform that shows us who is likely to go solar in our market.
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. It's been working for a lot of teams across the country and now I'm on board too. I'm going to be one of the first to use SolarScout in San Diego so I decided to partner up. But I told them, hey, I'm going to talk about SolarScout on my show. can give my listeners a great deal. And they did.
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. That's solarscout.app forward slash Taylor.
Speaker: Okay, back to the show. What's up, solopreneurs? Hope you enjoyed the episode. Before you run out and start selling more solar yourself, wanted to let you know about an exciting new cheat sheet we created it specifically for you in mind. One of the top questions I get asked on Instagram, on Facebook, by our listeners is, Taylor, where should I start? What episodes should I listen to in the podcast?
Speaker: You got too many podcasts, man, because now we have over 200 episodes. 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. So go download it right now. It's going to be at top10.solarpreneurs.com. Again, that's top10, the number 10,.solarpreneurs.com. Don't forget the S on solarpreneurs.
Speaker: We will have that in the show notes. Go download it right now. And especially if you have not listened to them, go listen to them and you can re-listen to them. That's going to show you how. So go download it and we'll see you on the other side.
